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