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Bureaucracy: Do not replace unnecessary agency

It appears to be a case of one step forward, two steps back in Charleston, when it comes to the fight to shrink our hideously bloated bureaucracy.

West Virginia legislators took one step in trimming an unnecessary layer in state government when they approved a bill to eliminate the Department of Education and the Arts. Gov. Jim Justice agreed and signed the bill.

But that agency was headed by Gayle Manchin, formerly a member of the state Board of Education and wife of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Because the Legislature is controlled by Republicans and the governor belongs to that party, there were accusations eliminating the department was a political move.

Critics of the Department of Education and the Arts argued even as it was being created in the 1990s, it was an unnecessary, however. It was a duplicative addition to state government. There was no reason its duties could not be handled by other agencies. Lawmakers and the governor appeared to have finally understood.

Then, last week, Justice said he may call lawmakers into a special session to create a new, cabinet-level Department of Arts and Culture and History. Instead of having a secretary, the agency would have a curator of the arts, the governor added.

West Virginia already has a Division of Culture and History, headed by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith. If the idea is merely to give him and his successors a new title, there may be no harm done. But if there is any more to the governor’s plan, lawmakers should be skeptical about it.

Legislators and the governor were right to get rid of the Department of Education and the Arts. Doing so should save some money, while eliminating a layer of bureaucracy that did not need to exist. Replacing that agency with another unnecessary one makes no sense and, frankly, lends credence to those who say doing away with Manchin’s job was a political maneuver.

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