Notes from the Deep State

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The Jan. 4 headline “DHS commissioner leaving post” — referring to Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead — gave this former DHS employee a smile.

I am retired from state government and a proud former member of the Deep State. I still remember the secret handshake and everything. I worked in communications, and I had the privilege to have sat in a few meetings with Harpstead, not that I think she could pick me out of a lineup.

As your Minnesota Star Tribune article recounts, Harpstead came to DHS on a mission to get the behemoth agency in order. I would say in my time she was feared by many, probably liked by someone, and respected by all. Probably the exact qualities you want in someone running DHS.

Harpstead had five years in the job. A long run, really, since her predecessor lasted six months after selling off all his cows only to resign in some sort of Shakespearean drama. Five years is a long run, when you consider the incredible range of services overseen by the $25 billion-a-year agency. And a really long run, considering Harpstead got paid slightly more than a kid fresh out of law school.

Why would she do it? Why would anyone want that job?

In fact, why would anyone work for the state?

It’s sure not the pay. In the U.S., public-sector workers with bachelor’s degrees and higher earn quite a bit less than their private-sector colleagues. You sure don’t do it for the perks. For several years I would be required by a federal grant to travel to Atlanta for training sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first year we got coffee and donuts in the morning and box lunches. The next year, no lunches. The next, no donuts. And, yes, the next, no coffee.

Meanwhile, at another training I attended, my private-sector colleagues from a giant company that shall go nameless (let’s just call it UH) flew first class and departed in a limo. (The UH guys gave me a ride to the airport — it was awesome.)

I think the reason Harpstead and the vast majority of the 7,000 people who work at DHS are there is that if you want to help people, if you want to really make a difference, it’s a great place to be. That’s right: I think people working for the Deep State want to do good things for the people and the community, to serve, to help — no limo required.

Ah, you say — what about all the diabolical plots to give poor service, to waste money for the fun of it, to destroy whatever nonprofit or community group gets in our way? In my job, I had the misfortune of attending a wide range of meetings across many areas, from worker bees to senior management, and I never attended that meeting.

But wait: Aren’t government workers driven by partisan politics? No. To put forward their hippy-dippy do-gooder agendas? No … well, maybe a little bit. But politics of the red/blue variety motivated no one. Am I saying I’d never seen politics in state agencies? No. In fact, I can think of several well-reported times it did, but only under one governor who shall go nameless (I’ll call him T-Paw for short) who reached down to alter materials and reports for political gain. It didn’t work out well for T-Paw or his commissioner, which just reinforces my point that in my experience state workers are beholden only to pesky things like reality, facts and truth.

Am I saying government workers are perfect? Certainly not. Nothing is perfect. At the end of the day, it’s still people in a room, with all that it entails. Some are better at their jobs than others; some care more, some less; some don’t refill the coffee pot after they take the last cup. You know, people.

What they all have in common is that they are there for the right reasons. We are talking motivated people who went to college, got a job in their field, become really, really smart (present company excluded), and then joined the state to apply that knowledge. Going forward, we must hold on to these workers. They do work that is ridiculously complex that no private entity can or is willing to do, and their education, training, experience, and institutional knowledge are exactly what we need.

Speaking of holding on to staff, I hope that at no time in the future will politicians reach down with political loyalty tests such as are threatened on the federal level, or commissioners appointed not to do good work for the state but to drive some political agenda. We need experts, not political hacks. We need reality-informed policies. We need truth as our north star.

Anyway, the next DHS commissioner will have their hands full, even if it’s only with a smaller agency. And smart, talented, well-motivated staff will continue to work ridiculously hard for all the right reasons. This is despite getting less and less respect all the time. “The Deep State” indeed. Me, I’ll leave that for others. Now it’s back to reading the paper in my PJs while working on my second pot of coffee.

William Burleson is a Minneapolis writer and author of “Ahnwee Days.” He worked for the state from 2008 to 2021.