Alan Elze is correct to bemoan the management level of government (May 12). I wonder if he would agree with me that middle managers appear useless at times because they don’t get good direction from top management?

Every candidate for governor since Ken Curtis promised to bring better management to government and none have. Once elected they discover that government is not clear what it wants to do. The first step in managing is being able to articulate what you plan to do.

In government, an executive gets direction from the Legislature, which acts like a board of directors in the private sector. The Legislature develops this direction through a process of compromise so the hoped-for outcomes are often not clear and hardly ever have measurable variables attached to them.

Just clarifying what’s to be done in ways that most everyone can understand and agree to would make government much more functional.

Clearly, I think most would agree that government management in Maine and much of New England, and the Maritimes as well, is not corrupt.

In 35 years of government work, I know of one person who had a hand in the till, and that didn’t last very long.

Most governors are frustrated by not getting government workers to do what they want them to do, but this is the first one I’ve known who defined that as corruption.

Maybe he needs to be more clear about what he’s asking for.

James Tierney, Auburn