Granite Staters looking for Elon Musk-style controversy from the state’s Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE) have been disappointed, but Gov. Kelly Ayotte says she’s happy with the report released Thursday.
“COGE dug into the day-to-day realities of how government works, and their recommendations reflect that,” Ayotte said in a statement. “These are practical improvements that will help us better serve Granite Staters.”
Ayotte has been dogged by questions about COGE and its work in the wake of what was often described as a political circus surrounding the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), overseen by the mercurial Musk.
Ayotte announced the commission in her inaugural address, and her first executive order as governor created COGE. It named former Gov. Craig Benson and Bedford businessman Andy Crews as co-chairs.
Ayotte charged the 15-member commission with “identifying opportunities to reduce spending and increase efficiency in government (which) will enable better stewardship of taxpayer dollars and decrease the state budget deficit.”
But the 77-page report makes it clear that while some recommendations can be implemented by the executive branch, the major changes must go through the legislature.
The report — which can be viewed here — ranges from the ambitious, such as reforming the powerful Executive Council’s operations, to the mundane, such as agencies with redundant public information officers.
Some of the more notable of the 54 recommendations:
• Returning to an in-person work standard for all employees.
• A “one in, two out” approach to rulemaking, requiring that for every new regulation adopted, at least two outdated or redundant rules be eliminated.
• Raising the $10,000 threshold for Executive Council expenditure approvals.
• Artificial intelligence pilot programs as part of “a long-term plan to leverage AI to enhance the capabilities of existing personnel.”
• Sunsetting the Pease Development Authority (PDA).
“When the (PDA) structure was originally established, policymakers expected the transition to take roughly 20 years,” the report notes. “More than 35 years later, it is past time to restructure the PDA in light of current needs. With approximately 80 percent of the PDA-controlled property now held under long-term leases, the central purpose of the PDA has effectively concluded.”
But is that a conclusion legislators — particularly those in the Seacoast region — would embrace?
And how much would these policy recommendations save taxpayers if enacted? The report doesn’t say. In fact, there is very little hard data regarding specific costs, spending, and savings. A document search found just three “$” symbols in the entire 77 pages.
While several commission members referred press questions to the governor, at least one — Salem businessman Al Letizio — was so excited about the report he teased the results at an Americans for Prosperity business roundtable on Tuesday.
“We found all kinds of cool stuff, interesting stuff that doesn’t involve cutting benefits or cutting salaries or cutting jobs,” Letizio told the meeting. “It creates opportunities through efficiency, by bringing practices that we would use in a business into government. You’re going to see some great stuff.”
Part of that “great stuff” is the commission’s call for the state to conduct a thorough audit of the property it owns and develop a plan to generate revenue through strategic sales.
“We have an efficient system for the state to acquire land, oftentimes to provide infrastructure, and the creation of highways. But we do not have a corresponding mechanism to dispense with these properties,” Letizio said.
“If we took a percentage of that land per year and sold it, turned it into something that could be developed for commercial benefit, that would bring money into local tax jurisdictions, bringing tens of millions of dollars into our state for years to come.”
In a statement, Benson said the commission’s work “reinforced something we heard in every corner of state government: New Hampshire succeeds when it adapts, collaborates, and reinvests in itself.”
“These recommendations move us toward a more modern government, a stronger competitive footing, and smarter investment of taxpayer resources,” added Crews.
Not surprisingly, Democrats were less impressed with the final report.
“From the very beginning, COGE was nothing but a pathetic attempt by Kelly Ayotte to earn Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s stamp of approval, all while giving her donors a cushy resume boost in the process,” state Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley said in a statement.
Letizio doesn’t agree, arguing that the business owners and policy advocates on the commission did exactly what Ayotte wanted them to.
“I’m a CEO, and I know that getting a top-to-bottom review of a large organization would cost millions of dollars. Gov. Ayotte said she wanted businesspeople to come in, to bring a lot of ideas. She got us in there to be disruptors. We did our job.”
