The Questions:

1. _9.0 average response_____When a function is dramatically changed--for example, allowing high school students to go to college fulltime--that's called "redesign". It has potential to improve services and save money. On a scale of (0) most disagreement, to (5) neutral, to (10) most agreement, what is your view on whether more redesign should occur in Minnesota's state and local governments?

Minnesota faces a budget shortfall of at least $4 billion for the biennium beginning July 1, 2011, according to the state economist. Please indicate your feelings on a scale of (0) most unlikely, to (5) neutral, to (10) most likely, whether Minnesota can rely on the following possibilities for closing the gap, without redesign of services:
2._4.1 average response_______ Increase taxes.
3._5.9 average response_______ Cut spending.
4._4.2 average response_______ Rely on growth in the state's economy to provide enough revenue

5. _9.3 average response_____K-12, higher education, local government aid, and health care constitute the vast majority of the Minnesota state budget. On a scale of (0) most disagreement, to (5) neutral, to (10) most agreement, what is your view on whether such services should be candidates for redesign, at this time of unprecedented budget challenges facing the Minnesota Governor and Legislature?

6. _9.5 average response_____Many ideas from many sources on many subjects are needed On a scale of (0) most disagreement, to (5) neutral, to (10) most agreement, what is your view on whether Minnesota individuals and organizations, rural and urban, private and governmental, should be encouraged to offer their own proposals for change to improve public services?

7. _8.8 average response_____On a scale of (0) most disagreement, to (5) neutral, to (10) most agreement, what is your view on whether the Civic Caucus should now give top priority attention in its weekly interviews and summaries to areas of potential redesign?

8. Who, specifically, ought to be invited to Civic Caucus meetings present their ideas for redesign? See comments below
9. What suggestions for redesign have you heard or thought of that should be given serious consideration? See comments below

Jim Horan (5) (0) (10) (8) (10) (10) 10)
Question 8: Dr. Bill Green. I'd like to hear Dr. Green's comments on Race to the Top, NCLB and how to redesign teacher pay. I think after leaving the Minneapolis School District he might be more open to talking about redesigning the teacher education system to ensure we get the best teachers in the profession and kick the lowest performing out. Another great proponent of redesign is Joe Mansky at Ramsey County Elections. He's knowledgeable on a number of topics outside of election law, in particular water resource management.

Donald H. Anderson (7) (8) (5) (4) (7) (9) (8)
Question 9: Consider reducing the number of levels of government and resultant duplication of services; have mutual boundaries, i.e. school districts, cities, service districts, etc.

Debbie Frenzel (8) (0) (9) (10) (10) (10) (10)

Larry Baker (7) (8) (5) (2) (7) (9) (9)
Question 9: For many tasks (especially surface water quality), using government to provide tools to enable local organizations, allowing LGUs to operate much more effectively. An idea (not discussed much): Giving far more zoning control to LGUs regarding power plant siting and removing the personal property tax waiver for power plants (the result would be more market-based energy cost); and/or rethinking the
idea that "more energy is needed" and moving rapidly toward conservation; eliminating all business subsidies; paying teachers on the basis of ability, not a union pay scale; developing a K-12 system that meets needs first, and then figuring out how to pay for it
later. Minnesota as the WORLD leader in K-12 education.

Arvonne Fraser (7) (7) (2) (5) (7) (10) (9)
Question 6: Some of these are better candidates for redesign than others. K-12 needs to take into account early childhood education and the fact that most families with children have two earners or a single parent/single earner. Schools should be seen as the major day care facility for students from pre-school to high school and be redesigned to take that fact into account. Health care is being redesigned at the national level and states will have to adapt and innovate with national health care as a base. Local government aid is essential and should not be project based.

Question 8: The best minds you can find and not just white males or recognized experts. Think redesign for Civic Caucus too.

Question 9: Think about long term and unintended consequences. Reform is dangerous and too often becomes "jazzy," and impractical if hard thought is not given to the social, political and economic context for which that reform is proposed. A lot of serious political education will be required to "sell" or simply explain redesigns. Practical testing should be undertaken as well.

Conrad deFiebre (10) (0) (10) (0) (10) (10) (10)
Question 1: Probably should be a continual process.
Question 2: Highly unlikely in this political climate, no matter who becomes governor. It still seems a no-brainer to return income tax rates to 1990s levels, when we had record prosperity but foolishly cut the rates permanently based on fleeting surpluses.
Question 3: Look for local aid and higher ed to keep taking it in the shorts while K-12 does no better than flat nominal support (losing ground to inflation).
Question 4: Economists say we won’t return to pre-Great Recession output until 2013 at the earliest. So there’s no solution there.
Question 5: In health care, much will depend on what Washington does.
Question 6: Another no-brainer.
Question 8: Smart people. I wish I knew who they are.
Question 9: If I knew how to get more from less, I’d probably be significantly wealthier than I am.

Dane Smith (10) (10) (5) (5) (8) (8) (8)
Question 9: See Growth & Justice work, Governing With Accountability, and Stacy Becker’s summary for Ted Kolderie, also the Bottom Line: Better Results for Dollars Spent.

Jan Hively (10) (_) (_) (_) (_) (6) (7)
Questions 2-4: I think that this is a poorly worded question. I expect that we will have to increase taxes and cut spending whether or not we redesign some services. That doesn't add to or subtract from the importance of working on redesign. But I don't think that we should present our focus as a substitute for either increasing taxes or cutting spending. By the way, I do not expect Minnesota's economy to be growing much, if at all, in the near future (during the next five years).

Question 5: If you want redesign, I think that it's a mistake to be thinking in these currently defined boxes. For example:
• I would redesign education from birth to death to include more than "schooling", to be maximally effective in teaching the skills, habits and attitudes related to productivity and self-sufficiency as well as personal enrichment.
• I would focus on the dimensions of wellness and how to promote wellness before focusing on the specifics of health care.
• Given the impact of aging trends, I would (and do) focus on changing expectations for aging to include meaningful work, paid or unpaid, "through the last breath." -- which suggests workplace and policy changes to encourage renewal and retention of older workers way past traditional retirement age. Over 75% of adults describe themselves as "healthy and active" up into their 80s. It's ridiculous that many employers, including public employers, encourage workers to retire in their 50s and early 60s.
Question 8: Babak Armajani from the Public Strategies group; Matt Entenza or one of his Fellows from Minnesota 2020; A couple of the leaders of the new legislators group that crosses the aisle.

Question 9: I'd appreciate the opportunity to sketch out a "redesign" for teaching productivity lifelong, with a description of what kind of policy entrepreneurship it would take to accomplish that goal.

Wayne Jennings (10) (7) (7) (4) (10) (10) (9)
Question 8: Peter Hutchinson, Ted Kolderie, Joe Graba, Jon Schroeder, Tom Ables, Jerry Allen, Gene Begay, Doug Thomas, Nan Skelton, Randy Fielding, Rick Heydinger, Steve Kelly, Jim Kielsmeier, Walt McClure, Jamie Steckard.
Question 9: Elementary, secondary and higher education need redesign. Much of their systems are out-dated and too expensive. They mainly ignore principles of learning and changes in technology. Students are full of energy, enthusiasm and creativity like fast race cars at the starting gate but the flag never falls. Students are a huge untapped resource for their own learning and for the community but it will take major redesign and systemic change, virtually impossible within the system. Hence the approach of pilot programs or institutional bypasses like alternatives.

David Durenberger (_) (0) (8) (2) (10) (5) (10)
Question 8: Selected cabinet members from last five administrations; Gov Pawlenty and the likely DFL and GOP leadership; Jack Uldrich and Independence Party; Jason Lewis; Michelle Bachmann.
Question 9: I've concluded the 2010 election will be dominated by the new Republican right and the shortcomings of the Obama definition of Democrats and little novel governance is possible....If I were to target anything it would be the failed accountability of local government in a state that has much too much local government and too little accountability.

Nancy Rodenborg (10) (7) (1) (5) (10) (10) (10)
Question 9:

First suggestion: Hire the most educated and experienced professional service people (e.g., school teachers, social workers, nursing home workers, etc.) that you can afford. Give them higher salaries and in return give them more discretion and hold them accountable for the outcome - that is carefully stipulated up front. Treat them more as professionals rather than laborers. Fire them if they don't produce the outcome agreed upon (e.g., less recidivism in chemical dependency programs, higher test scores in schools using an agreed-upon instrument to evaluate progress, better resident health in nursing homes using stipulated indicators that all agree upon, etc.).

What we've done now of course is de-professionalize across many service areas. We hire the cheapest workers (e.g., in social service those without MSWs or in some cases - such as child protection - those without appropriate degrees at all) and then we monitor the heck out of their work by trying to control the process rather than the outcome.

People are excused from poor outcomes because of this. They complain (rightly) that the system does not allow excellence and they are not paid for this anyway.

There are limits to this idea. For example it may be more successful in smaller programs than in larger (Schorr wrote a couple of books on this). And, the state must monitor process in order to check abuse of course. But, for a long time now we haven't really tried it.

Second suggestion: Empirical testing of how to reduce polarization through dialogue. I come across this idea after having caught the end of a TV program demonstrating just such an experiment. The experiment compared two groups of heavily polarized people utilizing two different forms of problem-solving. Group A (the control group, more or less) included polarized citizens who were involved in a discussion-only type conversation, I believe (though I can't recall details and they are not important for my general point). Group A may or may not have been facilitated--I can't recall. This group spent the day trying to understand each other's opinions and come to a greater mutual understanding. Group B (the test group) included similarly polarized citizens but this group received particular form of facilitated dialogue coupled with immediate access to their own group of neutral topic matter experts. The experts were available during the whole dialogue, waiting to be asked questions. Group B citizens were able to access their personal experts at any time in the dialogue to resolve a point of content. For example, if the dialogue topic was abortion, Group B citizens were able to find out immediately what the latest professional opinion is about when life begins after conception. A polarized group on health care could get neutral professional opinion about various costs, health procedures, etc. Both Group A & B received before and after measures of their opinions. Group A became more polarized and came to no greater understandings. Group B members retained their original positions but their thinking became more complex and they were better able to understand the other sides' viewpoints.

My "redesign" idea follows this example--instead of relying mostly on debate mode of communication or discussion, we try to find more effective methods to communicate about public problems using various forms of dialogue. Models of dialogue that use specific forms of facilitation and utilize various forms of expert knowledge should receive empirical examination. Perhaps we can find a model for public policy discourse that educates rather than debates. There is much research in communication, social psychology and other areas that is not now being formally used in the public sphere. Since we don't really know how best to do this, perhaps we should set out to experiment more intentionally.

I should let you know that inter group dialogue is my area of social work scholarship, so I am vested personally in learning more about dialogue as a method of reducing stereotypes and prejudice among individuals with diverse viewpoints.

Mark Ritchie
Wow, great statement.

Austin Chapman (9) (2) (4) (6) (10) (10) (8)
Question 8: Any credible individuals or groups with creative ideas.

David Detert (8) (6) (10) (0) (9) (10) (9)
Question 9: Government role in health care redefined to supplying only basic health care to all residents. No involvement in high tech, high cost health care. Year round school with graduation at age 16 from high school.

Dennis L. Johnson (10) (0) (10) (6) (10) (10) (10)
Question 8: Michelle Bachman, Jason Lewis, and other conservatives.
Question 9: Do an end run around teachers' unions with a statewide voucher system, get colleges back to teaching and eliminate most non-teaching"politically correct" positions, allow health care insurance companies from out of state to compete in MN, pass a tort reform bill for health care.

Vici Oshiro (10) (4) (4) (10) (10) (10) (3)
Question 2-4: But you are unlikely to accomplish much redesign in 19 months. But that is not a reason to delay or give up.
Question 6: Provided they meet your criteria - serious, detailed, thoughtful proposals.
Question 9: How will you engage with other citizen organizations?

Glenn Dorfman (10) (5) (8) (2) (10) (10) (10)
Question 8: Ted Kolderie and Bill Blazar

Babak Armajani (10) (4) (4) (9) (10) (8) (9)
Question 1: This has been my professional life.
Question 6: (Yes, why at a time like this would we not want all the ideas we could get?) But is this a source of designs that offer promise? On that question I am a skeptical 3. Full fledged redesigns are most likely to come from people who are captive to neither partisan nor special interests, who have a broad understanding of public policy and government operations, and, most importantly, who understand and are willing to challenge the assumptions that underlie our current delivery systems.
Question 8: You should start by interviewing the heads of the foundations that sponsored the "Minnesota Bottom Line" report: http://bit.ly/2T5Hli and the Citizens League that has been facilitating a public dialogue around these ideas.
Question 9: See #8 as a start. There are many other possibilities that for one reason or another were unacceptable to the sponsoring foundations.

Bert Press (10) (0) (10) (0) (10) (10) (10)
Question 8: academics from several colleges, members of boards of directors from businesses of all sizes, hospital department heads. The Civic Caucus should place an ad in several newspapers inviting ideas.
Question 9: The cost of government, education and health care has gone up and up. There must be a better way.

Don Fraser (8) (9) (4) (4) (8) (9) (9)
Question 8: Bob Wedl on PK-3
Question 9: Help new single parents become stronger persons more able to
function.

Ralph Brauer (1) (0) (0) (0) (0) (9) (0)
The statement on redesign could have been written a quarter of a century ago, when the buzzword was re-engineering. It still means the same thing and your attempts at redesign will run afoul of the same problems if you do not reorient your thinking.

The same corporations who embraced re-engineering two decades ago have long since given that up for a more systemic approach. The new/old buzzword is systemic improvement. That has been around for at least a decade. It has spawned a host of charlatans and snake-oil purveyors who give speeches and workshops on "systems thinking." Most of this is as "soft" and ill-defined as was re-engineering's or as is redesign. However, there is an approach you have not yet considered and you at least owe it to the people of Minnesota to discuss that approach. Otherwise you are being intellectually short-sighted--and dishonest. That approach is system dynamics.

Minnesota and the nation's current problems stem from a lack of systemic thinking--that is they treat problems in isolation or put them in boxes rather than see them as interrelated parts of a whole system. State government is a system, not a series of unrelated departments. The reason I did not answer the K-12 question is that to systems thinkers the question is absurd in the context of state government. K-12 is one part of that system. You cannot approach K-12 alone without understanding its place in the larger system. For example, K-12 is the only expenditure specifically required by the Minnesota Constitution, which mandates "adequate funding" of public education. In this sense it could be argued that the K-12 budget should be funded first as provided in the Constitution and then the rest of the budget built around it.

The same could be said for your shopworn questions about taxes and spending. What is the systemic impact of a tax increase? What would that increase be used for? Ditto, where do you cut spending? What are the systemic impacts of those cuts? A true systemic analysis would begin by asking what is the purpose of state government? What functions are essential? Why? If some current functions are identified as nonessential, what would be the consequences of eliminating them? How should state government be organized to maximize its functioning as a system?

If you treat state government as a series of departments and programs then your only alternative is to continue the current impasse of arguing which departments and programs should be cut, which is a political not a systemic question. The outcome for the Caucus will depend on which partisans can turn out their members to influence the process in their direction. The taxes/spending question is a great example of that. The lines have been drawn there for at least a generation. A "redesign" will not erase those lines. However, encouraging people to look at state government as a system can. It will force people to ask different and better questions than you currently have been asking.

If you are really serious about re-engineering or redesigning state government then to be truly meaningful it must involve system dynamics modeling. Systems dynamics is Peter Senge"s "fifth discipline" and is used by most major corporations for strategic planning. Modeling has several virtues, not the least of which is that it puts people on a common wave length and avoids "experimenting" on people since you first model the changes to tease out people's mental models and to see if your redesign will work. To switch metaphors, if you redesign a bridge ( we won't mention any candidates) you need to calculate the load factors it must carry and then you model that design to see if it actually can stand up under those loads before you build it. You do not go out and throw a bridge together based on a bunch of ideas about its redesign and then hope it will carry the load.

I really do not want anything more to do with this if it does not involve dynamic modeling. I would be happy to discuss this further with you, including suggesting possible speakers/consultants.

BTW, Jay Forrester, the MIT emeritus professor who created system dynamics likes to point out that the worst thing you can do is to try to "fix" a system (Peter has a chapter called "Fixes That Fail") without understanding its systemic components and their behavior over time (feedbacks). Doing so risks increasing the problem, not fixing it. Imagine your car is performing badly, so you decide to "redesign" it to improve its functioning without any understanding of how the engine works. That is essentially what you are proposing. You may think you understand state government but to my knowledge no one has looked at it from the perspective of system dynamics. Now is the time to come out of the Stone Age and do something really meaningful. You have a unique opportunity here. Don't blow it.

You can reach me at 763-227-9869.

I apologize for being so feisty, but the future is at stake and you are about to embark on the equivalent of Pickett's Charge.

Marianne Curry (10) (5) (5) (5) (10) (10) (10)
Question 8: Jim Mulder, AMC; League of MN Cities leadership
Question 9:
a) consolidation of local government structures and functions
b) consolidation of higher education facilities and functions; devolve some university majors to four-year institutions such as teacher training;
c) offer vocational training institutes and credentialing at high school level to capture and motivate drop outs
d) eliminate and devolve specific state government functions that can be performed by private sector
e) adopt constitutional amendment to limit total number of terms served by legislators to three in the House and two in the Senate to discourage professional pols and encourage more citizen involvement and flow of creative thinking
f) move primary to month of June to encourage higher participation (too many people on vacation in August)
g) move to year-round K-12 term for schools to eliminate loss of learning skills
h) create Senior Mentoring program for all at-risk students to harness talent of retired seniors (who are part of the solution-not the problem)
i) create a healthy choices movement to encourage personal responsibility for preventive health, nutrition and exercise.
j) make public health a top priority by offering vaccinations in the K-12 schools using retired nurses
k) mitigate high health and auto insurance premiums by outlawing driver use of any communication devices
l) start a program to change public ho-hum attitudes about violence in the home, including in-service training for all district judges
m) prohibit local governments from nickel and dime-ing homeowners by billing services separately
n) offer full tuition-free scholarships to the University of MN for students who have demonstrated giftedness (now only 3 cents on the dollar of federal education money spent on this pool of talent: shameful if we want to stay competitive)
o) attract the best and the brightest into teaching profession by offering Best Practices contracts and compensation
p) charge higher premiums to overweight people, smokers, alcoholics; change incentives to require taking personal responsibility for health-related decisions
q) consolidate voter and drivers license lists to eliminate duplication
r) teach civic responsibility at the high school level and establish MN Youth Core to perform community service as a condition of graduation
s) eliminate unhealthy foods in the schools no matter how cheap including all soft drinks
t) use public transit system to transport high school students with vouchers
u) eliminate use of salt on public roads altogether; ruins water quality and boulevards and trees as well as corrodes bridges and cement at accelerated rates
v) make use of LED lights tax deductible
w) encourage use of solar roof panels by making it tax deductible
x) redefine "work" to allow part-time seniors to continue making a high-skill contribution to our economy; reward volunteers who serve not for profit organizations at no cost
y) make family care of frail elderly tax deductible on the same scale as care of minor children
z) convert school buildings to shared senior housing coops
IN OTHER WORDS, CHANGE INCENTIVES !

Paul Hauge (9) (8) (3) (6) (8) (9) (8)
Question 8: Ex state tax commissioners, ex commerce commissioners, etc.

Lou DeMars (10) (5) (5) (8) (10) (10) (10)
Question 8: past elected officials and administrators, Corporate top leaders including small business leaders, consultants from National associations such as National association of cities, Mayors association, national association of counties, MEA local and National and other respected public policy organizations, police and fire representatives, Labor representatives, Various religious organization, the non-profit foundation leadership, solid waste handling experts and interested citizens.
Question 9: Merger of several cities into one city, Metro police and fire, a powerful state economic development department, banding together of public institutions for better purchasing practices and power a community wide solid waste, recycling and composting entity

John S. Adams (10) (6) (6) (3) (10) (10) (10)

Robert J. Brown (10) (3) (4) (5) (10) (10) (10)
Questions 2-4: Solely increasing taxes could make us more disadvantaged when compared with some other states and cutting spending without serious reinventing will harm our position as an effective state in provision of government services. A reliance on growth can work at times, but the economy goes through cycles and economic growth is not always possible. A combination of these things along with redesign may be the only way out. As much as I believe in redesign I don’t think that alone will be enough so it will be necessary to depend partially on these other means of closing the gap.

Question 8: I don’t have specific names, but I think you need a mix of “way out” futurists, forward thinking policymakers, opinion leaders, business leaders who have demonstrated in their own fields the foresight necessary to lead in their industries, creative types from science and the arts, and bright young people who are not captured by the thinking of the past.

Question 9: Broader systemic integration of government services to families (education, health, and welfare), public-private partnering in community development including integrated planning of transportation, housing, education, business development, crime prevention, and recreation for a more stable and safe society.

Bright Dornblaser (10) (7) (10) (0) (10) (10) (10)
An excellent statement! Content is "right on", filled with good thoughts, and very well, thoughtfully written. Much comparability here with the Citizens League policy and practice of civic engagement, the notion that everyone is a policy maker.

Question 8: In addition to people who have studied the subject, people affected by it who have not necessarily studied problem definition, causes and possible solutions but who are affected by the subject. They can benefit by learning what the former think, to stimulate their thinking. But they should be given the strong support to provide their own thinking, to not be bound by previous thinking. The Citizens League process of civic engagement is often messy, but out of comes ideas that may well not have been thought of or given sufficient consideration by policy wonks.

Question 9: The Citizens League studies of Pathways out of Poverty and Long Term care are examples.

Shirley Heaton (5) (3) (5) (9) (10) (10) (10)
Question 1: This relies on the capability of those in the drivers' seats to pull it off.
Questions 2-4: Actually a combination of all three with emphasis on growth. The tax increase offer could result from a re-evaluation of the current tax structure.
Question 5: It's time the age-old band-aid practices of resolving financial problems come to an end.
Question 6: The effort is a waste without across the board input from all sectors of the society.
Question 7: Who else has the 'machinery' to get the job underway?
Question 8: Being a non-resident, I can't help you on this one but a representative of the local, regional or state planning groups --even a member of the MN chapter of the American Institute of Planners -- might be included -- since the profession includes consideration of social and economic issues as well as physical ones.
Question 9: How about investigating the 'political' structures of individual schools to learn how they impact learning possibilities for students? Case in point: while regional director of an AARP Tax Aid program I had a heck of a time getting a local school board to allow me to place a tax site in a high school during the lunch period which would be run by a retired principal and his retired teacher wife. But interestingly enuf the IRS latched onto the project and today income tax preparation is being taught in high school economic classes!

Cindy L. Lavorato (9) (2) (4) (2) (10) (10) (10)
Question 8: student leaders (high school, college), parents, State Bar Civic Education committee, civil rights organizations (NAACP, Urban League)

Terry Stone (10) (_) (10) (_) (10) (10) (8)
Question 8: Jeff Wiita, CPA (candidate for State Auditor) has redesign plans for the Auditor's office that I've never heard. His vision for this constitutional office is an excellent example of out of the box thinking. He is currently writing a series of chapters that outline his ideas. jeffwiita@yahoo.com

Marty Seifert has endless specific plans for cutting cabinet positions, a series of reforms and a solid and sustainable vision for Minnesota. He outlined a number of ideas in Duluth tonight and I can find no fault with his ideas. The last time Civic Caucus interviewed Marty, he was the House Minority Leader. Unfettered Candidate Seifert is an intellectual force with which to be reckoned. These inspirational ideas would be a great foundation for a series of discussions.

Question 9: MPCA and DNR are duplicating functions in water quality, pollution identification/mitigation and enforcement/regulatory matters. The two agencies are equally and thoroughly influenced by extreme environmental interest. They represent the worst of entrenched and bloated government. Both agencies are hostile to business and are fostering delays and cancellations of new business start-ups in our state. They need to be merged and brought into useful service through redesign, strong gubernatorial appointments and leadership.

Ray Schmitz (10) (3) (8) (0) (10) (10) (10)
Question 8: I have read, but not filed, a couple treatises on this subject. Wonder if they could be located?

Question 9: The breadth of our governance is far too limited, local governing in some areas is no longer productive. Example, Rochester has problems with the use of its sewage plant due to lack of business, building did move as quickly as planned, the Elk Run development 10 miles north is getting millions in subsidies to build infrastructure, including water/sewage, regional planning could have limited that.

Carolyn Ring (8) (5) (5) (5) (8) (10) (6)
Question 9: Zero budgeting. Every aspect of every department and governmental entity, should be required to start from zero and justify their budget. Expansion of the sales tax. Incentive for innovative and create ideas and plans.

Bill Frenzel (10) (1) (8) (1) (10) (10) (10)
Question 6: Everybody ought to be in it. But there has to be disciplined way to assay the ideas, or it will be come a giant game of “show and tell”. Remember, it’s the most junior asst. mgr. who has to read all the dippy ideas in the company suggestion box.

Question 7: Top priority, but not exclusive priority.

Question 8: After Kolderie, everybody else seems tame. Let us avoid the purveyors of billboard slogans and bumper stickers, even if they are running for high elective office.

Bill Kuisle (8) (2) (10) (6) (10) (9) (10)

Ray Ayotte (10) (5) (7) (8) (10) (10) (10)
Question 8: Health Care Delivery Leaders Consortium -- Health Insurance industry Leaders (i.e. Health Partners, United Health Care, etc), with leaders from institutions in health care delivery (hospitals, clinics, long term care facilities)
Question 9: Developing incentives to encourage personal accountability for adopting healthy life styles aimed at reducing obesity, smoking, and improving physical fitness.

Kent Eklund (10) (3) (5) (3) (10) (9) (10)
Question 8: Policy entrepreneurs -- Curt Johnson, Jay Kiedrowski, John Gunyou
Question 9: Need a new payment model for long term care pegged means tested and based on great incentives for long term care insurance -- one idea.

Connie Morrison (7) (0) (4) (8) (10) (10) (_)
Question 8: You mighht try former Legislator, David Bishop. He has a most inventive mind.
Question 9: Reduce layers of government; i.e., fewer counties, fewer systems under metro council; have the legislature leave higher education alone. The combination of tech schools, community colleges and state universities was expensive and non-productive.

Clarence Shallbetter (9) (4) (6) (4) (8) (7) (7)
Question 9: Provide low income residents a voucher for transportation services, including transit, that they can use to purchase transportation services for job searches, to their jobs, medical services, and food purchases and increase the transit fares to the median level of daytime downtown parking.

Scott Halstead (10) (3) (7) (0) (10) (10) (10)
Question 8: Think tanks that work outside the box
Question 9: There should be consolidation of small government units in the metro area and in limited out state areas.

Roger Heegaard (10) (10) (10) (10) (10) (10) (10)
As an "unreconstructed liberal," this entire statement fills me with hope and inspiration. I can endorse it wholeheartedly. Thanks again for all you do for our state and for us all.

Rick Bishop (10) (8) (8) (5) (10) (10) (10)
Question 8: Those who are willing, within appropriate bounds, to add reasoned thought and "design" to the conversation.

Question 9: School design within the framework of community based services.

David Broden (10) (7) (3) (4) (10) (10) (8)
Question 1: Redesign is an absolute must but to "sell" the concept and then to have it done in coordinated way that will be linked together not individual fragments we need to start with the topic view of how we want Mn to operate and be structured and then pick the priorities. It is likely that if we do this from a big picture view there is a good chance that the pieces will come together very well--if we do it with parochial views and piece meal it will require redoing and changes and likely be chaotic etc. With this said then the question becomes how to start--something like a must do leadership focus should be the trigger function.
Questions 2-4: To expect any or all of these to work to solve the problem is one more band aid--not a solution--the best answer is to require redesign as the priority and then work the 3 topics under that umbrella--however even if the redesign works we will need a few years of a combination of the 3 topics to move ahead.
Question 5: All elements of government must be subject to redesign--nothing should be exempt etc.
Question 6: One of the reasons we have so many issues is that all ideas seem to flow from political parties, foundations, think tanks and study groups-- we need the 'stakeholders" who live and work throughout the state to be the shapers of the future-not just more of the same from inside the system.
Question 7: Redesign will be required and is evolving to be an accepted concept by organizations through out the state. The Civic Caucus is a catalyst to trigger the dialogue and we should focus on this. I think the real debate within CC should perhaps be : do we select a few topics for redesign or do we focus on how to get the redesign process as the solution focus and define a process and participants that the state should follow.
Question 8: I will provide some names later--I want to be sure that here we address not only ideas for specifics on redesign but the process for redesign and how we sell redesign to the public etc.

Eric Schubert (10) (0) (0) (0) (10) (10) (10)
This is an awesome document. The Civic Caucus is one of the few spots in Minnesota that is asking these questions and working to answer them. I was struck by your discussion with Mary Brainerd and the Itasca Group's hesitancy to get involved in advocacy. I found it sad and says a lot about the state of the state of Minnesota.

Questions 2-4: Has to be a mixture of all. We have to stop kidding ourselves that it's just an either/or. Bad shell game.
Question 6: We need ideas from everywhere, and then we need advocacy for the best ideas. We need a special interest that puts Minnesota first.
Question 7: Brings attention to possibilities and results.
Question 8: Anyone who can demonstrate they have a substantive idea for moving Minnesota forward.
Question 9: I've heard about a KIPP charter school in Minneapolis near the Basilica. Heard they do awesome work in getting kids to college. The Citizens League is working on long-term care financing change. It's not finalized yet, but it could potentially be major redesign.

Robert A. Freeman (10) (5) (5) (3) (9) (10) (4)
Question 1: But with an end in mind, not for the sake of it.
Question 5: K-12 & higher education are clearly in need of major redesign as they consume almost half the budget. LGA can be redesigned but net effect will probably not change. Health care is being redesigned at state and federal level but will be slow to implement.
Question 6: The more the merrier
Question 7: Hopefully you can do both?

Gary Prest (10) (0) (0) (0) (10) (10) (10)

Peter Hennessey
I do not agree with the starting premise, that any of this is an appropriate government function.

1. First of all, I don't agree with starting definition for "redesign." Coming from the scientific / engineering world, and lately having developed an interest in architecture, the definition you offer is for "remodeling." Redesign would include re-examining the fundamental framework and would question the very need for the function you want to redesign.

2. In the face of falling revenues, and reserves having been depleted. Everybody's only option is to reduce expenses.

3. When I first came to the US, all these were local functions. State "help" and soon actual control have come later, along with the huge bureaucracies that necessarily use up resources (salaries, offices) but deliver less and lower quality services. I've seen this in several states. The local jurisdictions have a much better feel for their needs and resources.

4. Well, yes, reach out to anybody and everybody who is willing to offer ideas. But the problem is that bureaucracies and legislators only listen to "experts."

5. Are you trying to be funny? I thought that was the very purpose of Civic Caucus meetings all along.

6. I have no idea who's who in MN, but my recommendation would be to reach out to people who are known for their conservative, not progressive, views.

7. I don't know if I have ever heard serious ideas for redesign, either by your definition or mine. The problem is not that we have to make the present design work better, the problem is that we are not willing to scrap the design that was built up over the past 40-50 years (government employee unions, State and federal financing of, and therefore interference in, health, education, welfare, etc.) The problem is that the progressives are unwilling to accept and go back to two fundamental principles: (1) keep everything local, (2) keep expenses low so you do not stifle or kill, by overtaxing, the private sector upon which everything else depends. You'd think States would be acutely aware of this, because people can and do vote with their feet -- which is precisely why progressives want to find a federal solution to everything, because people can't vote with their feet to escape the feds and still remain in America.

My personal specific suggestion for "redesign" according to your definition (trying to be helpful on your terms...) would be to forget everything taught in "public administration" courses, send every bureaucrat back to study business administration, and put in place private sector business administration principles and practices. Then you would not need to worry about how to redesign anything, the operation would be running in the most cost-efficient manner possible.