The Scoop: Government can’t run like household
The past four or five months have certainly given me an opportunity to broaden my horizons, at least journalistically speaking.
For example, I never dreamed I would be called upon to cover a flower show, and for obvious reasons. But since the departure of our beloved lifestyle editor Janice Howard, that was exactly the predicament I faced several months ago.
What I discovered was a flower show is exactly what I expected. It’s a place for women to gather and talk about women things like the toilet seat and the latest drama on the Lifetime channel.
I also never figured I’d write a story about quilting, another first for me. Just like the flower show, I was the only man in the room. It made me yearn for normal male conversation about important stuff like lawnmowers and football games.
The departure of reporter Amy Satterwhite, who left the Standard to teach freshman English at the high school, forced me to expand my duties even further. Over the past month, I’ve had the city government beat tossed in my lap.
I just looove it when I get a chance to take an up-close look at our local city and county governments in action. It always reminds me of the Harry S Truman comment: “Whenever you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.”
This brings me, in a roundabout way, to my point. And the point is that government will never be able to operate like a household, which is how folks often claim it should.
This sort of statement usually flies around any time there’s talk of a tax increase. Someone, inevitably, will take the opportunity to jump on their soapbox and say, “Government needs to spend within its means. I know in my household, if I don’t have the money to afford something, I don’t buy it. Government should do the same.”
It’s an interesting point, but anybody who makes such a statement hasn’t attended too many government meetings. The meeting I attended last week where city officials talked about Christmas decorations was the perfect example.
Now if I want to buy Christmas decorations, I’ll track down Cupcake, head to the store, and return home within the hour with bags full of decorations. (Note: That’s provided it’s at least September when Christmas decorations usually go on sale.)
But city government has no such luck. City officials have to call a meeting to discuss Christmas decorations because it wouldn’t be right for one alderman to decide the decorations for an entire city. And, as you’d expect, it’s not easy to get several people, who have several different tastes, to agree.
Should there be wreaths? How about bows, and if so, how big? Should the garland have built-in lights? Should fancy banners that say something festive like “Merry Christmas McMinnville” be hung from the lightposts?
In the end, city officials decided our Christmas decorations should be let out for bids which is something that never occurred to me. I know bids are accepted for road improvements and construction projects, I just never associated bids with Christmas ornaments.
So the next time you and your spouse dart off to buy a few extra Christmas lights, remember things aren’t that easy for our elected officials. The very nature of government makes them labor over every decision.
The upside to all this is our elected officials are the ones who get to make the important decisions. That includes whether the city buys those really neat blinking lights, or the ones that stay on all the time.
(James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)