Gregoire cutting 1,000 mid-managers, government costs
By DAVID AMMONS
AP POLITICAL WRITER
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Gov. Christine Gregoire, moving to flesh out her campaign pledge to bring change to Olympia and "blow past the bureaucracy," announced plans Wednesday to eliminate 1,000 middle-managers, cut agency costs by $50 million and slash a welfare program.
The Democratic governor stopped short of saying the efficiencies will help her produce a no-new-taxes budget next week.
Indeed, she told reporters she'll push hard for employee raises and added: "I'm not going to turn my back on education and health care for our citizens. Washington state is going to move forward."
Under repeated questioning, she refused to be more explicit about her plans for taxes. She said she would make those decisions over the weekend, after receiving the new state revenue forecast on Thursday.
In the meantime, she announced cuts she has ordered and that she will use to help close a $2.2 billion spending gap:
-MIDDLE MANAGEMENT. Gregoire said she's eliminating 1,000 managers, most of them from the 5,400-member Washington Management Service, the personnel system that covers management-level positions in state government. That will save $50 million in the next two years, she said.
Gregoire said the management layer of government grew 42 percent over the past six years while rank-and-file employment grew by just 3.6 percent.
"We have too many people pushing paper," she said. "Instead of pushing paper, we need to push people out of management and into delivering real services to real people."
She said some of the savings might be shifted to programs that truly need expansion, such as Child Protective Services workers.
Senate budget Chairwoman Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, said: "I'm absolutely thrilled. They're superfluous and it's time we've got people who get the job done and do it right."
Tim Welch, spokesman for the Washington Federation of State Employees, said his members likewise are thrilled.
"This is long overdue," he said. "Next to our collective bargaining contract, this is the most emotional issue for our members. Our members hate WMS with a passion."
The Legislature is considering a plan by Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee, to restrict growth of the management cadre.
-`SMART BUYING.' Gregoire books another $50 million savings by creating a bulk-purchasing program. "We have been spending too much on our purchases and too much on storing our goods and it has to stop," she said.
She said the state has been paying $5 for a box of file folders and that the new program will get them for $2.43.
-SPENDING CUTS. Gregoire said she has ordered her cabinet to eliminate low-priority programs and trim overhead. She proposed cutting $20 million out of the $28 million welfare job-research program. House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, has endorsed the cut.
Gregoire also proposed eliminating the state Film Office. "Hollywood doesn't need a subsidy from state taxpayers. Movies or TV commercials are shot in Washington because of great scenery, not because we have a film office."
Using a theme from her campaign, the governor said: "I am changing the culture of state government. We must reduce bloated management, cut unnecessary spending and eliminate programs that don't work."
She said a new accountability system will identify additional savings.
"We need to prove to people that the programs they are playing for are working and, if they aren't, we need to make them work or eliminate them," Gregoire said. "I am blowing past the bureaucracy and moving full steam ahead."
The budget-watchdog group Evergreen Freedom Foundation applauded her moves, including the big cuts in the management system, elimination of the film office and the emphasis on bulk purchasing.
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