High Paid Migrant Professionals Are The Norm!

AgLifeNorthwest September 2004 Issue, by Scott Johnson, editor

Times aren't a changin'...they have changed.  And it is impossible to revert back to any programs or procedures that were better.

Each day more and more accountability is lost.  In years past many government professionals, including school superintendents, forest service district rangers and many other high-paid titles have become migrant workers.

Webster defines migrant as one who moves regularly.  The norm today is about three years for District Rangers and School Superintendents etc.  After three years, in the name of career advancement, they are gone, poof.

Why the high pay? They aren't anywhere long enough to show how good their ideas and policies are.  It takes a while to learn a new community, the residents, the problems, the needs.  After this is done a learned high paid professional should implement the changes and improvements he or she sees fit.

If they do implement changes and improvements it takes a while to see them through.  It just doesn't happen automatically.  And, just as soon as the community becomes used to a new philosophy, a new direction, a new way of doing things, this professional is quoted in the local paper, "After talking it over with the family, I have decided to further my career, and/or "pad" my wallet, and move on.

Then comes a new high-paid professional that will implement nww changes and improvements after learning the community, the residents, the problems and the needs.

They don't stick around long enough to see their programs through.  Grading their achievements and worth is impossible.  And if for some reason in the first year or so you see that this person it totally inept...you sometimes have to hold your nose and give them a glowing recommendation and nice severance package to get rid of them...hot tar and feathers in no longer politically correct.

In the "real world" if a CEO, or ranch manager, or business manager has a proven track record then he is a valuable commodity.  To compare private enterprise with the government is totally ridiculous.  There is no comparison when it comes to accountability.

In the "real world" you have to perform to a much higher level, keeping an eye on productivity and costs...or you are gone.

That is why "out-sourcing" is becoming a valuable alternative.  Private companies are much more efficient and cost-effective.

Many countries are thinking of eliminating or have eliminated their version of the forest service and fish and wildlife agencies.  The forest service has changed their focus without consulting their employer.  The Taxpayer.  They are more concerned creating and enforcing new laws restricting off-highway vehicle (OHV) use, roadless areas, etc. than they are doing what they were created to do...manage our natural resources.  Their new shift is law enforcement.  They want to relieve the local sheriff of his official duties and police the public land themselves.  This is the sheriff's job and they need to compensate his office, not usurp his authority.

The fish and wildlife agencies have failed us with their initial task to improve habitat and numbers of wildlife.  The wildlife have been forced onto the better managed private land for survival.  The agency has quietly recognized their failings and have internally shifted their focus to spending massive amounts of our tax money reintroducing and managing endangered species.

The elk, deer, antelope, etc would be on the endangered species list if not for the private landowner.  The day will come when congress will finally assess certain agencies and determine that the expense far exceeds the benefit and these agencies will join the rightful place on the "endangered agency list"!