GAO official plans to 'reinvent government'

After 14 years of directing the U.S. General Accounting Office, Comptroller Charles Bowser is looking for a change. And yesterday he revealed his agenda to more than 50 students and faculty in his speech entitled "Reinventing Government: Do It Now, Do It Right!" Bowser painted an essentially optimistic picture of the opportunities for governmental re-organization. "It's beginning to dawn on the people in government what a crisis we're in," he said. "People really realize it's a new ball game." While noting that there were a number of agencies that needed immediate attention, he warned that re-organization had to be approached cautiously. "One of the dangers if you get to slashing and burning agencies is that it will cause a lot of resistance," he said. After praising prior efforts to streamline government, Bowser said he thinks there may be real change with the new Republican majority in Congress. "We have a new Congress," he said. "Fifty-four percent of the House of Representatives was elected either this year or last year." Bowser said he also sees the transfer of power from the World War II generation to the Vietnam generation as conducive to governmental change. "It's a real generation change," he said, citing President Clinton and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich as representative of the new generation of leaders. When asked about the prospects for the privatization of government agencies, Bowser was again cautiously optimistic. "I think you're going to see a lot more privatization," he said. "But I don't think you can just privatize [a] big department and it will automatically work better." Bowser discussed a number of successful reorganizations that had already taken place, and seemed excited that new governmental policy was going to make the federal government more accountable. "Starting next year, 24 federal agencies will have an annual audit just as if they were private," he said. Bowser will be forced to retire next year, as his 15-year term will expire. He would not comment on his plans for the future.