Mark Funkhouser

Recent Articles

• Giving Citizens Numbers They Can Understand
• Feb 25, 2013
• 'Citizen-centric' financial reporting is a way for governments to improve transparency and accountability. It isn't hard, so why aren't more jurisdictions doing it?
• 5 Comments

• Municipal Securities and the Waiting Game
• Feb 21, 2013
• Federal law gives the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board the authority to protect issuers, but it can't do that job until the SEC gives it a tool it needs.

• Our Ebbing Urge to Incarcerate
• Feb 7, 2013
• California seems to be finding a way out of its prison-overcrowding problems. Have we decided that locking up so many people isn't the best way to keep the public safe?
• 3 Comments

• The Emerging Power of China's Auditors
• Jan 31, 2013
• Cracking down on corruption is critical to China's growth.

• The Real Role of Cities
• Jan 31, 2013
• As one thoughtful city manager see it, in our focus on service delivery we're lost sight of a fundamental purpose of government.
• 2 Comments

• Can You Run a Government on $9.90 an Hour?
• Jan 28, 2013
• There are signs that the pendulum is swinging away from the anti-public-employee rhetoric of recent years. That's good for governments and for the people they serve.
• 8 Comments

• Bringing a 'Green Tint' to Sacramento
• Jan 23, 2013
• Mayor Kevin Johnson has big ideas for California's capital. Will the drive that made him an NBA star serve him as he tries to remake his city?
• 1 Comments

• Lincoln and the Dirty Business of Politics
• Jan 16, 2013
• Appealing to rightness and reason is rarely enough to achieve big things. Politics requires dealing with human beings, and human beings are flawed.
• 5 Comments

• Michelle Rhee, Education and the Inputs-Outcomes Trap
• Jan 10, 2013
• Her rankings of states' education policies look at things from the wrong direction. It's a discussion we do need to have, but first we need to tone down the rhetoric.
• 11 Comments

• The Political Future of a Browning America
• Jan 7, 2013
• People of color now account for most of the country's population growth. That has profound implications for the way elections are won and the nation is governed.

• Can a 'Millennial Mayor' Turn a Factory Town Around?
• Jan 3, 2013
• Things are beginning to look up for Fitchburg, Mass., under Lisa Wong's leadership. It hasn't been easy.
• 6 Comments

• The Secret to Massachusetts’ High Credit Rating
• Dec 28, 2012
• Massachusetts has the highest credit rating it’s ever had. Its secret? Discipline.

• A Fraudster's Nightmare Called 'Bubba'
• Dec 20, 2012
• Tennessee's Arthur Hayes has had a major impact on the world of government auditing. Don't get him started on "gray areas."
• 1 Comments

• Childhood Obesity and the Medicaid Squeeze
• Dec 13, 2012
• We're beginning to turn this serious health problem around. That is very good news for efforts to get our health-care costs under control.

• Community Health and the Competition for Jobs
• Dec 10, 2012
• Community health is about more than quality of life. Increasingly, companies are basing their location decisions on the availability of a healthy workforce.
• 4 Comments