04-18-2009, 04:59 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Chuysmom
Admittedly, there are way too many positions that are superfluous. Hawaii is top-heavy for sure.
Bingo! I think grunt-level public safety (and my definition of public safety includes Child Protective Services) should be exempt from lay-offs. I will never be convinced, however, that we need all the layers of bureaucracy that we have in Hawaii State Government. This is particularly true of the Department of Education where there are all those "coordinators" and "liasons."
I actually met someone with one of those jobs, and I asked her what she did. Her reply was that she facilitated communication between two DOE bureaucratic sub-departments. When I suggested that if those folks could not communicate with each other, perhaps they needed to be replaced or eliminated, you should have seen the horrified look I got.
Raising taxes in a deep recession when most of the citizens are having to be frugal with their money is not the answer. I do not accept that the state employees are sacred cows who should not have to face the economic realities of the times. There is definitely fat there to be cut, and nearly all of it is at the top.
Cheers,
Jerry