Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:<\/p>\n
\nIn the olden days, public sector jobs were filled by patronage, which led to massive incompetence and frequent turnover.\u00a0 These employees could get away with lousy service without repercussion because their jobs didn\u2019t depend on customer service, they depended on remaining in favor.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Later, public sector jobs are filled by civil service procedures to avoid nepotism and favoritism, hopefully resulting in more competent employees.\u00a0 These employees couldn\u2019t give the public lousy service because they\u2019d be disciplined or even fired.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>In states like Minnesota, public sector jobs became union jobs with the adoption of the Public Employment Labor Relations Act in 1984.\u00a0 They\u2019re still filled by civil service exams but now they\u2019re union jobs so employees can get away with lousy service without repercussion because it\u2019s so difficult to discipline or fire a public union employee.\u00a0 Local media attention or legislative scrutiny often is required before action is taken.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>I once submitted documents to the County Recorder but they were rejected.\u00a0 The phone conversation went something like this: \u201cWhy were my documents rejected?\u00a0 We can\u2019t give you legal advice.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want legal advice, I want to know what\u2019s wrong with my documents so I can fix them to get them recorded.\u00a0 Read the statute.\u00a0 I did read the statute, I still can\u2019t see anything wrong with my documents. \u00a0Consult a lawyer. \u00a0I AM A LAWYER AND AS FAR AS I CAN TELL THERE\u2019S NOTHING WRONG WITH MY DOCUMENTS SO WHAT\u2019S THE PROBLM?\u00a0 I\u2019ll refer you to my supervisor.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>I don\u2019t know whether that\u2019s incompetence, malice, stupidity, or just an idiotic policy, but it did not delight the customer.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>And in the federal government, it\u2019s even worse: public sector jobs are union jobs, supposedly filled by civil service process except the bosses are political appointees so the workers actually selected to fill positions tend to mirror the boss\u2019s political views.\u00a0 The federal government workforce leans Democrat<\/span><\/a> so they have no personal qualms about treating Tea Party fundraisers less well than Move On fundraisers, for example. \u00a0Massive media attention and Congressional inquiries were insufficient to motivate the IRS to discipline anybody.<\/span><\/p>\n