Citizens Task Force
Volunteer groups of everyday Idahoans overseeing each major state department
I am not here to create more government jobs or big committees. As governor, I will create multiple Citizens Task Forces via executive order. One for each major state department. These will be made up entirely of unpaid volunteers who know these systems from real world experience. No salaries. No perks. Just regular Idahoans. Nurses for Health and Welfare, truck drivers and road workers for Transportation, teachers and parents for Education, former corrections staff or families for Corrections, and so on. They volunteer because they want Idaho to work better for their kids and grandkids' future.
Each task force focuses on one department at a time. Review budgets, audits, citizen tips, and operations. Spot waste, fraud, or inefficiency. Make practical recommendations. We will use xAI’s Grok to help volunteers scan and analyze huge amounts of public data quickly, without drowning in paperwork. This is not replacing professional auditors. It adds real world citizen eyes where the experts often miss the day to day problems. Proactive and citizen led from day one. This puts regular people with firsthand knowledge in the driver's seat for ongoing oversight, not just one off input. It creates constant pressure for fixes instead of waiting for legislative requests or annual reports.
How It Works
Start small and smart: On day one, executive order creates the first wave of volunteer task forces (for example, the biggest spenders: Health and Welfare, Transportation, Education, Corrections). Each gets 8 to 15 volunteers.
Department specific focus: Volunteers matched to their experience (for example, a nurse or social worker on Health and Welfare, a county road maintainer on Transportation).
Public and transparent: All meetings (virtual or in existing state spaces), findings, and recommendations posted on Transparent Idaho and the governor’s official website. Monthly public updates.
Build over time: Work with the legislature to pass laws making these volunteer task forces permanent, with tools like better record access (privacy protected) and authority to review local government ties to state departments.
How Does This Differ From What's Happening Today?
Today's oversight in Idaho is mostly top down and occasional. Here is the clear difference:
Oversight comes mainly from the legislature through the Legislative Services Office (audits) and Office of Performance Evaluations (program reviews when requested).
There are some governor created advisory boards for specific issues (like cybersecurity in 2021), and public input happens through Transparent Idaho tips, occasional testimony at hearings, or limited advisory committees.
Citizen involvement is usually reactive. People submit comments or tips after problems surface, but there are no ongoing, department by department volunteer groups digging into daily operations with real world experience.
No widespread use of AI tools for fast analysis by citizens.
In short: Today's system consists of occasional check ins and reactions. It is not proactive. My plan puts boots on the ground volunteers in each department, armed with smart tools, watching things every month so problems get caught and fixed before they grow.
Answers to Common Questions
Why Multiple Task Forces (One Per Department)?
One giant task force could get overwhelmed or too general. Department specific groups let volunteers go deep. Understand the unique rules, budgets, and pain points in that area. It spreads the work so volunteers are not burned out. It shows we are serious about fixing every corner of state government, not just skimming the surface.
Why Use AI?
AI helps us move fast and dig deep without big taxpayer costs, but every finding gets human review by the task force. If something looks off, we cross check with official sources and get expert input before going public.
Why xAI Grok specifically?
It is designed for advanced reasoning on tough topics (like government finances), has low cost access options (including government friendly pricing seen in other states or federal pilots), and includes built in tools for document analysis that outperform many alternatives for our needs. Plus, it is fast and straightforward. Perfect for volunteers who are not tech experts.
xAI's Grok is built for truthful, no nonsense answers and has strong tools for handling real government documents. Exactly what we need for fast, accurate volunteer reviews.
Here is how it fits in practice: Scanning and searching public documents: Volunteers upload or link public PDFs, budget spreadsheets, audit reports, and spending data from Transparent Idaho or agency sites into Grok's collections feature (a secure knowledge base). Grok can search across hundreds or thousands of pages, pulling out relevant sections on contracts, payments, or programs. Like finding duplicate vendor payments or unexplained budget spikes in Health and Welfare reports.
Pattern detection and red flags: Grok excels at reasoning over complex data. It spots inconsistencies (for example, sudden jumps in overtime costs at Transportation, odd trends in welfare caseloads versus funding), summarizes long reports into plain English, and highlights potential waste areas. For example, it can analyze Excel tables in budget docs to flag over budget line items or contracts that look suspicious.
Document understanding (including PDFs and visuals): Grok handles OCR (reading scanned PDFs or images in reports), preserves table layouts from financial docs, and even analyzes charts or graphs for anomalies. This means volunteers do not have to manually read 500 page audits. Grok gives quick summaries and points to the key parts.
How volunteers use it: Simple interface. No coding required. Volunteers ask questions like "What unusual spending patterns show up in the last three years of Department of Correction budgets?" or "Summarize citizen complaints tied to this program." Grok responds with answers, citations to exact pages or sources, and explanations. Volunteers discuss, verify, and decide what matters. AI is the assistant, not the boss.
Privacy and security first: Only publicly available data gets used. No personal info, no confidential citizen records. Grok respects permissions (if we link state public drives), and everything processed stays within approved tools. We will follow Idaho data privacy laws and be fully transparent about what Grok analyzes.
Legal authority and structure?
The Governor's executive order power lets me create multiple volunteer advisory task forces immediately. Idaho governors do this regularly. Each is advisory: reviews public data, tips, and reports. Recommends fixes. They complement existing auditors (Legislative Services Office, and so on). Legislation later can strengthen them.
Subpoena power?
None for the volunteer task forces. That is for legislative committees or the AG. Serious issues get referred there right away. As governor, I will direct full agency cooperation. Volunteers' public findings create pressure.
Verification of findings?
Cross check against official records, multiple sources. Grok flags issues. Volunteers verify with discussion and expert input when needed. Everything is public for you or the media to scrutinize. Corrections happen openly.
Conflicts of interest?
Mandatory disclosure of any ties to the department. Conflicts mean recusal. Ethics policy, background checks for sensitive roles. Diverse volunteers plus full public view prevent bias.
Qualifications for volunteers?
Real experience trumps degrees. For each task force: Idaho residents with relevant firsthand knowledge (for example, frontline workers, families impacted, small business owners dealing with regs).
Must haves: clean background, volunteer commitment, confidentiality agreement. Open applications. Select for balance and common sense. Short training on basics, including how to use Grok safely.
How many task forces? Timeline?
Start with 4 to 6 priority ones (biggest budgets or problems) in the first 60 days. Expand gradually. First findings in 3 to 6 months from the time.
Cost to taxpayers?
Near zero. All volunteers, low or no cost Grok tools (xAI has affordable access), virtual or in state meetings. Savings from uncovered waste pay for themselves many times over.
Agency resistance?
Full cooperation directed by me. Pushback goes public fast. Volunteers spotlight it, I back them up.