My Meeting With Markell
Friday, January 30th, 2009You know, when I was studying Journalism at Temple University, one thing that we were taught was working around last minute changes. We were given assignments that were due by the next class, we held our own press conferences where people didn’t show or were incredibly late, and we learned how to deal with the situations without loosing our cool.
But I guess that the lessons did not fully sink in because I have to say, after driving to Dover in a car that can’t handle trips over 15 miles very well, thinking that I had 30 minutes to prepare to listen to Governor Markell’s “ideas” about the 600+ million dollar deficit, I wasn’t pleased to find out that I had missed the meeting because no one had deemed WGMD important enough to send an e-mail to say that the meeting had been moved up an hour.
I wasn’t pleased being given a print out of Markell’s power point presentation and trying to find information that I could form questions and interview the Governor in less than 5 minutes. Even more infuriating was the fact that there were no proposals or real ideas on how to try and fix the monumental deficit that the first state is facing.
After talking to Mary Lou and checking for the 3rd time that we had not received any kind of note about the change, she told me that the interview would be fine and that a press release should come soon and I can use that to make sure that our listeners were more educated.
Here is what was sent:
Governor Markell Launches
‘Reality Check’ Briefings on the Budget Challenge
Briefing part of Governor’s ‘Honest Assessment’ of historic $606 million shortfall
DOVER - Governor Jack Markell on Thursday delivered the first of dozens of presentations
that he will give throughout Delaware in the coming weeks called the “Reality Check on
the State Budget Challenge.”
The briefing offers an honest assessment of the state’s historic shortfall and puts
Delaware’s challenges into a larger national context. The presentation makes clear that
in total dollars, the current shortfall is the largest fiscal challenge Delaware has had
to meet in its history.
“Government can no longer pretend that it has all the answers,” Markell said during the
briefing in the Tatnall Building in Dover. “It has to be willing to ask the tough
questions, and more importantly, be willing to hear the hard truth of honest answers and
bear the cost of shared sacrifice. Failure to make hard decisions and the failure to
examine with honest eyes every aspect of state government can carry an unbearable cost.”
During his time as a consultant with McKinsey and Company and as an executive with Nextel
and Comcast, Markell used similar presentations to diagnose systemic problems with
multi-billion dollar organizations and begin solving them.
“We will need to take stock of what our state government truly needs to provide in order
to ensure the health and prosperity of our families, children and neighbors,” Markell
said.
The presentation offers illustrations of how Delaware’s government spends $606M. For
example, cutting all state spending in the following areas would just make up the
shortfall:
Eliminate funding for the Departments of Technology and Information, State, Finance,
Services for Children, Youth and Their Families, Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control, Safety and Homeland Security, Agriculture, Elections, Fire, and
National Guard plus portions of the Department of Correction (Sussex Correctional
Institution, Baylor Correctional Institution, James T. Vaughn Correctional Center,
Community Corrections, Inmate Medical Services and Substance Abuse Treatment).
AND Shut down the Veteran’s Home
AND Close all State Parks
AND Eliminate mental and behavioral health services to children including juvenile
justice facilities
Last week, in unveiling his “Honest Assessment,” Markell launched a performance review of
state government to find every savings opportunity possible.
“Every effort will be made to find efficiencies, eliminate waste, and ensure that the
citizens of Delaware are receiving the best value for their tax payer dollars,” Markell
said. “But that will not be enough. Difficult decisions demand shared sacrifice across
the state.”
Anywhere in there do you see ideas? Besides the hypothetical idea of getting rid of pretty much every type of government? Last time I checked, Delaware has had a multi-million dollar deficit for many, many months. Where are the ideas? Where is the take charge attitude?
I don’t think that college prepared me for major dissapointment. But the Markell administration has.
