DOGE, with no union worker left behind
The magic key to good government: "competition"
Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, in office in Indianapolis, Indiana from 1992-2000, used competition–not outsourcing of work–to save about $400 million in government costs over 8 years.
That’s an amount of money the equivalant of the complete annual budget the year before he left office.
The result was that Goldsmith invested that savings in multiple property tax cuts as well as helping to rebuild the city infrastructure.
“Mayor Goldsmith conducted more than eighty public-private competitions, which resulted in savings of more than $400 million [over 8 years].”
We’ll have a lot more on this success story model for future governance.
A public union working with a Republican mayor for the people’s benefit
But for the moment, below is a video from the AFSCME union perspective, why it bought into competing to bid for its own work against private sector competition.
It was willing to take a large risk going into this under the conditions:
- That no current workers would be laid off; and
- That patronage hires of mid-level paper pushing non union members be let go before a department bid for its services.
Mayor Goldsmith agreed to both terms and a revolution was born.
Naving a government union and a Republican mayor working together for cost-saving, better government.
SEE: More on this award winning approach from Reason Institute that helped it happen
AMAZING! Indianapolis' AFSCME union competed for its own work: Bid out or bid in?
The union made this video promoting what Indianpolis accomplished during Mayor Goldsmith’s two terms as Indianapolis mayor. In departments put up for bid, it had to compete for its own work, and most often won. Either way, costs for services were reduced by about 30 to 45 percent.
The revolution of good, inexpensive government in a book
Mayer Goldsmith comes to Portland in 1999: Gives entertaining talk
