HOW TO MAKE AN IMPACT

 

What does a homegrown citizen movement look like?

Jefferson County, West Virginia is a rural county located 60 miles northwest of Washington, DC.  It is known for being the location of John Brown’s Raid and other significant events in American history.  Tourists flock to enjoy breathtaking scenery. 

Jefferson’s neighbor, Loudoun County, Virginia, is America’s fastest growing county.  In the late 1980s, land speculators swarmed into Jefferson County viewing its untouched farmland as a developer gold mine.

The speculators were welcomed into Jefferson County by “Court House” insiders.  This web of family and business elites had run Jefferson since the Civil War. Elected and appointed officials had grown arrogant, unaccountable, and out of touch with the citizens they were supposed to serve.  By the late 1990s, they were about to leverage their unchallenged power to reap the riches of urban sprawl.

In 1998, the developers briefly exposed their agenda by presenting a master plan to run water and sewer lines throughout the Jefferson County, literally laying the groundwork for explosive growth.  Local officials embraced the plan.  More importantly, they shut down public comment and held countless meetings without involving, or even informing, the public. 

The water and sewer master plan, and the blatant abuse of power by the Court House elite, were the sparks that ignited one of the most successful local reform movements in America.

A dozen concerned citizens mapped out a strategy to create a “level playing field”.  This meant opening-up public meetings to the public; making public documents readily available to the public; making sure elected and appointed officials served public, not private, agendas, and making sure the rule of law prevailed. 

The first step was creating an information network so the diverse and geographically dispersed concerned citizens could communicate and share knowledge.  The “Listener” website and forum quickly grew to 1,000 participants.  It spawned home-based gatherings to discuss what to do.  One group, the “Sewer Underground” met bi-weekly and focused on stopping the water/sewer lines.

As local officials flaunted their conflicts of interest, it became clear that only by electing “reform minded” candidates would things change.  Reformers ran classified ads in the local newspapers to recruit candidates.  In 2000, one answered the call.

This first candidate had never run for office, in fact she broke out in sweats when speaking publicly.  She ran for County Commissioner against a well-financed and well-connected member of the Court House elite.  She lost, but inspired others.

In 2002, “Citizens for Jefferson’s Future” ran another set of ads for candidates.  This time they fielded a complete slate for the School Board and for two County Commission seats.  They won them all.  Their 2000 losing candidate was one of the landslide winners for the School Board, ending years of nepotism and sole source contracting.

In 2004, Jennifer Maghan, a recently returned veteran, answered the ad for County Clerk.  She was interviewed by reform leaders at the local Dairy Queen.  It was a critical moment.  The longest serving clerk in West Virginia was retiring and the Court House elites wanted complete control of voting and public records.  The local media consistently supported the Court House candidates and denigrated the reformers.

Jennifer was outspent 10-1, but her charismatic personality and the 2002 momentum won the day.  The reformers also won another County Commission seat achieving a 3-2 majority.  Jennifer became the first Republican to become Jefferson County Clerk since the county was formed in 1803.  She also became the first Korean-American to be elected to public office in West Virginia’s history.

Emboldened by two series of victories that shocked the Court House elite, the reformers moved swiftly to revolutionize the County’s government, digitalizing documents, creating websites, and ushering in the most open and transparent government in the state.

Battles were won, but the war continued.  The developers created their own Political Action Committee (PAC) and hired consultants.  They fought their way back into a County Commission majority in 2008. 

Thankfully in 2010, Jennifer was re-elected by the largest margin in the county’s history.  She was catapulted to national prominence by turning her opponents attack, “stop stirring the pot”, into her campaign symbol.  Her ads went viral and were merchandized as t-shirts. They became iconic in the battle to topple the Court House elite.  It bolstered the election of a reform-minded judge, who won by a landslide.

In 2014, a veteran was recruited to run for County Commission.  He was the first candidate to exclusively use Facebook to achieve victory.  That same year, the reformers recruited two faith-based House of Delegate candidates.  Both became the “gold standard” for door-to-door campaigning. One won and one lost.  The one who lost ran for State Senate in 2016 and won, having been outspent 21-1!

2016 was the landslide year for the reformers.  They won everything.  Two Commissioners, a new Clerk (as Jennifer retired), all state legislative seats in the County, and for the first time since the County was formed in 1803, a Republican County Prosecutor.

Today, Jefferson County remains a model for open accountable government and citizen activism. 

The lessons are numerous:

•      Have a strategy.
•          Have a committed core of leaders who will remain involved for years.
•      Realize that it will take years to sustainably prevail.
•      Actively recruit candidates. Do not depend on party functionaries.
•      Always look for new candidates as elected ones will retire or run for other offices.  Never let the other side’s candidates run unopposed.

·        One way to recruit and credential candidates is appoint them to local boards and commissions (planning, emergency service, parks & recreations, etc.).  Serving on these panels is a great way to learn about government processes, running meetings, public speaking, and messaging.

•         Losses are inevitable.  Learn and regroup.
•         Good candidates and good issues will live to win another day.
•      The opposition will not give up and will fight back.
•      Combine technology (social media) with traditional actions (door-to-door).
•      Money matters but mobilizing volunteers and igniting “fervor” among your supporters matter more.

MOST IMPORTANT:

Deliver on your promises.  Voters want change – give it to them.

 

 

WEST VIRGINIA's PERPETUAL STRUGGLE

West Virginia Convention - Wheeling 1861

CONSTITUTING AMERICA'S SERIES ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The origins of West Virginia, its current challenges, and its political dynamics are all embodied in a unique case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1870.

In Virginia v. West Virginia, 78 U.S. 11 Wall. 39 39 (1870) 78 U.S. (11 Wall.) 39 two counties demanded to be reinstated into Virginia.  The Court ultimately prevented Berkeley and Jefferson Counties from returning to Virginia.  In the process, the Civil War and the battlefield origins of West Virginia were reviewed in detail.  Three Justices dissented, asserting that the birth of West Virginia was chaotic and violated the rights of local citizens in the Eastern Panhandle.

The three judge dissent reveals origins of the state’s current political tensions.  Citizens in the Eastern Panhandle continue to agitate against the highly centralized state government.

Virginian political leaders initiated a process to succeed from the Union in January 1861.  As a Commonwealth, Virginia gave deference to county representation.  Initially, the 152 delegates were solidly pro-Union.  However, old regional rivalries surfaced.

Delegates from the western counties of Virginia raised the issue of unequal political power with the eastern sections of the state.  This east-west divide had been simmering since the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829.  That State Constitution required a property qualification for voting. This disenfranchised many yeoman farmers in the more mountainous western counties. It also embraced counting slaves on a three-fifths basis for apportioning representation. Every county beyond the Alleghenies, except one, rejected the 1829 constitution, which still passed with overwhelming eastern support. The issue of regional inequality erupted again during the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851.  

On the morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate cannons opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. After the Fort’s surrender on April 13, President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to forcibly return the rebellious states to the Union.  This was enough for the succession proponents in the Virginia Convention to prevail on April 17, 1861.

A formal vote, by county, was scheduled for May 23, 1861. 

Successionists took matters into their own hands and attacked the Federal Arsenal in Harpers Ferry on the evening of April 18.

The Eastern Panhandle became the site for over 60 Civil War Battles.  Local communities descended into chaos as Union and Confederate armies competed for control of this critical north-south gateway.  Some towns changed hands dozens of times.   

Pro-Union forces in western Virginia formed a separate state in June 1861.  Former Virginia Governor, and Confederate General, Henry Wise reported that, “The Kanawha Valley is wholly traitorous…You cannot persuade these people that Virginia can or ever will reconquer the northwest.”

Early in the Civil War, Union forces solidified control of northern Virginia (Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax). President Lincoln and the U.S. Congress merged this Unionist beachhead with the western counties as the “free” state of Virginia. 

On August 20, 1861, Lincoln empowered this military-backed civilian entity to establishment the separate state of West Virginia from the pro-Union western counties that opted-out of the Succession Convention.

A “free” state convention met in Wheeling, November 26, 1861, and drafted the "Constitution of West Virginia". It designated forty-four counties, "formerly part of the State of Virginia," to be "included in and form part of the State of West Virginia." The Counties of Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, Morgan, Frederick, Berkeley, and Jefferson were not named as part of the state.

The new West Virginia constitution left open the possibility of adding additional counties:

“if a majority of the votes cast at the election or elections held as provided in the schedule hereof, in the district composed of the Counties of Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan, shall be in favor of the adoption of this constitution, the said four counties shall be included in and form part of the State of West Virginia, and if the same shall be so included, and a majority of the votes cast at the said election or elections, in the district composed of Berkeley, Jefferson, and Frederick, shall be in favor of the adoption of this constitution, then the three last-named counties shall also be included in and form part of the State of West Virginia."

Under the terms of this Constitution, an inclusion vote was held on the first Thursday in April,1862, for citizens in the original forty-four counties, and those living in Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan.

Significantly, no one in the counties of Berkeley, Jefferson, or Frederick voted on the matter, because:

"from the 1st of June, 1861, to the 1st of March, 1862, during which time these proceedings for the formation of a new state were held, those counties were in the possession and under the absolute control of the forces of the Confederate States, and that an attempt to hold meetings in them to promote the formation of the new state would have been followed by immediate arrest and imprisonment."

A series of laws were passed within the “free” state of Virginia authorizing the military-backed State Legislature to certify popular support for counties being added to the new state of “West Virginia”. On January 31, 1863, the “free” state of Virginia gave consent for the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson to be transferred to the State of West Virginia.  Frederick County, still under Confederate control, remained in the old Virginia.

At the national level, an enabling act was approved by President Lincoln on December 31, 1862 for admitting West Virginia, on the condition that a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery be inserted in the state constitution.

The West Virginia state convention reconvened on February 12, 1863, and passed a new constitution including the abolition provision. The revised constitution was adopted on March 26, 1863.  On April 20, 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation admitting West Virginia as the 35^th state effective on June 20, 1863.

West Virginians in the eastern panhandle bridled under being forcibly included in a Union state.  Rumors were rampant that the owners of the B&O Railroad engineered their inclusion because they did not want their rail line going through a southern state.  This led to the 1870 Supreme Court decision. As recently as the 1990s, the Mayor of Charles Town, the county seat of Jefferson County, explored reopening the case.

Unlike its origins, West Virginia choose not to be a Commonwealth.  It remains one of the most centralized state governments in America, possibly for maintaining unity among entrenched regional interests.  Only recently did the West Virginia legislature authorize limited home rule for certain municipalities.  The power of counties to control growth and levy impact fees is less than 20 years old.

West Virginia’s turbulent genesis, and its Charleston-centric political power, has led to the state earning a reputation for corruption and incompetence.  “Democrats are controlled by the coal mining unions; Republicans are controlled by the coal mining executives” observed a Republican legislator. 

The state is challenged in finding its economic bearings as coal use declines.  It lacks internet access (West Virginia has the worst connectivity of the fifty states, while neighboring Virginia has the best).  Teacher unions and a bloated state bureaucracy make West Virginia one of the most expensive per-student school systems in the country, while consistently placing 49 or 50 in academic achievement.  The state steadily loses population, except for the eastern panhandle and the state Capitol of Charleston. 

Except for recent Presidential elections, Democrats dominate the state.  In 2016, Republicans won control of both the House of Delegates and the State Senate for the first time in 82 years.  In Jefferson County, formed in 1803, it took until 2004 for the first Republican Clerk to be elected. The first Republican Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney was elected in 2018.

PRESERVING REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT

[Editors Note:  On June 21, 2016 a Republican Member of the Jefferson County Commission was arrested on a variety of sex charges.  He resigned the next day.  Under West Virginia Law, the remaining four members of the County Commission had thirty days to appoint a replacement.  WV Law was unclear as to whether a person had to reside in the Magisterial District or even had to be a Republican.  Eighteen people applied for the position.  Only three were Republicans from the District.

While the letter of the law was unclear, this column, published in local newspapers, called for embracing the spirit of the law and the fundamentals of Representative Government.

On July 21, 2016, the Jefferson County Commission voted 3-1 to appoint a Republican who resided in the Magisterial District.  This column, along with many citizen letters and emails to the Commissioners, made the case for doing the right thing.  A small, but significant, victory for Representative Government.]

There is much at stake in the Jefferson County Commission vacancy.  It is as much about how it is filled as who fills it.  Every Jefferson County citizen should hope the remaining Commissioners select the best possible individual for our community.

 

This vacancy provides an opportunity for the Jefferson County Commission earn public trust. This can only happen if the spirit, not just the letter, of West Virginia law is upheld.

 

This means that the County Commission should select a registered Republican who is a real Republican.  This means that the Commission should select a person who actually lives, and has been active, in the communities within the Harpers Ferry Magisterial District.

 

In 2014, the voters of Jefferson County clearly decided a Republican should represent them for six years on the County Commission.  Being a registered Republican should be the minimum criteria.  The person should be active in the Republican Party and support its candidates.  Selecting a person who was ineligible to run in the May 10, 2016 West Virginia Republican primary would make a travesty of the process.

 

Jefferson County is complex for its size and population. The issues of most concern to those in the Harpers Ferry Magisterial District are unique from those facing residents in the other four Districts.  This is why the West Virginia Code makes it very clear that only a person who actually lives in a Magisterial District can be elected to the County Commission from that District.  If the Commission selects anyone other than an actual resident of the Harpers Ferry District, that person will be disqualified from being re-elected for that Commission seat at a later date. This will deprive Harpers Ferry voters of an accountable Commissioner.

 

Residency should be the minimum criteria.  A person proposing to represent the interests of the Harpers Ferry District should have a record of being active in the community within the  District.  This displays not only knowledge of District issues, but a level of caring over and above political aspirations.

 

The Jefferson County Commission has a unique opportunity to select a person who will be a positive addition to governing. The Jefferson County Commission needs a person who will properly steward public funds and shape a positive future for all county citizens.  This can be done in a number of ways:

 

• Power of the purse – allocating resources determines which county activities grow and which ones whither.  This assures top priorities have adequate funds to achieve tangible outcomes on behalf of the county.  Just as important is making sure public funds are well spent for the purposes intended.  Waste is waste.  Good management is good management.  Accountability and effectiveness transcend ideology.
• Power to appoint – people equal policy.  Selecting the right people to address the specific details of governing is another way the Commission can implement their agenda.  Knowledge, the highest ethical standards, and a passion for bettering our county, not themselves, should always determine who serves.
• Power of vision – the County Commission is more than a ministerial body, it is a board of directors responsible for  the health and wellbeing of the community and its citizens.  Every decision, even the smallest, should foster the best of what Jefferson County can become in the decades ahead.
• Power of leadership – America has 3,144 counties and county equivalents.  The Jefferson County government can find proven best practices from similar counties addressing similar issues.  Our County is also part of the larger Baltimore-Washington Metroplex. The Commission needs to define Jefferson County’s role within this six million population multi-state region.
• Power of the people – citizen engagement is basic to legitimacy.  Every Jefferson County citizen should have the ability to easily know and understand what is going on in their government.  This means full transparency.  This means timely, complete, and clear public notices.  This means full disclosure of potential conflicts of interest, including family, friendship, and business connections. 
   

The County Commission will face voter outrage if they fail in their most basic responsibility - keeping representative government alive in Jefferson County.

THE SOUL OF A COMMUNITY

Also published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/soul-community-scot-faulkner

What gives a community its soul?

A community’s sense of self, and its ability to steward that core identity for future generations, often lies in the hands of that rare citizen who devotes their life to the betterment of all.

One such person was Elizabeth “Budge” Blake.  She passed, age 91, on Friday, January 9, 2015, after a long battle with cancer.

Budge was a good friend and political “comrade in arms”.  More importantly, Budge embodied the moral core, leadership, intellectual vitality, and devotion to the community that sustains America’s civic culture.

Whenever you attend a local public meeting you rarely find a full house.  Usually it is a sea of empty chairs.  If you are lucky, your community will have a Budge Blake in attendance.

Budge would always be the one who attended even the most obscure public meeting.  She was also the one who took notes to share with others.  Her critical role was to act as a one person oversight committee – holding public officials and public processes accountable to the law and the citizenry.

Budge served both from the audience and in public positions, including as the Town Attorney, representing Bolivar in legal matters before the District Court as well as the West Virginia State Supreme Court, and as the town’s representative on Jefferson County panels.

Most people are content that their contributions to the future are the children they raise.  Budge not only raised a son and a daughter, she raised a generation of community activists.  

For over two decades, Budge recruited, trained, mentored, and promoted her neighbors to positions in local Government.  She helped establish the first Bolivar Planning Commission, filled it with like-minded citizens, and served as its President.  Many of Budge’s protégés went onto to serve as a majority of the Town Council and its governing panels.   This meticulous and strategic approach to fundamentally changing the government of a small town served more than 1,100 Bolivar residents.  Bolivar is a vital twin town to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia with a pivotal role in preserving the historic and scenic resources of one of the truly unique places in America.

Budge’s battles were to preserve history and the integrity of public processes.  She was well prepared to meet these challenges.  She graduated from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1946, received her Juris Doctorate degree from the Ohio School of Law at Capitol University and the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1969.  Budge would be the one who found the key phrase or act that laid the ground work for challenge and standing.  Many scenic and historic acres remain intact because of Budge staying up all night diligently reviewing transcripts and documents.

America has survived for many generations and will survive for many more because Budge Blake, and people like her, wake up each day committed to helping our nation live up to its democratic ideals. 

 

SAVE TIME SEND A MESSAGE

I have only voted straight party ticket twice since moving to Jefferson County in 1987.
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I voted straight Democrat in 2006 and I will be voting straight Republican this year.
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Most of my local friends and neighbors know that I usually vote for the person.  Jefferson County politics are highly complex and nuanced.  Both political parties have offered up the best and worst over these past 27 years.  My friends, who are Democrats, have always cheered my crossing party lines to work and vote for Democrats.  This year I call on them to cross over and vote for Republicans.
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There are times when voters must make a clear statement.  In 2006, President Bush made a total mess of American foreign policy, squandering billions of our tax dollars and thousands of American lives on ill-conceived and poorly executed foreign adventures.  In 2005, the Bush Administration displayed epic incompetence in responding to Hurricane Katrina.  Republicans in Congress were wantonly spending and earmarking public funds, ignoring their political roots and their promises to the voters.  They had to be punished.  A straight ticket rejection was my most vivid personal statement.
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This year it is the Democrats who must get the wake-up call. President Obama is exceeding Bush in installing a delusional foreign policy that is devastating the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Ukraine.  Obama and Congressional Democrats are spending America into oblivion while fixating on covering-up or delaying the full accounting of countless scandals.  As Obama has stated in recent interviews, his policies and his ability to continue his destructive course are on the ballot this year.  Voters must send a clear message of rejection by voting straight Republican.
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In West Virginia, 83 years of Democrats running our House of Delegates have solidified our state at the bottom of everything that is good and at the top of everything that is bad.  West Virginia is toxic to new business.  It is easier to exchange funds from foreign banks with America than to transfer funds in and out of West Virginia.  The only way to change the future of our state is to change the players in Charleston.
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I know all candidates who are running for House of Delegates.  They are all good and sincere people.  However, the incumbent Democrats have been lap dogs, not watch dogs, regarding the wanton corruption and dysfunction of our state government.  Their silence in holding state officials accountable must end.  Their silence in advocating for Panhandle priorities must end. Change our future - vote straight Republican.
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In Jefferson County, our local politics have never been about Republican versus Democrat. It is all about the good-ole-boy Court House elite versus reform minded citizens.  The elite swaps business deals under the table while giving each other civic awards. The Court House crowd wants to turn our tourist gateway into one big strip mall, and build a sea of new houses that will stress public services and bankrupt us.  Their worst nightmare is an engaged electorate demanding complete transparency and accountability.
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Our two local Democrat candidates are perennial favorites of this Court House elite.  They are also hoping voters do not remember their pasts.  The appointed Sheriff was crushingly defeated in 2002.  Jefferson voters were fed-up with his arrogance and cronyism as President of our Board of Education.  They were also tired of his suppressing public access to public records and meetings.  Since his appointment as Sheriff, he as steadfastly refused to correct long standing material weaknesses in our public accounts and financial processes.
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The only way to bring real integrity and transparency to our County’s finances is to vote for STEVEN SOWERS.  Steve knows the world of first responders, having held multiple leadership positions in law enforcement and in firefighting for 31 years. Steve is a certified arson investigator, CPR instructor, and has been trained in emergency response with terrorism, HAZMAT, emergency vehicle operations, and leadership. Steve was born and raised in Ranson.  Most importantly, Steve is working with audit and financial experts to map out his actions for bringing full accounting compliance and transparency to our county.
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The Democrat running for Harpers Ferry District Supervisor was crushingly defeated in 2010 when she ran for Clerk. In 2010, she was openly funded by the developers.  Her first wave of yards signs were openly funded by her employer – Lee Snyder.  Her platform included limiting access to Court House records and increasing public access fees.  This year she is cloaking herself in new found environmentalism, but the most damaging developers are still funding her campaign. 
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Only voting for ERIC BELL will change things.  Eric represents the new wave of young entrepreneurs who are shaping a bright economic future for our County by embracing its uniqueness.  Eric’s stellar military record is matched by his solid business record as the CFO/COO of Bloomery Plantation Distillery.  Eric will be our watch dog over public finances and help Jefferson County attract job generating businesses that build upon, not undermine, the identity of our county.
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I call on all Jefferson County citizens to SAVE TIME – SEND A MESSAGE – VOTE STRAIGHT REPUBLICAN.

A Rare Victory

Local activists do not often get to celebrate as clear a win as those in Jefferson County did today.

The rededication of the Charles Town Jail marked a strategic victory for preservation. The victory was not just the saving of a historic structure, but was also about the triumph of the rule of law and open government.

The Charles Town Jail was built in 1918 by A. B. Mullet. This was the firm that designed and built the San Francisco Mint and the Old Executive Office Building next to the White House. It was unusual for a small town to have such a major firm design its jail. The building was a unique blending of state-of-the-art security for the jail, with late-Edwardian style for the jailer’s personal dwelling that comprised a third of the structure.

Unique history was soon added to this unique style. In September 1921 William Blizzard and three thousand unionized coal miners marched toward nonunion coal mines near Blair Mountain in southern West Virginia. There had already been bloodshed. On May 19, 1920, ten people were killed in a shoot-out between union organizers and private security agents from Baldwin-Felts in Matewan in Mingo County. This clash was brilliantly chronicled in John Sayles’ 1987 movie of the same name.

Fearing more bloodshed, and to throw the weight of the state behind the mine operators, West Virginia Governor Ephraim Franklin Morgan called on President Warren G. Harding to send federal troops to support the Logan County Sheriff’s deputies in stopping the march. Harding even sent a squadron of airplanes to strafe and bomb the marchers. A five-day “war” ensued leading to the marchers dispersing. Over 600 miners were indicted on various charges and fifty- four, including William Blizzard, were charged with murder and treason.

The treason trials were considered too emotional and political to be tried anywhere near the mine fields. They were held in the furthest courthouse in the state – Jefferson County. The new jail and numerous rooming houses in Charles Town were swamped with the defendants, their families, supporters and opponents, and the news media. In the end only a few were convicted, and an amazing chapter in America’s labor history came to a close.

The Jefferson County Jail is a major witness to our turbulent past. However, in 2000, the Jefferson County Commission voted to demolish the Jail stating it needed the space for expanding a gravel parking lot. The Jefferson County Preservation Alliance to Save our Heritage (JCPASH) was formed to stop the destruction. Numerous lawsuits and court hearings ensued. The preservationists asserted, correctly, that state law required public buildings to undergo a historical review prior to demolition. When this was upheld at the West Virginia Supreme Court, the County government asked local legislators to change the law to allow dedicated funds to be used to demolish the structure without further scrutiny. Thankfully, an accounting error co-mingled some of these funds. When this was unearthed during another court hearing the Circuit Judge blasted local officials for their treachery. Newly elected commissioners were then able to reverse the vote and the jail was saved.

It is the duty of every citizen to tell their public officials when they are wrong. JCPASH had to mobilize hundreds of local citizens, wage an expensive six-year series of lawsuits, and elect two new commissioners before the government complied with a forty-year old law. The rededication of the jail was also a recommitment to citizen activism and the need for everyone to remain vigilant and outspoken in the face of tyranny and illegality – at all levels of government.

DMV Adventure

I had to renew my driver’s license today. My hour wait at the West Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) provided an opportunity to watch government dysfunction unfold around me.

First, don’t you wonder how Donald Trump or Paris Hilton renew their driver’s licenses? No matter how many people work for them, they still have vouch for their identification and residence and still have to have their photo taken. Do they stand in line like the rest of us poor mortals or do DMV’s have celebrity expediters?

My hour at the DMV began at 12:45. Given that today is the end of the month, and is during a week when many people take the entire week off, you could assume that this would be a peak demand period. It was. People filled most of the seventy chairs in the waiting room with another dozen milling around and twenty more waiting to get their processing ticket from the information kiosk. I looked over at the eleven service counters. Only three windows were operational! During the course of my hour three more windows opened for operation, leaving five closed.

This service center has been open for over a year. Given that everything is automated, including printing of service tickets, you can assume that they have a detailed overview of how many people, on the average, use their center including patterns linked to time of day and day of week. You would assume lunch hour would always be a busy time. So, why doesn’t the DMV stagger everyone’s lunch period to limit the number of windows that are off-line?

I then noticed six office doors behind the service counter. Lights were on and doors were open and people occasionally scurried between them. I assumed that these were DMV supervisors or functionaries. None of them glanced at the service counter as they made their way among the offices. Another curiosity – Wal-Mart uses one head teller to oversee and support up to 42 checkout lines. Why is there a need for six DMV officials to support eleven service windows along with the two-person information kiosk? Given that everything is automated, what occupies the time of these six people? Why are they not filling in at the counters during peak demand?

Countries like Estonia allow people to renew their licenses using cell phones. It is amazing that DMVs across America obsessively continue to conduct business as they have since the 1920’s. Even if you assume national security requires everyone to physically show-up, why does it always have to be such an ordeal? Why does it have to be so inefficient?

My DMV experience is not unique. Similar dysfunction has happened at DMVs in other states where I lived. It is a glimpse into why government, at all levels, is so expensive and so ineffective. There is no bottom line. There is no interest in whether people are served or how well they are served. There is no sense of urgency. Every DMV functionary will get paid no matter what really happens so why worry? It is our money and, in this case, our time being wasted. We should ask the candidates what are they going to do about it.