In fact, as early as 2004, after a mayor from Shandong went to work as an assistant in a city in the United States, he felt that the remarks that "the vice president came and the mayor didn't receive him" and "public funds for meals can't exceed $9" have been an eye-opener.
These things, in the eyes of the parties, are perfectly normal. Why did they bring them to China, causing a "surprise"?
We have repeatedly stressed the need to "connect with the world", so can we expect what surprises us today to happen in China tomorrow? ...
From September 2005 to April 2006, five officials from Sichuan Province, China received theoretical training in Georgia and Minnesota respectively, and entered the state government departments for "internship". Zhao Shiyong is the chief agronomist of Sichuan Provincial Department of Agriculture, and served as the assistant director of Minnesota Department of Agriculture during her internship. During the mid-term, he was surprised to find that the director of the Agriculture Bureau and the director of the Marketing Department were on a business trip together, booking different hotels and taking care of different things. "The director doesn't care about the director at all."
Why do American "directors" completely ignore "directors"? According to Zhao Shiyong's "gradual understanding", it is because the American "director" thinks that you are the superior who hired me, and "I am working for you", so I am the greatest responsible for you if I do a good job within the scope of my duties. It's not my duty to be useful. So "the director doesn't care about the director at all". As a director, I naturally believe that as a director, I will be very calm.
From this, I suddenly remembered a story told by Li Qun, the current secretary of Linyi Municipal Committee of Shandong Province, in his book "I am the Assistant Mayor of the United States": one day, he watched the news and learned that American Vice President Al Gore had arrived in New Haven. But the mayor, JohnDestefano, turned a deaf ear and just went his own way. He asked the mayor in surprise, "Why didn't you come out when Gore came?" I don't want the mayor to be more surprised and ask him, "Why should I come forward?" Later, Li Qun worked as an assistant to the mayor for a long time, only to know that in the United States, lower-level officials did not welcome the arrival of higher-level officials, arranged accommodation for higher-level officials, accompanied the inspection work, watched the scenery together, and participated in entertainment activities together. Li Qun said that if the vice president comes, even if the president comes, the mayor will not come forward.
Look, in America, subordinates seem to "care very little" about their superiors! On a business trip, "the director doesn't care about the director at all"; The vice president went down to the grassroots level, and the governor didn't even show his face. This, for China people, sounds like listening to a "gobbledygook", and even few people believe it. Because in our country, such a thing is very difficult, even absolutely impossible. In institutions, I often hear the view that what is the goal of a person's struggle in institutions? That is, the position is promoted step by step, and efforts are made to rise from clerk and deputy clerk to deputy director and director or even higher; How can a person succeed in his career and advance step by step? That is to constantly get the appreciation and promotion of the boss. Moreover, the vanity and "official standard" consciousness of many officials in our country seem to have penetrated into the bone marrow, and it is comfortable to accept flattery and catering from subordinates, otherwise the boss will be surprised, will not adapt, and then hold a grudge. For example, a director accompanied him on a business trip. Instead of bowing, he waited on him like a nanny. When he is angry, he will be labeled as "unreasonable", "unreasonable" and "negligent in leadership" and let him come back and "stand aside", which is equivalent to announcing the end of his official career. Therefore, in our country, the behavior of "the director doesn't care about the director at all" is not impossible, but dare not! Therefore, in some parts of our country, there is a deformed and distorted "hidden rule of officialdom": subordinates are not responsible for their own work, but for their superiors; The superior promotes the subordinate, not by his achievements, but by how the subordinate treats himself.
In the United States, "the director doesn't care about the director at all" has become an unconscious practice, which is actually an "official culture". The author of this "official culture" simply understands that in the United States, an official working in the government is a profession and a job, and the government hires him to work in this position. He only needs to work according to the legal description of this post, and he is only responsible for the job and the post; But in China, the official is a kind of power, a kind of treatment, representing a kind of status and prestige. Its concrete embodiment is not to act within the scope of authority, but to transport power to manage people, and to understand "official" as "management" rather than "doing"
Undeniably, the United States has advanced management concepts and merits in government management, which is why some senior civil servants are frequently sent to various parts of China for study and training. However, "Yanzi Chunqiu Miscellaneous Ten" said: "Those born in Huainan are oranges, and those born in Huaibei are oranges. Their leaves are similar to those of their disciples, but they have different tastes. What's that? The soil and water are different. " Some advanced "official culture" in the United States can be learned, but it may not take root in China. For example, who dares to "imitate" and "try" while we applaud the "director regardless of the director" on business trip? I think, I'm afraid no one is the first to eat this "crab". After all, a country's "official culture" has been deposited for hundreds or even thousands of years, and the change cannot be completed overnight; Grafting foreign advanced "officialdom culture" must be based on relatively perfect and advanced "officialdom" system design, otherwise, "grafting" will not work. Therefore, while we spare no effort to send civil servants to study abroad, we should speed up the pace of various domestic system reforms and improve the mechanism of talent evaluation, selection and appointment, so as to abandon the decadent "official standard" thinking and cultivate a healthy "official standard culture." If this is the case, China people will not be surprised by the statement that "the director doesn't care about the director at all"!
Li Qun, Mayor of Linyi City, Shandong Province, went to New Haven University in Connecticut in 2000 to study MPA. During this period, he served as an assistant to the mayor of New Haven for some time. The mayor of New Haven, USA, said at the end of his term as "Assistant Mayor": "According to the etiquette of China, I will treat you to dinner. According to the regulations, it is regarded as bribery to treat guests with public funds exceeding $9. So, come to my house for dinner. "
During the dinner, when talking about the professional quality of officials, the mayor introduced the selection of officials in the New Haven city government: "We have strict qualification requirements for government organization personnel, especially business skills." The Municipal Health Bureau consists of 7 people, at least 2 of whom must be medical doctors and have 5 years of experience in public health or clinical treatment. The municipal health director must be a registered doctor or have a master's degree in public health, and have a record of 60 hours of public health management training. As for the candidates for police chief, they must have professional education quality, bachelor degree or above, have managed more than 200 policemen, and have worked in the police department serving 65,438+10,000 residents for more than 5 years.
In some parts of our country, township secretaries and heads of townships can directly hold the positions of court presidents, public security directors, health directors and other professional departments. We tend to pay more attention to "the placement of cadres" and ignore the government essence of "public service", which leads to some cadres being full of bureaucracy and lacking the flavor of civilians.
Before New Haven became an "assistant to the mayor", Li Qun thought that American officials had fewer meetings, but it was not. But American meetings are really simple and efficient. At a mayor's office meeting, the mayor took out an hourglass and announced to the participants: "Everyone can't speak for more than 8 minutes!" " At the end of the meeting, the mayor seldom makes a long summary.
In the past few months, the most places the mayor visited were schools and hospitals, and the mayor also attended some small meetings, such as the conference on lung disease prevention and treatment. Comparatively speaking, as a mayor in China, the places I go most are enterprises and rural areas, and every time I go down, I will be regarded as "inspection" or "inspection". Wherever they go, the accompanying cadres will be at the first level, and there will be fewer opportunities for ordinary people to have "zero distance" contact with the mayor. The reason why some leading cadres are keen on "close contact with superiors" is that there is no government operation mechanism of "two-way responsibility" between superiors and subordinates.
Schwarzenegger after the car accident
According to Xinhua News Agency, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, finally got a motorcycle license six months after the accident of driving a motorcycle without a license. The New York Times quoted Schwarzenegger's spokesman as saying on the 7th that Schwarzenegger passed the written test and the road test respectively and successfully obtained a motorcycle driver's license.
The author has doubts about the service level of the California General Affairs Office from the fact that the governor of Shizhou (province) obtained a motorcycle driver's license. Although Schwarzenegger, as a star, is unruly and likes to make public, he is a senior leading cadre at the provincial and ministerial levels and should be taken care of comprehensively in his life. His secretary, general office and office service center are obviously suspected of dereliction of duty. Knowing that the governor has the habit of driving a motorcycle for a ride, he didn't remind him of the difference between M 1 driver's license (special motorcycle driver's license) and C driver's license (automobile driver's license) in time, which caused the governor to make a fool of himself in public, seriously affected the image of the governor and California, and especially had a negative impact on the future investment promotion work.
Besides, the young policemen in the state traffic police force are too dull to perform their official duties. Everyone knows that Schwarzenegger, a tough guy, dares to detain the governor's official driver and ask him to show his driver's license, which is simply nine Niu Yi hairs. It is suggested that the traffic police corps let him write a profound written review and transfer him to the suburban intersection outside the Fifth Ring Road to see the effect.
According to common sense, the secretary should be very familiar with the leader's diet and hobbies. After the incident, the secretary did not take the initiative to get in touch with the traffic police department, and soon got involved in small things. The leader only needs to say hello to the traffic police team and let them take the driver's license test and deal with it within a time limit. It is unheard of for the governor to take a driver's license test in accordance with the prescribed subjects with ordinary people in the hot sun. Such a dull secretary is obviously not suitable for this important position. It is suggested that the General Office transfer him to the Letters and Calls Office or the Local Records Office (enjoy treatment). In addition, the chief of staff also has an unshirkable responsibility. He turned a blind eye to governor Shi's car accident, took it calmly, and his administrative decision-making ability was too poor. It is recommended to be transferred to the general office of CPPCC or the counselor's office as an inspector (enjoy the treatment of the main hall).
Dale. Sparks, male, aged 55, is the mayor of Federal Highland, Colorado, USA. Since last year, due to the sluggish business of my restaurant, my family has been working as a janitor in a strip club and an erotic entertainment venue, subsidizing my family and paying my own medical insurance fee with the janitor's daily salary of 65,438+000 dollars. Recently, the local police "captured" the mayor in an anti-vice operation. ...
The length of a city actually depends on helping others "watch the door" to maintain their daily lives!
In the eyes of China people, what an absurd anecdote it is! But in the eyes of Americans, this seems to be how common things are.
In the United States, all local government officials have no fixed standard salary. Most government officials receive little salary or subsidy from government departments. Even the mayor has to rely on the income of other occupations to support his family. The so-called Dollara Year (annual salary of one dollar) is a true portrayal of this situation, and so is the current mayor of new york, Bloomberg. Therefore, it is reasonable for the mayor of a federal high-level city to take part-time jobs in entertainment places for the daily living expenses. Although his part-time job involves "pornography", it is a bit "out of line"; However, as the mayor, he has a lot of official business to deal with during the day, and only at night does he have time to work part-time to make money. Most of his part-time jobs at night are errands in the entertainment circle. Therefore, his choice is also a last resort.
If sparks were the mayor of China, would he still "watch the door" at the strip club? No, of course not! I don't need it!
First of all, he has a fixed salary and doesn't need a part-time job at all. In China, no matter how backward the area is, the mayor can get a monthly salary of more than 5,000 yuan. Although in the eyes of many people, this mere 5,000 yuan is nothing, but this salary is enough to basically settle down in daily life in any city in China.
Secondly, he basically doesn't need to pay the daily living expenses. The mayor's living expenses are the living expenses of the whole city.
Clothes. The government issues "work clothes" every year, and many individuals and groups usually invite the mayor and his family to be "fashion models".
Eat it. The mayor himself always has a "working meal", sometimes "four dishes and one soup", shark's fin and bear's paw.
Live. Mayor level, no matter how poor the government is, can it be assigned to a "welfare home" with four rooms and two halls? As long as you are the mayor, the best location will be given to you, the most luxurious decoration will be given to you, and the most upscale furniture will be moved to your home, and everything will be free.
All right. Before the car reform, as long as it belongs to the government, pigs and dogs can enjoy the "private car paid by the government"; After the car reform, the soldiers who run errands have to take the bus, and the mayor can still drive high-end cars paid by the government to shuttle around the society. Of course, as for whether the mayor's family is in this car or not, we ordinary people don't know where this car is going; Because buses in other government departments are painted with the words "law enforcement" as big as lanterns, the words "mayor's car" are not written on the mayor's mount.
Third, he doesn't need a part-time job, and he will still have a considerable "amateur income". Because he is the mayor of China, he is a "noble", and his words and deeds are quite valuable. For example, one of his "signatures", although not as flashy as that written by movie stars, can get hundreds of thousands and millions of rewards; One of his "nods" can also get a large "reward"; His praise can bring many "windfalls" ...
Fourth, he has no time to do part-time jobs at all. Because he is the mayor of China, there are a lot of meetings every day asking him to "speak" and a lot of "international business rules" asking him to "inspect"; There are endless banquets, endless wines, endless colorful mouths ... How can such a busy mayor get away from "earning extra money on a part-time job"?
Fifth, even though sparks is the mayor of China, he has no job and earns money by opening a restaurant. He is definitely a rich man with a thriving business and rolling financial resources! In the restaurant opened by the mayor, which government agency doesn't go there for "working meals" and reception banquets?
In a word, if sparks is the mayor of China, there is absolutely no such thing as a "part-time janitor". So, we can only say that sparks has the wrong baby!
Local government officials in the United States are willing to serve their cities for free, and regard work as their duty and a pleasure in life.
And our government officials have been called "people's public servants" since ancient times, but it seems that there are always so few people who really work for the people, and there are more people clamoring for a salary increase for civil servants every day!
Moreover, other government officials always accept the supervision of the citizens. Although they are not paid, they are often sued by the mayor for "inaction"; And our officials, with taxpayers' money, always do whatever they want, and the opinions of citizens go in one ear and out the other. ...
What kind of government officials are "public servants"?
Earn 100 USD per night.
According to American media reports on the 20th, dale Sparks, 55, is the mayor of Colorado Federal High City. A year ago, when the business of a restaurant owned by sparks was sluggish, he decided to find a part-time job as a night watchman in the only strip club in the city. Sparks said, "My bottom line is that I only use the money earned as a porter to pay for my medical insurance. I earn $65,438+000 a night and work part-time three days a week. Our medical insurance needs to pay $65,438+0,200 a month. "
The police raided the mayor.
No one knows that sparks works as a "part-time concierge" in a strip club because he has been working the night shift. Until last weekend, 24 policemen raided the club and arrested 10 people, including the club owner, DJ and 8 strippers.
Mayor sparks, who acted as the "gatekeeper", was also taken to the police station and interrogated for two hours. When the police realized that they had caught the mayor, they were shocked and released him without charging him.
Sparks announced that he wouldn't resign because he worked as a concierge in a strip club engaged in erotic activities. Sparks said: "I don't know what happened in the club. I'm just a janitor. I've never been there to see a striptease show. So I don't know what happened inside. "
Sparks said that he had decided to quit his part-time job as a janitor in a strip club. Sparks said that if the strip club really did something illegal, he would definitely support the judicial decision. (Source: Beijing News 2006-4-2 1)
A humble mayor of a first-class rich country
Since the "Striptease Gate" incident, the life of the mayor of dale Sparks has been in a mess. The mayor of a high-rise city in the United States simply worked as a "janitor" in a strip club in this city because of financial difficulties at home.
The mayor lives here three nights a week, "checking documents and collecting service fees". The extra income of $65,438+$0,200 earned in a month can save a fraction of $65,438+$0,000 in addition to paying health insurance for him and his wife every month.
Regrettably, this good income was ruined after only one year. On the evening of April 15, local time in the United States, more than 20 policemen suddenly arrested the owner of this ballroom called "Nude Element" and several strippers. They were accused of violating the rule that strippers should not be less than 3 feet (about 0.9 meters) away from the audience, and had improper touch, and even several people were suspected of prostitution.
"I don't know what they did." The mayor said, "I'm looking for this job just to pay the bill, that's all." Because of this, mayor sparks's phone will be ringing off the hook. Before applying for the ballroom janitor, Mayor sparks visited the "Nude Element". But not as a spectator, but as a takeaway. Since 200 1, Mr. and Mrs. sparks have been engaged in barbecue business on a small scale, delivering meals for parties and weddings. The barbecue shop was rated as "the mayor of barbecue". But it seems that the golden signboard of "mayor" has not made his barbecue business flourish. In fact, in the past year, the order of the barbecue shop has become less and less, so that he has to consider closing the door.
So, a year ago, when he delivered food to his door, the ballroom owner asked the man who was often worried about not selling barbecue, if he would like to come to the door. He went home to discuss with his wife and went to work. He admitted that he also considered the feelings of the citizens at the beginning. But "most citizens don't know that I earn so little, only 600 yuan a month!" " "
Like most neighboring cities, the mayor of a federal high-rise city is not a government employee, and taxpayers do not pay benefits for him. He had to pay for expensive health insurance by himself, plus gas, water, electricity and so on. The monthly bill for the mayor's house is about $3,500. The mayor's salary for one year is only enough to pay two months' bills. "Below the poverty line." The mayor said.
As the mayor, sparks must be responsible for more than 65,438+2,000 permanent residents in federal high-rise cities, about 0.5% of whom are Chinese. Every day, the mayor of sparks spends four or five hours doing what the mayor should do. However, he is not the "ruler" of this 4.7 square kilometers land in Fiona Fang. He has just presided over the city Council, the "highest authority" of the city.
Although he is regarded as the "top leader" of the "highest authority", he can't decide his salary. If he wants to raise his salary to $65,438+0,000 a month, he will eventually need the whole city to vote.
The mayor has no car and no secretary. Although he has an office in the municipal building, he prefers to work from home.
"We don't have a degree here." Sparks said, "Any citizen aged 18 can run for the committee."
Before sparks was elected mayor, he ran a grocery store, and selling fresh meat was a big income for his family. One day six years ago, two members of the city Council came to lobby him to run for mayor. What they value about him is "make a living as hard as others, and people will think you are one of them".
The grocer was finally persuaded. "Although I never wanted to be a mayor, there is nothing to lose by being a mayor." He said. He spent only a few hundred dollars in the election and was elected by a landslide. Four years later, he was re-elected It never occurred to him that he could make money as mayor. In sparks's view, being a mayor can "deal with so many people" and "be an interesting job".
At present, what worries the mayor of a senior federal city most is that the city's economy has been depressed recently and the unemployment rate has increased. It is estimated that the fiscal revenue in 2006 may make ends meet. In addition to his work worries, he is also worried about personal problems: since he quit his job as a ballroom janitor, his next job has not been settled. His wife has no job either. "It's not easy to find a job!" He exclaimed. By June next year 165438+ 10, the term of office of Mayor sparks will expire and he cannot be re-elected. As you can imagine, if you can't find a job by then, it is estimated that you can only get unemployment benefits.