AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: By Steve Peoples, Providence Journal (RI), Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Governor Carcieri has proposed spending more than $200 million on contract employees for the coming year, according to a report presented last night before a packed meeting of the House Finance Committee.

...... Union officials said the public should know more about the use of contractors, especially given the massive state budget deficit for the coming year. "I know they can't eliminate all the contract employees," said James Cenerini, a lobbyist for the largest state employees union, Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees. "But I think taxpayers should know how much money is being spent to pay contractors."

Posted by Info Center at 1:31 PM in Overview/General | Permalink
Tags: Rhode Island

Source: Capital 9 News (NY), 05/09/2008 06:22 AM

A union representing state employees said New York is wasting taxpayer dollars. The Public Employees Federation said the state is hiring private consultants when it should be using state workers.

Using data from the state Comptroller's Office, PEF did a study which said New York State could save $700 million if it stopped hiring consultants and used state workers to do the same jobs.

Posted by Info Center at 1:35 PM in Audits/Reporting | Overview/General | Permalink
Tags: New York

Source: University of Maine news release, March 25, 2008

A newly released briefing paper by the University of Maine Bureau of Labor Education on the pitfalls and problems that can occur when privatizing certain state, municipal or institutional services, concludes that the practice remains risky and problematic.

The paper, "Privatization Pitfalls Update, 2008," (.pdf) brings up to date an analysis of contracting out certain government or institutional services that was originally done in 1998.

....... The bureau draws examples from a variety of sources, including the U.S. General Accounting Office, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, previous UMaine Bureau of Labor Education studies, research by Cornell University and newspaper accounts of fraud and abuse by subcontractors in various states.

Posted by Info Center at 10:41 AM in Horror Stories | Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Helen Chernikoff, Reuters, Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:10pm EST

The weakening U.S. economy has unleashed layoffs, reduced profits and sucked value from the stock market, but some companies, such as those that run prisons and consult for government, can benefit from harsh economic times. When state and local budgets see shortfalls, cash-strapped governments hire companies like management consultant Maximus Inc, social services provider Providence Service Corp and prison company Corrections Corp of America, according to analysts.

..... States might begin a new wave of prison privatization sooner than in the 2001 recession because the United States is still suffering from prison overcrowding as a result of that last downturn, Campbell said.

Posted by Info Center at 1:28 PM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By ALAN GREENBLATT, Governing Magazine, January 2008

........ Nevertheless, [Gov. Mitch] Daniels remains the most ambitious privatizer of any governor currently in office, turning over to outside entities not just control of a major cross-state highway but prisons, hospitals and welfare case management. Like most privatizers, Daniels doesn't like the term, but his pursuit of the idea led the New York Times last summer to dub him "Governor Privatize."

The toll road deal was the most striking illustration of Daniels' whole approach to government. The 58-year-old Daniels, who served as President George W. Bush's first budget director, is one of the most fervent believers in the familiar doctrine that government needs to operate more efficiently, in something resembling a competitive environment and with sets of incentives that bear some passing resemblance to the profit motive. Where government agencies or operations face no real competition, Daniels believes, you have to instill some. He has consistently challenged state workers and agencies to come up with ways of streamlining their shops and saving money. "The state government I see looking forward will be fewer people, better paid," Daniels says. "A lot of them will be overseeing contracts for compliance and results and therefore deserving of being very well compensated."

Posted by Info Center at 11:15 AM in Overview/General | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By GERRY BRODERICK, Milwaukee County supervisor for the 3rd District, Journal Sentinel (WI), Jan. 12, 2008

........ Rather than favoring a much smaller increase in our sales tax to preserve quality of life offerings in Milwaukee County, Walker suggests saving money by eliminating public jobs - and thus the cost of employee fringe benefits - by privatizing a number of county programs and assets, including golf courses.

........ Many of us elected to public office see a very different solution to the fiscal woes besetting state and local government: Tax fairness.

Recent studies by the Institute for Wisconsin's Future (www.wisconsinsfuture.org) make it clear that hundreds of multinational corporations use loopholes and accounting schemes to avoid paying their fair share of Wisconsin state taxes. Instead, honest residents and small business owners are left to assume an increased share of the tax burden.

Posted by Info Center at 10:19 AM in Overview/General | Permalink
Tags: Wisconsin

Source: By John Lemberger, Oshkosh Northwestern (WI), November 18, 2007

.......... What do I get for my state and local tax dollars? Well, my wife and I paid about $9,000 in property, income and sales tax for 2006.

Let's consider what it would it cost me to purchase all of the goods and services that $9,000 chips in for from the private sector over one year.

........ If my math is right, I'm at $58,700 for buying necessary services from the private sector. That's quite a bit more than the $9,000 I'm paying in taxes.

There are, however, many other things your tax dollars provide you: Parks, libraries, child support services, emergency services, airport, veterans services, human services, county highway maintenance, public health department, coroner, clerk of courts, Park View Health Center, UW-Fox Valley, University Extension Services, natural resources protection, wardens, register of deeds, land and water conservation projects, scholarships, and more. Tax-supported, not-for-profit, universal health care is one more thing we need.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not advocating that everything should be provided through the public sector. I'm not a communist. After all, who wants to drive a Trabant?

I'm a pragmatist who believes we should use whichever sector -- private or public -- works best. And I believe those who think they can do better without any tax-supported services are just plain wrong.

Posted by Info Center at 3:22 PM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Michael Nadol, MGA & Eric Neiderman, Ph.D., MGA, University of Pennsylvania, Fels Institute of Government, Spring 2007

This syllabus (.pdf) brings together a wide variety of resources on government contracting out.

Posted by Info Center at 3:15 PM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Richard C. Feiock, James C. Clinger, Manoj Shrestha, and Carl Dasse, State & Local Government Review (subscription req.), Vol. 39, No. 1 (2007)

Whether organizations should contract out for goods and services or produce them internally continues to be a subject of debate. Service contracting patterns in cities may be explained by the characteristics of goods and services and the extent of political and administrative uncertainty in city leadership. Turnover in executive leadership can ­affect the ability of local governments to negotiate contracts, make credible commitments to suppliers, and faithfully uphold and enforce contracts. When transaction costs resulting from turnover are high, contracting out becomes less ­likely. The results of this study show that both city manager turnover and certain service types significantly reduce the likelihood of service contracting, particularly with private, for-profit providers.

Posted by Info Center at 11:24 AM in Overview/General | Permalink
Tags: Academic

Source: California Progress Report, December 13, 2007

"Privatizing in the Dark: The Pitfalls of Privatization & Why Budget Disclosure is Needed" is our site of the day.

The Progressive States Network (PSN), a national think thank, released a report today addressing the need for legislation to establish greater accountability and transparency in the privatization of state government services.

The 31 page report, entitled Privatizing in the Dark: The Pitfalls of Privatization & Why Budget Disclosure is Needed (.pdf), makes the case for a careful reevaluation of the practice of outsourcing traditionally government-administered public services such as education, transit, prisons, and health care to private corporations. In light of the penchant for Governor Schwarzenegger and California Republicans for privatization who see it as a panacea for budgetary and other problems, this is a timely report for those interested in California public policy.

Posted by Info Center at 12:11 PM in Oversight/Contract Management | Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Minnesota League of Cities, Revised May 2004

........ As another strategy, cities may choose to enter service contracts with private or not-for-profit firms. Privatization can bring about savings through more efficient delivery of a service. By opening up local provision of services to competition in the marketplace, cost savings and increased responsiveness may be realized. Further, local governments may be able to access expertise and technology resources available in the private sector. None of these benefits are certainties however, and cities should be cautious when considering privatizing services or functions.

Posted by Info Center at 11:44 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Katherine Gregg, Providence Journal (RI), Thursday, October 25, 2007

State court administrators, and the Carcieri administration, are poised to hold first-of-their kind hearings on the "continued need" for more than 600 consultants and contract employees for whom the state is paying anywhere from $11,780 for a part-time job at the Arts Council to $280,000 a year for a project manager at the Division of Motor Vehicles.

Posted by Info Center at 3:33 PM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Indianapolis Star (IN), September 26, 2007

Our position: The governor should set policy barring private compensation of public employees.

Let's concede that Neil Pickett is a valuable member of Gov. Mitch Daniels' management team.

Pickett, the governor's senior policy adviser and a former executive at Eli Lilly and Co., brings a wealth of experience and talent to the Statehouse.

But the method by which Pickett is compensated should give the public pause. That's because more than half of his $156,840 salary comes from a private source, the Lilly Endowment.

....... The potential for conflicts of interest, however, is clear. As Common Cause/Indiana policy director Julia Vaughn told Star reporter Mary Beth Schneider: "He who pays the piper calls the tune.''

Posted by Info Center at 11:12 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Mary Beth Schneider and Mark Nichols, Indianapolis Star (IN), September 23, 2007

The number of Hoosiers working full time for the state since Gov. Mitch Daniels took office in 2005 has fallen by more than 4,000, partly because some jobs have been turned over to private companies. Most state employees have seen their salaries go up, but dollars spent on the executive and judicial branches have dropped by more than $15 million. These are among several findings in a new state-pay database The Indianapolis Star is making available on its Web site today.

....... The database shows that shifting jobs to the private sector is reducing the amount taxpayers spend on state salaries, although those savings are offset by the contracts the state has signed with private firms to take over the work.

Posted by Info Center at 10:51 AM in Overview/General | Websites/databases | Permalink

Source: Journal Gazette (IN), September 23, 2007

On his third day in office, Gov. Mitch Daniels told reporters his administration would conduct an inventory of state assets and consider holding a "very large garage sale." He slapped his first big "for sale or lease" tag on the Indiana Toll Road.

........ If Hoosiers can expect privatization to be a major issue, it's worthwhile to take note of where it's working and where it's not. Here's a look at a few of the areas where the administration has turned to the marketplace in search of efficiencies.

Posted by Info Center at 10:46 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Journal Gazette (IN), September 23, 2007

On his third day in office, Gov. Mitch Daniels told reporters his administration would conduct an inventory of state assets and consider holding a "very large garage sale." He slapped his first big "for sale or lease" tag on the Indiana Toll Road.

....... If Hoosiers can expect privatization to be a major issue, it's worthwhile to take note of where it's working and where it's not. Here's a look at a few of the areas where the administration has turned to the marketplace in search of efficiencies.

Posted by Info Center at 1:33 PM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Reason Foundation, September 12, 2007

San Diego taxpayers could save $80 to $200 million per year by allowing the private sector to compete with government agencies to do things like clean city buildings, perform maintenance on government vehicles, and run golf courses, according to a new study by the Reason Foundation and San Diego Institute for Policy Research (SDI).

Posted by Info Center at 2:29 PM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Dan Klepal, The Courier-Journal (KY), August 31, 2007

It's called privatization, or sometimes managed competition. Whatever it's called, it's controversial. Louisville Metro Council members Tina Ward-Pugh and Ken Fleming want to study the cost of government services -- from filling potholes to picking up garbage.

....... For an idea of how controversial privatization is, consider a message that was posted on the AFSCME union Web page earlier this year when the plan was first announced. AFSCME, which stands for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, represents about 900 metro employees. "We need to have members to sign up to speak out against this legislation. We need to forward e-mails, faxes and phone calls to the members of the Budget Committee, as well as our individual council members, and urge them to reject this Union Busting Legislation."

Posted by Info Center at 10:15 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Gary Washburn, Chicago Tribune (IL), August 24, 2007

A blue-ribbon panel will spend the next year studying strategies to streamline city government and find ways to stretch the public dollars needed to run it, Mayor Richard Daley announced Thursday. The formation of the 21st Century Commission comes at a time when the city is confronted with a projected $217 million funding shortfall for 2008 and, beyond that, long-term financial challenges.

...... Daley refused to say whether increased privatization of public services could be in the mix. But Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation and one of the commission's 22 members, said he is convinced hiring private companies to perform some of the work now handled by city employees could bring new efficiencies and savings.

....... Only one union leader is on the commission: Thomas Villanova, president of the Chicago & Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council.

Posted by Info Center at 10:04 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: International City/County Management Association

Contracting for a new service is seldom trouble free. The problems that arise in planning and implementing a contract for a new service stem primarily from three sources: contractors’ inexperience, internal opposition from managers and middle managers in the department that would provide the service if it were delivered in house, and inexperience on the part of local government staff. Here are guidelines from Service Contracting: A Local Government Guide, Second Edition, to help local governments deal with these problems.

Posted by Info Center at 10:18 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Bill Cotterell, Tallahassee Democrat (FL), Aug 6, 2007

…… History is usually told by the winners, but what its authors see depends on where they sit. At the time those slabs were posted, memories were probably colored by wistful thinking. Similarly, from former Gov. Jeb Bush's perspective, privatization of Florida government - or "outsourcing," or "competitive sourcing" or "non-core-mission contracting" - probably looks like a bold venture into 21st-century management. In a recent piece written for the Reason Foundation, Bush is almost rhapsodic about the joys of finding ways for corporate America to supplant bureaucracy.

…….. It doesn't contain the word "Convergys," nor does it mention that the Legislature finally intervened to set some standards for state contracting. And Bush's recollection doesn't say how his successor has put some big and troubled projects under review by a special Council on Efficient Government created by the Legislature at the end of the Bush era.

Posted by Info Center at 1:55 PM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Robert Barron, Enid News & Eagle (OK), August 01, 2007

Although he has considered areas in which the city of Enid could privatize services, City Manager Eric Benson said there are no immediate plans to pursue those options. “Anything we do will be with the involvement of the union and at the behest of the council. It will be well-reasoned and in the open,” Benson said. The city currently is in contract negotiations with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which will represent non-uniformed city workers.

…… However, Eldon Stephens, a member of AFSCME who works in the solid waste department, said the city has tried privatization in the past unsuccessfully. “They couldn’t provide the service the city did,” he said.

Posted by Info Center at 11:34 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Reason Foundation news release, July 26, 2007

Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report (.pdf) finds states are increasingly partnering with the private sector to build roads and reduce traffic jams that have become one of the biggest complaints among taxpayers living in nearly every mid- to large-sized city in the country. The report analyzes the latest developments in privatization and government reform in the areas of transportation, aviation, education, local government services, telecommunications, and eminent domain.

Posted by Info Center at 10:20 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Sergio Fernandez and Craig R. Smith, Review of Public Personnel Administration, December 2006, Vol. 26 no. 4

Contemporary public administration encompasses a wide variety of service delivery options. During the past two decades, privatization has become an increasingly utilized and legitimized approach. The perception that privatization poses a threat to public employment is seemingly widespread. Indeed, public sector unions often challenge the adoption of privatization programs. There is little evidence that individual rank-and-file public employees oppose privatization, however. In this study, the authors develop a multivariate model of support for privatization. Using a large-size public opinion data set from Georgia, the authors test the model and find that an individual’s employment in the public sector is a predictor of opposition to privatization. The authors then discuss the practical implications of public employee opposition to privatization. The authors conclude with a discussion of ways for reducing such opposition.

Posted by Info Center at 10:39 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Christopher Swope, Governing, January 2007, Vol. 20 no. 4

Cities and states are privatizing major pieces of infrastructure. Are they getting a sweet deal or selling out?

Posted by Info Center at 10:37 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Whyeda Gill-McLure, Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 32 no. 1, March 2007 (subscription required)

As public-service unions and workers struggle against privatization, they must emphasize that their labor is distinctive because it produces use-values composed of concrete, unquantifiable labor. Use-value production responds to social needs and permits the development of a "public service ethos." Market mechanisms are continually eroding public-service labor and welfare services in an effort to reduce their value to that of a commodity. Case study evidence presented here shows that such marketization causes job loss, casualization, intensification, and loss of worker morale. Workers and unions have fought hard to overcome the worst effects of contracting out by cooperating with other unions, with sympathetic managers, and with the local community. To keep their service from deteriorating, they can argue that municipal labor is distinctive. The article relates the findings and arguments to municipal manual labor in the United States.

Posted by Info Center at 10:29 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Ed Brock and Brian Sedlak, American City & County, Vol. 122 no. 4, April 1, 2007

By selling public assets, local and state governments are raising funds and paying down debts without increasing taxes. The strategy was first applied to toll roads, and now parking garages and state lotteries are up for sale or lease to private investors. Asset concessions are used to bridge budget gaps while increasing or maintaining revenue from unprofitable assets.

Posted by Info Center at 3:48 PM in Asset Sale/Lease | Lottery | Overview/General | Transportation | Permalink

Source: Sharon Dolovich, Outsourcing the U.S., Harvard University Press (via SSRN), 2007

Debates over contracting out government functions to private, for-profit entities often play out within a deliberative framework that can be thought of as “comparative efficiency.” From this perspective, the decision whether to privatize any given government function turns on which sector, public or private, would perform the relevant function more efficiently. Comparative efficiency thus has two defining features: it views the motivating question as a choice between public and private, and it treats efficiency as the sole value guiding the analysis. That comparative efficiency is the appropriate way to approach the issue of privatization tends to be taken for granted. Its value neutrality is also assumed. In this essay, I challenge these assumptions.

Using the example of private prisons, I argue that comparative efficiency operates instead as a rhetorical device that keeps the debate within particular bounds, excluding some concerns altogether and reframing others in ways consistent with its own priorities. I then consider the interests and values served by the ways comparative efficiency structures the private prisons debate, and argue that it is the project of privatization itself that is the beneficiary.

Posted by Info Center at 3:45 PM in Corrections | Overview/General | Permalink

Source: The Aspen Institute, Nonprofit Research Fund, 2007

When nonprofits contract with local governments, the nonprofits may experience challenges,but they may also gain prestige and funding for programs. Since nonprofits may findthat they are distracted from their mission by management challenges and the demands of regulation and oversight, they should carefully weigh both the benefits and the costs of being government contractors.

These are the conclusions of researchers Richard C. Feiock and HeeSoun Jang in their recent report,“The Role of Nonprofit Contractors in the Delivery of Local Services,” funded by the Nonprofit Sector Research Fund.Through a groundbreaking survey of nonprofits in twelve metropolitan areas, the researchers examine the types of nonprofit organizations that engage in contracts and describe the costs and challenges they encounter when they produce services for governments. They also studied existing surveys of local governments in order to learn more about how governments choose the contractors they do business with, and the challenges they face in terms of the cost of managing these external contracts.

Posted by Info Center at 11:00 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Steve Peoples, Providence Journal (RI), Friday, June 29, 2007

A day after his office acknowledged that a sweeping plan to privatize state services was largely dead, Governor Carcieri yesterday reversed course and said he would use “every legal means necessary to push forward” on plans to replace state employees with private workers across state government.

Posted by Info Center at 10:28 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By MONICA DAVEY, New York Times, June 16, 2007

At this rate, critics of Gov. Mitch Daniels grouse, all of Indiana will be run by private corporations. What will be next, anti-Daniels bloggers demand. Will the governor hand over the keys to Indiana University and Purdue to some private consortium? Will he lease to a company the thousands of public toilets that dot the state? In his two and a half years in office, Mr. Daniels, who previously served in the Bush White House as budget director, has already placed in the hands of private companies plenty of public business: some welfare-applicant screening, running a prison and, most notably, operating the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road, which slices across the northern edge of the state.

…… Yet that is precisely how his critics now view him — as Governor Privatize. “We knew this would be part of his grand scheme,” said David Warrick, a union leader who represents 25,000 public workers in Indiana and Kentucky. “He’s bent on privatizing everything he can get his hands on.”

Posted by Info Center at 11:49 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Snapshots (.pdf), March 2007:

When nonprofits contract with local governments, the nonprofits may experience challenges, but they may also gain prestige and funding for programs. Since nonprofits may find that they are distracted from their mission by management challenges and the demands of regulation and oversight, they should carefully weigh both the benefits and the costs of being government contractors.

Posted by Info Center at 3:18 PM in Nonprofits | Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee (CA), Friday, May 18, 2007

If California tries to lease its state lottery to private investors or unload a state-owned student-loan business, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes, there will likely be no shortage of interested parties. Providing capital to a growing privatization movement, investors are offering billions for state lotteries, toll roads and other government-owned assets nationwide.

Posted by Info Center at 2:16 PM in Asset Sale/Lease | Lottery | Overview/General | Transportation | Permalink

Source: Indianapolis Star, March 15, 2007

Gov. Mitch Daniels today said more than 80 percent of the state’s contracting dollars are going to firms defined as Indiana companies, a number that immediately was called into question by Democrats. The "Buy Indiana" initiative, Daniels said in a news release, was up from the previous mark, 60 percent, meaning almost $1 billion additional dollars spent with companies that employ Hoosier workers and invest in the state.

Posted by Info Center at 10:29 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: KEN KUSMER, Associated Press (IN), Wed, Feb. 21, 2007

Much of the philosophy driving Indiana's outsourcing of government programs has its roots in similar initiatives by the city of Indianapolis during the 1990s. Advising the city behind the scenes was an Eli Lilly and Co. executive named Mitch Daniels. "He was the philosophical heart behind a lot of this effort to examine the way government purchases services and to compete them effectively," said Mitch Roob, a city official then who now serves as Daniels' human services chief. Republican Stephen Goldsmith, who became mayor in 1992, said property taxes were too high when he took office, so he turned to competitive bidding of city services to bring costs down.

Posted by Info Center at 11:22 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: The Associated Press, 6:37 p.m. ET Feb 21, 2007

Like the auto industry, the computer programming field and the customer-service business, the state of Indiana is outsourcing.

....... [Gov. Mitch] Daniels is leading the way among cash-strapped governors who are contracting out services states historically have handled themselves. The primary goal of these deals: saving tax dollars, or generating quick cash that can be used to fix roads, reduce debt or provide college scholarships.

....... But some legislators and government-watchers warn that some of these privatization deals have yielded shoddy service. And some fear that in leasing toll roads and lotteries, politicians are signing away a reliable, long-term stream of revenue for a big lump sum of money they might squander on some short-term ideas.

Posted by Info Center at 11:16 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: KEN KUSMER, Associated Press (IN), Fri, Feb. 16, 2007

Gov. Mitch Daniels criticized limits on the outsourcing of state services that House Democrats have written into a proposed state budget, saying Friday the restrictions would hurt taxpayers and favor big government.

He also said the limits might be bargaining chips that could be removed during budget negotiations later in the legislative session.

The proposed budget that House Democrats formally presented Friday would require legislative approval for any funding after mid-2008 to outsource the processing of food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits to an IBM Corp.-led partnership.

Posted by Info Center at 11:13 AM in Laws/Legislation | Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Nathan Newman, TPM Cafe: The Coffee House, February 5, 2006

Want to make a deal? Privatization is in the air and the multinational profiteers are circling. And the action is bipartisan and involves big money:

....... One reason the privatized firms can expect so much money in the future is that they can do things that the politicians might not be able to get away with if the decisions were subject to democratic accountability. They can raise tolls without a political debate or use marketing or employment practices that would be stopped in their tracks if the job was still being done by the public sector.

Posted by Info Center at 10:39 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By PAUL KRUGMAN, The New York Times, December 11, 2006

According to U.S. News & World Report, President Bush has told aides that he won't respond in detail to the Iraq Study Group's report because he doesn't want to ''outsource'' the role of commander in chief. That's pretty ironic. You see, outsourcing of the government's responsibilities -- not to panels of supposed wise men, but to private companies with the right connections -- has been one of the hallmarks of his administration. And privatization through outsourcing is one reason the administration has failed on so many fronts.

....... It's now clear that there's a fundamental error in the antigovernment ideology embraced by today's conservative movement. Conservatives look at the virtues of market competition and leap to the conclusion that private ownership, in itself, is some kind of magic elixir. But there's no reason to assume that a private company hired to perform a public service will do better than people employed directly by the government.

Posted by Info Center at 10:14 AM in Federal | Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By JASON DEPARLE, New York Times, November 17, 2006

Lawrence W. Reed is one of those people with so much passion for an unusual line of work that he invented a new occupation, and it has helped shape the conservative movement from here to the Himalayas.

........ From Midland, Mr. Reed runs Mackinac (pronounced MAK-in-aw), the largest of the right’s state-level policy institutes. The center started its training program eight years ago, and it has alumni in nearly every state and 37 countries, from Uruguay to Nepal. Among them was a Mongolian who went on to become prime minister, putting his free-market training to work by privatizing the national herd of yaks.

....... The Mackinac Center has often battled the Michigan Education Association, a teachers’ union. When the union opposed privatizing support services, like school meals and security, a Mackinac employee monitored the union parking lot and discovered that it used private contractors like the ones it was opposing. “We don’t just write papers, we do stakeouts,” Mr. Reed said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:35 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Richard Sammon, Kiplinger, Oct. 30, 2006

Privatization is flowering at the state and local levels. In a bid to both save money and increase efficiency, state and local officials are increasingly tapping private firms to take on bigger responsibilities. Governments have always turned to companies for construction and other services, but now they are also asking businesses to manage more projects and programs. In most cases, the change has bipartisan backing, in part because privatization frees up funds for other government programs, including security, education and health care.

Posted by Info Center at 11:52 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Renae Merle and Griff Witte, Washington Post, Monday, October 23, 2006

…… At a time when federal spending is slowing , state and local governments -- flush with cash from rising property-tax revenue and a generally healthy national economy -- are an increasingly juicy target for government contractors. Many have flocked to the state and local market after years on the sidelines, following the money being poured into information-technology projects ranging from humdrum computer system upgrades to innovative wireless networks. Spending by state and local governments on such projects is projected to reach $54.96 billion in 2008, up from $44.24 billion last year, according to Gartner Inc., a research firm.

Posted by Info Center at 11:41 AM in Overview/General | Permalink