Mitch Daniels

Dear John or Eric:

Congratulations! I’m writing this ahead of the election, so I don’t know which of you I’m addressing, but in either case I know it’s to a good man who loves Indiana and will work hard to make us an ever better state.

I’m purposely writing this now because its suggestion is politically and philosophically neutral, applying equally to either of you. My appeal is that, alongside the new policies and programs on which you campaigned, you assign top priority to the usually neglected task of making day-to-day government operate effectively in everything it does.

There are reasons for all the jokes about government. Public services, at all levels of government, are most often wretched, and there are several obvious causes. First, many leaders come to office with little experience actually managing complex organizations like Indiana’s $15 billion government, spread across scores of departments and agencies. Too often, top talent cannot be attracted to government jobs that provide neither high salaries nor what looks like inspiring work. Careers and campaigns aren’t built around the mundane subject of making the trains run on time; virtually no credit occurs when things work well, and the media only pay attention when the inevitable mistakes happen.

Most fundamentally, government is a monopoly, the ultimate monopoly, and monopolies by their nature overcharge and underserve their customers. They can’t go out of business no matter how badly they perform, and without competition or the profit motive to spur quality service, they almost never deliver it. I’ve known many elected officials who, if they thought about it at all, took the defeatist attitude that nothing much can be done and that lousy service is the best one can expect.

But that’s unacceptable. Taxpayers deserve not just decent performance from their hired hands in government, they deserve excellence. And with the right approaches, they can have it.

Hoosiers have seen proof. Between 2005 and 2012, our administration relentlessly pursued efficient, effective services, and continuous improvement every year, across every part of state government. I could list dozens of examples, but just for illustration:

The Department of Revenue cut in half the time it takes for a citizen owed a tax refund to receive it.

The Department of Environmental Management wiped out a 552-case backlog of permit applications, many sitting for years, and acted on new ones in national-record time. Every one of those applications reduced the amount of pollution allowed far below the levels of the previous permits, which were often decades old.

The Department of Child Services, formerly buried in a monstrous social welfare department, was under federal sanctions for excessive caseloads and alarming rates of child abuse. Carved out as its own agency for direct oversight by the governor, and with added funding, within four years it won the Annie Casey Foundation’s award as the nation’s most improved child welfare agency.

And need I even mention the Bureau of Motor Vehicles? By now, excruciating three-hour waits and repeat visits due to customer service foulups are a fading memory, something our Purdue students have only heard about from their parents. Today, one has the frequent experience of hearing from a new arrival to Indiana what a miracle it is to deal with our BMV, which began winning national and international awards as the nation’s best starting in 2008, after a total rebuild.

So how can private sector-like service levels be delivered by a monopoly? Here are a few recommendations:

1. You simply have to recruit unusual talent to lead each agency. These people will almost never be found in your campaign office or leading a local party committee. There are places for these loyalists but not in executive line positions. Similarly, there are spots for smart lawyers, but rarely do their skills match what you’ll need in charge of an agency. You have to sell people who do not need or covet the job on joining you in the noble endeavor of serving their fellow citizens. Appeal to their idealism, and their love of Indiana. Or get them to give you “just a couple years”. (It’s a trick; after they’ve caught the spirit and enjoyed the satisfaction of making government work better for their fellow citizens, you can get them to re-up!)

2. Measure everything. As I redundantly told my administration teammates, “If you’re not keeping score, you’re just practicing.” It’s especially crucial to do so in government, because if you don’t, no one else will. In business, the world keeps score whether you like it or not: sales, profits, market shares, and stock prices go up or down, based on your performance, but in government that accountability must be implanted. We kept track of key metrics for every activity, large or small; my last week in office, I was still checking the average visit time in BMV branches (it was 9 ½ minutes, by the way).

3. Then reward good performance and vice versa. The Civil Service Reform Act of 2011, the first update in 70 years, gave Indiana the only performance-based state government in the country. Every employee except those paid with federal dollars is evaluated annually and pay increases can vary widely depending on how good a job each does. When a branch manager knows that her job and salary level depends on response times or the satisfaction ratings of her customers, good things start to happen.

4. Most important, you have to care, and show it. I have known former state agency heads who say they never saw the governor. Don’t be that guy; meet personally and regularly with your line leaders, at least once a month for the major departments, and maybe quarterly with smaller units. Better yet, get out of the office and go visit the good men and women who are doing the actual work. You’ll learn a lot, and they’ll know you appreciate their good results.

Effective government performance is possible. By 2008, our state was rated “The Most Improved State Government in America” by CNBC. But it’s still government, with all its natural imperfections. Things can always be better, the bar can always be raised. And it wouldn’t take long for good service to erode. By now, some folks in our state have forgotten what really bad government looks like; let’s not start reminding them.

I’ve always believed there was a reason beyond basic duty to work hard at good everyday service. When we allow government to become a joke, or worse still to become resented by citizens for its incompetence and arrogance, we weaken the public confidence on which our system rests. Hoosiers will be more likely to join you on your Next Big Thing if they can tell you have done your best to take care of all the lesser tasks. Best of luck; I’ll be rooting for you as hard as anyone.

Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University, governor of Indiana from 2005 to 2012.