Gov. Mark R. Warner may well be remembered in history as the “good government” governor. Arguably, he has done more than any of his predecessors to bring best business practices to Virginia state government — no mean accomplishment when you consider that Virginia was already considered one of the two or three best run states in the country long before Warner came to office.
In his farewell speech to the General Assembly, Warner noted that government operations is a topic he gets “jazzed” about, and he listed a number of accomplishments. (I add my comments in italics.)
- We’ve maintained our triple-A bond rating – one of only six states in the nation to have that sterling credit rating. (Warner did a great job responding to the last recession with timely spending cuts. Too bad he felt he had to raise taxes after the crisis had passed. See previous post.)
- We’ve leveraged the state’s buying power with centralized purchasing – savings more than $95 million in fiscal year 2005 alone. (True. But don’t forget, Warner is building on procurement reform launched under Gov. Jim Gilmore.)
- We’ve improved collection of money owed the state, producing over 110 million more dollars each year. (Kudos!)
- We’re finally managing real estate more like a business would, which could save more than $68 million over the next decade. (More kudos! Under Warner, the state has developed the first-ever comprehensive inventory of its real estate assets and obligations. Now it’s time to take the next step and track real estate utilization — find out how much of that office space is actually being used.)
- We’ve undertaken school efficiency reviews in 9 school divisions, identifying almost $10 million in annual savings – a figure that will grow as more divisions participate. (Kudos. But in a multi billion-dollar budget, it’s only a start.)
- Virginia leads the states in a cutting-edge consolidation of information technology. (Double kudos. This initiative hasn’t saved as much money as hoped, but it has significantly improved the quality and security of the state’s IT infrastructure. Also, giving credit where credit is due, Warner aggressively used public-private partnership legislation that the Gilmore administration had put into place.)
- And for the first time in history, we’ve fully replenished our Rainy Day Fund to its Constitutional maximum of more than a Billion dollars. (Bravo!)
I’ve heard many stories, none of which have made it into print or even onto the blog, of the businesslike attitude that Warner has brought to government. Rest assured, this list of accomplishments is an abbreviated one. The Governor and his team deserve a lot of credit for Virginia’s rating by Governing Magazine as the best run state in the country. Let us hope that Gov.-elect Tim Kaine can maintain that distinction.
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