Growls

Regular Growls readers know that El Growler Grande rarely has a nice thing to say about government workers. It's not because there are no nice things to say about them, but so very few stand out above the rest. In the headline column for the August 8 edition of Bacon's Rebellion, Jim Bacon writes, "If the rest of state government had kept pace with VDOT over the past three years, Virginia could have cut spending by $900 million. Don't tell me there's no waste left in state government." Bacon points out that Shucet managed to reduce VDOT staffing by more than 1,100 positions and payroll by over $67 million through "dramatic improvements in the on-time and on-budget metrics of VDOT's construction projects." While pointing out Shucet's achievements, Bacon wrote that his purpose in writing the column was "to refute those who still persist in asserting that state government has been 'cut to the bone,' that there are no efficiencies yet to be achieved, and that the only way to meet the endless list of 'unmet needs' is to raise taxes." Thank you Philip Shucet, and thank you Jim Bacon for your valuable e-newsletter, Bacon Rebellion. Growls readers can subscribe to Bacon's newsletter, Bacon's Rebellion, which he calls, "The Op/Ed Page for Virginia's New Economy."