Reform underway — but it’s a Va. secret

[Derechos]

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Among its dozens of initiatives are measures to abolish perhaps a sixth of Virginia’s 300-odd boards and commissions; consolidate a half-dozen inspector general offices; centralize payroll and accounting functions; and eliminate some of the state’s toll-free phone numbers.

Now the governor’s office says that it wants to nudge the commission up to the next level, the implication being that bigger ideas, and possibly savings, are the goal for the second (and last) year of its mandate.

We applaud the ambition. But in the process, why was it necessary for Mr. McDonnell, a Republican, to exclude virtually all the commission’s Democrats, as well as the tax-paying public?

Whether that was the intent, that’s the effect of changes the governor ordered this summer. The commission’s committees, which invited public input and included lawmakers from both parties, were abolished. In their place, Mr. McDonnell established five so-called work groups — including his own staffers and subject experts, as well as commission members — which have been meeting since mid-July.

There are two problems with these groups, and they’re both whoppers. One is that unlike the commission’s own committees, whose meetings were advertised and open to the public, the work groups meet in secret.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/reform-underway--but-its-a-va-secret/2011/09/07/gIQAO2AHLK_story.html