NORMAN — Suppose you own a business. You discover payments — your hard-earned money — are going to the wrong people, in the wrong amounts, for the wrong reasons.
You ask your business director and managers, and they shrug their shoulders and say, “Wow, that is interesting.”
What do you do?
A) Give those managers a deadline to fix the problem, letting them know their employment is at stake?
B) Post a memo that states a goal of reducing erroneous payments by 50 percent in the coming year, and reward incompetency with a raise?
You probably chose the former. Our government chose the latter.
Thank goodness you don’t run your business like the federal government conducts its affairs. If you did, you’d be out of business.
The president just signed a bill designed to reduce the budget deficit. It’s called the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act. That’s right: The government needs a law prohibiting its employees from paying bills improperly.
The law aims to reduce improper payments to individuals, organizations and contractors by $50 billion before 2012, Bloomberg reports.
In 2009, the government paid almost $110 billion to the wrong person, in the wrong amount or for the wrong reasons. In the past three years, it gave more than $180 million in benefits to 20,000 people who were dead. More than $230 million went to 14,000 fugitives or people in jail who were ineligible for them.
I don’t blame President Obama for the law. This problem has been around for many years and many administrations. But Obama should address this employee issue the same way President Reagan handled the air-traffic controller strike.
On Aug. 3, 1981, during a press conference, Reagan said of the air-traffic controllers: “They are in violation of the law, and if they do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated.”
To nearly everyone’s astonishment. Reagan fired more than 11,000 government workers. Government employees learned quickly that when you mess with the bull, you get the horns.
Why is it too difficult for this president to haul in department leaders and say: “Audits reveal that your department is responsible for making improper payments that cost taxpayers billions. You have 60 days to correct this problem or you will be fired”?
Many say the government is too big, with too many moving parts and people, for the president to do what I suggest. Baloney.
Reagan showed holding government workers accountable is possible. To make such a bold move, however, requires a leader with backbone.
It’s far easier for the president to sign and stand behind memo legislation than it is to hold his employees accountable.
Robin L. Quillon is the publisher of The Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown, Pa. He can be reached at rquillon@tribdem.com.
