Headlines

80 Percent of Public Schools Have Contracts With Coke or Pepsi.  Is your kid’s public school a Coke school or a Pepsi school? If you don’t know what I mean, consider yourself lucky. Starting in the early ’90s, cash-strapped public schools began selling exclusive “pouring rights” to one or another Big Soda company, which would then supply all the beverages sold in on-site snack bars, stores, and soda machines as well as at sports events. Along with sugary drinks, of course, the companies also stuffed the schools with plenty of advertisements.  Mother Jones

HI: Honolulans Fight Sale of Parkland. Taxpayers claim in court that Honolulu is trying to sell public park land to a developer without an environmental assessment or proper permit. Courthouse News

NC: Is state lawmaker sending a threat to the city of Asheville? Tim Moffitt has made it a kind of personal crusade to pass legislation that would turn the municipal water system over to a regional authority — a place where it could quite conceivably be headed for privatization. The Progressive Pulse

WI: Primary results are a major win for public education. Tuesday’s Democratic primary election in Milwaukee was a victory for public education. Who lost? Democrats who support vouchers, the Republican Party and Tea Party activists. At the center of this election was the seat in the 11th assembly district, a race between Mandela Barnes and Jason Fields. Fields has been a longtime advocate for private school vouchers and other forms of privatization of public education. His work has not gone unnoticed by Gov. Scott Walker, who appointed Fields to the Governor’s education committee on reading. OnMilwaukee.com

WI: Privatization of Voting Machines Threatens Wisconsin Election Integrity. In Wisconsin, as elsewhere in the nation, there has been a concerted push by corporate interests to eliminate the public counting of votes. This privatization of our election processes has been advanced by laws and rules that: 1) Require the use of electronic voting systems (the systems were lobbied for by the private organizations that manufacture, sell, program and maintain them), 2) Permit the programming to be kept secret, 3) Prevent sworn election inspectors from auditing the tabulated results. 4) Make it impossible for Citizen Audits to occur before results are finalized. 5) Prevent a manual counting of votes in a recount. Democratic Underground

NJ: Allendale officials consider outsourcing water department. With an increase in water quality regulations coming from the state, Allendale officials are considering outsourcing the operation of its water department so they can reduce the strain of daily maintenance but would continue to own the system. NorthJersey.com

Headlines

As Social Security Turns 77, the Most Successful Program in American History.  House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan has been a proponent of privatizing the retirement program by putting seniors’ savings into risky Wall Street investments. Huffington Post

Privatization and voucher systems: Why they are dangerous. Voucher systems are the calling card for the Republican Party, and by romanticizing it with words like “choice” they can lure some into believing they are being empowered; in fact, the believers willingly become the pawns of stock market investors together with the shared risk and no safety net. Insurance companies operate on a “for profit” basis and do not have any stake in securing the health of the nation or cutting costs in a way that does not compromise the health of individuals. They decide who lives and dies based on a business plan.  Allvoices.com

WA: Liquor Sales Drop In First Month of Privatization. Washington liquor sales dropped slightly in June compared with the same month the previous year, after state businesses and consumers stocked up on spirits in advance of price increases with liquor privatization.  Washington will need at least three more months to identify long-term trends resulting from Initiative 1183, the Washington state Department of Revenue said Monday. Voters approved the measure last fall, allowing retail stores to sell liquor and kicking the state out of a business it has tightly controlled since the end of Prohibition. Consumers could begin buying directly from retailers on June 1.  CBS

ME: Lawmakers say more data analysis needed from MDOT for commuter van. Lawmakers want another look at financial data the Department of Transportation… At issue is whether the state should move from a publicly subsidized commuter van service to a private one….Advocates say the program has a $233,000 surplus from fares paid by riders, who pay $120 a month for the service… The service has been heavily used by state workers, but about 150 current riders are from the private sector.  Advocates for the program argue that while 250 riders may not seem like a lot, the program has a waiting list and is poised to grow. Turcotte said a private service will be too costly for most riders. As the LePage administration seeks to privatize some state services and programs, the probe of the transportation department’s figures may do little to change what is ultimately a policy decision by the administration.   Morning Sentinel

ME:  Gov LePage slows down east-west highway study. Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday that he will slow down plans to conduct a publicly funded study of a proposed east-west highway across Maine. His decision came one day after state Sen. Douglas Thomas, R-Ripley, said he was seeking to suspend the feasibility study because he underestimated the fear and opposition among residents who live in the potential path of the highway.  Kennebec Journal

VA: Virginia Gov: If you don’t want to pay a toll, don’t use 95.  A proposal for a toll road on Interstate 95, just north of Emporia, could raise up to $40 million dollars a year for transportation costs in Virginia.  However, many local leaders, including those in Hanover, Dinwiddie and Sussex County, plan to speak out against the plan at a Wednesday meeting in Petersburg. Several leaders argue that the burden to generate funds for transportation should not fall on the shoulders of local jurisdictions. “That’s not their responsibility,” argued Joseph Vinsh with the Tri-Cities Metropolitan Planning Organization. “That responsibility rests with the legislature.”  WTVR

 

 

Headlines

The fallacy of privatization: anti-government screeds and the Romney agenda. For Romney, efficiency and competition are gods that only the private marketplace can worship and therefore all government functions would be better handled by private rather than public forces…Here’s the most relevant language from Romney on the idea that private is always better than public:  MITT ROMNEY: Well, clearly you don’t like to hear [about] anyone losing a job. At the same time, government is the least productive—the federal government is the least productive of our economic sectors. The most productive is the private sector. The next most productive is the not-for-profit sector, then comes state and local governments, and finally the federal government. And so moving responsibilities from the federal government to the states or to the private sector will increase productivity. But that’s simply wrong.  It is empirically wrong.  It is theoretically wrong.  And it is wrong-headed policy for America.  Business Insider

Toll road rates rising in Indiana, Pennsylvania: Road Rant. The cost of driving keeps going up on toll roads. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission recently approved higher rates for 2013 on its roadway. Tolls will rise 10 percent for those paying cash and 2 percent for those using E-ZPass…Going west, meanwhile, the cost to drive a car the full length of the Indiana Toll Road increased by nearly 4.5 percent last month for cash-paying customers. The 157-mile trip now runs $9.40, up from $9. This marks the fourth price bump since 2008 for those using dollars and coins. The Plain Dealer

CT: Female inmates sue state over disparities. The state is currently considering privatizing the state’s prisons, and as part of that had asked bidders to contemplate building a stand-alone women’s prison or a hybrid version that kept female and male inmates on the same site.  Concord Monitor

NJ: New Jersey considers privatizing lottery. New Jersey is asking lottery companies to bid for the right to run the state’s massive game of chance… Gov. Jon Corzine’s administration explored the idea of letting a private company run the lottery, which is the nation’s 8th largest. A task force recommended the change to Gov. Chris Christie last year.  Sacramento Bee

FL: Prison Privatization Issue Produces Outpouring of HD 7 Candidates. A crowded race in what is essentially a new House district in North Florida is in some ways serving as an outlet for the area’s frustration over its diminishing influence and the GOP’s continuing interest in privatizing prisons.  All seven candidates running for House District 7 — which spans nine counties from Calhoun in the Panhandle to Lafayette in the Big Bend and also takes in a piece of Leon — are opposed to handing prisons over to for-profit companies. They also knock changes that would ask existing state employees to contribute to their own retirements — though most keep the door open on changes for future employees. While those views are common among legislative Democrats, they would be maverick positions if one of the four Republicans wins the seat — which covers at least a share of what used to be six different House seats.  SunshineStatesNews

TX: Advocacy Groups Don’t Want GEO to Run State Hospital. A coalition of influential Texas organizations is pushing back against the proposed privatization of a state psychiatric hospital by GEO Care, a subsidiary of a prison operations group that has a troubled history in Texas. …”The GEO Group has a long and troubled history in Texas,” said Bob Libal, whose organization, Grassroots Leadership, signed the letter along with groups like the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the Center for Public Policy Priorities, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition and the United Methodist Church. The Texas Tribune

Headlines
ME: Plan to Speed Travel With Toll Road in Maine Hits a Nerve
MI: Anti-privatization suit dismissed
PA: Allentown water privatization draws concerns at hearing
VA: Privatizing Va. facility is a flawed idea
NY:  Community college janitor fired

ME: Plan to Speed Travel With Toll Road in Maine Hits a Nerve
The idea of an east-west highway has been kicking around for decades. But a proposed private road has a good chance of becoming reality, and opponents say it would ruin the state. Opponents say a major thoroughfare slicing through the state would destroy the very qualities of peacefulness, natural beauty and remoteness that make this region desirable in the first place. “It would just completely change ‘the way life should be,’ ” said Chris Buchanan, referring to the state’s unofficial slogan. Ms. Buchanan is the statewide coordinator for Stop the Corridor, a coalition opposing the highway. “Maine is a rural state,” she said, “and this is a businessman who is trying to make it the Northeast trade gateway.”That is exactly what others hope Mr. Vigue (pronounced VIG-you) can achieve.  New York Times

MI: Anti-privatization suit dismissed
A state appeals court Friday overturned an Ingham County judge and dismissed a lawsuit attempting to halt the privatization of nursing aide jobs at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. In October, Ingham Circuit Judge Paula Manderfield issued a preliminary injunction halting the privatization, saying she feared it would cause “irreparable harm” to the more than 600 veterans who live in the state-run home. But a three-court panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned the injunction and sent the case back to Manderfield with instructions that she grant a state motion to dismiss the case. Tony Spallone, a Vietnam veteran who lives at the home, testified that nursing aides hired by contractor J2S Group of Grand Rapids don’t get enough training and don’t stay on the job long because they make about $10 an hour. The court heard about injuries to veterans because of improper lifting techniques and other mistakes by J2S employees…The appeals court ruled that Spallone can’t show he has a protected right to receive adequate care at the home because “he is free to leave the home at any time.” The panel also said Manderfield’s ruling was based on “the mere apprehension of future injury” and is speculative.  Detroit Free Press

PA: Allentown water privatization draws concerns at hearing
Thursday marked the first public hearing for Allentown’s proposal to privatize its water and sewer plants in order to make up for pension shortfalls. Meeting the minimal municipal obligation of $18 million in 2013 alone would require a property tax increase of 35 percent, Pawlowski said…The proposed 50-year lease is expected to bring an immediate $160 million to $180 million, but residents were concerned about water quality and the fate of the city’s water and sewer work force. LehighValleyLive

VA: Privatizing Va. facility is a flawed idea
Virginia is considering an especially problematic privatization bid – to turn over the management of the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation, a secure facility for the civil commitment of people who have completed sex offense sentences…While Virginia leaders may find the prospect of saving money attractive, there are a number of potential problems with privatization.  GEO has a long and troubling record of cancelled contracts and lawsuits, abuse and neglect of people in its facilities. GEO contracts at three facilities were recently ended in Mississippi, including a youth facility that a federal judge described as having “allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate.” VCBR personnel are already concerned about safety with double bunking. An incident at the Florida GEO facility of an assaulted resident’s cries for help going unanswered for 15 minutes may offer a glimpse into the facility’s future under GEO management. The Daily Progress

NY:  Community college janitor fired
…The incident brings to light a possible flaw in the city’s effort to privatize the maintenance force in some of its public colleges. Joseph is one of many janitors who are screened and hired by private companies and are not subject to the same background checks that the city provides for its college staffers. Joseph, for example, was hired by a private contractor, Perfect Building Maintenance, and began working at LaGuardia in June 2008. Perfect Building Maintenance holds a five-year contract to provide custodial services at LaGuardia. That contract expires next year, and the company declined to comment for this story.A spokeswoman for LaGuardia said that Perfect Building Maintenance does conduct background checks, but the company would not confirm whether Joseph got one. New York Daily News

Headlines
Immigrants prove big business for prison companies
Private firms eyeing profits from U.S. public schools
Post Office Privatization Is Probably a Huge Real Estate Deal
Spending cuts and privatization have ravaged the economy – opinion
MI: Michigan City Outsources All of Its Schools
AZ: Former Arizona Commerce Authority chief Cardon’s bonus stirs questions
LA: Panel OKs privatization of Bossier City developmental center

Immigrants prove big business for prison companies
Locking up illegal immigrants has grown profoundly lucrative for the private prisons industry, a reliable pot of revenue that helped keep some of the biggest companies in business. And while nearly half of the 400,000 immigrants held annually are housed in private facilities, the federal government — which spends $2 billion a year on keeping those people in custody — says it isn’t necessarily cheaper to outsource the work, a central argument used for privatization in the first place. The Associated Press, seeking to tally the scope of the private facilities, add up their cost and the amounts the companies spend on lobbying and campaign donations, reviewed more than 10 years’ worth of federal and state records. It found a complex, mutually beneficial and evidently legal relationship between those who make corrections and immigration policy and a few prison companies. Some of those companies were struggling to survive before toughened immigrant detention laws took effect.  AP

Private firms eyeing profits from U.S. public schools
The investors gathered in a tony private club in Manhattan were eager to hear about the next big thing, and education consultant Rob Lytle was happy to oblige. Think about the upcoming rollout of new national academic standards for public schools, he urged the crowd. If they’re as rigorous as advertised, a huge number of schools will suddenly look really bad, their students testing way behind in reading and math. They’ll want help, quick. And private, for-profit vendors selling lesson plans, educational software and student assessments will be right there to provide it. “You start to see entire ecosystems of investment opportunity lining up,” said Lytle, a partner at The Parthenon Group, a Boston consulting firm. “It could get really, really big.” Indeed, investors of all stripes are beginning to sense big profit potential in public education. The K-12 market is tantalizingly huge: The U.S. spends more than $500 billion a year to educate kids from ages five through 18. The entire education sector, including college and mid-career training, represents nearly 9 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, more than the energy or technology sectors.  Reuters

Post Office Privatization Is Probably a Huge Real Estate Deal
…It’s hard, in this pass, not to wonder if the Right Wing is forcing the issue by creating a crisis, then pressing for action. This, after all, has been its strategy for shrinking the Federal Government — systematically starve it for money by cutting taxes and larding it with debt, then call for drastic reforms to stave off disaster, a la the Ryan Plan. There’s even what amounts to a business plan for privatizing the USPS, published by the AEI in 2011, called “Return to Sender: Reforms for the Failing Postal Service.” The premise: The USPS is obsolete and doomed, and the taxpayers’ interests have to be protected by getting it off the government’s books as soon as possible….But the idea raises a question: If Geddes and the AEI are correct and the USPS is such a bottomless money pit, why would anybody want it? Who ever heard of buying a service company with no upside? What’s in it for them? Well, real estate, actually, and Geddes and every commenter hints at this. Privatizing the USPS has the potential of being one of history’s biggest — and most profitable — real estate deals ever. Here’s how it could work. Huffington Post

Spending cuts and privatization have ravaged the economy – opinion
Americans overwhelmingly underestimate the benefits they receive from government involvement in the economy and increasingly place the blame on too few of the people responsible. The overall effect is a collapsing democratic society and economy. The United States of the past century benefitted from the creation of a robust national highway system, an educational system that was the envy of the world, a space program that took us to the moon, a military capable of facing down almost any threat imaginable, and a computer network that reached across the entire globe. A social safety net designed to ensure that the weakest members of the population remained insulated from absolute poverty added to the overall stability of the system. Each of these public-sector achievements allowed the United States to create an equally robust and successful system of private enterprise, ranging from small businesses to what are now multinational corporations. Today, every piece of this American puzzle stands ravaged by privatization and spending cuts. For reasons escaping all logic, our civic and corporate leaders embarked on a campaign to cut costs, corners, and jobs around 30 years ago. These cuts run counter to any intelligent notion of economics.Charleston City Paper

MI: Michigan City Outsources All of Its Schools
The public school district in this hard-luck city has come up with a radical answer for its troubled education system: It is outsourcing all of it. Highland Park School District, one of the state’s lowest-performing academically, says it will turn over its three schools and nearly 1,000 students to a private, for-profit charter school company—the second district in Michigan to take such a drastic step to avert financial collapse. The abrupt news last week sparked concern—and in some cases, relief— from parents and other residents who packed a Wednesday night meeting in the faded industrial city, which is nearly surrounded by Detroit.  New York Times

AZ: Former Arizona Commerce Authority chief Cardon’s bonus stirs questions
Former Arizona Commerce Authority CEO Don Cardon, who recently quit with more than two years remaining on his contract, is eligible for a “discretionary bonus” of up to $75,000, records obtained by The Arizona Republic show. Critics, meanwhile, say the situation is yet another example of the agency’s lack of transparency. Under Commerce Authority policy, part of the CEO’s compensation is to be paid by private-sector interests served by the authority’s economic-development work. It is unclear whether enough private funds have been raised to cover the bonus or if taxpayers will be on the hook. Cardon officially left his state post July 6. However, he remains tied to the agency as the paid executive director of Team ACA, the non-profit arm that raises private money to pay for some of the agency’s expenses. Some of those expenses include part of the commerce director’s compensation. Team ACA does not plan to disclose Cardon’s salary or how much donors are giving, raising other transparency issues, critics say….Brewer pushed for creation of the Commerce Authority, a public-private partnership that began last year. Although it is a state agency, it has a board made up of local business leaders. It uses taxpayer money, including a $25 million deal-closing fund, to lure businesses to Arizona. During Cardon’s short tenure, the Commerce Authority says, more than 5,000 jobs were created, totaling more than $321 million in capital investment, prompting Brewer to praise his work. “They should be transparent on whether he is getting a bonus or not and where the money is coming from,” said Serena Unrein of the Arizona Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, a public watchdog group that has been critical of the Commerce Authority. “We have concern that the Commerce Authority is not showing taxpayers how their money is being spent.” Arizona Republic

LA: Panel OKs privatization of Bossier City developmental center
A state panel has approved Louisiana’s plans to hire private companies to run state facilities in Bossier City and Hammond that care for the developmentally disabled.  Shreveport Times