Perhaps the most important objection to the customer orientation has to do with accountability. In government, citizens are not only customers; they are ‘’owners’’ (Schachter 1997). As George Fredrickson puts it, ‘’Customers choose between products presented in the market; citizens decide what is so important that the government will do it at public expense’’ (1992, 13). Further, the interests of customers and owners do not always coincide----in business or government. While businesses may benefit in the long term from satisfying the immediate customer, government may not. A state motor vehicle division made important efforts to improve customer satisfaction----brightening their waiting areas, cutting down on waiting time, even making the pictures better. But a statewide commission questioned whether