Carter Bundy

What an amazing Super Sunday… underdogs, fighting against the odds, finally getting the praise and recognition they deserve. A nation rooting for blue-collar guys working their hearts out.

Of course, I could be talking about the New Orleans Saints, but the above applies equally to the superb new CBS show “Undercover Boss.” A COO or CEO goes undercover to find out how his front-line workers perform, what their working conditions and pay are like, and what it’s like to work for the company.

I watched “Undercover Boss” with an outspoken, unabashed conservative and two middle-of-the-road friends. Each of us was moved by the stories of the workers being understaffed, underpaid, and facing inflexible workplace mandates.

Conservative, liberal, moderate – all of us – and even the COO on TV, saw value in watching front-line workers up close. Everyone had a better appreciation of just how hard most Americans work every day, and how meager the rewards are for those on the front lines. The COO concluded that he needed to change the way WMI does business, from workplace rules to compensation to getting ideas from the front lines.

Some cabinet secretaries go out into the field and try to learn from the workers on the front lines. I’m sure many good secretaries do this, but I know for certain that CYFD Secretary Dorian Dodson goes the extra mile to understand the day-to-day conditions at her facilities and to learn from her employees. Her only advice was that it be done for a full day, not an hour-long drop-by.

Shrunken government

The main question this legislative session is how much of our deficit should be remedied by cuts, and how much should be solved with revenues. Understanding our current levels of government is critical to answering that question.

Here’s a shocking stat that can be garnered by doing a Freedom of Information Act Request: On Dec. 31, 2002 — the last day of libertarian Gov. Gary Johnson’s eight-year run — there were 22,933 employees in all branches of state government (excluding education). As of Feb. 1, 2010, that total number of employees had grown to 24,715. Big increase, right? Not when you consider our population growth.

According to the U.S. Census and UNM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, we will have grown from about 1.86 million residents on January 1, 2003 (Census data) to 2.16 million residents on July 1, 2010 (from BBER — the Census hasn’t done a 2010 projection recently that I could find) — an increase of about 16.3 percent over a 7.5-year period.

The state now has one employee for every 87 residents. Under libertarian Gary Johnson? One employee for every 81 residents. The current state government is leaner than it was eight years ago, and if you look at classified, front-line employees, the difference is even more dramatic — classified employees are about 15 percent lower per capita than they were at the end of Johnson’s term.

Anti-government zealots who recently penned a study for the Rio Grande Foundation noted that New Mexico is 5th in public employees per private employee. How is that a relevant measure? It’s precisely because New Mexico is a poor state that there are fewer private-sector jobs, and also a higher demand for government services.

But let’s humor Grover Norquist’s acolytes and ignore, for a moment, the fallacy of their measurements. Who else is in the top 10 states in public employees per private employees?

In order, with dominant party (by last three presidential elections): South Dakota (Republican); North Dakota (Republican); Wyoming (Republican); Montana (Republican, mixed at state level); Idaho (Republican); Utah (Republican); Kansas (Republican); and Washington (Democratic).

What do they all have in common, other than 8 of the 10 are Republican bastions? They’re all western and rural. Is it a coincidence? Of course not. Does it mean Republicans are all about big government? No. Does it mean rural people believe in waste? Nope. Is there something in the water west of the Mississippi that makes legislators and governors over-grow government? Not at all.

Still think there’s meaning? California is lowest in state employees per capita. Does that make California a smaller government state than Utah or Idaho or Wyoming? No. It means they have economies of scale by being both highly populated, dense, and with good concentrations.

Lean

New Mexico has a low population, large land mass, and also has low concentrations of population. Even Nevada, with a similar population and land mass, has far more “efficient” concentrations than New Mexico because about 95 percent of Nevadans live in two metro areas: Las Vegas and Reno/Sparks.

We’re as lean as we’ve been in a long, long time. The private sector’s demands on state government are as big as they’ve been in decades. We’ve cut thousands of positions and are smaller than under even a libertarian administration.

I hope legislators on both sides of the aisle start to acknowledge how trim our state government has become and work toward a balanced approach to filling our budget gap.

If they don’t believe the numbers, maybe they’ll consider putting a request in to a cabinet secretary to be an undercover worker, or at least to shadow workers, for a day. Just like the COO of WMI, my guess is they’ll be surprised at just how lean and hard-working our state employees are.

Bundy is the political and legislative director for AFSCME in New Mexico. The opinions in his column are personal and do not necessarily reflect any official AFSCME position. You can learn more about him by clicking here. Contact him at carterbundy@yahoo.com.

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