(Continuing site policy of promoting diaries by officeholders and office-seekers – promoted by GMD)

Vermont is facing the greatest fiscal crisis in its history and the Douglas-Dubie administration’s response to address this crisis is spending $120,000 on web filtering software for state computers.

First of all…I in no way favor our state employees spending their work days focused on anything but their job, let alone pornography, but this is yet another example that the Douglas-Dubie administration just doesn’t get it.

To begin at the most basic level, slashing funding for our most vulnerable Vermonters and proposing to eliminate economic development programs that create jobs are bad investments in this state’s future.  When you take into consideration that the state instead is spending money on filtering software – software that has been shown to be ineffective – it becomes borderline reckless.

This proposal does not help create jobs and grow Vermont’s economy. It also furthers the growing schism between the administration and those serving our state.  It is yet another example of the misplaced priorities and the damaged culture in Montpelier that makes rushed and panicked decisions that don’t create 21st century jobs or move Vermont into a new era.

If there is money for this, where else is there money wasted that could be used to invest in our economic future?

I put forward a proposal to replicate technology approaches used in Washington, D.C and Los Angeles, cities larger than the state of Vermont, to save millions of dollars.  On the issues section of my website (www.mattdunne.com) I’ve outlined a proposal to explore cloud computing solutions that can save money and improve performance.

This idea was proposed over a year ago, and it was ignored.

The filters won’t create jobs here in Vermont.  A change in leadership which brings innovation, fresh ideas and a new approach will.

Finally, the current debate on this issue reflects the damaged culture in Montpelier.  The thought that this software will be used for spying on state employees (which it can do), generating a report every time someone is on-line for more than 15 minutes, demonstrates how little trust remains between the administration and those serving our state.

Frankly, given the terrible state of Vermont’s state websites (the legislative website has consistently been ranked as one of the lowest in usability and e-governance in the nation) I can’t imagine spending less than 15 minutes finding anything, including properly registering a concern over how a policy decision is being handled within an agency.

As we move to transform Vermont into a 21st Century Government, there must be trust between the CEO of the state and the civil servants who will be carrying out the a new approach to delivering services to Vermonters.  We can be much more efficient and deliver better results, not through fear and threats of 1984-like tactics, but by bringing people together around a clear vision, transparent measures of success and empowering people to succeed.

That’s what we did when I was director of AmeriCorps*VISTA, an $85 million 6,000 person organization nearly the size of Vermont state government.   We were able to establish a foundation of trust throughout the entire organization.  Because of that, we were able to improve recruitment efforts to the highest level of participation in the history of the program.

As mentioned before, no one wants state employees using their time inefficiently or using state property to search inappropriate content.  But the filters issue only highlights the need for new leadership and fresh ideas in Vermont.  It exemplifies what is wrong in Montpelier and why we need change to bring our state into a new era.