Dysfunctional - the now acceptable word

Permalink +

Mon, Feb 22, 2010, 7:50 am  //  John Servais

See last paragraph for explanation.

Dysfunctional government. We are reading about that a lot lately from prominent politicians and news commentators. I've been saying that privately to friends for a couple years now. But I didn't have the courage to write it even six months ago. I felt that saying such would simply turn off readers and make them wonder about my ability to understand politics. Just too radical.

Now the term is almost in common use. We especially find the term popular with news commentators lately. Even our Bellingham Herald used it on Sunday in an editorial while reflecting on the rural county septic systems debacle.

I do think our Democratic Republic has become dysfunctional on all levels: Federal, state, county, as well as city and town levels. Dysfunctional is the inability to rationally make decisions and act in your own best interests. It results in out of control costs, unfair taxes, breakdowns of infrastructure and disrespect for public officials. We have that in spades these days - at every level.

So let me state what is as obvious as the fingers on my hand. The cause of dysfunctional government at all levels is two fold. First, our news media does not provide information we need for self government, and second, our social customs lead us to marginalize those who exercise their right of free speech. We citizens don't know what is happening in our governments, and if we speak out candidly we risk hurting our careers or jobs.

Some say I should not criticize the Herald - that it gets in the way of otherwise acceptable comments about our local political scene. Well, this website was started in 1995 because the Herald was covering up scandals and not covering news. The Herald is part of the cause of our local dysfunctional political scene.  I cannot ignore the elephant in the room.

The Herald is our daily newspaper and should be held accountable. Saturday the headline read "Re Sources sues Sumas company." Only a careful reading of the entire article revealed that the suit was five months ago - last September. Hardly news anymore. The article was mostly about how a successful suit would bankrupt this fine county company and cause the loss of many jobs - but then - at the very end was a short sentence that noted Re Sources never collected the fines. They brought the action to stop polluting - not gain revenue. However, the headline and 99% of the article gave the other impression. This leaves all of us - conservatives and liberals - with confused information about what is happening.

I think we citizens need to take responsibility for informing each other about what is happening in our community. And we need to screw up the courage to speak out. This website is an effort and an experiment to try to accomplish both those things. If others have a better or different idea, please put it into action and I'll link to you and bring attention to you. This site is not territorial at all. If you want to join in here, we will welcome you.  No claim to anything other than an effort by a few of us to speak out and use our supposed freedom of speech to address community issues.

The photo at the top? It is a new road - built by order of local government departments - built with the money of the private developer of the homes - and then closed by  local government because they decided the road it connected to was not up to standards. Ordered built as a condition of getting a permit to build the homes, the road has been closed for some months and there are no plans to open it this year.  No plans for when to open it. Dysfunctional government - that we are now getting used to. You haven't seen this news in the Bellingham Herald because they have no desire to embarrass the City or County. Stories like this are all over our City and County. What we have is a dysfunctional daily newspaper. 

Tip Johnson  //  Mon, Feb 22, 2010, 11:07 am

Correct and incorrect:  ReSources does sue to enforce, as the law permits, not to gain revenue.  They do not collect the money, but they do designate a recipient - usually Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, for restoring salmon habitat.

This may hurt the company that has benefited financially by polluting instead of complying.  However, it may be considerably less dysfunctional, because the money goes straight toward fixing the problems. If government were doing their job, ReSources wouldn’t need to sue, but the money would be squandered in bureaucracy, not spent making improvements.

John Servais  //  Mon, Feb 22, 2010, 12:05 pm

Thanks for the correction, Tip.  You bring knowledge that also was not in the Herald article.  Indeed, with poor reporting by our daily newspaper, it is left to us citizens to piece together the news - or continue to live without knowing what is happening of importance in our communities. 

Anyone else have some relevant facts on this issue?

Doug karlberg  //  Mon, Feb 22, 2010, 1:59 pm

When the shareholders in a corporation quit watching, often management takes over and begins to take care of themselves, before they take care of the owners.

This can happen with any organization, that is not actively managed by the owners.

This is the risk of hiring “professional” managers.

Government falls into this category, and media has done an ineffective job of watching government. Citizens have become complacent also.

Government’s professional managers are becoming more and more militant. Often hiding information from their owners. Quietly raising taxes, and calling them fees or fines.

Nothing is more powerful than government, and when government goes awry, the nation pays a huge price.

Nothing is more tragic than to watch our public educational system take care of its own members, before the children. Crippling our kids for life, and taking our future as a nation with it.

All to often this is brought on by government worker’s unions, where nobody can be fired for poor performance and now, their compensation packages exceed the private sector, which bears the burden of higher risks, and lower pay.

The Founding Fathers spoke of public service as a virtue. Today, many parents are steering their children towards government jobs, because of the incredible benefits.

We have lost the “virtue” in public service.

As Ben Franklin was reported to have said:

“When we raise the pay offered for public service, we only attract more scoundrels”

Ben had travelled Europe extensively, and he knew too well that the best jobs were handed out by the King, and not according to talent.

We are suffering from “Franklin’s Disease”..

... we have too many scoundrels in public service.

Ham Hayes  //  Mon, Feb 22, 2010, 9:54 pm

John, thanks for visioning, creating and sustaining Northwest Citizen all these years.  FDR is reported to have said “The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.” 

Silence only serves tyranny.  All who seek the truth and are willing to speak out, whatever their political persuasion, are to be thanked for helping preserve our freedoms.

Hue Beattie  //  Tue, Feb 23, 2010, 5:21 pm

I also thought the Herald was kissing up to business .

What is the location of the photo of the street to dysfunction?

John Servais  //  Tue, Feb 23, 2010, 5:50 pm

The street is out in Cordata.  That neighborhood has been abused by city planners - and by the Parks Department.  The street is named “June Road” and connects W Kellogg Road to Aldrich Road.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of examples of this sort of waste and idiocy by our planners and public works departments.  Perhaps most citizens are just too overwhelmed to care anymore.  This developer had little choice but to quietly comply or be marginalized and have his business wrecked by city bureaucrats.

Craig Mayberry  //  Wed, Feb 24, 2010, 9:50 pm

The answer to why government is dysfunctional at times is complex, but one important element is governance.  Governance “relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It consists either of a separate process or of a specific part of management or leadership processes.” (Wikipedia).  There are many different governance systems, each with its own pros and cons.  The best governance is small business owned by an individual.  If the business fails, the owner fails and because they have so much skin in the game they will go to great lengths (usually) to help employees and customers.  Public corporations use a board of directors as their primary governance devise, but this is far removed from the actual owners (stockholders) that have little power or influence.  Management can co-opt the board and effectively management becomes the governance system which can cause big problems (for example: the banking crisis).  Non-profits are governed by a board of directors and usually works well because the focus is on the mission of the organization. 

Potentially the worst model is government.  In principle the executive branch is responsible for the execution of government, but what is the impact of the failure of government.  98% of incumbents get reelected so does Dan Pike really care if someone complains about a road being closed.  The government officials have pretty much complete autonomy to do what they want with no real repercussions (contrasted with the small business owner or non-profit that loses customers or funding).  You will notice that most of the problems can be traced back to government or public corporations, both of which have problematic governance systems because the people running the organizations have very few checks and balances to make sure the right decisions get made (unlike the small business owner that has lots of checks and balances to make sure they make the right decision).

I have another story about the dysfunctional government.  I was talking to a farmer last night and they were forced to get rid of about 10 cases of pickles that the health official said were done improperly (fortunately they had already sold most of what they produced).  When the farmer asked what process they should use to make the pickles, the health authority person told them the process to use, which happened to be exactly what they did in the first place.  The farmer lost a couple of thousand dollars worth of product, just because the health authority wanted to make a statement.

Government is not always the answer to every problem, because of serious issues with the governance system under which they operate.  There are things that could be done that would help like public campaign financing and term limits which make elected officials more accountable then they are now.

John Servais  //  Thu, Feb 25, 2010, 8:35 am

Craig - thanks.  I agree.  You bring a systems approach to these issues which is appreciated.

What is lacking for more efficient, rational, common sense government is two things, imo.

1.  Knowledge by citizens - voters - of what decisions our elected officials are making and informed perspective on how these decision impact bureaucracies. 

2.  An election system that actually allows us to elect the people whom we think will do a good or better job. 

As things are now, our news media fail us terribly.  On some levels, the local newspaper publishers have always been in bed with local governments, police and advertisers.  The myth is they ever were watch dogs.  I started working for a daily newspaper in 1960 and there was more complete coverage of meetings and issues in those days but the perspective was very much in favor of the establishment and the monied interests of the community. 

Our election process is little more democratic than the awful systems of the Soviet Union that we used to mock and laugh at.  Rick Larsen is a case in point.  Neither Democrats nor Republicans want him but he is rock solid in his office because the system does not allow a viable challenger to get onto the final ballot.  The two party system has setup this country to prevent upsets.

Until we change this system, we will continue to be very dysfunctional.  We can exist a long time this way as the tax payers simply continue to pay for the waste.  My Tea Party friends have their complaints and emotions correct but they don’t seem to be able to connect with supporting real reform.

Craig Mayberry  //  Thu, Feb 25, 2010, 10:47 am

John,

I struggle with the knowledge by the citizens issue and what to do about it.  Today in my ethics class we had a student presentation on the ethics of violence in video games (same principles apply when we talk about marketing to children, tobacco, gambling, etc).  Ultimately it comes down to who is responsible.  Is it the parents responsibility to monitor the video games their children are playing, is it the video game makers for producing realistically looking violent games (they showed a video clip of a game where you can walk into a hospital emergency room and shoot everyone).  As much as I want to take the position of it being the parents responsibility, I cannot help but think that the manufacturers are more culpable for producing it in the first place (are profits really that important that you have to produce a realistically violent video game in order to make money?).

I face the same dilemma in the political arena.  Is it the voters responsibility to be educated and make good choices, or are the politicians doing stupid things just as culpable?  I agree that voters should be more educated on the issues, but they also have to balance work, family, and many other issues, so can I really blame them for not understanding every nuance of the health care debate (or knowing that a road was unjustifably closed).  Politicians get elected to make the right decisions and balance the needs of all of the voters, shouldn’t they fulfill their obligation irrespective of whether the voter really understands the details?

It is a fascinating conversation that would be great to continue to have in this and other forums.

Ham Hayes  //  Fri, Feb 26, 2010, 7:03 am

Craig,  The ethics discussion helps us understand our role as citizens.  Every institution, be it government, the press or business, is corruptible by corrupt individuals.  The video game maker is accountable for staying within the law, i.e. uncorrupted. But it is ultimately the individual’s responsibility, personally and as a community for defining the law and being vigilant. And the parent has that same responsibility for their children as long as they are minors. 

Fighting corruption in our public and private institutions, be it Congress, Toyota, or a dysfunctional press is also an individual personal responsibility.  Trusting others to do that job for us is hiring the wolf to herd the sheep.  The wolf may have a good resume, “Cares about sheep”, but unless watched will ultimately decide to invite a few lambs to lunch.  I agree with John that the press being a trustworthy watchdog is more myth than fact. In some cases, just enough myth to cover the wolf.  Fact is, no matter how difficult it is or how appealing it might be, citizens cannot shed their watchdog role without fear of the consequences.

UPDATE: City of Bham Moonlighting Issue - More Documents

Mon, Jan 30, 2012, 10:58 pm  //  Riley Sweeney

Riley updates us on the latest facts coming to light about City of Bellingham employee moonlighting

2 comments; last on Feb 01, 2012

Compliance, Noncompliance and Invalidity in Whatcom County

Sun, Jan 29, 2012, 10:16 pm  //  Wendy Harris

The County's rural planning actions have not just failed to comply with the GMA...they have contradicted the goals of the GMA.

2 comments; last on Feb 01, 2012

Specializing in German vehicles.

A Worm’s Eye View of our local WorkSource Center

Wed, Jan 25, 2012, 9:42 am  //  Riley Sweeney

Riley visits the local WorkSource center and interviews the regional director

0 comments

Watch out for basement flooding

Thu, Jan 19, 2012, 9:03 pm  //  Paul de Armond

Stormwater surge may back up sewers

5 comments; last on Jan 21, 2012

The Political Junkie interviews Kathy Kershner

Thu, Jan 19, 2012, 4:29 pm  //  Riley Sweeney

Riley discusses the Jail, Jack Louws, and an impartial council with our new Council Chair

1 comments; last on Jan 20, 2012

SOPA - A Step in Destroying Democracy

Thu, Jan 19, 2012, 12:17 am  //  John Servais

NWCitizen.com went black for Wednesday, Jan 18, 2012, as a protest against proposed legislation, SOPA and PIPA. Here is what was posted.

1 comments; last on Jan 19, 2012

Why SOPA is so terrible

Tue, Jan 17, 2012, 6:28 pm  //  John Servais

On Wednesday, thousands of websites will go dark to show opposition to SOPA. I will be posting a single article explaining who SOPA is so bad.

0 comments

Planning Commissioner Mocks Environmental Concern For Coal Terminal

Sat, Jan 14, 2012, 11:06 pm  //  Wendy Harris

Planning Commissioner Onkels should recuse himself from review of environmental impacts at GPT.

2 comments; last on Jan 16, 2012

Jack Petree, Olympia, the Whatcom Council and Obama’s Inner Circle

Wed, Jan 11, 2012, 8:04 am  //  Riley Sweeney

Latest from the Political Junkie on a variety of subjects

7 comments; last on Jan 15, 2012

Commmunity Governance at its Best

Mon, Jan 09, 2012, 8:27 pm  //  Tip Johnson

We have a new mayor!

4 comments; last on Jan 10, 2012

Property Rights Protected Under Lake Whatcom Stormwater Proposal

Sun, Jan 08, 2012, 11:02 pm  //  Wendy Harris

The County's proposed stormwater regulations for Lake Whatcom will increase development without improving water quality

2 comments; last on Jan 20, 2012

Riley Rouses Row Over Domestic Violence

Sun, Jan 08, 2012, 1:21 am  //  John Servais

Issue is County Council member Kathy Kershner and how our social service programs are funded.

3 comments; last on Jan 08, 2012

Some thoughts on the Occupy Bellingham issue

Sun, Jan 01, 2012, 12:05 am  //  John Servais

A third note on Jan 1 about the Herald photos with links. And previous thoughts on the trivia around the militarized evictions.

9 comments; last on Jan 10, 2012

Kelli Linville has taken oath as mayor

Fri, Dec 30, 2011, 2:07 pm  //  John Servais

Kelli assumes office of mayor at midnight Dec 31

6 comments; last on Jan 02, 2012

Bellingham Herald removes comments

Fri, Dec 30, 2011, 11:59 am  //  Wendy Harris

Decide for yourself if this blog comment, posted under my own name, should have been flagged and removed from the Bellingham Herald Online Edition.

1 comments; last on Dec 30, 2011

Herald Permits Censorship of Pro-Occupy Bellingham Comments

Fri, Dec 30, 2011, 11:14 am  //  Wendy Harris

Anyone can "flag" a blog posting, resulting in immediate removal of your comment, regardless of merit. This is occuring for comments supporting OB.

1 comments; last on Dec 30, 2011

City Exceeds Scope of Occupy Bellingham Eviction

Wed, Dec 28, 2011, 8:26 pm  //  Wendy Harris

The City infringed on the public’s right to peaceful assembly in a public park by enforcing an inappropriate public safety law

2 comments; last on Dec 30, 2011

Dan Pike Issues Order to Evict Occupy Bellingham

Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 11:55 am  //  Riley Sweeney

Riley questions Pike's timing, and Occupy's choice of tactics

2 comments; last on Dec 28, 2011

Updates from The Political Junkie

Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 2:19 pm  //  Riley Sweeney

Where Riley provides more info on the City of Bellingham employees moonlighting issue and Crawford's ethical troubles

0 comments

Dock Increases Risk of Invasive Species on Lake Whatcom

Sun, Dec 18, 2011, 8:43 pm  //  Wendy Harris

Relocation of a dock to Bloedel Donovan Park underscores failure to protect Lake Whatcom from invasive species

0 comments

Sam Crawford Faces Ethical Concerns . . . AGAIN

Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 12:44 pm  //  Riley Sweeney

Local blogger Shane Roth files ethical complaint over Crawford's sweetheart deals

3 comments; last on Dec 16, 2011

Planning Commission Fails to Remove Cherry Point From Birch Bay Mitigation Plan

Wed, Dec 14, 2011, 7:05 am  //  Wendy Harris

Claiming it is unfair to treat large property owners different than small property owners, the Commission refuses to remove industrial areas from buffer mitigation proposal.

0 comments

Rick Perry, Can We Talk?

Tue, Dec 13, 2011, 9:58 am  //  Riley Sweeney

Riley has a conversation with Rick Perry

2 comments; last on Dec 16, 2011

For Gift Ideas, Think Beyond Parker Brothers

Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 9:32 am  //  Riley Sweeney

Riley discusses his love of board games and some good gift ideas

2 comments; last on Dec 11, 2011

The Political Junkie needs your input

Thu, Dec 08, 2011, 12:47 pm  //  Riley Sweeney

Please take my reader's survey, I'm planning 2012

0 comments

Loophole Benefits SSA and Undermines Birch Bay Mitigation Proposal

Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 7:00 am  //  Wendy Harris

Tell the Planning Commission to eliminate this loophole

2 comments; last on Dec 14, 2011

Washington United for Marriage: It’s Time!

Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 11:12 am  //  Riley Sweeney

Riley attends a public meeting on equality

0 comments

The Cole Train: Loads of BS

Sun, Dec 04, 2011, 4:53 pm  //  Tip Johnson

Wherein the sooty prospect of economic necessity rears its ugly head

2 comments; last on Dec 04, 2011

Update on Cherry Point Buffer Mitigation Proposal

Fri, Dec 02, 2011, 1:08 pm  //  Wendy Harris

Planning Staff's recommended revision will not prevent SSA from reducing wetland buffers.

0 comments

UPDATE: City’s response focused on favoritism, not lost revenue

Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 5:51 pm  //  Riley Sweeney

More on the city employee moonlighting issue

0 comments

TPJ Exclusive: Little Documented Oversight for City Employee Moonlighting

Mon, Nov 28, 2011, 4:29 pm  //  Riley Sweeney

The Political Junkie breaks a story of employee moonlighting within city of Bellingham

7 comments; last on Nov 30, 2011

Deer me!

Sat, Nov 26, 2011, 3:30 pm  //  Tip Johnson

O.K. Who's in charge of all these ungulates?

14 comments; last on Dec 01, 2011

County Proposal Includes New Cherry Point Buffer Mitigation Requirements

Tue, Nov 22, 2011, 9:29 pm  //  Wendy Harris

The County's new mitigation proposal is unlikely to be adequate for Cherry Point's industrial impacts to habitat buffers

3 comments; last on Nov 24, 2011

CameraGate:  Red-light safety or city revenue?

Mon, Nov 21, 2011, 1:00 am  //  Guest writer

With budget woes, Bellingham passes on safety in favor of cash. Starting in 2008, Bellingham officials were coached by ATS on how to get Red Light cameras through…

26 comments; last on Nov 29, 2011

Cameras, not coal, decided the election

Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 8:24 pm  //  Paul de Armond

Looking at the numbers for the Bellingham elections

11 comments; last on Nov 22, 2011

Election Analysis: What does it take to win a county seat?

Fri, Nov 18, 2011, 12:28 pm  //  Riley Sweeney

Riley examines Maginnis/Crawford and Kremen/Larson

0 comments

Election Analysis: Dropoff, Lynden Suburbs and the “Buys Bounce”

Thu, Nov 17, 2011, 5:20 pm  //  Riley Sweeney

Riley looks at Lynden and coins some new phrases.

0 comments

Political Junkie Election Analysis: Louws/Ericksen

Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 12:31 pm  //  Riley Sweeney

Riley takes a look at Louws/Ericksen in the search for moderate Republicans

1 comments; last on Nov 17, 2011

Kelli Linville is elected Mayor of Bellingham

Tue, Nov 15, 2011, 5:21 pm  //  John Servais

Results are posted as of 5:21 pm. Use links at top of right side column.

2 comments; last on Nov 15, 2011

Padden Trails Rezone – You Should Be Worried

Tue, Nov 15, 2011, 9:43 am  //  Dick Conoboy

The Padden Trails rezone effort is a misuse of the Infill Tool Kit on the outskirts of Bellingham.

8 comments; last on Nov 16, 2011

Still over 6,000 ballots to count

Mon, Nov 14, 2011, 4:52 pm  //  John Servais

Kelli Linville takes safe lead for mayor of Bellingham. Sam Crawford is leading for county council.

1 comments; last on Nov 14, 2011

 

New links

Colbert Super Pac

Current Interest

Bham Camera Scam
Colbert Super Pac

Local Blogs & News

Bellingham Herald
Bham Politics & Economics
Bhm Herald Politics Blog
Bob Sanders
Cascadia Weekly
Citizen Ted
Ferndale Record
Foothills Gazette
Get Whatcom Planning
HamsterTalk
KGMI
Latte Republic
Lynden Tribune
MikeatthePort
Northern Light
Northwest Review
Sweeney Politics
Twilight Zoning
Wally Wonders
Western Front - WWU
Whatcom Watch

Local causes

Bham Camera Scam
Bham CofC political blog
Chuckanut Mountains
Citizens of Bellingham
City Club of Bham
Community Wise Bellingham
Conservation NW
Cordata & Meridian
Futurewise - Whatcom
Jail - local mega plans
Lake Whatcom
N. Cascades Audubon
N. Sound Conservancy
Neighborhood Schools Coalition
No Leaky Buckets
NW Holocaust Center
RE Sources
Transition Whatcom
WA Conservation Voters

Publisher recommended

Americans Elect 2012
Bham Politics & Economics
Community Wise Bellingham
Guardian Unlimited
Paul Krugman - economics
Redistricting WA state
Sweeney Politics
Watts Up With That? - climate
WikiLeaks.ch

NwCitizen 1995 to 2008

Early Northwest Citizen

Weather & Climate

Cliff Mass Weather Blog
Climate Audit
NW Radar
Two day forecast
Watts Up With That? - climate

Cascadia

Crosscut Seattle
Joel Connelly
Orcinus
Portland Indy Media
Seattle Indy Media
Washington Votes

Leisure

Adventures NW
Edge of Sports
Entertainment NNW
Famous Internet Skiers
Sailing Anarchy

Worth checking out

Al-Jazeera online
Alaska Dispatch
AlterNet.org
Americans Elect 2012
Antiwar.com
Arab News
Asia Times
Atlantic, The
Buzz Flash
Common Dreams
counterpunch
Daily Beast, The
Daily Kos
Daily Mirror
Drudge Report
FiveThirtyEight
Foreign Policy in Focus
Guardian Unlimited
Gulf News
Haaretz
Huffington Post
Innocence Project, The
Intrnational Herald Tribune
James Fallows
Jerusalem Post
Juan Cole
Le Diplo
Media Matters
Middle East Times
MoveOn.org
Nation, The
New American Century
News Trust
NMFA
numbers
Online Journal
Palestine Daily
Palestine News
Paul Krugman - economics
Personal bio info
Politico
Progressive Review
Project Vote Smart
Reuters
Sea Shepherd
Slate
Talking Points Memo
The Onion
Tom Paine.com
truthout
War and Piece
WikiLeaks.ch
ynetnews.com

Governments

Auditor election page
Bellingham
Bham - PFD
Candidate Filings
Election Results
Redistricting WA state
Skagit County
The White House
WA State Access
WA State Elections
WA State Legislature
Whatcom Auditor
Whatcom County

Other - for whatever

Ban Red Light Cams
BushFlash.com
Chickehhawks
Coal quandary
Doonesbury
George Bush
Info Clearing House
Mainstreampolitics
Michael Moore
Nat Geo on Coal Trains
Reality News
The Crisis Papers
Third World Traveler
Unity08
Washington Outsiders

Less active

Bellingham Register
Carl Weimer
Eye on Whatcom
John Watts
Post-Oklahoman Confessions
The American Telegraph

Quiet, offline or dead

David Hackworth
Gitmo prisoner 345
Mega Awesome
Not in my county
Parkenfarker
Pro-Whatcom