Lawmakers see light
of government reformThe issue: Legislators are
kicking around several bills
they hope will improve operations.THE words "government reform" are rolling off the tongues of state legislators more readily this session and measures in the House acknowledge the need for change in how state government functions. The most far-reaching bill -- one that should be approved -- would examine each government program for its necessity, effectiveness and delivery of services, and cost.
The measure, introduced by Rep. Ed Case, a candidate for governor, aims to reduce government spending by 6 percent through the 2003-2005 fiscal biennium.
The bill would set up a temporary commission to identify "core government functions" -- the duties and services the state must provide to taxpayers. The commission would rank each state program as core or non-core and recommend what non-essentials should be eliminated or modified. It also would determine how core functions could be improved. Its findings then would be presented to the Legislature to approve or disapprove without amendments, a protection against political meddling.
The state is wrestling with a budgetary crisis that isn't likely to ease with its tourism-based economy in constant flux. A comprehensive review would clearly define how much bang taxpayers are getting for their buck and where savings could be found. Even if revenues increase, the commission's evaluations would provide a valuable blueprint for the state's financial future.
The commission's analysis should be augmented by a review by independent efficiency and auditing experts to ascertain how well each department and agency does its job and how carefully it spends its money. This would assure that the commission -- appointed by lawmakers, the governor and county mayors -- would not be subject to political criticism.
Another legislative measure would fold the Department of Human Resources into the Department of Labor and transfer the functions of the Department of Agriculture to the Commerce & Consumer Affairs and the Business, Economic Development & Tourism departments. Combining human resources and labor makes sense. However, disbursing agriculture to the other agencies would be bad fits. The move would submerge agricultural interests in departments whose priorities lie elsewhere.
Consolidation of these departments cannot be considered reforms if they merely shift duties and employees, as the bill appears to do, without culling replication of functions, reducing spending and streamlining operations.
A third bill that would eliminate deputy directors from all state departments except education, the University of Hawaii and civil defense could bring about efficiency and savings. The department heads should work directly with their staffs without having another filter between them.
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City hall gets lesson
in artistic freedomThe issue: The city has agreed
to display a painting it earlier
had deemed inappropriate.CITY officials make lousy art critics, a reality the folks at Honolulu Hale should have learned from the messy cultural entanglements of Rudolph Giuliani during his tenure as New York's mayor. They should have known to stand back for a better view of art and the First Amendment.
When Daria Fand submitted her painting, "Last of the Believers," for display with other works by women at Honolulu's city hall a year ago, she was told she had missed the deadline and her painting was too large. However, other paintings were bigger, other participating artists had been just as tardy, and another painting submitted by Fand at the same time was accepted.
Fand put more credence in the initial reason given: The painting, depicting a nude woman on a crucifix, was considered offensive. The painting was Fand's interpretation of the sacrifice women are called upon to make. The objection seemed aimed at the juxtaposition of nudity with religion; other paintings depicted nude women.
Faced with a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, the city has agreed to show the painting in this year's exhibit and is expected to pay the ACLU $5,000 for its trouble. The case has been a lesson in First Amendment rights that should have been absorbed earlier.
Three years ago, Giuliani became so livid about the hanging of a portrait of the Virgin Mary dotted with elephant dung at the Brooklyn Museum of Art that he tried to withhold the city's subsidy to the museum. A judge overruled Giuliani, whose ire resurfaced last year when the museum displayed a color photograph of a nude black woman as Christ at the Last Supper.
The mayor assembled a Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission, known as the decency commission, to recommend standards for museums that receive city money. When the panel drafted a report stating that museums should enjoy "freedom of expression granted under constitutional law," Giuliani asked for harsher language. By the time the commission could complete its work, Michael R. Bloomberg had been sworn in as mayor.
In January, a provocative exhibit of the growing artistic use of symbols of the Nazi era went on display at New York's city-funded Jewish Museum. The new mayor kept hands off. "I am opposed to government censorship of any kind," said Bloomberg, no fool. "I don't think the government should be in the business of telling museums what is art or what they should exhibit."
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
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