Loafin' Lonnie Roberts
This weekend, the Oregonian continued its coverage of the strange world of Multnomah County Commissioner Lonnie Roberts. In a story initially headlined online "Powerful chief of staff pulls county commissioner's dead weight" and later revised to "Chief of staff calls the shots for easygoing county commissioner", the Oregonian calls Lonnie Roberts:
...a likable though loafing leader, a backslapping good old boy more interested in the social than political elements of elected office.
How badly is Lonnie loafing?
Roberts says he rarely golfs during working hours. Except on Fridays.His colleagues assume that he is frequently at play because he's so rarely at the office.
He showed up for work just more than half of the workdays between September and February, according to parking records at the county office building on Hawthorne Boulevard. Only once in that time did he stay more than eight hours; frequently he stayed less than two.
Roberts questions the significance of the figures, saying much of his work occurs out of the building. Each Wednesday and Friday, Roberts' calendar is marked only, "Lonnie in east county." Even during a two-week vacation in Hawaii this month, his calendar said he spent five days in east county.
His office in the Multnomah County East Building is a point of pride for Roberts, the only commissioner who boasts such a satellite location. But when a visitor asked the location of the office, a receptionist shook her head.
"He's not there. He doesn't ever come to the office. I've been here since November, and I haven't seen him once," she said, as a security guard nodded. "Unfortunately, people come here all the time looking for him."
While Lonnie loafs, who does the work? His half-time chief-of-staff, Gary Walker, who's not actually half-time, and is leaving next month.
Gary Walker, who arrives each morning about 6 a.m., reads Roberts' e-mails, returns his phone calls, writes his speeches, deals with other commissioners and pushes pet projects forward....County staff take all matters directly to Walker. He devours every document that crosses the commissioner's desk, picking only the most important to condense and share with his boss. ... Walker has sole authority for staffing, bringing in retired law enforcement officials as aides and his daughter's friends as secretaries. ...
Walker's policy is to never leave Roberts alone with reporters, constituents, staff or other commissioners, citing Roberts' poor memory and penchant for rambling. In such meetings, Walker makes his presence known with regular interruptions like, "Why don't you let me handle this one, Lonnie."
Of course, much of this ground has been previously covered by Willamette Week, who's been on the Loafin' Lonnie beat for years. To recap...
In 2000, WW reminded voters that:
In WW's biennial ratings of metro lawmakers, you could always count on Lonnie to be sitting contentedly in the basement.
In 2004, WW wrote that:
Our gripe is with his effectiveness. Roberts, more than anyone on the county board, is in serious need of a wake-up call. A longtime state legislator, Roberts is without a doubt the least visible of the commissioners, and it isn't a stylistic difference--he's just not getting a whole lot done.
And in 2006, WW reported:
The biggest slacker is Commissioner Lonnie Roberts, whose records over a two-month period leave three and a half weeks unaccounted for. On some days, Roberts' calendar notes only that he is "in East County," the district he represents, while his colleagues log multiple events for themselves and their staff almost every day.Roberts did not return several telephone calls from WW. And his Gresham office was locked and dark when WW tried to visit on Friday, despite his calendar's listing him as being there on Wednesdays and Fridays. A note outside the office directed constituents to make an appointment by phone. WW did not credit Roberts for time he listed only as "East County."
One final oddity: Yesterday's Oregonian story suggests that Walker and Roberts share moderate-Democrat values:
Roberts says he is comfortable ceding responsibility to Walker, 57, because the two are so politically and personally aligned -- "churchgoing, middle-of-the-road Democrats," in Walker's words.
But in the 2004 story, Willamette Week referred to Walker as the "much more conservative staffer, onetime Oregon Citizens Alliance compatriot Gary Walker."
Discuss.
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11:36 a.m.
Mar 27, '07
When I read this article in the O, I was filled with an incredible outrage and anger. How dare this man pull down $80,000 or whatever he's getting and not even bother to show up for work? Or show up and spend all his time playing Solitaire? I mean, seriously, any other employee at the county, city or state level would be GONE. If he doesn't want to work, fine, he should retire and play Solitaire at home.
And if Walker was previously in the OCA, he's a million miles from being a moderate anything, much less a Democrat.
12:42 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
I was strangely mesmerized by that article. As a citizen and a taxpayer, I should have been outraged, but it sounded like the start of a fascinating Southern novel with offbeat characters and strange happenings. It was SO bizarre I was disarmed and fascinated.
1:08 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
As a constituent, I am completely appalled that Lonnie Roberts doesn't seem to take this position seriously.
He represents geographically more than one half of the entire county. If I read the maps correctly, he also represents the largest chunk of unincorporated parts of the county.
This also happens to be the part of the county that regularly gets the short end of the stick. We get our business taxes pulled. We couldn't get our streets maintained, even though we pay for it, and had to fight to gain control of the streets and the money that is supposed to be spent on it.
It's no wonder that this stuff happens when you don't take your job seriously and show up for work rarely.
Also, I really hope that when redistricting time comes again that we consider changing the way the commissioner districts run. It'd be nice if two of the commissioners were directly responsible to voters and residents in east county.
2:01 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
It'd be nice if two of the commissioners were directly responsible to voters and residents in east county.
Well, either you'd have to make two of the districts combo between east county and inner-east Portland (which could mean zero commissioners from east county) - or you'd have to double (or nearly-double) the number of commissioners.
2:16 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
From people I've talked with, the majority of people are thinking a combo with more of Portland. We'd still have a huge chunk of the voting population in those two districts, which means it would be difficult to completely ignore east county as they regularly have done in the past. Right now the attitude has been "I don't represent east county" when you bring it up.
And actually right now there's no guarantee we get someone from east county-- the district right now has portions of Portland that are not "east county." A portion of the district in the NE runs all the way to I-205.
With the exodus of people out of areas of Portland and into east county, it will be interesting to see how population totals look in 2010 when the next census is done. I'd imagine there will need to be some major work done on the commissioner district lines anyway.
I don't think people realize how far to the east the county goes. The big precinct maps and such actually cut off a large portion of the county east of the Sandy River. And its an area that needs a good amount of county services, from roads to police protection.
Mar 27, '07
The Multnomah County Commission frankly just don't have a lot to do. They don't manage a bureau. They generally sit on a local policy board like MLAC or LPSCC. The only real in the chater duty they have is to go to the commission meetign on thursday mornings. Their duties other than handling the few constituents calls are pretty light. It's much up to individual commissioners to decide what issues they stick their nose in and how much work they want to devote.
Mar 27, '07
The work of the county commissioners is to show up for debates and votes and be the legislative oversight of the county. It is not to sit behind a desk 8 (or more) hours a day and handle administration and day-to-day operations. The system Roberts has used seems to have worked pretty well for his constituents -- and they certainly keep electing him. Having a strong administrator who understands the details as chief of staff is a good idea -- and lets the politician focus on other things.
You may remember that most of the other commissioners have spent the last several years concentrating on the details and on stabbing each other in the back. They may have made themselves visible (often in unsavory headlines) but did they get a lot done? Having events and talking about how much you work isn't a measure of effectiveness. What I'd like to see commissioners do is demand more effectiveness from the administrators who are hired (at very high salaries) to manage the departments and business of the county. They're going to be voting on budgets soon -- somebody should be taking a harder look at the top managers and whether they've accomplished anything.
2:34 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
Maybe that needs to change. Maybe there needs to be more outlined about what their job is. For as much as they're being paid, I know I'd certainly like a lot more responsibilities on them. Especially when this county has so many problems -- it is becoming more and more fractured every day.
The push to secede Gresham, Troutdale, Wood Village, Fairview, Corbett, and the other areas in the east is becoming stronger and stronger. If that were to happen, the county would lose a large tax base -- especially since decisions in recent years to stop sharing certain kinds of tax dollars with these cities. That means they get less back than they put in.
Access to health care is a huge problem.
Funding for the budget is a problem.
Public safety in some parts of the county is a problem.
Roads aren't being properly maintained.
It just seems there are a lot of things the county commissioners should be doing that they aren't.
Maybe we should do some research on what other county commissioners are charged with around the country and see what works.
Mar 27, '07
Maybe this explains why East County always feels it's the neglected relative. You elect slackers, you just aren't going to be standing at the front of the line when the money is passed out.
And wasn't old Lonnie put out when the other commissioners kept him out of the same sex marriage debate? Now I wonder if he was invited but said he was too busy out there in east county.
2:49 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
The work of the county commissioners is to show up for debates and votes and be the legislative oversight of the county. It is not to sit behind a desk 8 (or more) hours a day and handle administration and day-to-day operations.
I'm sorry, for $80,000 a year, I expect a heck of a lot more than that. We expect more of our legislators, and they make less than $15,000 a year.
I don't expect them to be behind the desk for 8+ hours. I expect them to be out in the community holding meetings. To meet with constituents. To potentially attend council and school board meetings in their district. To meet with their staff and county staff to discuss changes, ideas, etc. To be working on ways to fill the budget, fix problems in the county, etc.
The fact is that most voters who know anything about the county commission only know what happens at the meetings. There Roberts fights for east county. So they assume it's happening outside the meetings as well. I'm sure their attitude would be very different if they knew he was pulling $80K per year and doing almost nothing outside those meetings. That's more than twice what most families out in this area make.
I wasn't that happy of a constituent before. Now I'm even less happy.
He only got 26.64% of the vote in 2000. In 2004, his opponent was almost non-existent, which meant Roberts got 82.23% of the vote. More people chose to not vote in this election (more than 6,000) than voted for the opponent. The seat is back up again in 2008. If I heard correctly, he has one more term before he'd be term limited out. I'd expect a race for the seat this time.
Mar 27, '07
The Multnomah County Commission frankly just don't have a lot to do.
I think that is right. The real problem is that they are getting paid full time and given a couple full time private staff to do fulltime what is really a part time job.
It's much up to individual commissioners to decide what issues they stick their nose in and how much work they want to devote.
And that creates more problems than anything. Instead of managing the county, they are busy working on their pet projects which, as a result, only rarely get any oversight from the rest of the Commissioners or the chair. And it creates huge conflicts when the others do step in. The county would be much better managed if they all worked as hard as Lonnie.
One of the things that created problems on the last Commission was you had several bright people with the skills and energy to run the county, or at least they think they do. Only one of them, Dianne Linn, had the job.
The real solution is to cut the County Commissioner jobs back to half time or less, eliminate their private staff and let the commissioners find a day job. Lonnie can do as much work as ever, but he will only get paid for half time and Gary Walker will lose his job as unofficial Commissioner.
I met with Lonnie several times without Walker when I worked at the county and I doubt that is untypical. I think this is media exaggeration based on various "insider" accounts.
2:52 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
The work of the county commissioners is to show up for debates and votes and be the legislative oversight of the county. It is not to sit behind a desk 8 (or more) hours a day and handle administration and day-to-day operations.
Oh come on. Don't be daft.
That's like saying state legislators don't do any work they "just show up for debates and votes and are the legislative oversight of the state."
You're right that unlike the city, the county commissioners (except the chair) are primarily legislative, budgetary, and oversight in nature. But that doesn't mean they don't have work to do.
Mar 27, '07
Kari;
Legislators sit on committees and introduce bills. Commissions don't. They rarely introduce motions and when they do they are memorials about Korean American Day or withdrawal the troops not policy proposals. They even have a speical committee of staff and one or two commissioners that does the budget work the ways and means committee does on the state level. That committee is voluntary for Commissioners. Commissioners have the option to pretty much do nothing except show up on Thrusday morning. You are right they have work but not anywhere near as much as a Legislator does (For 6 months every two years.)
youknow
3:03 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
You're a funny guy, YK.
I'd think you were Lonnie making excuses for yourself, except he "doesn't know how to type and doesn't like to read."
Mar 27, '07
That's like saying state legislators don't do any work
No, it isn't. Legislators have to spend a lot of time getting to 50%+1 among their colleagues and often serve on several committees in addition to full sessions. The simple fact is that there is a lot more work for a legislator than a county commissioner.
Of course there is work outside of the Commissioner meetings. No more than two of them can meet together at any one time without violating the open meeting laws. So they use their staff a lot for communications and negotiations between meetings.
But in terms of value added for the public, there is really no need for four full time commissioners representing districts. No other county in the state works that way. For instance the Washington COunty Commissioners are all part time.
3:13 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
Maybe no other county in the state does it, but the other counties don't have the population that Multnomah County does. According to the 2000 Census, Washington County is the closest with approximately 2/3 the population of Multnomah County (445K to 660K).
It's also done in counties across the country. The difference is what the commissioners are charged with. Here, they aren't charged with hardly anything, which has caused nothing but problems.
I think there is enough work to be done in this county to keep the positions full-time. But only if the commissioners actually start doing that work.
Mar 27, '07
I have to admit, my response was more like Mr. Alworth up above. I found the story "mesmerizing." The fact is, this is the most interesting, engrossing, and entertaining piece I have probably ever read in the Oregonian. Clearly, there's gotta be a back story to Roberts -- he's simply too weird and unengaged. I mean, when asked about his decision-making process, Roberts said: "He [Walker] just gives me my script." OK, yeah, the people of East County deserve more... blah, blah, blah. More importantly, can you believe he actually said that! God, I can almost imagine Bush giving an interview sometime soon, and just blurting out: "You all know I'm just a puppet, right?" Yes, Roberts is that big of a bungler.
3:24 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
From their "about" page:
Mar 27, '07
The Commissioners conduct all legislative activities of the County, adopt policies, sit as the budget committee, review and amend the executive budget, hold hearings, adopt the County budget; act as liaisons to departments, advisory boards and commissions, make changes in administrative departments; fill vacancies in elective offices and adopt labor agreements.
Read that carefully and you can see what people who say they don't have much to do mean. They have to say basically the same thing three times:
They sit as the budget committee, review and amend the executive budget and adopt the county budget.
Maybe no other county in the state does it, but the other counties don't have the population that Multnomah County does.
I don't think that makes that much difference. What is really needed is four elected citizen-legislator types to provide oversight to the county operations and be advocates for their constituents. That is not a full time job, given county services.
Mar 27, '07
"The work of the county commissioners is to show up for debates and votes and be the legislative oversight of the county. It is not to sit behind a desk 8 (or more) hours a day and handle administration and day-to-day operations."
This is a defense?
I guess the question is how to change the pay scale then to accurately reflect the work they do (or don't do)
3:50 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
I think the population does make a difference. Smaller counties can get away with having part-time and/or volunteer commissions. Larger counties offer the full set of services, and therefore there is more to oversee.
The problem is the duties that are assigned to them are so vague and cover so little. Maybe we need to be more specific about what is required of them. But with all that's lacking in this county, I seriously doubt the problem is not enough to do to fill the time.
Mar 27, '07
Hi Folks...
Interesting reading as my experience with MCC was from the Don Clark era and little since. Given my experience, though, with the Jackson County Commission I wonder if you folks would consider a trade....Lonnie Roberts for CW "all hat, no cattle" Smith and Jack "just cut more timber" Walker and a commissioner to be named later ?
Regards
Mar 27, '07
Larger counties offer the full set of services, and therefore there is more to oversee.
To the contrary, many of the services other counties provide are done by the cities in Multnomah County. Most policing for instance. Both Washington County and Clackmas County play a much larger role in transportation and land use than Multnomah County. Multnomah County's urban land use is entirely handled by its cities, even the unincorporated areas. Washington County's part-time commissioners are also the board for the water and sewer district that covers most of the county.
There simply is not that much work for elected officials to do. And to the extent they get involved in doing it they lose the perspective to provide proper oversight.
As an example, es the Sauvie Island bridge really a higher priority than the Sellwood Bridge? No, but who is going to tell Maria Rojo de Steffey that after she has spent six months running a process to design a new bridge? Or who is going to tell her the process was flawed? The answer is no one.
That is not a criticism, they ran a good process and it sounds like people on the Island are mostly pleased with the outcome. But chances are the transportation department would have done just as good a job without her. And if they didn't, there was somewhere for people to go. And the other commissioners might have been willing to ask "is this really our top priority, what about the other bridges?"
4:16 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
Actually, much of the services are being handled by the cities only because the county has failed in doing so.
For instance, maintenance of county roads. Gresham finally fought to have those roads turned over to them along with the tax dollars that is supposed to go towards maintaining them. Why? Because the county wasn't maintaining them.
What you've brought up is an instance of a commissioner doing something for a problem in her district. What should have happened was discussions on the bridges in the county, prioritizing them, and then making a plan for how it would get done.
The problem is that right now the Commissioners work independently. There doesn't seem to be a process for looking at the county as a whole and making priority lists. They just see a problem in one place and take it up, rather than looking at the whole.
I don't see it as there not being enough to do. There's plenty to do, and much of the slack has been picked up by the cities by necessity. As such, you have cities like Gresham without enough funding for parks, police, fire, etc. because they're picking up the county's slack.
5:07 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
The Multnomah County Commission frankly just don't have a lot to do. They don't manage a bureau.
Hmmm...isn't this what the proposed charter changes will create with out City Commissioners?
Mar 27, '07
For instance, maintenance of county roads. Gresham finally fought to have those roads turned over to them along with the tax dollars that is supposed to go towards maintaining them. Why? Because the county wasn't maintaining them.
I don't think that was the issue. Gresham wanted direct control over how the roads were designed and maintained instead of having to work through the county's transportation department.
There's plenty to do, and much of the slack has been picked up by the cities by necessity.
I don't think that is true at all and in any case, I don't think the Commissioners working harder will change that if it were true.
Mar 27, '07
You do realize that Lonnie Roberts is a Democrat? He's one of you. He's yours. Just because he voted against the marriage licenses a couple of years ago it doesn't mean he's not yours. Own him. Embrace him.
5:58 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
>And wasn't old Lonnie put out when the other commissioners kept him out of the same sex marriage debate? Now I wonder if he was invited but said he was too busy out there in east county.
I think his ex-OCA chief of staff had more to do with his exclusion from that process.
Mar 27, '07
"How dare this man pull down $80,000 or whatever he's getting and not even bother to show up for work?"
You really Ms Rojo de Steffey works that hard either (excepting trying to get business for her husband.) Also maybe you should look at the schedule of Portland City Commissioners, they kind of have their pet causes they work on and then fill in with city business otherwise. Each of them costs us $100K a year plus staff and really nice benefits.
Also, what about people like Obama, Hillary, McCain, Kerry, who seem to be able to run a full-time campaign for 9 months at a stretch.
That's just the way elected officials are today. Throw up a smokescreen issue (like Iraq or chasing down Repubs who support Iraq) to distract voters and then let important things that take work and are boring go to heck.
Mar 27, '07
Maybe "no other county in the state works that way," but Clackamas County is close. We have 3 full-time commissioners - which, because of "personality clashes" can't get anything done. They're actually right now debating going to FIVE, because two of them can't talk without violating open meeting laws.
9:24 p.m.
Mar 27, '07
I don't think that was the issue. Gresham wanted direct control over how the roads were designed and maintained instead of having to work through the county's transportation department.
Actually, that was the issue. The right of ways weren't being mowed, which was making pulling onto roads dangerous. Major holes were going unfilled. The city of Gresham would ask and ask and ask for things to be taken care of. Finally they'd go and do it themselves.
It was so bad that the state legislature was willing to step in and do something about it.
Mar 28, '07
Toni Manning told me that, when she brought her sad sad library porn story to the Multnomah County Commissioners, Lonnie was the only one who sympathized with her. Too bad he apparently failed to actually take action, as the County Commissioners establish the internet policy for the library. How strange and inexplicable - Manning doesn't blame Lonnie for the internet porn problem at the library. Why would that be? Does anyone have any guesses as to why that would be? It wouldn't be because his political affiliation is the same as hers, would it? I guess Manning also doesn't blame Karen Minnis for trying to suppress that issue wiith the brother-in-law and the waitress, either. Where's the outrage, Toni? Manning is very very selectively judgmental, wouldn't you say? Judge not other Republicans, lest ye be judged.
Mar 28, '07
I don't blame Lonnie for the "Dark of Night" fiat legalization of Gay Marriage, either. But that's not because I share his political affiliation. It's because he opposed the measure (or says he would have, if not for the mushroom treatment he received). Besides, I thought local races are supposed to be non-partisan?
Lonnie accomplishes more and does less damage working half time than any 3 commissioners combined.
Why? Because he's interested in basic government SERVICES, not just the latest p/c fads and sucking up to the unions.
Mar 28, '07
Judge not other Republicans, lest ye be judged.
Lonnie is a Democrat. He isn't anti-union. He supports the idea of government providing quality services. There are a lot of Democratic voters out there in east county and elsewhere in the state whose views mirror Lonnie's.
And this story does make you wonder about the Oregonian's coverage of the gay marriage issue. You would think they would have reported on Garry Walker's past and his role in Lonnie's office as part of that coverage. But that would have interfered with their cartoon story line.
Clackamas County is close. We have 3 full-time commissioners - which, because of "personality clashes" can't get anything done.
Clackamas county is a little different since the Commissioners are all elected county-wide and the commissioners choose the County Chair rather than the voters. If they move to the Multnomah County model, they ought to make the district Commissioners part time jobs.
Mar 28, '07
After this article, I don't think Lonnie has a prayer of being re-elected, or of holding any elected office in Oregon again. Any candidate worth their salt should have a pretty easy time raising money and campaining against Lonnie. He should sell his story - it would make a great Cohen brothers film.
10:43 a.m.
Mar 28, '07
Toni Manning's "sad library porn story" had more holes in it than the cast of Behind the Green Door.
Mar 28, '07
As Frank Dufay points out, this IS the form of government that Potter's charter change is advocating. We'd have the mayor working, and we'd have loafin' Sam, loafin' Erik, loafin' Dan and loafin' Randy. Being paid for full time positions while they were at it.
Mar 28, '07
As Frank Dufay points out, this IS the form of government that Potter's charter change is advocating. We'd have the mayor working, and we'd have loafin' Sam, loafin' Erik, loafin' Dan and loafin' Randy. Being paid for full time positions while they were at it.
Mar 28, '07
The City would be better served if those four were loafing rather than pretending they know anything about managing complex operations and thousands of employees. How many collective years of private sector work experience do you think they have between the four of them? How many collective years experience managing anything of significance in the private sector? Dave - you're fooling yourself if you think this city is better off being managed by these guys. We'd be better off with professional management, accountable to the mayor & city council. If that means these elected jobs are worth less, than we should pay them less - say $40,000 instead of $80,000. Too bad that's not in the charter amendments. This city would be much better served by a governing body elected by district, and bureaus run be professional managers.
4:45 p.m.
Mar 28, '07
They may be elected by district, but they still are supposed to work for the entire county, regardless of what district elects them.
The reason behind having commissioners elected by district is to ensure that each of the areas of county has somewhat of a chance of having representation on the commission. Otherwise, you could end up with the entire commission elected from one area of town (or like my school board at home where all but one lived withing a few blocks of each other).
Electing by district or county-wide doesn't change how much work there is to do. I also like being able to elect the chair, as opposed to having them do it.
Mar 28, '07
How many collective years of private sector work experience do you think they have between the four of them?
Frank -
I think their public sector experience is more to the point, don't you? Private companies operate for profit and have a very different culture and reward system than budget-based public agencies. But lets face it, the Commissioners are there as policy leaders, not managers. And electing them makes them much more directly accountable to their bosses for the results.
Mar 28, '07
they still are supposed to work for the entire county, regardless of what district elects them.
I don't think that is realistic. Three quarters of the county's residents have no say in whether they keep their job. They can't help but give preference to the one quarter that does. Of course they also give preference to those who give them money.
Mar 28, '07
Ross - I disagree with you regarding private sector vs. public sector. If the city were managed toward a "bottom line" - like in the private sector - you'd have fewer potholes in the streets, fewer capital projects at 4x cost overruns, fewer computer system installation failures and better customer service. I know this firsthand. I've seen agency "Directors" in the public sector who couldn't manage their way out of a wet paper bag. You don't see that often with successful private ventures. Managers who can't manage don't last long. Don't get me wrong - for the most part, I like the city council we have. I just don't think these elected people should be running public agencies. By sheer dumb luck we will sometimes elect a person who is competent to be a bureau commissioner - I haven't seen that happen very often.
10:54 p.m.
Mar 28, '07
"Frank" - could you please add some kind of qualifier to your name. Don't care if it's "Frank X" or "Frank from Tigard" but something so the it differentiates you from regular commenter "Frank Dufay" -- who's even commented above on this thread.
Mar 29, '07
Wow. I've worked for/been associated with/had friends working at enough private ventures -- successful and unsuccessful -- that I just can't get my chin off my keyboard.
fewer computer system installation failures ????????????
managers who can't manage don't last long ?????????????!!!
I've known a few competent private-sector managers. I've seen a couple of private-sector computer system upgrades that worked as anticipated. But their presence and absence didn't correlate with the success of the business to any huge extent. Really, Frank (not Dufay), you're not even close to the world as I've experienced it.
Mar 29, '07
"f the city were managed toward a "bottom line" - like in the private sector - you'd have fewer potholes in the streets,"
I think this is wrong, you would have more potholes unless fixing them generated revenue for the "bottom line". That doesn't mean that Commissioners get elected for their management ability - private or public. But the tradeoff of having bureaucrats (which is what unelected managers are) run things buffered from politics is that citizens have a lot less direct influence on decisions.
9:00 a.m.
Mar 29, '07
the tradeoff of having bureaucrats (which is what unelected managers are) run things buffered from politics is that citizens have a lot less direct influence on decisions.
Or, possibly, citizens would have more influence...as rules created in public forums, by the elected officials, wouldn't be subverted by political pressure by those same officials on bureaucrats reporting to them behind closed doors.
The civil service reform movement didn't come out of nowhere, it came out of a need for public employees who's loyalty was to the law and the public at large, not some elected official who could replace them at will.
Mar 29, '07
Frank (not Dufay) clearly hasn't worked as a bookkeeper or secretary in the private sector. If he had, he wouldn't be making such glowing statements about the efficiency and efficacy of such managers.
BTDT. Totally appalled by the things some small businesspeople pull and get away with. FWIW, totally appalled by what some larger companies can pull and get away with.
Talk to your local private sector secretary or bookkeeper. They know.
Mar 29, '07
This has gotten far off the topic, but there are examples of government agencies that are insulated from elected oversight. The Port of Portland is one. Another is Trimet. Although Trimet is very well managed and the Port isn't, I don't think either one is easier to influence than the city, counties, or metro where elected officials have direct oversight. Quite the contrary.
Mar 29, '07
Lonnie Roberts attributes were well known when he first ran for Multco commission. He won election and has held his office because organized labor has supported him over better qualified candidates. Labor does itself no favor by indulging in hackery.
Mar 29, '07
"The civil service reform movement didn't come out of nowhere, it came out of a need for public employees who's loyalty was to the law and the public at large, not some elected official who could replace them at will"
That's true enough -- however, in the case of Multnomah County, the only people who can be replaced at will are the top managers (mostly department directors). In practice they are very rarely replaced, no matter what they do or don't do. Everybody else working for MC is in a union and would have to do something really egregious to be replaced.
In regard to the remark I made a couple of days ago about commissioners' work not consisting of sitting behind a desk 8 hours a day, it looks like most people took that to mean not working at all. I think commissioners do indeed have work to do -- but a lot of it should be done out talking to their constituents and others in the county about what the needs are. So the fact that Lonnie doesn't spend 8 hours at a desk isn't proof he doesn't work. There may be plenty of other proof -- I just think we should distinguish between commissioners and bureaucratic adminstrators (and it will be interesting if the city goes to this model as well).
Sitting behind a desk and dealing with administrative detail is why we have all of the department heads and managers (most of whom are pulling in way more salary than Lonnie and certainly more than his chief of staff). It would be interesting to know how many of them put in 8 hours.
Mar 30, '07