Have You Hugged A Public Employee Today?

It's Public Employees Recognition Week in Kentucky.

First Lady Jane Beshear today presented a signed proclamation declaring the week of October 3 as Public Service Recognition Week in Kentucky. The celebration began nationally in 1985 to honor the men and women who serve our nation as federal, state, county and local government employees and ensure that our government is the best in the world.

“Public servants are the backbone of our communities,” said Mrs. Beshear. “This week provides not only a means to express our gratitude, but an opportunity to increase awareness and appreciation for the many services public employees provide to benefit and protect our lives each day.”

School students throughout the state have shown their appreciation to public employees by participating in the fourth-annual Public Service Recognition Poster Contest. Students were asked to create a poster around this year’s theme, “State Employees – Making a Difference Every Day in Every Way.” The 2011 winners (see below) were in attendance today and were recognized by the First Lady.

Arabella Grace Long, Taylor County Elementary School, age group 6-9
Kisaki Takeuchi, Lyon County High School, age group 10-13
Keri Dial, Metcalfe County High School, age group 14-18

As part of the week’s events, the Governor’s Ambassador Awards will also be announced on Oct. 6 at the Frankfort Civic Center. The program recognizes state employees who significantly and positively impact the lives of their co-workers, customers and community at large. Nominations are submitted by peers and local citizens in the areas of customer service, courage, leadership, professional achievement, teamwork, or community service and volunteerism. Each award recipient is honored with an engraved, personalized brick placed outside the Kentucky History Center. More than 100 nominations were received this year, involving approximately 230 employees.

Revenue Program Officer Natalie Brown, a 2010 Ambassador Award recipient, helped save the life of a man who had a heart attack while on the phone with her. “It was an honor to be a recipient of this award, and it was a privilege to stand alongside so many outstanding and hardworking employees. The Governor’s Ambassador Awards is a great program that recognizes the spirit of our state government’s dedicated workers who continue to serve the people of Kentucky.”

Visit the Personnel Cabinet’s website at www.personnel.ky.gov to view the poster contest winners and their artwork, a toolkit for managers, and the 2010 winners of the Governor’s Ambassador Awards. Recipients of the 2011 awards will be available Oct. 6.

Yesterday, Steve Benen highlighted this recent poll showing that only 15 percent of Americans trust government.

Seeing these results, I couldn’t help but think about Mike Lofgren, a retired GOP staffer on Capitol Hill, who last month offered a first-hand look at what motivates policymakers from his party. As Lofgren put it, congressional Republicans aren’t just eager to undermine Democrats at all costs, they’re also intent on undermining the public’s faith in political institutions themselves.

A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress’s generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner…. Undermining Americans’ belief in their own institutions of self-government remains a prime GOP electoral strategy [emphasis added]

The point is nihilism for nihlism’s sake; the point is to create a dynamic in which the American mainstream simply won’t look to government for policy solutions, because the public simply won’t trust public institutions to respond effectively and responsibly.

And once Americans are convinced to turn their backs on these institutions, Republicans will find it easier to shrink government — preferably to the size where it can be “drowned in a bathtub” — and cut taxes, which is generally the ultimate goal anyway.

Congratulations, Republicans. By refusing to be responsible, refusing to compromise, and refusing to govern, it looks like your strategy is working.

Fight the anti-government nihilism. Hug a public employee today.