Sacramento Star Sighting

No, it wasn't Arnold Schwarzenegger, who made an "appearance" at the State Fair on its last day to engage his adoring public in the usual gladhanding and autograph signing (no hard questions, please). Instead, I saw someone at my gym few people would recognize (other than really hardcore, vastly overeducated policy types): Eloise Anderson, who served as California's social service director under Pete Wilson. As much as I loathe the former California governor for his tax-friendly ways and his general lack of the "vision thing," the best legacy of his tenure lives in those persons he attracted to public service. In addition to Ms. Anderson and University of California Regent Ward Connerly, I was fortunate enough to have two other stars in his administration as law school professors: Judge Craig Manson, who now serves as Assistant Secretary of the Interior, and California Supreme Court Justice (and future USSC Justice) Janice Rogers Brown.

I remembered a great interview in Reason magazine with Ms. Anderson from a few years back. It is still a great read. My favorite part of the exchange:

"Reason: What is the role of the private sector in reforming the child welfare system?

"Anderson: I would actually like to see all this contracted out except the police function. The police function is to go in and make an assessment of whether the kid ought to remain home or the kid ought to be removed. That's the only part that I think should stay with the counties or the state. Everything else--all the services, foster care, the adoption, in-home workers--ought to be contracted out to a nonprofit or a for-profit. I don't have a problem with profit. I don't care who it is, but the government ought to get out of this business. Why should they get out of this business? Because if they get out of the business, you can contract it out to people who live and work in those communities. You can go into the home, you can go into the neighborhood, which is what we've got to start doing. You can't keep a kid safe from an office downtown. The whole community has to be involved in the safety of that child."

She also stresses the ongoing need for social service workers to have adequate assessment tools in evaluating family structure and child protection issues. What this nation needs is a treatise/memoir from her on the subject. But in an age where the foremost political authors are Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Michael Moore, and Al Franken, I doubt that such a book would get the attention it deserves. She should write it anyway.