Secretary Gives Keynote Address on the Four C's:

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT LEADERSHIP ADVISES GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE SUMMIT ON "CITIZEN-CENTERED GOVERNANCE"

WASHINGTON-- Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton advised more than 350 senior federal managers on the need for Citizen-Centered Governance and what she calls "the Four C's" in the keynote address today at the 2002 Government Performance Summit at Galludett University.

Norton was invited by a coalition of "good government" groups to give the address to provide examples for other agencies from her action plan for Citizen-Centered Governance and her implementation of the Four C's - Cooperation, Consultation, and Communication, all in the service of Conservation.

"President Bush knows what he wants to accomplish with his vision for government reform. His vision, which I share, is guided by three principles - government should be citizen-centered, not bureaucracy-centered; results-oriented; and market-based, actively promoting innovation through competition," Norton told the conferees. "Our goal at Interior is the same as the president's goal....We are looking for output, for results - Is the environment better, are our customers better served, are the parks in better shape?"

The three-day conference brought together leading government reform experts - called a "who's who" faculty on a comprehensive range of government performance issues. Following Secretary Norton's address, Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Interior Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, talked about how the department is implementing initiatives mandated in the President's Management Agenda.

"Under the leadership of Secretary Norton, the Department of the Interior has taken a lead role in implementing all aspects of the President's Management Agenda by building upon the good management ideas of our career managers and complementing those ideas with major new initiatives to provide citizen-centered governance," said Scarlett. Other speakers from DOI included Deputy Assistant Secretaries Scott Cameron and Robert Lamb.

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