Governor Mark Sanford and his commission that's looking for ways to improve state government, and save money, is looking for your ideas. They announced two online surveys, one for members of the public and one for state employees, to get input. You can fill out the survey at www.myscgov.com.

The citizen survey asks questions like, "Do you think things in South Carolina are headed in the right or wrong direction?" and, "How would you rate state government for the way it goes about providing health care for the poor?"
The survey for state employees gets into specifics like whether they've ever seen any fraud, waste or abuse at their agencies.

Both surveys have open-ended questions, including, "If you could tell Governor Sanford one thing about how to improve state government, what would you tell him?"

Joanne Johnson of Blythewood took the survey Thursday afternoon. Did she have an idea for improving the state? "Yeah, I think they need to fund education. I've got a grandson who's starting first grade, and last year he was in kindergarten with 26 kids. And that's too many."

Results from an online survey are bound to be skewed somewhat, because those with Internet access tend to be better educated and wealthier. In fact, less than half of the adults in South Carolina have Internet access. Gov. Sanford responds, "Ideally, would you send a questionnaire to all 4 million people in South Carolina and to every state employee individually? Yeah, you'd love to do that. But guess what? We don't have the money to do that. We're in a profound budget crunch."

Ken Wingate, chairman of the governor's Management, Accountability and Performance (MAP) Commission, says it has also done a scientific survey, which isn't skewed. He also points out that Internet access is available for free at public libraries. State agencies will also make hard copies of the survey available to employees who don't have Internet access, and the commission is holding public hearings around the state to get public input that way.

Having taken the survey, how much does Joanne Johnson think it will improve state government? "If they take it seriously, I think it'll help a lot," she says. "There's a lot of good questions on there, things that would help the governor in his normal process of seeing what the state really needs."