DelaWonk

Hey, Markell Transition Team, want to save some money?

I’ve got three words for you:

Open Source Software.

Governments all over the world, and many right here in the U.S. are starting to realize the enormous savings and efficiencies available by making better software choices, including opting for open source solutions that make sense. If companies as dynamic (and profitable) as Google and Facebook choose to build their operations on open source, its a safe bet that there is a place for it in the government enterprise.

Need more savings? Here’s three more words:

Data Center Consolidation.

I think that there has actually been some discussion in the last couple of years about building a new data center for the State of Delaware.  In my humble opinion, this is completely the wrong direction to go.

Virtualization technology has advanced to such a state that your grandmother (yes, yours!) could set up a pretty rocking virtual server.  Server consolidation based on a sound virtualization strategy would not only obviate the need for a new data center, it would reduce energy costs, simplify hardware purchases and streamline server deployment and management.

Seriously, if the people being interviewed by the Transition Team don’t use these 6 words somewhere in their responses, get rid of them.

They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

How much can governments save by fostering innovation?

Well, if the result of the recent “Apps for Democracy” challenge sponsored by the District of Columbia is any indication, governments can potentially save a lot of dough.  The District invested a modest sum in the program ($50k in total), and the return on that investment is estimated at around $2 million.  That’s a 4000% return on investment.

Other governments — like the U.K. — are trying similar strategies.

All of this is happening against a backdrop of historic belt tightening by governments across the U.S.  More of them should look to the example set by D.C. and foster innovation by making their data available for use by third-party developers.

Are you paying attention Markell Transition Team?  (Admit it, you know you read my blog.)

Here is a very nice story from my old hometown newspaper about a Syracuse University Law School student that one day became Vice President:

Kevin Coyne stuttered as a child. Other children were not kind. Once, as he played in his yard on Stinard Avenue, in Syracuse, several older boys taunted him relentlessly. Kevin tried to brush it off. This was nothing new.

Out of nowhere, a college student who rented a place next door vaulted a fence and told Kevin’s tormentors to knock it off. The young man was beside himself with fury. He warned them to never tease Kevin about his stuttering again.

Joe Biden, who as a young man helped a lonely kid in Syracuse, will soon be vice president of the United States.

Its a good story, and definitely worth the read.

What’s interesting to me is that Joe and his first wife Neilia lived about 3 blocks from where I grew up, in the Strathmore neighborhood of Syracuse, New York. Neilia Biden worked for a time as a teacher at Bellevue School, where I later spent the first 6 years of my academic career.

That section of Syracuse was (and probably still is) predominately catholic - everyone I knew went to Most Holy Rosary Church on Sunday - and large families were the norm. Joe Biden used to shoot hoops up the street from my old house:

Joe also played driveway basketball at a nearby house on South Geddes Street. That was the home of City Court Judge James Fahey, father of Joe Fahey, an Onondaga County Court judge. The young men shot baskets or shot the breeze about politics.

My own family’s driveway would one day (not long after Joe and Neilia had moved away from Syracuse) have its own basketball court, and be used by a future Syracuse University basketball star to hone his deadly outside shot.

I’m sure many of the people there still remember the Bidens, and are looking on with pride now as he ascends to the Office of the Vice President.

If you are a Facebook user and you want to show your support for John Carney being appointed to replace Joe Biden in the U.S. Senate, check out this Application.

This is my first attempt at building a Facebook app — I can say with no reservation that the documentation (particularly for the PHP library for interacting with the Facebook API) could be vastly improved. The debugging process also leaves a lot to be desired.

Still, I learned a lot and I hope this helps get the word out about how important it is to support JC for the Senate.

Hopefully my web host — where the application source code is hosted — won’t let me down (fingers crossed).

With the historic victory of Obama / Biden last night, people are starting to ask — who will replace Joe Biden in the U.S. Senate?

Those in and around Delaware politics have been speculating for months as to who Biden’s successor could be if Obama won. The conventional wisdom is that the seat may go to someone with some political chops, that has a proven track record of running a strong campaign and attracting votes. Alternatively, the appointment could go to someone with no political ambition who will step aside in 2 years and let Senator Biden’s son Beau (currently deployed to Iraq) run for the seat unopposed from the Democratic side.

The better question for Delaware is not “who will be appointed?”, but rather “can Delaware afford 2 years with a placeholder in Washington?”

Delaware faces some significant challenges in the next several years. According to the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC), for the current fiscal year Delaware is short by over $30 million. When DEFAC reconvenes in December, it is likely that this amount will have grown to exceed $50 million, perhaps even $60 million. And the deficit amount for the next fiscal year (beginning in July of 2009) is even more daunting.

It is worth noting that the new Governor elect — Jack Markell — made special note during the campaign for the need to squeeze every last dime out of Washington to mitigate the need for painful spending cuts and tax increases in Delaware. On multiple occasions during the campaign, and in his “Blueprint for Delaware” plan, Markell noted that every possible effort must be made to capitalize on funding opportunities from Washington.

The possibility of a “placeholder” appointment, allowing someone with no intention of staying in the Senate (or even in Washington) to serve for at least the next 2 years, is dangerous one for Delaware. When negotiations in Washington are heated and states are competing intensely for finite resources, no one is going to take a placeholder appointment seriously. Delaware needs the strongest possible advocate for our state in the Senate as soon as possible, someone who understands the issues and will mount a strong campaign for reelection in two years.

I think reasonable people can debate who might be the best person to appoint to Joe Biden’s seat, to make sure that we get every federal dollar we have coming to us as we weather the current fiscal storm. However, appointing someone to serve halfheartedly until Joe Biden’s son returns so that he can run for his father’s seat is simply unacceptable given the current financial crisis.

So then, having said all of that, I ask: can we afford not to appoint John Carney as our next U.S. Senator?