4d3e1b2.jpgFrom today's NY Times, since we are a political discussion group :)


September 9, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor



To Change Washington, Move Out

By MARK W. EVERSON

AMERICANS appear eager for real change in Washington and for their 
politicians to work across party lines. Heres a proposal that could 
accomplish both: Decentralize the executive branch of government.

No other element of our society is as concentrated as the leadership of our 
federal bureaucracy. Our agricultural, energy and industrial bases are 
widespread, as are our educational, religious and cultural institutions. 
Even the financial system, while centered in New York, has significant 
components in other cities.

The concentration of top-level civil servants in Washington poses an undue 
risk in this age of terrorism, of which we are acutely reminded this week.

In addition, the high cost of living in and near the District of Columbia 
chases away talent. And this problem will only get worse with the 
retirement of senior managers, most of whom started their careers under a 
generous retirement plan that made it worthwhile to stay on the job until 
at least their mid-50s. Younger managers, lacking such incentive, are more 
likely to be lured away by lucrative opportunities in the private sector.

The median salary for a federal employee in the Washington area is more 
than $90,000. Contractors, consulting firms and other organizations in the 
area that work for the government pay considerably more, and the huge 
increase in government spending since 2001 has produced remarkable wealth. 
Several Washington-area counties are now among the richest in the nation. 
It makes no sense to continue spending taxpayersmoney in an already wealthy 
region while other areas struggle economically.

Three years ago, I suggested the idea of moving the headquarters of the 
Internal Revenue Service to New Orleans, thinking that a federal campus 
there, providing some 7,000 stable, well-paying jobs, could anchor 
redevelopment after Hurricane Katrina. Such a move could still be a boon to 
recovery in New Orleans. And the same could be done for regions like the 
Midwest, where car makers and other industrial employers are contracting.

The best candidates for relocation would be departments like Homeland 
Security and Veterans Affairs, which are more involved in operating 
government than in making policy.

The least likely to leave Washington would be the four cabinet departments 
that constitute the core of government: State, Treasury, Justice and 
Defense. But headquarters for pieces of these departments the I.R.S. within 
Treasury, for example, and the Drug Enforcement Administration within 
Justice could be moved to places like Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, states 
that already have a large educated work force.

Protectors of the status quo might argue that such decentralization would 
not allow proper Congressional oversight. But consider the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention. It works just fine in Atlanta.

Running government operations outside the Beltway would more equitably 
distribute government jobs and at the same time help limit the undue 
influence of Washington. John McCain and Barack Obama both say they want to 
change Washington and partisan politics. If they mean it, they should give 
this proposal serious attention.

Mark W. Everson was the commissioner of internal revenue from 2003 to 2007.

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