On Politics
BY RICHARD BORRECA
The Ms. Fixit
of state governmentWhen it is time to count the dollars spent, here's my nomination for the best $2.5 million spent last year by the state of Hawaii. The money went to pay Marion Higa and her 25-person staff at the Legislative Auditor's Office.
As the state spins further off course, when clueless bureaucrats can only spend their way out of management problems and when the public demands that portions of state government actually work, legislators find that they rely on Higa's work to set guideposts for what is working, what is political bombast and what is just shibai.
Higa's office has become the gold standard of government information. In the last year it published 17 full reports and 69 short reviews of proposed special and revolving funds.
More importantly, Higa's work often is the first solid information on controversial subjects. Legislators can rely on the audit and then take it from there. The investigation into the problems with the Felix consent decree were brought into focus with Higa's audit. After Higa reported, the Legislature set up a joint investigative committee, with Higa doing much of the research.
At the same time, she was also auditing the adult mental health department and finding that the Health Department "disregarded long-range planning" and "patient safety was compromised at the state hospital and internal management controls were lacking."
Another audit of the Hawaii Tourism Authority "revealed an alarming array of poor fiscal management" and set the stage for a through Senate inquiry.
Time after time it has fallen on Higa to announce the short-coming of programs that others in government crow about.
Higa also has a long memory. As she noted in her annual report on her office, two previous audits of the state boating department failed to get the attention of the state bureaucracy.
"We found again that the boating program's mismanagement and neglect have deteriorated facilit(ies) to the point that their continued use threatens public safety."
She noted that her audits must strike a balance between government performing as well as it can and government operating with the money it has available.
The challenge, she notes, "requires balancing innovation and creativity with fiscal prudence and accountability."
"The Office of the Auditor remains resolute in its effort to move government forward and when necessary, drag prehistoric programs out of the tar pits and into the 21st century," Higa said in her report.
If Higa's work shows what is wrong and what can be right about government, it also sets the best example in state government. In her report, Higa, always the auditor, announces that she has $579,439 left over.
Richard Borreca writes on politics every Sunday in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached at 525-8630 or by e-mail at rborreca@starbulletin.com.
