Editor's Notebook

eading the results of a new survey of government leaders, I am reminded of the work of Dutch artist M.C. Escher, whose drawings were on special display at the National Gallery of Art this spring. Escher's work plays darkly and ominously with interlocking and unending patterns and perspectives that rarely lead to a cheerful conclusion. Similarly, on the subject of attitudes toward government, the survey data suggest none-too-happy circular argumentation, as follows:

• On balance, the public would rather maintain federal programs than cut them.
• But elected and appointed federal leaders do not believe this is so; they think the public wants to shrink government.
• So the leaders are reluctant to advocate maintaining, let alone expanding, federal activities, and often campaign against big, runaway government.
• In office, these leaders try to make good on their campaign rhetoric. So the anti-government beat goes on beyond the campaign cycle.
• In the light of continual criticism of the government's operations, the public's opinions of (and trust in) government institutions remain low, even though support for programs remains high.
• As much followers as leaders, the politicians pander to the public's untrusting mood by railing against the government of which they're a part.

These three groups believe strongly that the public wants to see government programs cut. Congress says so by a margin of 58 percent to 33 percent, appointees by 63 percent to 28 percent, and SES members by 69 percent to 25 percent. But in fact, Pew surveys show that the public supports maintaining, not cutting, programs by a 57 percent to 41 percent margin. Interestingly, presidential appointees and senior civil servants are strong defenders of government operations; 85 percent say the government does a better job than it's given credit for. Congress is split evenly on this question.

April developments serve to illustrate Washington's circle of disparagement-its negative spin and policy consequences. In the first governmentwide financial audit, the IRS gets a clean bill of health, but Senate Finance Committee chairman William V. Roth, R-Del., plans a second round of hearings designed to find needle-in-the-haystack horror stories of IRS transgressions.

Already, Congress is poised to impose a new, inappropriate governing structure on the IRS, as Nancy Ferris reports in this issue, and the Roth hearings will only stoke the flames for more punitive measures. The audit itself draws mocking commentary from prominent Members of Congress who say, in effect, that agencies can't keep track of their own socks. Of course, they're easy prey. No one expected a particularly good first audit. The surprise is that five major agencies' financial statements receive a clean bill of health from GAO: the Social Security Administration, NASA, IRS, and the Education and Energy departments. But that doesn't stop the disparagers. And so it goes.