Buh-bye...

On 10th June, Congressman Dennis Kucinich took 3 hours to read 35 articles of Impeachment against President George Bush into the House Record. That's probably as far as they will go, however they do read as a comprehensive list of the failures and mistakes of the Bush administration. These include misspending, incompetence, misrepresentation, delberate misleading, invasion of a sovereign country, illegal detention, torture, imprisonment, violating laws/constitution, obstruction - the list goes on.    

Despite all this, I really find it hard to condemn George Bush. I have also been elected to an office (mine was piddlingly small in comparison – Deputy President of University of Limerick Students' Union but nonetheless important to the people who depended on me) I somehow understand how one can a) become a victim of circumstances that you don't control and b) find yourself advocating a position you don't believe because you followed a path that seemed like a good at the time) suddenly realise that, even though society tells us we can do anything, you maybe just do not have the skills for a certain part of your task.  

He has admitted that his use of phrases such as "bring them on" and "dead or alive" had "indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace". However, bringing in a certain type of person into his Administration/circle of dependants, he probably allowed himself to be manipulated into these statements and the actions that went with them. He goes on to defend the Iraqi war, however saying "No I don't regret it all. But I could have used better rhetoric," Bush said. "The decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision."  

A certain amount of what Bush has done has been progressive, increased funding of AIDS research in Africa, and his (late) support of efforts to bring Israeli-Palestinian peace. However, saying that he wanted to "leave behind a series of structures that makes it easier for the next president" to tackle issues such as Iran's nuclear programme and establishing a Palestinian state, is naïve wishful thinking. He is being politely listened to, but generally ignored. He is hoping to save the reputation of this disastrous Presidency through international diplomacy, but this cannot be done while he clings to Iraqi-type interventionist policies and refuses to acknowledge faults. It is for this reason that he will fail, not because he has 6 months in office. 

Bush is not a stupid man, he has gone through his life surrounding himself with excellent people and managing them efficiently. However what he probably cannot see is that he has been and is being managed by those around him. He could probably still contribute in his last 6 months to America and the world, but first he must seek forgiveness from a damaged people and a damaged world and truly build the international structure necessary to face global challenges. 

 
(Edited through addition of first paragraph on 17/06/08).

8 steps to change, could it be that easy?

I've complained a lot in this Blog about leaders (politicians especially) not leading change in their own particular areas. Obviously it's easy for me to preach this message having never (besides Student Union day) in a position to understand the difficulties that go along with the responsibility to change.

To educate myself about this I've started reading the above book, "Leading Change", by John P. Kotter. It's a book that was recommended by former Lieutenant Governor  of Massecheusets(Deputy Governor to Mitt Romney) Kerry Healey when we met her on the Boston College Young Leader's Programme 2007. She was teaching a course in Harvard where she outlined how the Romney administration adapted the above book from its private sector roots to implement public sector change in their administration.

 The 8 stage process Kotter outlines is as follows:

1. Establish a sense of urgency

2. Create the guiding coalition

3. Develop a vision and strategy

4. Communicate the change vision

5. Empower broad=based action

6. Generate short-term wins

7. Consolidate gains and produce more change

8. Anchor new approaches in the corporate culture.

 

I will report back on what the above actually means (and if I feel it has any applicability to public sector change) in a few weeks!

Young Leaders' Group  with Dr. Kerry Healey, former Lieutenant-Governor of Mass. (I'm 4th from right)

Here are two links to scary stories about Local Government incompetence in Clare County Council Planning Department. Both relate to maladministration that has already (or probably will) cost the Council huge amounts of money it does not have.

The first story relates to a further information request on a Planning application. When the information was lodged, it was never logged by the Council leading ot a refusal and Judicial Review by Applicants. Que a High Court settlement of €650,000 against council .

The second relates to anther administrative mess-up, where Applicants very altruistically re-lodged a Planning Application after it was granted by default, as the Council had made no official changes or comments. A Senior Council Employee told Councillors they could not be told about any deal made on re-lodging the Application and were shut out of the process until pressure lead to  a behind-closed-doors meeting where the information was divulged. Apparently this case is one of a series in which information has been removed or altered.

When I worked at a legal office, the prospect of a Judicial Review was all that kept us going on bad days. The administrative mistake of some Public Authority, where we'd seek almost undreamt-of figures for damages (and of course significant fees) was the basis of many parties. The targeted Public Authority (in this case the Refugee Appeals Tribunal or Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner) had to get very smart, very quickly to tighten its procedures or there would be huge budgetary outlays on Judicial Reviews. This they did, they brought lawyers into every facet of their operation, and JRs slowed to a trickle. This occoured with leadership from a strong Minister (Michael McDowell). Now, it has to be asked where is the strong leadership needed to head off this debilitating drain on local resources? These mess-up have been going on for years in Clare County Council. And now the Management is denying our elected Councillors access to basic information!

Another link here to the Garry Miley Planning Dispatch, where he quotes a letter from Clare Planning Agents (those who lodge Applications on behalf of others), listing 12 major difficulties which include inconsistencies between planners, lack of internal communication, mistakes in technical reports etc.


This bodes ill for the Minister for the Environment's Reform of Local Government, currently at Green Paper stage. The proposal for directly-elected Mayors is welcome, but before any Mayors are elected, there needs to be a strong and definite chain-of-command structure put in place in Local Government so that whoever is in charge (Manager or Mayor) has absolute authority from the start. Similar to the situation in London where the Mayor controls Police, transport etc.  but unlike the previous proposal from Minister Noel Dempsey, which proposed directly-elected Mayors with the powers of the current Mayors - a ludicrous ubworkable suggestion (that I'm glad Jackie Healy-Rae torpeoded. Local Governmetn can contribute so much to the happiness of it's citizens, but not if it's consistantly paying out large amount of it's budget in legal fees.

(some small editing and additions 16/05/08 & addition of 2nd last paragrpah on 19/05/08)

How the typical Irish Mayor is viewed

(credit: The Simpsons)