Washington, DC–With just a week to go, ASPA is gearing up for Pu blic Service Recognition Week (PSRW). We are excited about the opportunity to recognize nationally, those who serve our local, state and federal government. Admittedly, this is difficult in the wake of a national story revealing waste and overspending at the General Services Administration.

Despite this news, we can’t ignore the other hundreds of thousands of employees who, day in and out, dedicate numerous hours to providing necessary and important services to the public. These include the park rangers, city administrators and everyday workers who are committed to improving access to government and its services.

Due to it's length, this interview was split into two parts. The first part of this interview, which discussed Elliot Shuford's background as well as background for the project can be read by clicking the link in the Related Articles box below.

Daniel Schugurensky

How did you recruit these participants?
We started with a random sample of 10,000 voters. We sent them a letter inviting them to apply to the CIR. From those who express an interest, we created a pool of several hundred potential participants, and from that pool we selected 24, taking into account the six demographics factors that I just mentioned.

When you were selecting the last 24 participants, how did you avoid accepting or rejecting people you knew?
In that final selection, when we moved from several hundred people to the final list of 24, we only knew participants by numbers. We didn’t have access to their names. We also invited initiative advocates, legislators and other groups to participate in the selection process, which was held as a public process.

Daniel Schugurensky

In many jurisdictions around the world, voters have the power to propose laws directly through ballot initiatives. For its advocates, this element of direct democracy is an essential part of the idea that the power of government truly lies with the people. For its critics, there is one fundamental problem: the initiative process allows citizens to act as legislators without giving them the basic tools that are available for elected representatives, like access to independent data, to experts and to committees that have examined the issues, or the opportunity to deliberate with others about the pros and cons of the proposed laws. This creates a situation where powerful groups can run a campaign based on partial or misleading information and persuade voters to pass legislation that puts significant burdens on the state or that does not necessarily promote the common good.

Is there a way to preserve the democratic benefits of ballot initiatives while reducing their shortcomings? The answer to this question may be found in a remarkable new use of deliberative democracy in Oregon that helps citizens see the entire picture, weigh the different arguments, and check the accuracy of the alleged facts before they vote.

Catherine Raymond, Sue Gallagher, K. Lori Hanson

Local government agencies have long contracted with nonprofit organizations (NPOs) to provide publicly funded human services. In many communities, the local NPO “market” is limited–comprised largely of community-based organizations that may have difficulty meeting increasingly rigorous government accountability and performance standards. To ensure responsible use of public funds and address gaps between NPO capacities and government standards, some local government agencies provide assistance to their contracted NPO service providers in an effort to improve contract performance. This type of assistance is also known as capacity building.

Unfortunately, there is a dearth of guidance for public managers on what constitutes successful capacity building in a contracting context, what factors influence the capacity building process, and the resources required.

A FEDERAL HOLIDAY POEM
A Federal Holiday Poem
Twas the night before Christmas, and all 'cross the Web
Not a surfer was surfing, except for some feds…


STATE AGENCIES
Five Lessons from Overwhelmed Agencies
Last week, Stateline took an in-depth look at what’s causing growing backlogs of work at state agencies across the country. Here are five lessons gleaned from dozens of interviews with state officials, including those who are currently struggling with a backlog and some who have successfully cleared one up.

Terry Newell

On December 9, 2011, the Senate unanimously passed the Civilian Service Recognition Act of 2011. The legislation, which had previously passed the House on a unanimous 425-0 vote on November 2, 2011, authorizes federal agencies to give an American flag to families of federal civilian employees killed on the job as a result of a criminal act, terrorism, a natural disaster, or an extraordinary event as determined by the President.

DEATH OF A DICTATOR
North Korea’s Mercurial and Enigmatic Leader Kim Jong Il has Died
Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s mercurial and enigmatic leader, has died. He was 69.


ELECTED OFFICIALS
Governors are More Powerful than Ever
All people may be equal before the law, but when a judge sentenced Rod Blagojevich to prison this week, he made clear the punishment did more than fit the crime. It fit the criminal and his august political office.

ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Feds Link Water Contamination to Fracking for the First Time
In a first, federal environment officials today scientifically linked underground water pollution with hydraulic fracturing, concluding that contaminants found in central Wyoming were likely caused by the gas drilling process.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Kuwait's New Government to be Formed this Week
Last week, the Kuwaiti Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah appointed Shaikh Jaber Al Mubarak to form a new government amid hopes it will help lead the country out of a deep crisis that has made a heavy political and social toll on the country.