SHOOTING OUR MESSENGERS

We have more problems than we deserve and more solutions than we've tried.

One reason? The way we treat those who offer solutions.

Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek is a case in point. Given the shrinking
county budget, what with federal program cuts and tax waivers (TIFs),
we're lucky Pulkrabek has the smarts and political courage he does.
His increased use of electronic monitoring saved the county 882 jail
days. Mental health and substance diversion programs also help. But
the partisan flack started to fly at his suggestion the legislature
re-think penalties for alcohol and drug abuse.

It was an odd target for Republicans. Pulkrabek's were the mildest of
proposals from a conservative, Republican businessman and former New
Mexico governor, Gary E. Johnson. Johnson thinks that "locking up
nonviolent drug offenders is simply a waste of money." This
triathlete, who avoids alcohol, drugs, caffeine and sugar, believes
"any investment should be evaluated based on its returns. By that
standard, the nationwide drug war is a failure."

Roughly half of all violent crime involves alcohol. Montana reports
"85 percent of inmates are behind bars because of behavior caused by
alcohol or drug abuse." No fewer than 25 percent of prisoners suffer
from mental illness.

Does imprisoning these ill persons give us sadistic satisfaction? If
not, and if the goal is crime reduction, wouldn't treatment make more sense?

It's more effective -- and humane. But it's also cheaper. As Gov.
Johnson notes, "every dollar spent on treatment instead of
imprisonment saves $7 in state costs."

He continues, "Instead of asking how many people smoked marijuana
last year, we should ask if drug-related crime went up or down.
Dealing with drugs through a medical model rather than a criminal
model decreases prison rates, violent crime, property crime, overdose
deaths, AIDS and hepatitis C."

All Sheriff Pulkrabek was offering for discussion -- with many other
ideas -- was that small amounts of marijuana be punished with
citations and fines. Pretty tame stuff compared to the Republican
governor's proposals.

For this our sheriff was attacked as "irresponsible" because he won't
"enforce the laws on the books."

No law enforcement agency can enforce all "the laws on the books." We
wouldn't have prison space if they could. Priorities must be established.

During the 1990s we built 3,500 new prisons at a cost of $30 billion.
In 1980, there were 500,000 Americans in prisons. Today it's two
million. The cost increased even faster, from $7 billion to $50
billion. At $20,000 to $40,000 a year, it would be cheaper to send
them to the University of Iowa than to prison.

Can you say, "We're number one!"? We have more people in prison than
any nation on earth. It's our country's primary public housing
program. Only one country has more inmates per 100,000, and that's Rwanda.

How many elected officials do you know who are willing to identify
real problems and options for solutions? Not many.

Democrats in Washing-ton now seem to recognize they must stand for
something. But they've yet to decide what that might be.

Hillary Clinton tried it with health care. President George W. Bush
with "no child left behind." Neither got much thanks ---- even from
their beneficiaries.

I was luckier. As Maritime Administrator I pushed reluctant ship
owners to use cost-saving "containerization." Now it's used for 90
percent of cargo. At the FCC I finally convinced phone company
executives that 800 and 911 numbers weren't as "impossible" as they
insisted. While on the school board, some of the brainstorming from
my biweekly education columns actually had modest impact.

So I understand what Sheriff Pulkrabek is trying to do and the
difficulties in doing it. He's trying to prioritize tasks, increase
efficiency, decrease violent crime -- and do it all for less than
what we've been spending. Just like a conservative Republican governor.

If we want more public officials like Pulkrabek, we'd best cut the
carping and join in the dialogue. Nicholas Johnson teaches at the
University of Iowa College of Law.