Accountability Lost

 

 

"Money poured into the state is no more that monopoly money to the statists..."

Many of us have said for many a year now, the main problem with government largess is questionable accountability. In other words, who does what to whom, and when, and how it is monitored, is often times murky. Any anyone who has ever worked in the REAL world knows that accountability is the name of the game. Without it, your business will at best do poorly, and at worst not be around very long.

Today the local newspaper had a very long article on the recent audit of MNSure. After reading it, all I can say is, "What a freaking mess!" One of the things that caught my attention is the lack of "eyewitness testimony" for what happened to MNSure at the beginning. The former head of this organization, April Todd Whatshername, has refused to come in and help the audit. In fact, she lawyered up. Now I may be wrong, but as a public servant, as the beneficiary of a tax payer furnished salary, that is not a choice of hers. For her failure to cooperate, the state should go in and garnishee every cent that she has been paid while at MNSure.

But the State of Minnesota will not do that. Why? No accountability. Just like in the Federal Government, there is no accountability in the state. I could go on and on about the MNSure debacle, but I would rather touch on another story which has not received as much press. Some bright blub within out state government decided we really need to modernize our driver's license and vehicle registration system. Huh? I know the roads need fixing, but this other thing is a problem?

This highly critical project was going to need some heavy weights to really make it sing sweetly once completed. So someone (?) signed a contract with HP to design and build a new system. Now I know a bit about co-sourcing and out-sourcing. I was involved with it for years. I understand how the internal people need to play with the outsiders. How to get a cost effective and viable solution. Doing this the right way does not happen by accident. It takes acumen and planning. And egos need to be checked in at the front door until the project is complete and signed off.

With no accountability, coordination nor cooperation, the project quickly became another Frankenstein's Monster. Valuable taxpayer money was poured down this sink hole and no viable product was emerging. What was being produced was finger pointing. Lots and lots of finger pointing. And of course, the age old question - "Who the heck is in charge, anyhow?"

Good question. It got so bad, the contract with HP has been abrogated, and the work was brought back in house. It will now be done by (gasp) state workers, whom I might say, have only a smidge of the talent bench their HP counterparts had. (I have worked with HP IT Services. They are very good indeed.)

Someone should fry for this mess, but questions are now being asked like, "Who was the Project Manager?" and "Who did the Project Manager report to?" Don't worry - one of our BIG spenders, DEMOCRAT Scott Dibble has told us NOW, we have the right team is in place now. Right Senator Dibble, right.....

Now that we are in tax season, rest assured that your hard earned money which is paid into the state in the form of taxes, receives very little stewardship. It is monopoly money to many of the ruling statists. "P+L", which is the life blood of the private sector, are just two letters in the alphabet for government statists. And accountability? Without accountability, you end up with a failed audit on MNSure and a failed project with the DMV. Lessons learned? None, I am afraid. Keep feeding the pig as there is more of this to come...