THERE’S DOGE AND THEN THERE’S DOGE

When the federal government announced that it intended to create a new Department of Government Efficiency, we had our doubts – which were fulfilled when the news emerged that the vast majority of DOGE’s efforts were to cut back on government employees to the extent that some agencies have been hobbled by the lack of trained workers.

Soon enough we began to hear that a number of states, which were led by Republicans, were also starting programs with the phrase DOGE, or a variation like COGE (Committee on Government Efficiency) attached, including Florida, Oklahoma, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri and others.

But the power of rhyme aside, in many instances these have been a different exercise than that which was once led by Elon Musk at the federal level. For one thing, while many of the state efforts were created by legislation or executive order, the federal version was essentially an advisory body, free-wheeling in its approach, but with no internal mechanism for making sure its recommendations turned into actions – even though a number accomplished just that, reflected by the number of federal workers who lost their jobs.

In fact, it turns out that many of these state-level DOGE efforts are more similar to old-fashioned streamlining initiatives – the best of which save dollars while ensuring that the level of service is maintained or improved.

Take Kansas, for example. The heart of its COGE effort is a government efficiency portal, which allows residents of the state to submit ideas for making their government more effective and efficient. Back in February, Oklahoma’s effort labeled DOGE-OK was established to demonstrate “that Oklahoma is committed to smarter government,” Governor Kevin Stitt was quoted as saying. “We’re focused on reducing waste, investing in efficiency and delivering better services to Oklahomans without raising costs.”

For example, the state’s Department of Transportation, has combined, “district facilities and crews, instead of undertaking the cost to potentially replace each individual building,” according to a release. “Depending on the number of crews combined, these enhanced facilities will save ODOT approximately $2.9-$5 million per facility and allow district personnel to efficiently collaborate, cross-train, and maintain heavy field equipment. Efforts are underway in District Four, District Seven and District One, for a combined savings of about $12.9 million.”

It seems to us that it’s a pity that these states, which are launching efforts to save money and deliver services more efficiently felt impelled to use DOGE-like wording in their creation. This, we think, politicized initiatives, many of which were just good old-fashioned management.

For example, in March, according to an AP article, Wisconsin, avoided that trap when it created a GOAT committee, which stands for Government Operations, Accountability and Transparency. Three of its nine members are Democrats. What’s more, unlike the federal government, “the committee can’t unilaterally fire state workers or slash government spending. Broad actions like that require action by the full legislature which is controlled by Republicans in addition to Democratic Governor Tony Evers.”

Even though we make every effort to avoid raising political issues in this space, it seems to us that the politicization of good management by copying the Trump Administration’s labeling, is an unfortunate trend – particularly when many Republican efforts have not taken a page out of the federal DOGE’s book.

Over the course of years, we’ve tried to point to streamlining efforts as much as possible, regardless of the party affiliation of the state leaders involved. But picking up on the DOGE name does a disservice, we believe to this good work.

While there may be some states that genuinely want to follow in the footsteps of the federal DOGE efforts, we haven’t come across any that are genuinely inclined to following the federal model, such as it is.

As our friends and colleagues Don Kettl and Phil Joyce recently pointed out, “At first, Musk promised to find $2 trillion in savings. Then the pledge dropped to $1 trillion. Then he struggled to document any savings at all.”

The states can be – and are – doing much better than that. 

#StateandLocalGovernmentManagement #StateGovernmentEfficiency #StateandLocalGovernmentPerformanceManagement #DOGEinStateGovernment #StateDOGEvsFederalDOGE #StateStreamliningInitiatives #WisconsinGOAT #KansasCOGE #DOGEOklahoma #DifferenceBetweenStateandFederalDOGE #StreamliningAndPolitics #StateGovernmentAccountability #TransportationStreamliningIdeas #StateResidentOutreach #KansasStreamliningOutreach #StateandLocalHr #StateandLocalGovernmentPerformance #StateandLocalHumanResourcesManagement #StateandLocalGovernmentWorkforce #StateStreamliningIdeas #BandGReport #BarrettandGreeneInc