If you're hunting for a label to slap on the new state government
that takes over on January first, stop hunting.
"Inexperienced" works.
65 new House members out of 110.
29 new comers in the Michigan Senate. (A bunch are former house
members.)
One brand new, never been in town before, governor and his cabinet
of newbies and as if that is not enough, look for about 10% of the
state work force to be brand-spanking new, too.
The state bureaucracy gets little attention except when candidates
running for office try to exploit it as they pander for votes.
"Elect me and I'll show those over-paid state workers a thing or
two," is sometimes the pitch.
Well turns out 4,755 of those workers have had it up to here and
are splitting faster than you can say,"Buy-out.' Mind you, these are
the senior, senior members of the state government work force with,
nobody knows, how many combined years of experience.
They're out the door by January first, the very day that all the
other wet-behind-the-ears crowd comes in the door. Please observe
which group will be smiling.
The 4,700 workers amounts to about 10 percent of the work force
and the retirements cut across all departments with the Human Services
Department taking one of the larger hits. These are the folks who deal
with foster children, welfare families and abused children.
It's not clear how many of these will be replaced with newer and
less experienced workers? The current governor has said two for three
is the goal, but the in-coming governor could change the ratio if he
sees fit.
So if you are one of those who thinks experience in government is
a waste of your previous tax dollars, get out your New Year smiles
because "inexperience" is now the word of the year.