I used to see Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (and her communications chief, Joy Fox) a bit when Ms. Raimondo was the state treasurer, after her highly successful run as a venture capitalist. She got elected governor as a person willing to take on the challenges of structural reform after having displayed this courageous willingness when she embraced, as treasurer, the brutally difficult chore of pensi0n reform. Runaway public pensions have threatened to effectively bankrupt Rhode Island and some of its cities and towns. (Some of the cities are still on the edge.) Now many of us hope very much that she'll join with Common Good and other reform organizations to push to eliminate obsolete laws and to review the inefficient and costly "system'' of federal mandates on the states. The National Governors Association has a project along those lines.
Changes in these areas would make state governments more effective and cost-efficient and citizens' lives easier and more productive.
To get a sense of what I'm talking about, read Philip K. Howard's The Rule of Nobody. He runs Common Good and is an admirer of Governor Raimondo's work as treasurer.
