Capitol Update: Over-reacting discourages hard work

In politics, scandal is the mother of overreaction. For example, because of Enron and WorldCom and some guy named Arthur Andersen, I'm required to change my computer's password every four minutes.

That seems pretty reasonable.

This week, because of the once-salacious, now-soporific CIETC scandal, Republican governor-in-waiting Jim Nussle and his Democratic rival Chet Culver declared open war on bonuses and ballpoint bribes.

Nussle said he would ban bonuses for state employees. Culver said appointees in his administration would be barred from accepting any gifts, even legal tokens of affection worth less than $3.

So much for happy hour.

Nussle points to the "revelation" made during CIETC hearings that a long list of state employees - who did not work for the scandal-plagued agency - were given performance bonuses in recent years.

Such bonuses, Republicans allege, are tantamount to "cronyism."

Nussle sounds very reasonable when he charges that those bonuses were handed out with little public oversight. It looks shady and changes should be made.

But the notion of banning any form of extra pay for a job very well done seems downright un-American.

It's especially curious considering that, on Nussle's own campaign finance disclosure forms in May and July, the word "bonus" shows up 57 times among the campaign's expenditures.

Sure, all but two of those bonuses were less than $100. Most were just $20. But if campaign workers deserve a little extra coin for doing a good job, why should state workers get bupkus because some greedy Polk County malcontents lined their pockets?

Never mind that they were caught red-handed, thanks to a state worker who stuck out his neck.

Congress, where Nussle represents Iowa's 1st District, has no similar concerns about bonuses. Two years ago lawmakers approved a pay for performance system governing federal executives.

According an article published last month in the Federal Times, two-thirds of federal executives got bonuses in 2005 compared to less than half in 2002.

The Washington Post, citing an Office of Personnel Management report, wrote that federal execs received an average bonus of $13,814 in 2005.

Federal agencies also are allowed to pay recruitment and retention bonuses.

Why? Because government is in a competition with the private sector for bright, capable people. Putting Iowa at an even bigger competitive disadvantage just to capitalize on CIETC looks more like electioneering than leadership.

Think it doesn't matter? Just ask the folks sitting on their rooftops in New Orleans last year whether capable government employees are nice to have around. It turns out we need them to do more than push paper and cut ribbons.

Culver's heroic battle against coffee, key chains and donuts is no better. If your agency execs can be flipped by a slice of pie you've hired the wrong gal or guy.

As special a bonus, here are some other great ideas for cleaning up government.

* Ban bad people - Bad people should be barred from working in government.

* Require public attentiveness - Democracy shmocracy. "Deal or No Deal" is on.

* Cap government theft at $10,000 - It's not even worth the trouble.

* Chain pens, tax dollars to desks - It's worked great for banks.

* Require agency heads to leave a shoe when receiving funding - My second-grade teacher never lost a borrowed pencil. Never.

* Form a special oversight board looking into the failure of oversight boards. Agenda item No. 1, form subcommittees.

Todd Dorman is Statehouse bureau chief for Lee Enterprises newspapers.