[Vision2020] Fw: Idaho Falls Post Register

Tue Nov 1 12:07:23 PDT 2011

So Roger is excused from backing up his opinions with facts?  Get real.

It is highly doubtful that any individual, let alone any organization, public or private, operates at 100% efficiency at all times.  There is generally always room for improvement -- but the amount of improvement possible varies extremely greatly.  In fact, in my experience there are some governmental entities that are very efficient, some public libraries, some county and city departments, for example.  There are private businesses that are horribly wasteful and inefficient, aerospace companies operating on government cost + 10% contracts.

There are also questions, which are value questions, for both private and public entities analogous to "Is this trip necessary?"  For example:

"How and how much should the state budget to raise the probability that every citizen has enough to eat?"

"How many days paid sick leave should a company grant its employees?"

Having been an employee of and a consultant for both private businesses and public organizations, I can attest that both have efficiency problems which vary in both from tiny to huge, and both can at times can do stupid things -- a fact that made my consultant income quite prosperous at times.

If Roger, you, or anyone else thinks there is waste that can be eliminated in a public entity, then give the facts that support that claim.  If you can not do that, then they and you are fabulists.

I start with one for the City of Moscow.  When I came into town the other day, two city employees were pasting rectangle white patches in a crosswalk at Main and D Streets.  There were moving very slowing, with one standing around while the other was very, very slowly measuring. An hour or so later, when I left town, there were still there, still working at the same pace, and it appeared that during that time only one or two more patches had been laid.  The work pace of city outside workers has long been a problem as been observed and commented upon many times.  That it has gone on so long is not just a criticism of the workers themselves but more of their supervisors and upper management.  Until changes in supervision/management, either education/motivation or replacement take place, city taxpayers will continue to be ripped off.

But it is not just city workers that illustrate my point.  I can't believe the work pace of some construction workers.  No wonder construction/repair prices are so high.  Yes, I have also worked in construction and consulted with construction companies.

If you want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem of governmental waste and efficiency, then base your allegations on facts, not repeat dribble from the ill-informed.

w.

From: Jay Borden 
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2011 9:55 AM
To: Art Deco ; Vision 2020 
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Fw: Idaho Falls Post Register

He posted an opinion, he didn’t state it as fact.

Is your counter-opinion then that the state government is operating at 100% efficiency, and there are no places for improvements?

Jay

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Art Deco
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 1:36 PM
To: Vision 2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Fw: Idaho Falls Post Register

Roger,

Tell us exactly where and exactly how much there are in those places of "a lot of waste in state government and plenty of places cuts can be made."

If you cannot do this, then you are just promulgating more Tea Bagger bullshit.  You then are part of the problem, but not part of the solution.

w.

From: lfalen 

Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 11:15 AM

To: Shirley Ringo ; Vision 2020 

Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Fw: Idaho Falls Post Register

I think that there is a lot of waste in state government and plenty of places cuts can be made. I do not think that the care and treatment of the menally ill is one of them.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "Shirley Ringo" ringoshirl at moscow.com
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2011 07:44:55 -0700
To: "Vision 2020" vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Fw: Idaho Falls Post Register

> 
> Visionaries:
> 
> The Idaho Legislature's "cost containment" for Medicaid programs and help for those with disabilities will prove to be anything but that.
> 
> Shirley
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>     
>   Idaho's ugly 'new normal'
> 
>   Corey Taule
> 
>   ----------------------------------------------------------
> 
>   Ugly, sad and potentially tragic as it was, the recent shootout between local law enforcement and Scott Daniel Parker wasn't surprising. The 911 call from Parker's mother indicated her son was mentally ill and in crisis. Unfortunately, we've been down that road before.
> 
>   In September 2010, a mentally ill man shot Ryan Mitchell in the back as he left a Pocatello coffee shop. The shooter, Gerald Durk Simpson, had been told a few months earlier that because of budget cuts, the state could no longer afford to treat his mental illness.
> 
>   That jibed with what the State Planning Council on Mental Health told Idaho's lawmakers in February 2010. Cutting mental health funding, this panel of experts said, would result in three things:
> 
>   - More suicides.
> 
>   - More violent encounters between the mentally ill and police.
> 
>   - More mentally ill folks landing in emergency rooms.
> 
>   A check with local law enforcement shows this panel knew what it was talking about. Bonneville County Coroner Jonathan Walker said suicides and attempts are up, something he attributes directly to a reduction in available services.
> 
>   Bonneville County Sheriff Paul Wilde noticed his deputies were dealing more frequently with the mentally ill. So, he checked the numbers. What Wilde discovered was startling. From January to October of 2008, officers responded to 61 calls concerning psychiatric episodes or suicide attempts. That same time period in 2009 resulted in 118 calls. That jumped to 139 last year. So far this year, officers have responded to 256 calls.
> 
>   Sometimes those calls result in arrests. A severely mentally ill inmate needs to be segregated and watched constantly. Often, however, no arrest is made. But for their own good, the person with mental illness needs to be hospitalized.
> 
>   Eight years ago, a busy week for the Bonneville County Prosecutor's Office meant handling one or two civil commitment cases. But when Bruce Pickett became prosecutor, he noticed civil commitments were on the rise. So, he began tracking them. So far this year, Bonneville County has averaged nearly four per week.
> 
>   Each case must be judged by two state-designated examiners. Because many of these folks are indigent, taxpayers bear those costs, plus hospital and doctor's fees. The increase in cases means the Behavioral Health Center often can't handle them all. Several times this year, deputies have transported mentally ill folks who committed no crimes to hospitals in Pocatello, Twin Falls and Boise. So, cutting budgets on the front end is resulting in more expense -- not to mention a healthy dose of human misery -- on the back end.
> 
>   Jessica Hill isn't surprised. A licensed social worker, Hill said the agency she works for has fewer clients because of budget cuts. The need for services, however, has not gone down.
> 
>   But Hill sees this from another perspective. She's also an Idaho Falls police officer and SWAT team member. Too often, Hill said, officers encounter the mentally ill in full crisis mode. Many of these folks, Hill said, tell police they no longer qualify for services.
> 
>   "I knew this was going to happen," Hill said. "It's not a surprise to me whatsoever."
> 
>   Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has overseen a massive reduction in state government, something he describes as "the new normal."
> 
>   Let's be clear, then, about what "the new normal" really looks like to those who get to deal with the consequences of the politicians' numbers crunching:
> 
>   - It looks like Gerald Simpson, a man with no history of violence, opening fire on a stranger.
> 
>   - It looks like Scott Daniel Parker leaving the house armed with automatic weapons and mad as hell.
> 
>   - It looks like the guy using his own feces to draw pictures on jailhouse walls.
> 
>   - It looks like the little old lady who once had a social worker to help keep her on medications, but who now must go it alone. Sometimes that works. Sometimes a sheriff's deputy wades through months of accumulated garbage and animal waste in her living room so he can drive her to the only hospital with room to treat her, in Boise.
> 
>   Idaho is building a considerable budget surplus. Already, some Republicans are saying they want to hand it over to corporations and rich folks through income tax cuts.
> 
>   The first job of government, however, is to protect its citizenry.
> 
>   Clearly, Otter's "new normal" isn't doing that. Lawmakers need to fully restore the mental health budget cuts of the past three years.
> 
>   Before things really turn ugly.
> 
> 
> 
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