I had never met the IRS Commissioner, Charles Rossotti, before I spoke with him on February 8, 2000. I was a little unsure of how I would fare with him on a morning when the agency appeared to be running at warp speed.

An interview with the New York Times was on the Commissioner's schedule for late afternoon, and, during our time together, he took numerous telephone calls and messages that dutiful staff members passed to him.

Commissioner Rossotti handled it all with humor, poise, and graciousness. But, what emerged from the interview with this agency leader was not so much new information, as the Commissioner's obvious regard for his "front-line employees." He clearly views with delight their efforts to reinvent not only the actual IRS and its operations, but the agency's reputation as well.

When I repeated compliments I had heard about the "new" willingness of IRS employees to help taxpayers seeking assistance, the Commissioner lit up. Achieving the agency's goals, "the big things," he said, had just begun. "They [IRS employees] were the first to internalize the message about customer service," said Rossotti. "And, they deserve the credit. They really do."