Working to eliminate government waste can be costly

It’s likely something that all taxpayers can agree on. State government should work to eliminate instances of waste, fraud and abuse. So it sounds good when Governor Scott Walker announces he has signed an executive order to create a commission that will study ways to make government more efficient. According to a statement, the new commission will “ explore methods to reduce government spending, reduce service duplication, eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in government, and look for better ways to operate state government that increases efficiency and reduces the burden on taxpayers.” Who could argue with that? The problem is, we have been down this road before. It was on his first day in office, in 2011, that Walker created the first commission to find $300 million a year in government waste. That group did identify some instances of waste, issuing a 147 page report that purported to identify more than $400 million a year. But there is no evidence that any of those instances identified as waste have been stopped. And critics say many of the issues identified are meant for federal or local governments over which the state has no control. Obviously, if the Governor finds it necessary to create a second commission, the first one must not have been all that successful. Perhaps we can work to eliminate government waste by stopping appointing commissions designed to eliminate government waste.