Momentum is growing for actual implementation of a major change in the organization of state government.

The governor last week received a report from the advisory council that has been working for 10 months on recommendations for the merger of the Department of Human Services and the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services.

Gov. John Baldacci has also said he expects to name the new head of the combined department sometime this month.

The merger is the right thing to do and most of the panel’s suggestions are smart. Recommendations from the panel include developing a more customer friendly environment and helping people more easily navigate the web of available services.

Other ideas include creating a new Bureau of Adult Services and a new Bureau of Children and Families, improving staff training, holding managers responsible for the actions of their employees and streamlining administration.

All told, the governor hopes to improve operations and save about $5.8 million a year.

But structural improvements can go only so far.

To be successful, it’s going to take a commitment to change attitudes and perceptions. Many residents believe the state’s social service system is broken, unfeeling and unfair. Sometimes, they’re right. People who need help can’t be allowed to get lost in a bureaucratic maze.

Fixing that starts with people.

The new agency needs a strong leader who will provide the staff with the tools needed to succeed and hold individuals accountable for mistakes that are made.

We shouldn’t expect success overnight. Naming a new department head won’t automatically solve problems that took decades to develop, and it will take time to implement necessary changes.

Unfortunately for the state, the projected savings already have been allocated to other programs. That leaves little room for error.
Too cozy


Vice President Dick Cheney went duck hunting last week. No problem there. But he happened to go with his old buddy, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

That’s the problem.

In December, the Supreme Court decided to consider Cheney’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling requiring the vice president to turn over information regarding his energy task force.

Since early in the Bush administration, the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch, a public advocacy organization, have been in a pitched legal battle to force Cheney to reveal how the administration developed its energy policy and with whom it met.

The Supreme Court is likely to hear arguments in the case this spring.

Powerful people travel in powerful circles, and it would be ridiculous to expect friendships to end because individuals have risen to the highest levels of authority.

But the hunting trip and its proximity to court action does call into question whether Scalia can properly judge the merits of the case against Cheney’s office.

The interests of justice would have been much better served if Scalia had just skipped this hunting trip or chosen different hunting partners. That didn’t happen.

Scalia may be able to remain impartial on this issue, but the law is very clear. A judge should not participate in a case in which his or her impartiality can be questioned.

Scalia’s impartiality is in question. He should disqualify himself.
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