Monday, September 23, 2002

Barnes, Perdue at odds over state agencies By Andy Peters Telegraph Staff Writer ATLANTA - If Republicans want less government and Democrats are said to favor more government, has Gov. Roy Barnes lived up to his party affiliation? During his first term, the Cobb County Democrat has created numerous new state agencies, including the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority and the Office of the Child Advocate in Macon. Republicans, including Bonaire's Sonny Perdue, the governor's challenger in the Nov. 5 election, say Barnes has built too many layers of government bureaucracy, sometimes to the point of duplicating the efforts of existing agencies. Barnes says he's made state government more efficient and more modern. Republicans proclaim they would run government like a business -- until they have to run against someone that is doing just that.  Barnes re-organized to increase accountability and that re-organization has created a lot of critics, folks that now find the business of government exposed to daylight. There's more to be said, but here's the quote of one Republican state senator who thinks he is critcizing the Gov: State Sen. Stephens said there's no way that Perdue could expand government in the way that Barnes has. "(Barnes is) running the entire state by handheld wireless computer," Stephens said. "He's micromanaging government in a way that's never been done before." Stephens is referring to the Blackberry the Gov has used for the past three years.  When the modernization efforts are complete, even John Q. Public will be able to interact more pro-actively with government, as tech begins to eliminate that vast middle level of management called bureaucracy.  And, this is a bad thing? 7:26:28 AM

A Vote for Touch and Go Away. With another Florida voting fiasco in the rearview mirror and national elections coming up, the focus returns to the potential of touch-screen voting systems. Lauren Weinstein writes that they have more liability than viability. [Wired News] I am not too sure that this article doesn't smack of sensationalism when it somes to distrusting the technology for voting (is the author a Luddite?)  I am posting this to remind me to write more later.  I have experience with recounts of punch cards and find that technology to be unreliable (we actually would get a different count every time the ballots were counted!).  The article doesn't address the real issue and that is placing a high enough priority on the voting process (mind you process, not just the technology) to ensure its integrity.   6:45:36 AM