Add your ideas to overhauling Maine government

About two years ago, Grow Smart Maine released the Brookings Institution report “Charting Maine’s Future.” GrowSmart is a statewide organization of 5,200 Maine people who reflect the full range of Maine’s political perspectives: rural and urban, north and south, rich and struggling, liberals and conservatives. We have two things in common. One is a love of Maine – not just its forests and rockbound coast, but also its people and communities. The other is a sense that the way we’ve been doing things in Maine, and in particular the divisions and partisanship, hasn’t worked for anyone. It’s time for a new way forward in which we seek common ground and practical visions for a brighter future.

“Charting Maine’s Future” said that Maine can have a new era of sustainable prosperity, but we’re going to have to work at it, together, and we’re going to have to change the way we do things. Since then, thousands of people across the state, from all walks of life, have read the report and gone to work to bring about the long-overdue changes Maine needs.

Today, more than half of the recommendations of the report have been implemented, and more are in the works. But with regard to one of the report’s key recommendations – modernizing Maine government – there’s a lot that still needs to be done.

State governments nationwide are now experiencing fiscal crisis on a near-annual basis, thanks to aging populations, wrenching changes in the economy, and the exploding costs of health care and energy. Already, health care costs are consuming one-third of most states’ budgets; in a decade, half of our public spending will go to health care.

With our rural, aging population, these trends will hit Maine especially hard. On our current course, we can expect budget deficits with increasing frequency and intensity. Essential public needs will go unmet. Long-simmering hostilities and political rancor will only increase. If this dreadful scenario comes to pass, Maine as a whole will lose.

So we need another way forward. One that understands the limits of what Maine taxpayers can afford but also appreciates the essential services that government provides. We need a common-ground vision of a new government that provides better services at lower costs.

Augusta will need a complete overhaul of the way it is organized and run. Until we build a government that can do more with less – and in a more focused and disciplined way – we’re never going to have the resources we need to build a strong economy in our state, educate our kids, retrain our work force and protect what’s special about Maine.

Government is good at some things, but changing itself is not one of them. Real change can only come from the people, in grass-roots, bottom-up efforts. That’s how we did the Brookings report. And it’s how we hope to do our second major report, next year, on “Governing Maine in the 21st Century.”

GrowSmart Maine hopes to hire David Osborne and his Public Strategies Group, together with in-state researchers and economists, to produce a blueprint for action to fix what’s broken, at every level of government in the state.

Osborne is the author of the best-selling book “Reinventing Government,” and has worked with local, state and national governments to help them work better at lower costs. Most recently, the Public Strategies Group worked in Iowa, which shares many similarities with Maine, to create a leaner, more nimble and more focused government.

Applying similar expertise to Maine not only will help us all better understand the problems we face, but also offer an action strategy that people across the state can work together on. We also believe it will play a critical role in the race for Maine’s next governor.

Maine people will have their first opportunity to meet experts from the Public Strategies Group, learn more about Maine’s fiscal situation, and propose ideas for the future at our fifth annual GrowSmart Summit in Augusta on Friday, Oct. 10. The summit will be the first of several statewide listening sessions that will give Mainers a chance to share their concerns, ideas and visions for the future of Maine’s government. Visit www.growsmartmaine.org to register for the event.

Change is inevitable. But instead of letting it overwhelm us, Maine people can come together to build a broad movement for positive change. We hope that you’ll join us in this important conversation.

Alan Caron is president of GrowSmart Maine.