Headlines
Florida prison privatization push stalls despite big spending
CA: Big cities cautious about privatizing parking after Chicago’s effort
OH: Ohio DOT talks about privatizing rest stops
CO: Gov: Slow down privatizing workers comp insurer
AZ: Publishers, lawmakers wrangle over future of printed public notices
NH: Legislature directs agencies to use open source databases
How privatizing government shovels cash to parasitic corporations

News summaries
Florida prison privatization push stalls despite big spending
Millions of dollars in campaign contributions from for-profit prison companies may not be enough this year to push through a prison privatization plan that is a priority of Gov. Rick Scott and Republican legislative leaders.The push to privatize one-fifth of the state corrections facilities along with all inmate health care could net prison companies hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts, and those companies have spent millions in the past year trying to win support for the plan. But Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, who made the prison outsourcing one of his top goals, put the bill on hold twice last week because he lacked the votes within his Republican caucus to pass it. Research by The Palm Beach Post shows that Boca Raton-based GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, have contributed nearly $2 million to candidates and political parties since Scott’s election. Palm Beach Post

CA: Big cities cautious about privatizing parking after Chicago’s effort
Sacramento doesn’t have many role models to follow as it tries to auction off its parking garages and meters to help finance a new sports arena. Just two major U.S. cities – Chicago and Indianapolis – have completed such privatization deals. And the biggest one, in Chicago in 2008, was a public relations nightmare. Chicagoans were outraged when meter rates soared and the machines briefly malfunctioned. The city’s inspector general said the $1.15 billion price the city received was way too low. While the operating company says citizen anger has abated, the deal is still viewed in political circles as a mistake.
That fallout has spread around the country. Pittsburgh and several other cities backed away from privatizing their parking, partly out of fear of duplicating Chicago’s experience…Sacramento, though, is pushing ahead. Indeed, after a decade of false starts and botched initiatives, city officials have settled on the parking program as the foundation of a new arena that would keep the Sacramento Kings from fleeing…City officials saw what happened in Chicago and contend they can craft a deal that generates a lot of cash while protecting the interests of taxpayers, motorists and downtown businesses. Sacramento Bee

OH: Ohio DOT talks about privatizing rest stops
Last week, an Ohio Department of Transportation advisory panel voted unanimously to move forward on its plan to delay dozens of new construction projects throughout the state. The decision comes in the wake of a two billion dollar ODOT funding deficit. For now, ODOT said they will not raise the gas tax, the department’s primary source of revenue…The move would make Ohio the first state in the nation to privatize rest areas, something that could generate a significant annual income source…”My vision is that we would literally bulldoze down what is currently there and have so many acres of land available and we would have the private sector come in and put their stores in,” Wray explains. “We would have requirements that they would have to mow, put in restrooms, but we are trying to turn what is currently an expense into a revenue.” For now, any move to privatize the turnpike or rest areas is probably not going to come this year, an election year…And again, the public can weigh in on all of this during ODOT’s 45 day public comment period. Many have already spoken out. In fact, a separate citizen Facebook page has been created to generate support for the building of the second Innerbelt Bridge. NewsChannel5

CO: Gov: Slow down privatizing workers comp insurer
John Hickenlooper and Colorado’s only state-chartered workers compensation insurer have agreed to delay a proposal to privatize the company. Hickenlooper said Thursday more work needs to be done on the plan for Pinnacol Assurance…Pinnacol has had a rocky relationship with the state since it was challenged in 2011 over reports of lavish spending and excess profits, which some lawmakers said came from denying claims from injured workers. The company has denied those allegations. Last month, Pinnacol was criticized for running ads touting the benefits of privatization. KJCT8

AZ: Publishers, lawmakers wrangle over future of printed public notices
Continuing a string of similar bills in recent years, Rep. David W. Stevens, R-Sierra Vista, has proposed removing the requirement that statutory public notices be published in newspapers. HB 2403 would provide the option of putting a notice instead on “a designated site” online…Rick Edmonds, who researches business and journalism issues for the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., said newspaper publishers in many states face efforts to remove print requirements for statutory public notices. “The history though is that many of these things are proposed but there has never been a broad exemption to the requirement that notices be published [by newspapers],” he said. Arizona’s law, which predates the Internet, calls for notices authorized by law to be published in an English-language newspaper of general circulation. If a newspaper is printed daily, the notice must run four consecutive days. In a weekly newspaper, the notice must run for two consecutive weeks. Ginger Lamb, vice president and publisher of the Arizona Capitol Times, told lawmakers Thursday that running notices in print provides an independent third party to verify legitimacy as well as a permanent, secure archive of ads. Cronkite News

NH: Legislature directs agencies to use open source databases
The New Hampshire legislature voted in favor of requiring state agencies to use open source software to allow for better public access to government information. NH Liberty Alliance

How privatizing government shovels cash to parasitic corporations
Rather than solving problems with government, privatization often amplifies those issues to new extremes. Instead of unleashing market innovation, it often introduces new parasitic partners into the decision-making process. Instead of providing a check on the power of the government, it allows the state to circumvent constitutional and democratic accountability measures by merging with the private sector. And ultimately, the practice replaces the set of choices and constraints found in democracy, with another set found in the marketplace. Today’s political conversation is blind to these problems out of a mistaken faith in the efficiency and fundamental equality of markets, contrasted to the ineffectiveness and corruptibility of the state. What advocates miss is that the logic of markets creates private-sector coalitions capable of extracting just as much from taxpayers as the state. Corporations, lobbyists and other market actors can have just as much political agency as the government, and privatization can mobilize businesses to rewrite market practices. AlterNet

Headlines
OH: Dem leaders protest plan to privatize Ohio Turnpike
FL: Controversial Lincoln Road outsourcing bid attacked again
UT: No liquor privatization this  year
ALEC education ‘academy’ launches on island resort

News summaries
OH: Dem leaders protest plan to privatize Ohio Turnpike
Democratic elected officials from Northeast Ohio gathered in Youngstown for the first in a series of news conferences in opposition to Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to privatize the Ohio Turnpike to generate revenue for the state. The Democrats said the privatization proposal could result in higher tolls, a decline in turnpike maintenance and lower wages for turnpike workers…The creation of the Ohio Turnpike Commission, which operates the road, was authorized in 1949 by the Ohio Legislature, and the road opened in 1955. The commission, not the state, issued more than $326 million in revenue bonds to fund its construction, McNally said. “No state general-revenue funds have ever been appropriated by the state of Ohio to support the Ohio Turnpike,” McNally said. “The turnpike is funded by tolls, profits from concessions and other items sold in turnpike shops.” If the sale or lease of the turnpike were put out to bid, state Rep. Ronald Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th, said there’d be no way to prevent a foreign corporation or government from owning or leasing the 241-mile-long toll road, which traverses Northern Ohio, including Trumbull and Mahoning counties. A Spanish company leases the Indiana toll road, he noted. Youngstown Vindicator

FL: Controversial Lincoln Road outsourcing bid attacked again
Miami Beach commissioners could vote Wednesday to negotiate a no-bid contract that could be worth around $25 million for a private company to landscape and maintain the Lincoln Road mall for the next decade. The contract would go to a company managed by Robert Wennett, the developer of 1111 Lincoln Road, the stylish, Swiss-designed parking garage that has become the chic spot for parties and weddings. Wennett’s UIA Management maintains the new 1100 block of Lincoln Road, which he developed with millions of dollars in city funds, as part of a public/private partnership. The new deal would extend Wennett’s current contract, valued at $158,000 annually through the beginning of 2020, to cover the maintenance of the entire mall at a cost estimated around $3 million a year. Wennett’s management fee is 15 percent. In September, an anonymous letter alleged the proposal to have Wennett oversee the mall was an attempt to funnel millions of public dollars into the developer’s pockets. Commissioners turned the matter over to the State Attorney’s Office, which confirmed its open investigation in December…Nonetheless, Miami Beach’s largest public employee union has launched a scathing commercial on cable television, attacking Gonzalez and calling Wennett’s original contract a “Trojan Horse” crafted with the intention of him eventually running all of Lincoln Road. Miami Herald

UT: No liquor privatization this  year
If it wasn’t clear already, Thursday it became official: There will be no attempt to privatize the state’s liquor operations in the 2012 Legislature….Several veteran lawmakers who have dealt with liquor control issues before told UtahPolicy that major changes won’t be happening this session in part because “all the traditional stakeholders” – as one put it – “in liquor control have not been brought together.” In legislative-speak that means leaders of the LDS Church, who historically have had a say in liquor control in Utah, have not been brought into the discussions – at least not to the extent as in the past. Thus without that traditional coalition, no major changes will occur.  Utah Pulse

ALEC education ‘academy’ launches on island resort
Today, hundreds of state legislators from across the nation will head out to an island resort off the coast of Florida to a unique “education academy” sponsored by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). There will be no students or teachers. Instead, legislators, representatives from right-wing think tanks and for-profit education corporations will meet behind closed doors to channel their inner Milton Friedman and promote the radical transformation of the American education system into a private, for-profit enterprise. AFL-CIO

Headlines
CBO: Toll roads are not free money
NY: Gov’s landlord hopes to double its money from privatized state building
FL: Prison privatization plan may be crumbling in Florida Senate
FL: Senator booted off budget panel over privatization
FL: Water privatization proposal scrapped
FL: North Miami teacher called to principal’s office after call from the mayor
LA: State agencies hoping to privatize some services

CBO: Toll roads are not free money
A report released last month by the non-partisan government analysts at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found the purported benefits of this financing mechanism were mostly illusory, as taxpayers end up paying roughly the same amount either way. “The case is sometimes made that using funds from private capital markets to finance roads can increase the resources available to build, operate, and maintain roads,” the CBO report stated. “But the sources of revenues available to pay for the cost of a highway project — whether it uses the traditional financing approach or a public-private partnership — are the same: specifically, tolls paid by users or taxes collected by either the federal government or by state and local governments. Therefore, absent restrictions on governments’ ability to borrow, there is no difference between the amount those governments could raise themselves and the sums that public-private partnerships could raise because the same resources are available to remunerate investors in either case.”…”In order to properly assess the difference in costs between securing financing through the traditional approach (generally as public debt) and obtaining it by private means, it is necessary to account not only for the interest paid on money borrowed for the project but also for the costs associated with the risks borne by taxpayers and the costs of financial transfers — in the form of subsidized interest rates and advantageous tax treatment — from the federal government to states and localities,” the report explained. “If such a comprehensive measure is used, the costs of private and public financing are roughly comparable.” A copy of the report is available here.  The Newspaper

NY: Gov’s landlord hopes to double its money from privatized state building
The landlord for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office in Midtown Manhattan is putting 10 floors in the building up for sale — at twice the price it paid to buy the space from the state just five years ago. Time Equities paid $103 million — or about $540 a square foot — in November 2006 to buy the top 10 floors of 633 Third Ave. from the Empire State Development Corp., a state agency that was moving downtown…The space is now for sale at $1,075 a square foot, says Time Equities’ director of office leasing and sales, Brandon Medeiros…The governor’s lease expires in June 2013…The $3.4 million annual rent bill is by far the highest price per square foot that state government pays to rent space anywhere in New York — and almost double what another state office pays for space in the same building….The comptroller’s deal was reached in 2003, at a down time for the real estate market, she said, while rents had rebounded by the time the governor’s office signed its lease in 2006….“This is just another example of how a state economic development program has benefited a large corporation and not the economy of the state,” Brodsky said. “There is no reason in the world for this company to have a subsidized transaction and not have to share or to repay that subsidy once they make a profit.”  The New York World

FL: Prison privatization plan may be crumbling in Florida Senate
A massive plan to privatize 28 correctional facilities in South Florida appeared to be crumbling Wednesday as opposition to the plan that would cost the region nearly 4,000 jobs rose in the Florida Senate. The plan – scheduled to be debated on the Senate floor Wednesday – was abruptly yanked off the calendar by Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, amid reports that as many as 20  Republicans and Democrats were prepared to kill it. Earlier, Gov. Rick Scott called in two critics in an apparently unsuccessful attempt to change their minds. Haridopolos also stripped one of the plan’s principal critics – Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey – of his chairmanship of the budget committee that oversees prisons, saying he had “he had “lost confidence” in Fasano’s ability to help the Senate come up with a budget for the state. Fasano compared him to a “schoolyard bully.” At the end of the day, the bill was in limbo. “At this point, I’m not ready to bring it up to vote,” Haridopolos told reporters. The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday morning pulled discussion of a similar plan from its agenda without comment.  Orlando Sentinel

FL: Senator booted off budget panel over privatization
Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos on Wednesday removed a veteran GOP legislator from a budget panel after he fought a plan to privatize prisons, saying he had lost confidence in the lawmaker’s willingness to cut government costs. Haridopolos said he was stripping Sen. Mike Fasano of his chairmanship of the Senate budget subcommittee that oversees spending on prisons and the courts. He was also removed from the main budget committee. “I had lost confidence in him to build (on) the mission” of cutting the cost of government, Haridopolos told reporters. “It was a very difficult decision, but I just felt he was not rowing in the same direction. He was not ready to make the tough choices. He couldn’t handle the responsibility.” The move, however, could upset the perceived collegial working atmosphere of the Senate at a time that it is dealing with a billion-dollar budget gap and the once-a-decade job of redistricting. The Florida Education Association and Florida AFL-CIO, which represents many public workers, were swift in firing off press releases criticizing the move as “political payback” for privatization interests. But Fasano, of New Port Richey, said he’d “wear the loss as a badge of honor” for speaking up “for the little guy.” Miami Herald

FL: Water privatization proposal scrapped
Under pressure from environmentalists, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Rep. Dana Young, R-Tampa, scrapped a controversial proposal Wednesday to “privatize” the state’s treated wastewater. HB 639 as originally written would have changed the definition of “reclaimed water” to place ownership with local governments and utility companies, something Buckhorn was pushing for to help replenish Tampa’s water supply. Environmentalists objected, saying the resource would no longer belong to Florida citizens, but to governments and utility companies that may be tempted to sell to the highest bidder. So instead Young pitched, and unanimously passed by committee, a version that forbids water management districts, which control water for the state, from forcing cities and utilities to give away water they pay to treat. Tampa Bay Times

FL: North Miami teacher called to principal’s office after call from the mayor
A North Miami science teacher who spoke at a public meeting with her children is incensed after the city’s mayor called her school to complain…The reason: The city’s mayor had called Principal Bernard Osborn after Futterman and her two children spoke out against a controversial waste contract at a recent North Miami council meeting. Futterman, who has one of Mayor Andre Pierre’s children in her class, said she was flabbergasted. “Who is he to call my place of employment?” said Futterman, who lives in North Miami. “I am offended as his son’s educator and as a citizen.” The Jan. 24 meeting drew a packed room, with a spillover audience watching from the lobby as the council heard public comment about a plan to privatize the city’s garbage services. The proposal has been the subject of scandal and controversy for months: The mayors nephew and reelection campaign manager, Ricardo Brutus, was arrested in March for allegedly accepting $4,000 from a local businessman to ensure the ordinance was delayed until after the election. Brutus was caught on tape describing his influence in City Hall, although he has denied wrongdoing and Pierre has sought to distance himself from the case…Pierre said he called the school out of concern for comments made by Futterman’s children — although he said he didn’t realize their mother was a teacher at the school…Futterman’s children, like their mom, had questioned the council about whether the new plan would include recycling.  Miami Herald

LA: State agencies hoping to privatize some services
Two state agencies served notice Wednesday that they want to privatize some of their services by mid-year, moves that could cost more than 200 state employees their jobs. The proposals to outsource some jobs to private contractors were pitched to the state Civil Service Commission by the Office of Student Financial Assistance and three units of the Department of Health and Hospitals. The commission will not act on the proposals until the agencies return with proposed contacts, indicating how much they cost and how much can be saved for taxpayers.  The Times-Picayune

Headlines
FL: Short on support, Senate leader holds off on prison privatizing vote
FL: Study: Fla’s shift to private care means longer Medicaid waiting lists
UT: Commerce Director says no to liquor privatization
DC: DC trust paid out to mystery groups, records show
PA: Editorial: Bounty hunters need not apply in Philly
CO: Panel reacts coolly to Pinnacol privatization proposal

News summaries
FL: Short on support, Senate leader holds off on prison privatizing vote
A split Senate GOP caucus is threatening a prison privatization effort despite the support of GOP leaders…[Senate President] Haridopolos halted floor debate on the bill Tuesday afternoon and has temporarily postponed a chamber vote, with more than 10 Republicans joining with 10 Democrats in opposition to the plan….Republicans lining up against the bill questioned the true savings involved in the plan to outsource all Department of Corrections operations in an 18-county region in the southern portion of the state…The uncertainty surrounding the vote Tuesday underscored why Senate leaders last year tucked the privatization into the budget rather than bringing it up in a stand-alone bill. A Tallahassee judge threw out that privatization plan, ruling that the way lawmakers went about ordering the outsourcing in the budget was unconstitutional…Haridopolos said he has not yet decided on when to bring up the bill for a full vote. “I’m still debating on that,” he said. “We’ll see how far we get tomorrow.”  Palm Beach Post

FL: Study: Fla’s shift to private care means longer Medicaid waiting lists
When the Legislature decided last year to cap Medicaid funding and turn long-term care over to private managed care companies, some experts warned that growing waiting lists would drive people into expensive nursing homes. A study released Tuesday by the Legislature’s own policy analysts underscores that fear. Florida has three main Medicaid programs that divert people from nursing homes by providing home health care, aides for chores, assisted living and other services. One uses a for-profit, managed care model. Waiting lists for those programs rose 30 percent last year, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability reported. Meanwhile, the cost of the managed care program was significantly higher than the two traditional nonprofit programs. Tampa Bay Times

UT: Commerce Director says no to liquor privatization
The interim director of the Utah Department of Alcohol Beverage Control says she doesn’t want to see the state’s liquor industry privatized, but she does believe the department needs to be restructured. “I don’t think privatization is the answer,” said Francine Giani, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce. “I think you would lose money coming to the state.” ..Giani reported her efforts to shape up DABC to the Business, Economic Development and Labor Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. She said she has worked with the department to bring budgets in line, keep stores open that were slated for closure and “move people along who shouldn’t be there anymore.” “In the last six months, I believe that in fact the ship has been righted. Is it perfect? It is not,” she said, adding legislative auditors continue to review the agency.  Desert News

DC: DC trust paid out to mystery groups, records show
A public-private trust at the center of former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr.’s theft scandal doled out more than $100,000 to other groups not registered as nonprofits and others that don’t exist in city records, raising more questions about the oversight of D.C. taxpayer money.  A review of its records shows that the D.C. Children & Youth Investment Trust Corp. disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service paying more than $100,000 combined to several organizations it deemed to be operating as so-called 501(c)(3) nonprofits, but a check of a public Internal Revenue Service database shows no indication that any of the groups obtained nonprofit status.Scrutiny on the trust intensified Tuesday as its former executive director, Millicent D. West, resigned from her job as head of the District’s homeland security agency. She was in charge of the trust when Thomas steered money from it. The trust pays more than $100,000 per year to an employee for grants management. The Washington Times

PA: Editorial: Bounty hunters need not apply in Philly
Philadelphia authorities have to do a better job when issuing Get-Out-of-Jail cards, but needed reforms in the bail system are more complex than merely putting Dog the Bounty Hunter on the case….Yet, the Senate panel last week heard another pitch for privatizing city-run bail procedures. Commercial bondsmen contend their trade has been professionalized since decades ago when corruption led Philadelphia to scrap its private system. Still, even the slightest risk of a repeat is a big obstacle. That’s why both District Attorney Seth Williams and Pamela Pryor Dembe, president judge of Common Pleas Court, wisely favor retooling, not scrapping, the cash-bail system under which defendants must put up 10 percent of their bail to go free…There are no easy fixes, but the city’s bail system can be repaired. Philadelphia Inquirer

CO: Panel reacts coolly to Pinnacol privatization proposal
Even with Gov. John Hickenlooper selling it in person, a proposal to privatize Pinnacol Assurance — the state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance fund — got a cool reception Tuesday from a special panel. The Pinnacol Assurance Stakeholders Task Force didn’t take an official vote on the proposal, but a straw poll of the panel members in attendance — a group composed of civic leaders as well as representives from business associations, labor unions and nonprofits — showed that more than half were either opposed or neutral. Hickenlooper, a Democrat, has been pushing hard on the privatization deal, which would turn Pinnacol, a quasi-governmental entity that is a political subdivision of the state, into a mutual-assurance company with the option to become a common-stock company. The Denver Post

Headlines
GOP Governors soften tone after a rocky 2011
MI: Detroit city council weighs unprecedented cuts to city services
NY: ‘Public-private’ poppycock – opinion
LA: Sen Landrieu walks tightrope on Gov’s voucher plans
CA: Costa Mesa outsourcing legal costs: $400,000 and rising

News summaries 
GOP Governors soften tone after a rocky 2011
A year after a coterie of new Republican governors swept into the statehouses and put in place aggressive agendas to cut spending and curb union powers, sparking strong backlashes in many places, many of them are adopting decidedly more moderate tones as they begin their sophomore year in office. Governing

MI: Detroit city council weighs unprecedented cuts to city services
The Detroit City Council is mulling draconian reductions today — from closing all recreation centers and privatizing ambulance services to increasing the bus and garbage fees and merging the health department with Wayne County’s department. The last-minute reductions, which include an additional 1,300 layoffs, come one week before Gov. Rick Snyder’s imposed a deadline for the city to reach landmark concessions with its 48 unions….A consent agreement would authorize the council and mayor to restructure city government, privatize services and impose a contract on unions once their contracts expire in June. Detroit Free Press

NY: ‘Public-private’ poppycock – opinion
Gov. Cuomo wants to “build a new New York” — but he doesn’t want to pay for it. To get billions for construction, he’s turning to “public-private partnerships.” Sorry. Just as there’s no free lunch, there’s no free bridge….Under a standard “PPP,” a global company would borrow money and build the bridge, then collect the tolls and pay back the debt, making a tidy profit for as long as a century. That sounds great — except for one detail. Whoever builds the Tappan Zee — the state, a big firm like Skanska or the Queen of England — the numbers don’t add up. The project still costs the same. And people will still pay only a certain toll before they stop going. In fact, the PPP finances could be worse. The state can borrow tax-exempt, meaning it has lower borrowing costs. (Investors in state bonds don’t mind getting a lower interest rate, because they get the tax break.) Private companies can’t do that. ..Wouldn’t the private sector be so efficient that it would save money building and running the bridge? Maybe not. Private companies are efficient because they have to compete; this private company wouldn’t compete with anyone. It would be a monopoly, like Con Ed. Its captive “customer” would be the state…As the state’s financial advisers said two years ago, a successful PPP requires “complex negotiations,” “high procurement costs,” “time-consuming implementation” and “continuous monitoring of service and quality standards.” Hmm. A state that can’t build stuff the easy way won’t do better the hard way. Involving the private sector doesn’t eliminate the risk that taxpayers and drivers might get stuck with the bill for politicians’ giveaways, either. New York Post

LA: Sen Landrieu walks tightrope on Gov’s voucher plans
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu sought to pour some cold water on one of the central proposals in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education reform agenda Monday, using state data to show a huge gap between the number of students who would technically qualify for the governor’s proposed private school voucher program and the number of seats that may actually exist in the state’s private schools.  The Times-Picayune

CA: Costa Mesa outsourcing legal costs: $400,000 and rising
The legal battle over the City Council’s outsourcing plan has cost the city more than $400,000 – almost doubling the total legal fees so far this fiscal year – and there’s no end in sight. High-level attorney firm Jones Day has charged the city $390,701 at $495 an hour to handle a lawsuit from the Costa Mesa City Employees Association that seeks to stop the City Council’s plan to lay off more than 200 of its workers. Employees allege that the council acted illegally in its pursuit to explore the viability of outsourcing city services….Residents and union leaders have voiced concern at meetings and public forums that the seemingly limitless cost of the lawsuit could exceed the savings the council hopes to attain from outsourcing. Orange County Register

Headlines
In privatizing liquor, states hope to drink down deficits
Paul: Privatize TSA,
MI: Flint Manager: Selling city water and sewer can’t be ruled out
NH: Private prison interest strong for NH
NH: Prisons: Real costs to privatization – letter to editor
FL: Prison privatization push raises a stink
CO: Gov recommends Pinnacol privatization with tweaks

News summaries
In privatizing liquor, states hope to drink down deficits
The move is being aggressively supported in some states by big box retailers like Costco, which are hoping to get a cut of the liquor market. But opponents say the onetime cash infusion that would come from selling off liquor licenses would sacrifice the revenue generated by state monopolies on liquor sales or distribution. Ohio this week announced details of how it will transfer control of its state-owned monopoly on liquor distribution to a private non-profit. In nearby Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Corbett (R) would like to privatize the state’s control over liquor stores. So far, opponents have managed to derail recent efforts at privatization in Virginia and North Carolina, while discussions are ongoing in Idaho, Oregon and Utah. Washington State is moving forward with a privatization plan approved by a voter initiative in November…Privatization backers like Corbett argue taxes on private sales could make up for revenues lost from state liquor stores, veritable cash cows that are among the few public enterprises capable of making a profit. Libertarians, meanwhile, say states simply shouldn’t be in the business of liquor distribution or sales. They would like to see state governments get out of the game, whether or not it means they lose money. Huffington Post

Paul: Privatize TSA,
Presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, decried the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) airport security procedures as ineffective security and a violation of the Fourth Amendment, as he argued that private forces should protect airports…Paul, who has called for the end of the TSA since his son — Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. — was prevented from passing through airport security because he refused a pat down, said that private companies could secure airports more effectively than the TSA. “You know, the people who protect very dangerous chemical plants, they’re private sources, you know . . . they do a very good job,” he observed, adding that “the assumption that the government has to do this is the wrong assumption.”  NewsOK.com

MI: Flint Manager: Selling city water and sewer can’t be ruled out
The city’s emergency manager is considering selling off Flint’s water and sewer plants to the highest bidder, potentially generating a one-time windfall of millions of dollars to help steady the city’s shaky finances. Emergency Manager Michael Brown confirmed that a sale of the plants is among the options under review by his office and said he is “nowhere near a decision on that.” Flint Journal

NH: Private prison interest strong for NH
Representatives from more than 20 national and international companies have converged on the Granite State to assess the state’s Request for Proposals for a private prison, even as local residents and some officials have voiced opposition to the idea. The Union Leader

NH: Prisons: Real costs to privatization – letter to editor
I have spent the past six months studying the privatization of medical care in prisons. I found a 40 percent increase in inmate medical negligent lawsuits nationwide and a 20 percent increase over past six years in death of inmates due to medical negligence. And this is just for starters. The quality of staff won’t give the level and quality of care we inmates currently receive. Concord Monitor

FL: Prison privatization push raises a stink
A Senate committee pushed a hotly contested plan to privatize 29 South Florida prisons one step closer last week to becoming a reality. Backers of the move — mostly Republicans — estimated the state could save up to $40 million by getting the prisons off the state’s books. Opponents — mostly law-enforcement unions — argue that safety could suffer and that the bill has been given only two committee stops, which equates to lawmakers trying to ram through the proposal…The proposal failed last year because lawmakers used fine print in the state budget to make the change instead of a stand-alone bill. Tallahassee Judge Jackie Fulford ruled that was unconstitutional, a move Attorney General Pam Bondi is appealing.  The same rationale also is at the crux of a lawsuit filed by the Florida Nurses Association last week. They charge it was unconstitutional for the state to privatize prisoner health care using the state budget. The Department of Corrections is currently seeking vendors for the job.  Florida Times-Union

CO: Gov recommends Pinnacol privatization with tweaks
Gov. John Hickenlooper is recommending the privatization of Pinnacol Assurance, the state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance fund, despite the ongoing concerns of business groups…Despite those policyholders telling Hickenlooper they support the deal, a number of business groups have been skeptical about the proposed privatization, saying it presents new risks with unclear rewards. Many say they like the present system — under which Pinnacol is a quasi-governmental entity — just fine. The Denver Post

Headlines
FL: Nurses file lawsuit over prison privatization
NE: Child services head says pullback from privatization would destabilize system
IN: Indiana panel backs looser school voucher rules
Invisible hands: The businessmen’s campaign to dismantle the Post Office

News summaries
FL: Nurses file lawsuit over prison privatization
The Florida Nurses Association has filed a lawsuit against the state corrections department over a prison health care privatization effort ordered by lawmakers in the budget last year…The suit was filed on Tuesday in the Leon County Circuit Court, where Judge Jackie Fulford scrapped the privatization of all corrections operations – affecting more than two dozen facilities and nearly 4,000 workers – in the 18-county southern portion of the state from Polk County to the Florida Keys. Lawmakers are now reviving the prison privatization plan, slated for a Senate vote on Tuesday. Read the lawsuit here.  Palm Beach Post

NE: Child services head says pullback from privatization would destabilize system
Adams said the effort could prompt the state’s two contractors to withdraw before their agreements expire in 2014, forcing the state to take more cases when it lacks the manpower to do so. His comments followed more than three hours of committee testimony from foster parents and child advocates who say the state’s privatization effort has resulted in high turnover, communication problems and a lack of knowledge about individual cases. Several foster parents recalled encounters with case workers who knew nothing more than their home address and a child’s first name. Others said they encountered full inboxes when they called to ask about services, and left phone messages that would go unreturned for weeks. A legislative report released late last year found that 21 percent of the foster children in Nebraska’s system had four or more case managers in the first six months of 2011. The Republic

IN: Indiana panel backs looser school voucher rules
A proposal that would make thousands of current private school students eligible for Indiana’s school voucher program has been endorsed by a state legislative committee, although cost concerns might block its chances of advancing this year.  Northwest Indiana Times

Invisible hands: The businessmen’s campaign to dismantle the Post Office
In her excellent book Invisible Hands: The Businessmen’s Crusade Against the New Deal, historian Kim Phillips-Fein paints a very revealing picture of how the corporate class operates.  Her theme is the way conservative businessmen worked behind the scenes to undo the New Deal.  As Phillips-Fein explains, one of the most common methods for the businessmen to advocate for their agenda was to bond together.  Recognizing the power in numbers, they formed associations like the American Liberty League (organized by the du Ponts) and the Foundation for Economic Education (founded with help from B. F. Goodrich), as well as giving new energy to existing organizations, like the National Association of Manufacturers and other industry trade groups. While the U.S. Postal Service is obviously not a product of the New Deal, that same conservative agenda is behind the attack on the Postal Service we’re witnessing today. In These Times

Headlines
FL: Editorial: Senate disregards perils of privatization
FL: Privatizing prisons plan faces backlash
FL: Bill to fine sports teams for not housing homeless in tax supported stadiums
NY: Public college, private dorm
GA: $1 million price tag, internal memo may doom Augusta’s privatization plan
CA: UC Davis students take over vacant campus building
Commentary: Halt the push to privatize

News summaries
FL: Editorial: Senate disregards perils of privatization
Florida Senate leaders claim their end run around a judge’s ruling in an effort to quickly privatize South Florida prisons is all about saving money. But they aren’t willing to back up their rhetoric with an economic analysis that would be shared with with taxpayers. The Republican leaders’ arrogant efforts to exempt the Legislature from most of a state law that requires rigorous public vetting of privatization deals would encourage one-sided deals at best and invite corruption at worst. Floridians deserve government in the sunshine…So far, the Florida House has not filed companion legislation, and House Speaker Dean Cannon hasn’t signaled whether he will support the measures. He should side with history and the lessons learned by former Gov. Bush and a previous Legislature. If privatization makes sense, prove it with a business case, in public, every time.  Tampa Bay Times

FL: Privatizing prisons plan faces backlash
Opponents are reviving past privatization fiascoes, including overbilling by prison operators and botched outsourcing of prison food services and inmate medical care. A state audit in 2005 found that two leading private prison firms, Geo Group and Corrections Corp. of America, overbilled the state by $13 million, and a federal grand jury is investigating construction of the state’s newest private prison, Blackwater River in Milton. Tampa Bay Times

FL: Bill to fine sports teams for not housing homeless in tax supported stadiums
Back in 1988, Florida legislators passed a law that would allow sports stadiums to collect about $2 million per year from the government to build new shiny stadiums. Tucked into the statutes is an obscure homeless shelter provision, which has mostly been ignored for 23 years, and could be a $300 million “Oops” for stadiums.  The law states that sports teams that accept taxpayer dollars to build facilities must house the homeless on off-nights, and lawmakers have brought it back from the dead in a pair of bills gaining steam this legislative session. Senate Bill 816, which would make teams and stadium owners return millions of taxpayer dollars if they can’t prove that they’ve been operating as a haven for the homeless on non-event nights,  passed its first committee in the Senate on Monday with a unanimous vote..The teams, which include the Tampa Bay Rays and the Miami Heat, receive about $166,000 per month for a period of 30 years. Some stadium owners have already accepted more than $30 million in tax credits, and could be on the hook to refund that money if the bill passes. Based on the dozens of homeless people who sleep on the street two blocks west of AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami, it doesn’t appear that a homeless shelter is functioning at the glitzy home of the Miami Heat. Miami Herald

NY: Public college, private dorm
With state budgets tight and demand for a college education at a high point, public universities across the country are increasingly turning to the private sector to build and finance on-campus dormitories.
Even before the recession, states found that companies that specialize in student housing could build residence halls more rapidly and cheaply than universities could. They can ease the burden of being a landlord. And perhaps most important, these partnerships free capital for facilities like classrooms and laboratories. But as bad economic times make these arrangements even more appealing, the new efforts raise questions about how private ownership of dorms will affect student life and costs in years to come…Although proponents of private partnerships point to lower costs for construction and operation, those savings are not necessarily passed on to students. A room at the Heights, for example, costs about $1,000 more a semester than a room in Montclair State’s other dorms. “These things are often sold as savings, but they don’t often result in savings,” said Edward P. St. John, an education professor at the University of Michigan and an editor of “Privatization and Public Universities,” published in 2006. The New York Times

GA: $1 million price tag, internal memo may doom Augusta’s privatization plan
Commissioners recently all but rubber stamped a plan to privatize Augusta’s human resources and payroll department. The vote gave the administrator the authority to put together an agreement with ADP.
We got our hands on two pages of supposed issues with ADP that were compiled by the city administrator’s office.The list makes mention of workers dropped from health care coverage. “We have had cancellation in every vendor group, without explanation; the only common denominator is ADP,” reads No. 13 on the list…ADP personnel are described as “sometimes combative,” employees supposedly “don’t trust the automation of benefits,” and there are complaints about the inability to instantly fix problems. The list was put together by the city administrator’s office…Did we mention the $1 million price tag for implementation? 12 News Augusta

CA: UC Davis students take over vacant campus building
A small group of University of California students have taken over a vacant building on the Davis campus…Graduate student Geoffrey Wildanger said they will use the building to fight Chancellor Linda Katehi’s attempts to privatize the campus by offering free classes and other services to students. Two campus student assistance-counseling programs were scheduled to move into the cottage in the next two weeks. KCRA Sacramento

Commentary: Halt the push to privatize
Will the political genius who invented privatization please step forward so those of us who know what a flop it is can haul out our rotten tomatoes and dispose of them accordingly? Thank you! Privatization is a movement now virtually overtaking cash-strapped city, county and state governments. Supporters claim that privatizing services formerly provided by government — ranging from prisons to parking meters — would save the taxpaying public money. We now have ample evidence it does exactly the opposite. So it’s time to stop privatizing more government services. It’s time to refuse to renew or even to abrogate ridiculously long contracts with private-sector companies to provide those services. Here’s one example of the counterproductive outcomes experienced by governments that have privatized services. This comes from the website Inthepublicinterest.org: A report from Wisconsin’s Legislative Audit Bureau revealed that the state’s Department of Transportation “wasted more than $1 million by outsourcing almost half of its engineering work to private contractors” over the past five year. The audit found that state workers could have done about 60 percent of these outsourced jobs at a lower cost, which would have saved the state $1.2 million….It’s possible that some privatization deals save taxpayers money. But considering all the reports of outrageous overcharges, crony contracting, decreases in the quality of services and so on, a more logical conclusion is that privatization has run its course and has got to go. — Bonnie Erbe  Newsday

News summaries
OH: Delays renew turnpike debate
The delay of big-ticket construction projects in Ohio has stoked the debate over privatizing the state turnpike…State Rep. Ronald V. Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th, said the governor will use news of the delay to tout privatization of the turnpike, something Gerberry says he and many residents in his district oppose. “I really do fear that the governor will use any and every excuse, and this could be an excuse,” Gerberry said. “I am just totally opposed to leasing or selling the turnpike. I believe you don’t sell assets like that.” Last week, the Ohio Department of Transportation said planned work on new construction projects could be postponed a decade or more because of dwindling funds. ODOT outlined its project recommendations to the Transportation Review Advisory Council, a bipartisan group that approves funding for the largest transportation projects in Ohio. Vindy.com

FL: Fla. prison privatization plan clears House panel
A House panel cleared its chamber’s version of a South Florida prison privatization plan on Tuesday with a party line vote. The Justice Appropriations Subcommittee passed the bill (PCB 12-05) by a vote of 10-5.A Senate committee approved its version on Monday…Democratic lawmakers and correctional workers still oppose the idea, saying the plan will put state employees out of work and reduce public and prisoner safety…Last year, the Legislature passed a South Florida prison-privatization plan. But the state was sued by the Florida Police Benevolent Association, the union that formerly represented corrections officers. A judge ruled the plan was unconstitutional because it was approved as part of the annual budget and not as a separate law. Attorney General Pam Bondi is appealing the judge’s decision. Miami Herald

IN: Ind. lawmakers seeking looser school voucher rules
Thousands of students could pour into the country’s broadest private school voucher program if Indiana legislators drop a requirement that children spend at least one year in public schools before becoming eligible. Northwest Indiana Times

The ugly truth about “school choice”
The Koch brothers want you to think the movement’s about racial justice and empowering parents. They’re lying. National School Choice Week, a pet project of big corporations and conservative billionaires like the Koch brothers, kicked off Monday with celebratory forums throughout the country. Billing itself as a social justice movement committed to “ensuring effective education options for every child,” “school choice” has actually become a deeply divisive wedge issue for the right. But the folks at School Choice Week would prefer that you didn’t know that…But there are a few serious problems with the school choice movement. Though it attracts mainstream conservatives like Cosby, as well as Democrats like President Barack Obama, it is not, at its core, a bipartisan endeavor. Its most important backers are rightwing organizations like the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity and other groups supported by billionaire rightwing ideologues like the Koch brothers. They want to dismantle public education altogether and run schools as businesses, judged as “successes” or “failures” based on abstract data taken from high-stakes standardized test scores. Access to opportunity is replaced with demands for universal “excellence” and “achievement,” in which teachers are punished for student “failure.” This pits parents against teachers, and it ultimately sidelines already marginalized children of immigrant families, poor children and/or children of color. Salon