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Donald F. Kettl

Columnist

Donald F. Kettl, a columnist for Governing, is a professor emeritus and the former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. Until his recent retirement, he was the Sid Richardson Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. He is a senior adviser at the Volcker Alliance and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Kettl, who holds a Ph.D. and master's degree in political science from Yale University, is the author of several books, most recently The Divided States of America: Why Federalism Doesn't Work (2020) and Can Governments Earn Our Trust? (2017), and the co-author of Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems (2023).

He can be reached at Dfkettl52@gmail.com or on Twitter at @DonKettl.

The biggest issue is difficult to debate, and it's not "Medicare for all."
The White House has learned that there’s more than one way to attack a liberal-leaning federal government.
The president's trillion-dollar proposal could have been a signature achievement.
The digital currency market is changing so fast that any misstep could be huge.
There's a better way for governments to focus on effective initiatives.
The problems associated with legalizing marijuana are seen on a much bigger scale in the state.
Obamacare isn’t the reason they’re going up. It’s state policies.
No one wants to pay for natural disasters. But even small-government proponents may have to accept increased federal involvement.
Over a generation, there’s been a sea change in the way cities, states and the feds deal with each other.
A 75-year-old highway project offers clues to solving a critical present-day problem.