A reader just forwarded me the newest e-mail blast from the county of San Diego’s chief administration officer, Walt Ekard.
Something got into Walt a few weeks ago and this was now the second in a series of communiqués he has dubbed “Bureaucrats Are Human Too.”
Really, it might better be named something like “Another Reason I Am Awesome.”
Hey, we all do that. You’ve got to toot your own horn sometimes.
And Walt is an eloquent tooter.
I’m no expert on why some governments are bad since I don’t happen to work for one. But I have some experience with successful governments since I DO work for one of those!
C-O-U-N-T-Y Gooooo, County! Woo Hoo.
Wait, it’s not just Walt and his staff. What’s the explanation behind the county’s success?
Ok…in our case, maybe it’s well-seasoned leadership. But the truth is your County Board of Supervisors is a mature policy-making body that has figured out what too few elected officials in this business ever do: That their job is to set policy direction for the organization and then get out of the way and let people like me make it happen. They understand that the public put them in office to create a vision for our community, not to micromanage how that vision gets implemented. You don’t see these five people panicking in an emergency or lighting their hair on fire every time something goes wrong.
I never knew!
Finally, Ekard gives some love to his lawyer.
John Sansone is our County Counsel and there are simply none better in government than he and his team. The County gets great legal advice in a timely manner and we almost never lose a case. (Happy to back that up with the stats if you doubt me) And, as an added bonus, there is never a question about who the client is!
Oh! Snap! Take that Mike Aguirre.
I’m happy for Ekard. But this piece is another in a long line of statements from county officials gloating over the failures and less-than-perfect images of other government agencies.
Hope it never comes back to bite them.