Summer always goes too fast for my liking. I can’t believe we’re already at the end of August with Labor Day just a week away. I hope all of you are safe and doing well.
I mentioned in last month’s newsletter my long time membership in the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and that I have recently become a member of their Government Division. ASQ is a well-respected global organization with nearly 80,000 members in over 130 countries. Much of my good government work through September will be associated with ASQ, including a webinar where I will share with members of ASQ’s Government Division details of my government accountability and effectiveness principles and detail much of the work that I’ve done over the last five months.
I continue to believe that I will devote much of my good government efforts to supporting and promoting the work of larger, better connected and better financed organizations like ASQ. However, I believe that in conjunction with that approach, I can continue to advocate for my good government principles, continue to provide information through my monthly newsletter, find and promote synergies between organizations, and recruit people to lend their support and expertise to our good government efforts.
I have learned that ASQ’s Government Division has three major initiatives focusing on Quality Standards in government, election integrity, and performance excellence. I have also learned that the General Services Administration of the Federal Government has a Performance Improvement Council. My current understanding of this Council is that it focuses heavily on quality and effectiveness of the many agencies of the federal government.
While I believe that there is considerable overlap and potential synergies between the work of ASQ, the Performance Improvement Council and my work, I believe that my work distinguishes itself from the Performance Improvement Council and ASQ’s Government Division by its focus on legislative quality and on accountability and effectiveness of our elected officials, with an overriding goal of reducing gridlock in Congress.
Last week I attended an ASQ webinar on the development of a national standard on government efficiency and effectiveness. This work provides a roadmap and objective method of evaluating the quality and effectiveness of government agencies and entities. Leveraging this standard would establish a way of measuring the progress and success of Speak Up for Good Government.
Certainly much more to come as I learn more about the work of ASQ and of GSA’s Performance Improvement Council and further define the role and the work of Speak Up for Good Government.
Additional work, news, and resources from the last month:
I continue to be actively engaged in Ohio’s redistricting process. I attended a Fair Maps Town Hall in early August.
I learned about a new website/resource—Citizen Connect—a non-partisan platform that serves as a repository for information on good government organizations and events.
I learned about Vote Smart. Vote Smart's mission is to provide free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials to all Americans. Thanks to the Speak Up subscriber that alerted me to this organization/resource.
I closely followed the negotiation process for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Key takeaways for me:
When legislators are committed to problem solving they can do great and important things for the American public.
Quality principles I have articulated in previous issues—focusing on root causes and clearly defining the problem proposed legislation is designed to solve -—are critical for good legislation. However, painstaking negotiation and attention to detail are also important parts of the legislative process
Likely themes for next month:
Update and review of timeline and objectives
Recap from ASQ webinar
Take care and have a great month.
Allan
Comments