Guest Commentary written by
Zac Townsend
Zac Townsend is the CEO of Meanwhile. He was previously the inaugural chief data officer of California under Gov. Jerry Brown and the chief technology officer of Newark, New Jersey, under then-Mayor Cory Booker.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known shorthand as DOGE, launched under President Trump in January and since has sent shockwaves through Washington and the rest of the country. As California’s former chief data officer, I’ve watched this experiment with a mix of alarm and reluctant admiration.
DOGE’s methods — unilateral power grabs, reckless data access and a cavalier disregard for legal boundaries — are a masterclass in what not to do. Yet its core aim, slashing wasteful spending and forcing accountability on a bloated bureaucracy, is a goal no serious leader can ignore.
California, with its $322 billion budget and perennial fiscal crises, desperately needs a similar reckoning. Any candidate for governor in 2026 must embrace this challenge — not with Musk’s sledgehammer, but with a scalpel guided by data and transparency.
DOGE’s rollout has been a circus. Shutting down entire agencies like USAID overnight, seizing control of Treasury systems that hold sensitive taxpayer data, and wielding AI to slash budgets without congressional oversight isn’t reform, it’s chaos. Lawsuits piling up from unions and states underscore the legal quicksand Musk has stepped into.
California cannot afford such recklessness. Our state’s challenges, such as wildfire recovery, housing shortages and Medi-Cal expansion, demand precision, not a billionaire’s blunt force trauma.
But let’s not kid ourselves: California’s government is rife with waste. As a state data official, I saw firsthand how departmental silos obscure spending, how outdated systems hide inefficiencies, and how fraud festers in a budget so vast it defies comprehension. The Legislative Analyst’s Office routinely flags billions in questionable allocations, yet we rarely see follow-through.
DOGE’s aim to save taxpayers money resonates here, where taxes soar and deficits loom. The idea of a top-to-bottom audit of every department isn’t radical — it’s overdue.
What California needs is a smarter playbook. We can look to Maryland, where then-Gov. Martin O’Malley implemented StateStat nearly two decades ago (now called the Performance Improvement Office), or Washington with Results Washington — both data-driven systems that tracked the performance of agencies in real time. From crime rates to infrastructure delays, these platforms create accountability, cut costs and delivered results, without burning the house down.
California could build its own version: a government-wide dashboard exposing spending, outcomes and inefficiencies for all to see. Pair that with a full audit — independent, rigorous and public — and we’d have a blueprint to root out waste and fraud without Muskian theatrics.
The 2026 gubernatorial race is the moment to demand this. Candidates can’t just tinker around the edges with feel-good promises. Our budget isn’t just gigantic — it’s a labyrinth. Medi-Cal alone, at $161 billion annually, begs for scrutiny. Are we overpaying providers? Are duplicated services draining funds? What about the California Department of Transportation, where highway projects balloon past deadlines and budgets?
A StateStat model, backed by an audit, could answer these questions and potentially save billions of dollars that we could redirect to schools, housing or tax relief.
Critics will cry that this is austerity in disguise. It’s not. Efficiency isn’t about slashing services — it’s about ensuring every dollar delivers. When I oversaw California’s data strategy, we uncovered redundancies that could’ve funded entire programs if redirected. Fraud, too, isn’t a victimless crime; it siphons resources from the vulnerable.
Any governor who ducks this fight is complicit in the status quo.
DOGE may be a cautionary tale, but its ambition should wake us up. California’s next governor must wield data, not headlines, to tame our sprawling government. A full audit, a StateStat-like system and a relentless hunt for waste aren’t optional — they’re the price of leadership in a state stretched to its limits. Voters should settle for nothing less.
