EDIT: Romney finds heart

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s decision to call on the state Legislature to increase funding for a stumbling state agency may seem odd. But the governor’s request for a 60 percent funding hike for the state medical examiner’s office, an agency that has had its share of poor leadership and bad operations, is a positive step toward not only fixing problems in the office itself, but changing the seemingly ever-more pervasive attitude that government itself is the problem when public institutions fail.

Romney this week requested that the Legislature spend $2.2 million more on the state medical examiner’s office in an effort to attract more qualified candidates and update the office’s technological capabilities, after a disastrous decade of under funding. The office, run by chief medical examiner Dr. Richard J. Evans until he was dismissed from administrative duties 10 months ago, has been blamed with losing body parts and misidentifying victims. According to The Boston Globe, state officials started investigating the office after it lost an infant’s eyeballs and a Quincy man’s heart. Last month the office was also blamed for the misidentification of a Gloucester fire victim, according to the Globe.

But while many critics have been inclined to blame government’s inherent failings for the office’s numerous problems, Romney has stepped to the plate and blamed more than a decade of poor state funding for the office’s slip-ups. Romney’s decision to increase funding is an effective and admirable idea. Romney has gone directly to the heart of the problem.

The increased funding Romney is calling for could fund higher salaries and in-turn attract more qualified candidates. Evans was paid $128,000, while people in private sector medical positions often earn upwards of half a million dollars per year. Paying the office’s management more competitively could go a long way toward attracting better talent, which will in turn make the agency better run in the future.

But money itself is not the answer. If the Legislature decides to fund Romney’s proposal, the governor must follow through with tough oversight and ensure that the state is getting what it is paying for. When put to good use, a little more money can go a long way.

The state Legislature should agree to increase the office’s funding at the levels Romney has requested. Without proper technology and training, the medical examiner’s office will continue to make costly mistakes that will directly affect people’s lives. Because the medical examiner’s office investigates suspicious deaths and often plays an important role in murder cases, the office plays a pivotal role in Massachusetts and must function properly.