Where’s the incentive for meeting deadline?There are few professionals that have a better understanding of deadlines than we in the news business.The Star Herald hits the stands every Thursday morning no matter what calamity may befall the newspaper staff.If we decided it’s OK for the paper to come out whenever we got our work done, we’d lose subscribers, we’d lose advertisers and, of course, we’d go out of business.We understand this, as do countless other professionals in other businesses.If the Star Herald didn’t come out on Thursday because the news department couldn’t agree on the front page contents, there would be immediate consequences for the responsible parties.So why is it, then, that our legislators are granted extended deadlines — paid — when they can’t get their work done?They are elected (hired) by us and paid by us to get a job done in order for the state to continue doing business.When they fail us, there should be consequences. At the very least, they should be forced to keep working — without pay — until the job is done.This is just a wild guess, but it’s probably fair to assume the squabbling lawmakers would quickly come to agreement if missing deadline imposed personal consequences.As the system now stands, the only ones paying consequences are the citizens of Minnesota. We’re deprived of services, it’s costing us untold thousands in lost revenue, plus, we’re still paying the ones responsible.Shame on them and shame on our entire legislative system for allowing it to happen.Unfortunately, the only way to impose consequences for such behavior is to make it a law that they get the work done or they don’t get paid.Which lawmaker will be responsible enough to introduce such a bill, and which ones will be responsible enough to support it?It’s an important question to ask when election season comes around again.
