Published: October 27, 2009 11:37 pm      

Pulling plug right move

THE ISSUE:Indiana’s welfare system.

OUR VIEW:The decision to end IBM’s involvement will be forgotten if the state succeeds in reforming welfare.

Gov. Mitch Daniels will be remembered for his eagerness to try new things. From the lease of the Indiana Toll Road to the privatization of the welfare system, he has always looked for new approaches to the administration of state government.

Some of those changes have been great successes. The toll road lease has provided working capital that allowed the Indiana Department of Transportation to tackle much more quickly projects such as the new Kokomo bypass.

The governor should certainly be remembered for his success in transforming the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

He might also be remembered, though, for his failed effort to reform the welfare system.

The effort was based on the assumption that putting entitlement programs into the hands of private enterprise would cause them to operate more efficiently, but the theory did not match up with reality. Welfare recipients appearing at a public hearing last fall spoke of hours spent on the telephone and months of waiting to receive benefits.

For families in crisis, such delays can be devastating.

The Daniels administration should be applauded for listening to critics of the privatization effort and taking action to resolve their complaints.

The Family and Social Services Administration had announced in July that it was putting IBM on notice. Officials said they were giving the company a chance to take corrective action, but they said if they didn’t see progress, they would pull the plug this fall.

To their credit, officials followed through on that threat.

It had to be a difficult decision. Daniels had been a huge supporter of the privatization effort, and he certainly knew that to back away from it would leave him with a significant amount of egg on his face.

Still changing course was the right thing to do. A crucial part of any reform effort is the willingness to admit a mistake and change direction.

Change doesn’t always work the first time around. There will always be a certain amount of trial and error.

The key is to learn from our mistakes and move on.

The state says it will push ahead with efforts to reform what the governor has called one of the least efficient welfare programs in the country. If those efforts succeed, the embarrassing memories of this month’s course correction will quickly fade.

– Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, and Kokomo Tribune