Outcomes Define Challenges for Change
The biggest challenge when considering "Challenges for Change" is to stay calm and keep an open mind.
The important things to consider are the outcomes, not the administration's ideas for how to get there. Challenges for Change is designed to eliminate drive-by budgeting and blind cuts.
The administration's current proposal throws good programs under the bus.
Several Senate committees, including the Appropriations committee that I chair, are looking at the administration's ideas. I am pushing back, negotiating with the administration to make sure that we keep the programs that work. The programs that don't work will be cut.
Challenges for Change is controversial because it is an earthquake shift in how government works. It demands that we reexamine everything from how we buy things, to what programs we pay for, in the light of results rather than intentions.
Everything we do must work to achieve the outcomes and be measurable.
I've heard, "We can't do this, we can't do that," a lot in the past week. That says to me we need to keep government the same.
I strongly disagree.
For years I have heard from people in government and government-supported organizations. They have said many times they have ideas for how we can work better and cheaper. Now is the time for them to come forward with those ideas.
Now is not the time to say, "No, we can't." It is time to say, "This is how we will."
We must save $38 million with Challenges for Change. It is an opportunity for the folks running the programs to find the savings. If they fail we'll go back to budget cuts inflicted by the administration and next year we'll have $75 million to add to the projected $100 million shortfall.
Change is scary. It is hard to re-imagine what we have done for years to find a new way, but that is exactly what we must do.
Meeting the outcomes of Challenges for change will require calm, open-minded leadership. I am that leader.
Let's work together to bring new leadership to the governor's office, to build a better future based on Vermont's values and traditions.
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Thank you for your support! Please contact me to visit your area to explore the challenges and successes in your part of Vermont, or just to talk.
Sincerely,
Susan Bartlett
Bartlett for Governor