Op-Ed: The First Shot

Dr. John Livingston submitted the following Op-Ed. Op-Eds do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of those at the Idaho Dispatch.

We spend a lot of time discussing the negative side of politics and governance at all levels of government. It seems that this Thanksgiving season we should give positive coverage to politicians when the do things correctly.  In the Nov. 25^th Wall Street Journal , in an article entitled THE RECIPE FOR REGULATORY SPRING CLEANING by James Broughel the State of Idaho is given a shout out for its efforts to decrease regulatory inefficiencies:

“ Idaho has proved deregulation is possible. The state repealed and revised its administrative rules through a sunset review process starting in 2019. The results were dramatic. Since then, 95% of state regulations have been eliminated or simplified. The sky didn’t fall. Most regulations, when subject to genuine scrutiny, fail to justify their existence. The federal government should learn from Idaho’s success.

“As Elon Musk and Rivek Ramaswamy begin their efforts heading up the new Federal Government Department of Inefficiency, they can take a page out of the playbook from Idaho .  But they are adding another page of their own by insisting on outside audits of government agencies in addition to the “sunset review process” that Idaho has used.  “Starting on Inauguration Day, each federal agency should issue a sunset rule modeled after the Health and Human Services Department’s sunset rule from Donald Trump’s first term. These rules would insert expiration dates into all Federal Regulations sections under an agency’s purview, with authority grounded in the periodic review provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The first sunset deadline should be set about three years out—long enough for a thorough review, and when appropriate the regulation will be removed from the Federal Registrar of regulations”.

In a statement two days ago Gov. Little appropriately took a bow for the annual review of regulations in Idaho.  Mike Moyle our Idaho Speaker of the House has been instrumental for the initiation and deployment of this review process.  But much more needs to be done in Idaho, including the addition of outside signed partners audits of sclerotic and corrupt—corruption can be legal or illegal but the line defining the difference is very narrow, especially at the Department of Health and Welfare (DHW) and the Department of Education (DE)

Another issue beyond the purview of this article is that in local municipalities and counties such a review of administrative rules does not routinely occur.  Most citizens understand from their high school civics classes how a bill becomes a law by being passed by the legislative body and then signed by the executive.  What they don’t understand is that after that occurs the bill goes to the effected agency or in the case of municipalities a city or county attorney and a “RULE” has to be created specific to how the vote and the bill will be executed.  It is in this process that mistakes can occur.  In Garden City Idaho we have seen our City Council vote on a piece of legislation, only to have a the “rule” changed by the city attorney and the City Planning Department. All agency rules at all levels of government should be reviewed annually.

To demonstrate both the problems with a State of Idaho run procurement process and with the problems of having the State evaluate itself everyone should familiarize themselves with the document produced by the State of Idaho Office of Performance Evaluation LUMA evaluation:

https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/OPE/Reports/r2403.pdf

The implementation under the purview of The State Controller of a new large scale IT system has been a disaster.  The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee, made up of legislators were the signatories on the document—–which is in and of itself problematic.  The document did look into procurement processes.  It took less of a deep dive into the financial implications—it was a “full on belly flop” as my grandchildren would say.  It makes what happened 7 years ago at the Department of Administration look minuscule.    If the report isn’t enough to frost one’s backside. The jargon in the report will be enough to convince anyone of the need for a full outside financial and operational audit of especially the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and The Department of Education is absolutely necessary.

Speaker Moyle has done a yeoman’s job in trying to develop systems of accountability.  Others in the executive branch are trying to keep the report from becoming more public especially before the legislative session.  They use the excuse that they don’t want to negatively impact Idaho’s credit rating in the bond markets!  I think that as we are coming out of our post-election euphoria—I can speak for most Americans and at least 60% of Idahoans, it becomes even more important that we hold our politicians and government bureaucrats accountable as they allocate, appropriate, and transfer the fruits of our labors (taxes that citizens pay).

No wonder the grocery tax hasn’t been repealed.  Those living behind the curtain of government “agency” understand that there are big problems that haven’t even begun to be addressed in our government procurement systems.  In local government the “agency issue”  is even more problematic as the symbiotic relationship between local government agencies and those doing business with our local governments becomes more blurred.  Dinner or golf at the club becomes a tool for doing business—or covering up transactions or legal advice that is quickly deleted in e-mails and appointment calendars and phone logs.

Whether it be a developer asking citizens to pay for infrastructure, or large hospital systems not paying taxes claiming a non-profit status, the problem is the same at all levels.  As long as politicians and government workers have something to gain from the broken corrupt systems of government, it will be an uphill fight for WE THE PEOPLE.

Mike Moyle is at least “firing the first shot”

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Tags: Brad Little, Laws, Mike Moyle, Regulations

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