Bredesen: Buyout offers should have been sweeter on Nashville City Paper

This story caught my eye the other day, but I didn't have time to post about it. "Bredesen: Buyout offers should have been sweeter," on Nashville City Paper From the beginning of the story:

"If he had to do it over again, Gov. Phil Bredesen said Wednesday he might have “sweetened” his voluntary buyout package to state employees.

So far, with about two weeks to go before the Aug. 5 deadline, about 1,400 state employees have applied for the buyout, well short of the about 2,300 goal. The Bredesen administration had offered it to about 12,000 state employees.

Bredesen said he likely didn’t make the $50 million buyout package “quite strong enough” to attract eligible state employees."

What occurred to me the moment I heard the report was that this seems wholly predictable from my experience inside (and, like everyone else, as a consumer of) state government.

I'm not sure you can reasonably sweeten any buyout enough to lure state employees away from a secure job. The folks Bredesen et al are hoping will accept this buyout aren't typically the type to take risks or strike out into the unknown. Good thing for Tennessee Democrats that he won't have to lay off anyone until well after November.