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Bipartisan Information Technology Lies
By Greg L | 15 December 2008 | Virginia Politics | 4 Comments
Our government bureaucrats and elected officials must think that we’re just plain stupid. When these idiots are getting heat for screwing something up, it seems that the new “out” is to say something utterly vapid about information technology, figuring that the unwashed masses will simply buy the BS and forget how badly they’re screwing up. This week we are blessed with not one, but two perfect examples.
In regards to the failure of Virginia’s $2 billion dollar outsourcing deal to Northrop Grumman that continues to miss deadlines and performance goals is this gem from Virginia Information Technologies Agency Chief Lemuel Stewart:
“Service delays are not only expected,” Stewart told the state’s Joint Commission on Technology and Science this month, “they are often a sign of progress.”
Only in government would someone point to endemic failure as evidence of success. Doing less for more is the new mantra of VITA, and it’s only costing us billions of taxpayer dollars. With those dollars, they’ve so far conducted no less than five audits to try to figure out how many computers the Commonwealth owns, and they still don’t know.
Not to be entirely outdone, House of Delegates Speaker Howell has relented to the pressure to have subcommittee votes actually recorded rather than offer him a convenient way of exercising political power in the General Assembly. Here’s the announcement, that was issued in a recent press release:
“Our efforts to improve the House did not end with the changes we instituted when Virginians first entrusted us with the responsibilities of the majority. History shows that w have enacted changes and improvements throughout this decade. This year, is no different. For the first time in history, delegates will be limited in the number of bills they can submit during the so-called “short” 45-day Session which originally was intended primarily to amend the state budget. Solely because of this reduction in overall legislation, we can further increase the efficiency of our operations and better utilize legislative staff. As a result, the added task of placing recorded votes taken by the House, its standing committees and subcommittees online on the Legislative Information System (LIS) has become possible and I have directed the Clerk of the House to begin this practice – for the first time in history – during the 2009 session.
So Speaker Howell gets in a jab at Delegate Bob Marshall, who represents about three times as many constituents than anyone else in the House, limiting the number of bills that delegates can introduce, and this pittance of a change somehow makes it possible for House committees to record votes. What a crock of pre-Christmas hooey. At least this baloney isn’t costing us billions of dollars.
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4 Comments
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Governmentspeak is the ultimate perfection of Orwell’s doublespeak.
Howell’s comments are disingenuous, he will still hold bills in rules that he doesn’t like and not assign them to committee or assign them to a committee and then direct the committee chair to hold them and not assign them.. Good bills get essentially pocket vetoed by Howell and his corrupt committee chairs. BTW, this is not the first time in history that sub committee votes have been recorded, this will however be the first time they are available online.
I spoke to several folks in several departments in State Government, this grumman deal is a biggger boondogle than expressed publically, people are waiting 2-3 months to have a desk top computer repaired. The other companies involved in the “public-private” partnership wee amazed at the service levels Grumman signed up for at the price it negotiated, all otheres said this will be a disaster and sure enough it is.
You must be talking about the 800 million bond issue that was approved by the citizens of PWC on the stated fact per Stewart as leader of the Board that there would be no tax increase needed to pay for these bonds. It seems they will have to have a tax increase to be able to pay for these bonds and that is why they are not being issued. Of course our local politicans are so smart and lie so well but who cares !!!!