Monday, February 23, 2015

Why Governor Brown is going to fire someone

Here's a challenge for anyone who is not self employed.  I want you to share with me every email coming into or going out of your organization.  Not just yours, but those of everyone who works there.  I promise to keep the emails confidential, unless I decide that something's wrong.  In that case I'll release whatever I want to a newspaper reporter, with however much or however little supporting material I see fit.  I'll also do it anonymously, so you'll have no recourse against me and no way of preventing me from doing it again.

Who's up for it?

I don't think any responsible organization would accept such terms.  Why would they trust my judgment of what is right or wrong?  Even if they trusted my judgment how would they know I wouldn't misinterpret something or misunderstand the context?  And how would they know I'd safeguard sensitive personal or confidential information?

I pose this challenge because that's basically where Oregon's state government is.  A culture of leaking has set in, in which employees are deciding on their own what belongs in public.  Bright red lines have been crossed, such as attorney client privilege.  I don't think any organization could function long under such circumstances.  How do you work in a place where anything you said could be used against you, not in a court of law but in tomorrow's smear piece?

Given that, it shouldn't surprise anyone that one of the first things to happen under Governor Brown is a crackdown on leaking.  If she wants to be in charge, leakers and newspaper reporters can't be.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Another angle to the Kitzhaber scandal

Here is a 2012 TED talk by Dan Carol, a prominent figure in the ongoing Kitzhaber corruption scandal.  He's worked for the state of Oregon since 2011, after he allegedly lined up consulting work for Kitzhaber's fiancee.  Two things jump out at me in this presentation.

One is the reversal of power relationships and a general contempt for workers.  Librarians, sewer workers and DMV employees are "warlords" because they take their roles and responsibilities seriously.  For them to do anything other than instantly comply with whatever is asked of them is "power hoarding."

The other is a disdain for process.  The normal public solutions to public problems,  legislation and regulation, are in his view corrupt and ineffective.  Carol seems to think handshake deals ("less process, more decisions") are preferable.

These themes come together when he considers the construction of the Hoover Dam.  After noting the project was super fast by modern standards (done in two and half years) and also super reckless (130 workers killed in the process), Carol suggests we're too safe now and too regulated.  He doesn't specify how many deaths he thinks are acceptable.

I can see some good things inspired by these ideas, such as the CCO effort.  I can also see how they might lead someone toward cronyism and corruption in a big way.

I don't think the Kitzhaber story is just about Cylvia Hayes.