The first 400 people

The International City/County Manager's Association (ICMA) facilitates a scholarship (or two) every year for the Harvard Kennedy School Senior Executives in Local Government program.  I applied for the scholarship in 2010 but was not selected.

It probably didn't help my application that I made reference to the famous quote by William F. Buckley, "I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University."

After some deliberation, I decided to apply again this year.  Rather than invoking Buckley, I wrote, 

"Sustainability and citizen engagement are worthy topics, but they are the not the critical self-reflection our profession needs now more than ever." 

And further

"Public administrators cannot dismiss the political events of 2016, hiding behind the politics/administration dichotomy like a certain much-discussed wall.  With all due respect to ICMA, the slogan “Life Well Run” seems awfully self-congratulatory in the midst of historic populist discontent.  If we are doing so well, why do citizens think so poorly of the governments we manage?


I think that's a fair question and perhaps--contrary to Buckley--the folks at Harvard have some answers.