NEWS: Nov. 30, 2010

Public Workforce | The Nation
Pay-Freeze Plan Would Hit 2 Million Feds
President Obama proposed a two-year salary freeze for all federal civilian employees, signaling an apparent willingness to reach toward Republicans ahead of negotiations on deficit-cutting. The freeze, which would require congressional approval, would affect about two million workers in 2011 and 2012 and save $5 billion.
MORE: Wall Street Journal
Unions, Employee Groups Slam Pay Freeze
Obama's call for a pay freeze was swiftly criticized by federal unions and employee groups, who cited data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that suggest the pay gap between federal and private salaries grew last year in favor of the private sector.
MORE: Federal Times
Troops Will Get Scheduled Raises
Uniformed military personnel are exempted from Obama's pay-freeze plan, meaning they still would get the 1.4 percent increase scheduled for this January and a 1.6 percent raise on Jan. 1, 2012.
MORE: Military Times

John Nixon

Public Officials | Michigan
Gov.-Elect Snags Utah's Budget Chief
Gov.-elect Rick Snyder named John Nixon, executive director of Utah's Office of Planning and Budget, as Michigan's budget director, charging Nixon with implementing the "value for money budgeting" that was a kley plank of Snyder's campaign.
MORE: Detroit News
Exec Gets Nod to Head NYC Schools
Publishing executive Cathleen P. Black won the helm of New York City's public schools with a waiver from the state education commissioner that said her inexperience in education would be offset in part by the appointment of a chief academic officer.
MORE: New York Times

Technology | New Jersey
Server Issue Takes Down State's Websites
The failure of a server-cooling unit put most New Jersey government websites offline for much of Monday. The shutdown affected many of the state's most-used sites, including the Motor Vehicle Commission's page and the Treasurer's commercial-recording page.
MORE: The Record of Bergen County
New Jersey Site Posting Data on State Authorities
A website launched by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to make state finances more transparent is now listing detailed financial information for some of the state's biggest independent authorities, including the Turnpike Authority and the Sports and Exposition Authority.
MORE: Newark Star-Ledger
GAO: HUD's IT-Modernization Plan Needs Work
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development needs a better spending plan for IT modernization because the current plan has major holes, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
MORE: Federal Computer Week

Open Government | The Nation
WikiLeaks Release Chills Information-Sharing
After the latest WikiLeaks revelations, the federal government is setting in motion a new information "big chill," reversing almost a decade of post-Sept. 11 efforts to nudge U.S. officials into sharing sensitive documents. Parallelling efforts at other agencies, the Pentagon detailed new security safeguards.
MORE: AP/Google News

Wildlife Management | The Northern Rockies
End at Hand for Wolf Protections?
After years of legal wrangling over wolf management, the Obama administration and the governors of Idaho, Montana and Wyomingon discussed crafting an endgame--including whether Congress should pull the plug on the debate by declaring the animals' numbers have fully recovered.
MORE: AP/Caspar Tribune

Infrastructure | The Nation
Push to Ban Earmarks Threatens City Projects
Cities are bracing to lose millions of dollars in funding for transportation and community projects, from subway lines to youth centers, because of a renewed push in Congress to ban earmarks.
MORE: USA Today

Ethics | Massachusetts
Feds Probing State Probation Department
Federal prosecutors are asking a U.S. grand jury to weigh charges, including fraud, extortion and conspiracy, in the widening patronage scandal that has staggered the state Probation Department.
MORE: Boston Globe

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Frederica Wilson

QUOTABLE

“Some people wear wigs or high-heel shoes or big earrings or pins. This is just me.”
Florida state lawmaker Frederica Wilson, a Democrat known for her massive collection of fancy hats, who was elected to Congress on Nov. 2 and says she is hoping to have a conversation with the likely new speaker, Republican John Boehner, in hopes of finding a way around a rule barring members from wearing hats on the House floor
MORE: Miami Herald

ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

Public Workforce
The Case for
a Federal Pay Freeze
Bashing federal workers as overpaid and underemployed is a favorite political sport, and across-the-board pay increases or freezes are not the best way of doing business. But the two-year pay freeze proposed by President Obama for civilian employees is appropriate, both because of the money saved and the symbolic effect of showing that government can discipline itself.
MORE: Washington Post

DATAPOINT

About 25,000
Number of free rides taken on Chicago mass transit in 2009, costing transit agencies about $50,000, by people using passes issued to deceased senior citizens, with one card alone racking up as many as 1,400 free trips
MORE: Chicago Tribune

UPCOMING

Governing magazine
Webinar on Impacting State Budgets Through Procurement Reform
Today, 2 p.m. ET

American Legislative Exchange Council
States & Nation Policy Summit
Dec. 1-3 | Washington, D.C.

Council of State Governments
Annual Conference
Dec. 3-6 | Providence, R.I.

Governing magazine
Webinar on Desktop Management Simplified: The Desktop Virtualization Advantage
Dec. 6, 2 p.m. ET

National Conference of State Legislatures
Fall Forum
Dec. 8-11 | Phoenix

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