News

IL: City of Chicago hit with $57.8 million tab in parking garage snafu. City Hall has been hit with a $57.8 million arbitration ruling in favor of the private investors who took over four city-owned parking garages in downtown Chicago for allowing a competing parking garage to open….Under terms of the city’s $563 million, 99-year contract with Chicago Loop Parking, the arbitrators’ ruling “shall be final and binding.”… The Emanuel administration also faces another arbitration case with a potentially huge pricetag. In two arbitration cases, Chicago Parking Meters LLC — another Morgan Stanley-organized company, this one in charge of Chicago’s parking-meter system, under a $1.15 billion, 75-year exclusive deal with the city — is demanding more than $60 million from City Hall for having to take parking meters out of service and having to provide free parking to people with disabilities. Chicago Sun Times

IL: Outrage: 50 public school closings in Chicago. Guess whose schools were closed? The poorest, the neediest, the children of color. Now the charter operators will decide which ones they want. They will take the “strivers.” Who will take the others? Which children will be left behind in the era of No Child Left Behind? Which children come in last in Arne Duncan’s Race to the Top? How will the PR folks spin the mass closure of 50 public schools as a victory in “the civil rights issue of our time?” Diane Ravich’s Blog

PA: Pennsylvania legislature votes to privatize state liquor sales. Pennsylvania moved a step closer on Thursday toward getting out of the liquor business, with its House of Representatives voting to sell state-run liquor stores into private hands. Passage of the measure, which still faces a vote in the state Senate, would leave Utah as the only U.S. state to control the wholesale and retail sales of liquor and wine. Reuters

MI: Lawmakers request investigation of Michigan emergency manager law. Two Michigan Democrats have called for a review of Michigan’s emergency manager law shortly after a manager was appointed to improve Detroit’s financial state…. About a year ago Conyers asked Attorney General Eric holder to review the emergency manager law. Conyers said that the provision of the law that gives the emergency manager “sole discretion” over changing or ending contracts is in violation to the U.S. constitution.  The Hill

NH: NH House votes to prohibit privatizing prisons. The House has voted to prohibit New Hampshire’s corrections commissioner from transferring inmates to a private prison except in an emergency…. Supporters argued it is the state’s constitutional responsibility to rehabilitate inmates. Opponents argued private prisons should be considered as a way to avoid building new, costly facilities in New Hampshire. Businessweek

LA: LSU hospital bonds are taxable under privatization. Plans to privatize most of LSU’s public hospitals means borrowing for repairs and construction of the health facilities will be taxable. That borrowing will cost the state more. The Bond Commission learned that bonds issued for LSU hospitals and clinics slated to be managed by private hospital operators don’t meet the requirements for tax-exempt status by the IRS. KLFY

TX: SH 130 toll way or freeway? Texas lawmaker urges to consider buyout. That’s the idea being floated in Austin by State Rep. Paul Workman, who says the tolls are keeping the roads clear… too clear. Workman said, “It’s like $60 for a trucker to go on SH 130, which is prohibitive for a lot of guys.” Workman proposes Texas buy it all back: pay off the near $3 billion in bonds that built the upper section of toll road and buy out the newer, 41-mile stretch near Seguin. Buying out Zachry Construction and Spanish company CINTRA’s 50-year lease would eliminate the tolls.  KENS 5 TV

Privatization Limits Access to Public Information. Private contractors are circumventing open records and sunshine laws as state and local governments push to privatize public services. For example, for-profit prison contractors are escaping scrutiny about prison conditions, financial information about government services that was once public such as management salaries and employee wage rates becomes “proprietary information” exempt from disclosure and even the names of corporations bidding to take control of public services are kept from the public.  Truth-Out

Three Years Running, House Republicans Pass Radical Budget. For the third year in a row House Republicans coalesced around a budget blueprint that calls for converting Medicare into a subsidized private insurance market; dramatically slashing all manner of domestic spending and devolving programs for the poor like Medicaid and food stamps to the states. TPM

 

 

News

Parceling out old post offices. The U.S. Postal Service is trying to sell many of its historical buildings to private developers as it looks for ways to cut losses that reached a record $15.9 billion in 2012. The fire sale started gaining momentum two years ago after the Postal Service hired the commercial real estate firm CBRE to oversee the properties, many of them relics of the New Deal era. Of the 58 post offices currently listed, six are on the National Register of Historic Places.  USA TODAY

PA: Lobbying frenzied as Pa. House vote nears on privatizing alcohol sales. In the hours leading up to what is widely expected to be a historic vote Thursday on whether to privatize alcohol sales in Pennsylvania, activity has intensified behind the scenes as much has it has on the House floor….Such a frenzy of lobbying hasn’t been seen in the Capitol on a single issue – other than the annual budget – since Gov. Ed Rendell’s days…Strategists say Corbett needs a legislative win to bolster his sagging approval ratings. Several House Republicans tell of a blunt warning recently received: If privatization fails, they could be calling Democrat Allyson Y. Schwartz “governor-elect” come fall of 2014. Philadelphia Inquirer

NJ: Non-profit cautions Allendale on privatizing its water department. Jim Walsh, N.J. Director of Food & Water Watch, said the New Brunswick-based group is very concerned with water privatization in general and highlighted three main issues it had with the borough’s proposed contract: less public control, greater public costs and worse service. He said while he hasn’t looked at all the financial data, from a community perspective, “private water companies wind up costing more than municipal water systems.”  NorthJersey.com

TN: Tennessee Is Abandoning Public Education – Letter. “Within 5 years TEA and all the locals will be relegated to cursory “remember whens” as the major population centers of the state no longer are in the business of educating their own children. Charters, vouchers and non-profits will have no union affiliates. This will bankrupt the state level organization and open the floodgates for private equity and hedge funds to capitalize off of public tax dollars. All the while those making these decisions have their children in elite private schools that would never take on the ridiculous data-obsessed practices brought to us from Bill and Melinda Gates. No, Mr. Gates, data does not hold the answers to the world’s problems.” Diane Ravich’s Blog

MI: In Michigan, GOP governor finds a tax to like. Conservative lawmakers are calling for freezing spending on other programs, tapping other funds, privatizing rest areas and leasing advertising space or selling naming rights on state property. Businessweek

CA: Toll Road Purchased by Sandag Records 240000 Trips in a Week. The San Diego Association of Governments, the regional transportation and planning agency, said state Route 125, the former privately-held toll road that it purchased out of bankruptcy, handled some 240,000 trips in the past week, a record. After Sandag acquired the toll road in December 2011 it cut the tolls by as much as 40 percent. San Diego Business Journal

IN: Common Core will hurt students, teachers – Opinion. As out-of-state investors and pro- privatization education interest groups pour into our state with their deep pockets to advocate through media advertisements in favor of Common Core State standards, it would seem the practitioners commissioned to implement them should be consulted as well. As a teacher of 22 years in our public schools, concerns exist with the newest “fad” to sweep the nation. Indianapolis Star

NY: LIA formally opposes Cuomo plan to privatize LIPA. The Long Island Association, the region’s largest business group, has formally recommended against a plan by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to sell the Long Island Power Authority’s assets to a private company. Newsday

ID: Idaho Legislature Moves Forward with Resolutions to Study and Demand that Federal Lands be Transferred to the State. While the sponsor of the legislation, Lawrence Denney, and proponents of the bill vigorously deny the claim that the purpose of the transfer of public lands is to sell them to the highest bidder once they have been transferred, the Idaho Constitution provides for just that. The Wildlife News

OH: Parking dispute lingers, judge to extend restraining order. Lawyers on both sides of a dispute over the City of Cincinnati’s $92 million parking privatization plan are biding their time this week, awaiting Judge Robert Winkler’s still-pending ruling on the matter. Winkler heard legal arguments from both sides on March 15 and indicated he’d make a ruling quickly. Business Courier of Cincinnati

 

 

News

IL: Lawmaker Wants To “Privatize” State Agency. Governor Pat Quinn’s administration is fighting to keep control of its economic development arm. Legislators are debating whether to move it to a private model.  Northern Public Radio

IL: Rahm Emanuel ‘Opportunity Areas’: Mayor’s $3 Billion Worth Of Old Ideas Have  A New Name. “Private-sector” investments or so-called “public-private partnerships” have long been interpreted as Emanuel’s code for privatization, especially when hailed under the banner of cost-savings for the city. “Chicago is reflective of the outsourcing that’s been going on for years,” Leonard Gilroy, director of government reform at the libertarian Reason Foundation said in a December Chicago Reader cover story on city privatization. Huffington Post

NJ: Dems symbolically block Christie’s lottery privatization. The lottery privatization train is on its way into Trenton. Any day now, the gov is expected to sign a deal with a private operator to run the sales and marketing of the $2.8 billion state institution…. So yesterday legislators did something largely symbolic: They passed a bill demanding that the Legislature sign off on any privatization deal. The move is futile, because Christie could announce the deal tomorrow and summarily veto the bill. There is just one bidder for the lottery, and negotiations with Christie’s people are ongoing behind closed doors. I’ve reported the details that we know here. Since Christie officials have refused to testify on the issue, Democrats saw this bill as their only recourse. Philadelphia Inquirer

PA: The Heron’s Nest: The road to liquor privatization. An amendment offered by Rep. Mark Mustio, R-44, of Allegheny makes a significant change to the Corbett plan. Instead of blowing up the state store system, and turning the entire business over to private enterprise, Mustio instead will gradually phase in privatization. Delaware County Daily Times

PA: Pennsylvania State House to debate liquor privatization Wednesday. On Wednesday, the state House of Representatives is scheduled to begin debating the bill designed to change the way alcohol is sold in Pennsylvania. The House plans to take up House Bill 790, the liquor privatization bill. However, it’s questionable if there will be any vote Wednesday, given the number of amendments tacked onto the bill. Patriot-News

PA: Pennsylvania: Eight Charged In Toll Road Scandal. Top officials at a toll road in Pennsylvania have been charged with shaking down motorists and pocketing the cash. Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane last week filed charges against a former state senator, two contractors and five Pennsylvania Turnpike employees, including the CEO, chief financial officer and a commissioner. According to the indictment, vendors interested in landing lucrative, multi-million dollar contracts with the toll road were expected to provide campaign contributions, gifts and other benefits to turnpike officials in a massive pay-to-play scheme. TheNewspaper.com

GA: MARTA privatization bill looking deader by the day. One of the amended bills, SB 168, which was originally designed to make it easier for companies to bid for public contracts, was suddenly expanded from 46 lines of text to 306 lines. In doing so, say Gold Dome insiders, Jacobs has stirred up a hornets’ nest of resentment among some very powerful players, including Senate Rules Chairman Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, a co-sponsor of the amended contracting bill; Transportation Chairman Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, whose committee Jacobs is seeking to circumvent; and even Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who doesn’t appreciate upstart House members trying to cheat his chamber of its ability to review important legislation.  Atlanta Magazine

A lesson from Iraq war: How to outsource war to private contractors. One of the most important lessons of the Iraq war is that this military privatization is likely to continue in future conflicts. Christian Science Monitor

 

 

 

News

TX: Privatized water has residents boiling. Minnie Wengert does not have a washing machine or a dishwasher. The 94-year-old conserves water by hand-washing dishes, using her shower sparingly and not watering the lawn. Despite these efforts, she says, her monthly water bill averages about $125 for 5,000 gallons from Monarch Utilities, a private corporation. Texas Tribune

IL: Illinois Lottery private manager short on profits. The private operator of the Illinois Lottery faces a $20 million penalty because it fell nearly $66 million short of the profits it promised the state in its inaugural year, state officials said Monday. Seattle Post Intelligencer

IL: Illinois lost millions on lottery privatization, lawmaker says. State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, says a $20 million fine for Illinois’ private lottery manager, Northstar Lottery Group, amounts to pennies when compared to what the state gave away.  “We’re still not getting the kind of return that we could have if we would have just kept this in-house,” Franks said Monday… Illinois was the first state to hand its state lottery over to a private company, but questions about the contract and vetting process soon followed the choice of Northstar. Illinois Watchdog

PA: House committee makes big changes to liquor privatization bill. Members of the state House Liquor Control committee made big changes Monday to Gov. Corbett’s plan to privatize sales of wine and hard liquor, toning down the original proposal and making the path toward privatization more gradual. Although it is a scaled-back version of what the Republican governor envisioned, the House panel’s approval of the measure – by a 14-10 vote, strictly on party lines – marked a win for proponents, who have pushed for decades to turn the state’s 600-plus wine and spirits stores over to the private sector. The measure now heads to the House floor, where it could be voted on final passage as early as this week. Philadelphia Inquirer

PA: Opinion: Harrisburg bought and paid for by special interests. Selling off the wine stores is one time money being used to fund (education) continuing operations. What happens in five years when the money runs out? Privatizing the Lottery will make more money for the state. If you believe that I’ve got a bridge for sale! Remember, the Camelot Deal was made in the back room without hearings or other input. It is a no-bid contract with about $34 billion in projected revenue. However it has since been disclosed that Camelot has not performed well in England and is laying off staff and closing centers. Yet Corbett would have us believe that no one else would bid. In fact, it appears that the state hired three consulting firms to “get Camelot before the Administration.” (See Feb. 20, 2013 article on budget hearings.)  phillyBurbs.com

NJ: Senate passes bill to give Legislature a say in lottery privatization. A bill that would require legislative approval to privatize the state lottery is headed to the governor’s desk….Christie plans to let a private vendor take over the lottery’s sales and marketing for 15 years in exchange for an upfront payment of $120 million. The contractor would get to keep a cut of future revenues. The Communications Workers of America — the largest state workers union — have criticized the Christie administration for “secrecy” about the process and have launched an advertising blitz against the move, saying it would cost jobs. The Star-Ledger

VA: Editorial: Protecting public from sex offenders. Rather like the first private proposal to take over operation of Virginia’s public port, two bids to take over the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation came to the state unsolicited. One bid was rejected because officials decided that the private prisons operator focused too much on incarceration and not enough on treatment  This was precisely the concern that civil libertarians had raised when the privatization issue first surfaced. The second bid was rejected because it was too costly, proposing to charge $2.4 million a year more than Virginia spends to run the facility itself. Public management is more efficient that private enterprise in this case….But it is worth noting that the danger of escalating costs exists — especially if Virginia falls prey to the temptation of increasing civil commitments due to political pressure rather than impartial justice. The Daily Progress

ALEC Education Bill Hides Privatization Behind a Reading Skills Disguise. Many of the bills are chock-full of other education esoterica, most of which comes from model legislation written by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) with the Jeb Bush Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE) joined at the ALEC hip over right-wing efforts to establish impossible norms and imperatives for public schools thereby forcing these taxpayer-funded centers of learning to spend time and money unnecessarily. Money that red state legislatures have made sure is in precipitous decline. PoliticusUSA

Video: Corporations Get Rich off Children with Charter Schools The Young Turks

 

News

PA: Coming this week: Liquor privatization’s first big test. The House Liquor Control Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Monday to consider Gov. Corbett’s privatization plan, which calls for auctioning off the state’s 600-plus wine and spirits shops to the private sector. The proceeds from the sale – about $1 billion – would be given to public schools through a new initiative to help them pay for early childhood education and school security, among other things. If it passes muster in committee, the bill would then be sent to the House floor for debate. Philadelphia Inquirer

OH: Privatizing the feeding of Ohio’s inmates stirs fears. Ohio’s move to privatize prison food service, estimated to save taxpayers $15 million annually, could cause collateral damage to some small businesses. The Kasich administration proposed, as part of its$63.3 billion biennial budget, to privatize preparing and serving more than 150,000 meals a day to inmates in Ohio’s adult and juvenile prisons. The cost savings are estimated at $16.2 million annually under a Kasich administration plan. Columbus Dispatch

OH: Cincinnati Parking Privatization Opponents Seek Vote. Cincinnati’s plan to privatize parking is being challenged by six city residents who claim the March 6 ordinance should be put to a public referendum. The measure places the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority in charge of street parking for 30 years and off-street parking. Bloomberg

IL: Six advance in Midway privatization bid. The City of Chicago on Friday selected six groups of airport investors and operators as potential bidders should it move toward privatizing Midway Airport. The six groups were selected from 16 that responded to a city request for qualifications. City staff, advisers and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Midway Advisory Panel evaluated the companies on their financial capacity and their experience in airport operations. Chicago Tribune

CA: Online-course bill is sharply criticized by top UC faculty leaders. In a crossing of swords between academics and politicians, the University of California’s top two faculty leaders on Friday strongly criticized legislation that would allow students bumped from overcrowded core courses at state schools to instead take online courses from other colleges or private companies. The bill, authored by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), “raises grave concerns,” Robert L. Powell and Bill Jacob, the chairman and vice chairman of the UC system’s faculty Senate, wrote in a letter to colleagues. Among other things, “the clear self-interest of for-profit corporations in promoting the privatization of public higher education through this legislation is dismaying,” they said. Los Angeles Times

 

 

News

U.S. Postal Service Urged to Weigh Contracting Operations. The U.S. Postal Service should consider keeping door-to-door delivery while privatizing the rest of its operations, a panel led by former Government Accountability Office head David Walker found. San Francisco Chronicle

VA: Va. rejects bids to privatize facility that provides post-prison treatment for sex offenders. Virginia has rejected unsolicited bids by two companies to operate a state facility that detains violent sex offenders for treatment after their sentences are completed. Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that state officials who evaluated the proposals concluded that GEO Group, a private prisons operator based in Boca Raton, Fla., focused too much on incarceration and not enough on treatment. Liberty Healthcare Corp. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., scored better on treatment but would have charged the state $2.4 million a year more than it is spending to run the facility itself. Washington Post

UT: Utah State Prison relocation takes step forward, It is far from a lock, but the Utah State Prison may be closer to a new home after lawmakers’ Thursday approved a prison bill to solicit proposals to make that happen. SB72, sponsored by Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, went through eight revisions before lawmakers were able to agree on makeup of the Prison Relocation and Development Authority (PRADA) board and whether to direct the board to solicit proposals to turn the prison’s programming and operations over to private contractors. Salt Lake Tribune

MI: Selling Lansing city hall, privatizing some city services proposed. The committee says city leaders should consider selling city hall and privatizing many city services.  Another recommendation is to consolidate city departments with other local governments. Former mayor David Hollister heads the mayor’s financial health team.  He says the proposals will be unpopular, but he believes they’re necessary to end Lansing’s chronic budget problems. Michigan Radio

 

 

News

FL: Charter Hype and Spin from Florida DOE. The latest embarrassing public relations stunt from the state DOE is a “study” claiming that charter schools in Florida outperform public schools. This is intended to help the privatization movement–for-profit and nonprofit–get a bigger market share. The latest “study” was not conducted by independent reputable scholars but by the Department itself. That explains a lot. Consider that only four months earlier, an independent study concluded the opposite: that public schools perform the same or better than charter schools.  Diane Ravich’s Blog

UT: Rep. Noel Leads Charge Against Privatizing New Prison. A bill passed out of the House today to move forward with a new authority relocate the Draper prison and develop the land underneath it, but not before Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, amended the bill to prohibit the new prison being operated by a for-profit company, arguing inmates should be treated as human beings and not commodities. Salt Lake City Weekly

WA: Voter Initiative Kills New Toll Roads. Converting freeways into toll roads is one of the most popular types of project among transportation bureaucrats and certain politicians. When asked their opinion on the wisdom of tolling, voters have expressed a far different sentiment. In Washington state, for example, there is now no question that Initiative 1185, which took effect last December, will block a number of tolling projects that have been in the works. . . The initiative, which passed with the support of 64 percent of voters, does not directly ban tolls. Instead, it requires fee increases of any type (including tolls) to be approved in a bill duly passed by the legislature and signed into law. Some politicians have preferred tolling as a means of outsourcing unpopular increases to a third-party toll management company or, for publicly owned toll roads, to the state Transportation Commission, whose members are not accountable to the public. TheNewspaper.com

MS: Bill to privatize collection of child support payment passes Mississippi Senate. Senators voted Wednesday to support House Bill 1009. It would allow the Mississippi Department of Human Services to contract with private vendors to collect unpaid child support, which lawmakers say totals more than $1 billion. State employees protested the bill March 5 at the Capitol, warning a previous privatization effort had failed. The Republic

KS: Kansas to privatize child support collections. Kansas officials are taking the first steps toward turning child support collections over to private contractors. The Kansas Department for Children and Families said Friday it has begun accepting proposals to privatize the system. The agency says contractors may bid to collect support payments in one, several or all of the state’s 31 judicial districts. kwch.com

GA: With privatization, 800 MARTA jobs could be cut. General Manager Keith Parker . . . believes many of those people might transfer to whatever private company that will be performing the service. . . Union officials and other analysts, however, contend privatization usually mean forcing down wages and benefits and cutting jobs because private companies need to perform the same work at a lower cost while making a profit. “The evidence is the first way to reduce costs, is either less pay or less benefits and over time in many cases the private sector has said it can reduce jobs, the number of positions,” said Linda Cherrington, an analyst with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. “They may grandfather in existing employees in a comparable wage and benefit package but as new employees are hired in they are able to negotiate another (union) agreement.” Atlanta Journal Constitution           

When Public-Private Partnerships Are a Bad Idea. In Cincinnati, which faces a $35 million budget gap next year, controversy is currently raging over a proposal to contract out the management of the city’s parking meters and garages. . . Cincinnati would get a $92 million upfront payment and annual installments estimated at $3 million. Part of the upfront money would be used to address next year’s deficit, but most would go to develop a downtown high-rise, a bike trail and a new highway interchange. . . .Council member Laurie Quivlan asked the $64,000 question: How will Cincinnati deal with future budget deficits? The mayor said $25 million of the $92 million payment would be used to address next year’s deficit. But that would still leave a $10 million hole–and what about future years? . . . Cincinnati’s parking-lease issue once again highlights just how important it is for governments to make fiscal stability a top priority. A city in desperate need of cash is hardly well positioned to negotiate the best public-private-partnership deal. Sadly, governments that aren’t desperate don’t pursue them often enough.  Governing

 

 

News

MD: Public-Private Partnership Bill passes after hot debate over relaxed. The administration bill, HB560, establishes guidelines for how the state can partner with private businesses to deliver infrastructure projects without following the usual procurement process. . .Discussion of the bill centered around concern that the bill did not include sufficient measures to prevent favoritism. . .While P3’s are not defined as procurements, they still involve the distribution of millions of taxpayer dollars.  Maryland Reporter

NJ: Bill tightening oversight of lottery privatization passes Senate committee. Democratic Senators at a hearing Monday questioned the wisdom of Governor Christie’s effort to privatize part of the New Jersey Lottery. They advanced a bill that would tighten legislative control over the contracting process. NorthJersey.com

DE: Delaware governor defends failed effort to privatize operations at port of Wilmington. Gov. Jack Markell is defending his administration’s failed effort to try to enter into a public-private partnership with energy giant Kinder Morgan for operating the Port of Wilmington. Markell on Tuesday also defended Kinder Morgan, rejecting assertions by opponents of the deal that the company wanted to take over port operations for an unfair price. He also said he was in no hurry to throw more taxpayer money at the cash-strapped port.  Washington Post

PA: Corbett expected to resubmit Pennsylvania lottery deal. Gov. Tom Corbett plans to ask Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s office to reverse its rejection of a contract with a British firm to manage the $3.5 billion Pennsylvania Lottery, a top lawmaker said Tuesday. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said administration officials told him Monday that they are making changes in the contract with London-based Camelot Global Services that Kane rejected last month over concerns that parts of it contravene the state constitution or violate state law. York Daily Record

PA: Editorial: Modernization favored over liquor privatization. There is an easier way of doing that without sacrificing millions of dollars in annual revenue, eliminating 3,500 family-sustaining jobs or killing the prosperity of the state’s family-owned beer distributors. Modernization. The modernization plan would offer state stores the flexibility to extend Sunday hours and offer consumers deeper discounts and wider product selections. Some of these initiatives already have been introduced and received bipartisan support. These options alone, according to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, would generate an estimated $35 million in the first year of implementation. The Tribune=Democrat

PA: Lt. Gov. schmoozes before booze privatization vote. But on Tuesday he ran into a yellow brick wall. A group of state store employees dressed in canary polo shirts showed up to bend the ear of Cawley. They traveled from all over the state to hammer home how vital their service is to consumers. “You will not be able to find the same products anywhere in the world as you would have available here in Pennsylvania,” state store employee Wayne Manley said. Many don’t agree with Corbett’s proposal to shut down 600 Wine & Spirit stores. State workers contend if passed, that will force 4,000 employees to be financially sober.  abc27

TX: Coalition organizes against toll road funding for highways. Decrying “fairy-tale budgeting” that has racked up $31 billion in debt for state roads in the past decade, tea party activists and transportation advocates are teaming up to demand a dedicated source of revenue for highway construction, arguing that neglect by state leaders simply is pushing costs onto local taxpayers. San Antonio anti-toll road organizer Terri Hall said the group will press for legislation that earmarks proceeds from the state vehicle sales tax to road construction, gradually shifting $250 million a year to the Texas Department of Transportation budget. If they rely on tolls, “Texans will not be able to get to work or get their kids to school without paying $10 or more a day to get across town,” Hall said. “How is this not a tax hike?”  San Antonio Express,  YNN

TX: Citizen Council PAC Paves Way for Trinity Toll Road.  “Trinity Parkway” was the advertising term used in campaign literature 15 years ago to get voters to approve what the Citizens Council really wanted — a multi-lane, high-speed, limited-access toll road along the Trinity River through the city center. Linked to plans for the redevelopment of key landholdings downtown, the toll road has always been, is now and will always be the Citizens Council’s premiere piece of business. Dallas Observer

OH: Exceptions threaten Ohio open records law. Ohio’s statute once was considered a model open records law nationally. Most public officials are well-intentioned, and it’s often the case that each idea for a new exception has a justification that appears reasonable in isolation. It is the cumulative effect that alarms us. We now have 29 categories of records that are secret under Ohio law.  Cincinnati.com

OK: Okla. Senate votes to privatize CompSource agency. The bill by Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman of Sapulpa would convert CompSource Oklahoma from a state entity to a private company owned by its policyholders. Supporters say a state agency should not by competing with private insurers. State law requires employers to have insurance to compensate injured workers. CompSource was created by the Legislature in 1933 as an insurer of last resort. It has thousands of policyholders, including state, county and municipal government agencies, and it writes 35 percent of the workers’ compensation policies in the state.  San Francisco Chronicle

Real consequences of ‘school choice’. The Pied Piper of school choice is undoubtedly Jeb Bush, who recently declared “school choice is a catalytic converter for rising student achievement”. . . The results of Bush’s program for public schools — what he likes to refer to as “the Florida miracle” — are very thin indeed. The “miracle” claim is derived primarily from the fact that Florida fourth graders, especially black fourth graders, out-gained the national average on the National Association of Education Progress in 2003 and 2005. . . It turns out that the scores for Florida fourth graders had improved mostly because the state suddenly started flunking large numbers of third graders, so low-achieving third graders were still in third grade when the fourth grade test was given. “With only the higher-achieving students taking the test, the scores according to an article in NEA Today.  Campaign for America’s Future

Privatize Schools Teach Hippies are Dirty & Celebrate the KKK – Video. Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers, joins Thom Hartmann. Louisiana’s voucher program supports schools that teach creationism and celebrate the KKK. Satan worshipping hippies – heroic Klansmen – and – real – live dragons! No – these aren’t figments of Glenn Beck’s delusional mind. They’re true facts. Well – at least according to the new series of textbooks used in schools funded by Louisiana’s voucher program. ThomHartman,com

 

 

 

News

IG report scores DoD audit oversight of contractors. The Defense Contract Audit Agency’s work consistently fell short of professional standards, according to a new Defense Department inspector general’s report. Federal Times

CA: News Corp Spends Big on LA School Board Race, Sets Sights on Public Education “Market”.  A subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp – parent company of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal – has spent a whopping $250,000 on the Los Angeles school board race, just as the corporation focuses on making money off of public education. News Corp and its for-profit education subsidiaries are also members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and the education initiatives promoted by News Corp’s preferred candidates track the ALEC agenda.  PRWatch

NJ: CWA begins campaign to derail NJ lottery privatization plan. The Communications Workers of America is seeking to put the brakes on a proposal by Gov. Chris Christie to privatize portions of the New Jersey Lottery. A video, entitled “Bad,” is the first salvo in a six-figure advertising campaign that seeks to paint the idea as wrong for workers and wrong for small businesses who currently sell lottery tickets. Asbury Park Press

NJ: Lottery bidder expands lobbying efforts. With Governor Christie’s administration weeks away from deciding whether to privatize part of the state’s $2.7 billion lottery, the only company to have bid for the contract has poured money into lobbying, retaining a law firm founded by the chief of Christie’s transition team and a public affairs firm headed in the state by Christie’s top campaign strategist.  NorthJersey.com

MI: For Detroit, a Crisis Born of Bad Decisions and Crossed Fingers. Under Michigan law, the emergency manager would ultimately have the authority to remove local elected officials from most financial decision making, change labor contracts, close or privatize departments, and even recommend that Detroit enter bankruptcy proceedings, a possibility that experts say raises the prospect of the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation’s history, at $14 billion worth of long-term obligations. None of the decisions, experts here say, will be simple, and some wonder whether Detroit can be saved at all.  New York Times

UT: Bill would beef up privatization board. A proposal to beef up a board created to look at privatizing government services that could compete with private businesses passed the House easily Monday.  Salt Lake Tribune

 

 

 

News

MI: Power grab. Across Michigan, emergency managers installed by the state are using sweeping powers to privatize public services, lay off city employees, and weaken public sector unions with little standing in their way.  MSNBC

LA: Hospital privatization could impact thousands of state employees. Much of the budget savings associated with the Jindal administration’s privatization of LSU public hospitals comes from a $400 million reduction in funding for employee pay and benefits as hospital workers lose their state jobs across south Louisiana.  The Advocate

NJ: NJ Legislature wants say in privatizing lottery. The state Treasury Department is looking to hand over sales and marketing to a private company this year. The state would keep ownership of the lottery and would try to find work for 150 lottery workers under the new arrangement. New Jersey has the eighth largest state lottery in the country. San Francisco Chronicle

NJ: Allendale moving on water contract. The council plans to vote today on a draft contract that would privatize the operation of its water system. The contract, if approved at today’s special meeting, would go before the public at the council’s March 28 meeting. NorthJersey.com

NY:  Yonkers report: Public-private schools partnership ‘doable’. Under the model, a consortium of private companies would agree to build, renovate and operate city-owned schools for a given period in exchange for a set monthly fee that would be paid with city and state dollars. The school system would be the first in the nation to use this method to renovate and rebuild school buildings. The Journal News

PA: State lawmakers favor moderization over privatization of liquor stores. Mahoney, secretary of the Liquor Control Board, said that modernization is a better course for the state, rather than losing the estimated $80 million annual revenue stream now funneled to the general fund to privatization.  Uniontown Herald Standard

PA: Plans to privatize psych jobs attacked. A state workers union is criticizing a move by the Corbett administration to look at privatizing psychological services at the state’s 27 correctional institutions and centers. “To privatize these services to a for-profit company that will look at numbers and not individuals is not only foolish but puts every citizen in the commonwealth at risk,” Kathy Jellison, the president of the Service Employees International Union, said in a release.  Altoona Mirror

IL: CTA hearing sets sights on switch to Ventra card. The hearing seeking public feedback on the new Ventra fare card is required by law because of the new fees introduced in the open fare system, which is tentatively set to launch this summer, officials said. The hearing will begin at 6 p.m. at CTA headquarters, 567 W. Lake St., Chicago. The changes are the result of a $454 million contract the CTA awarded to Cubic Transportation Systems in November 2011 to begin privatizing the fare-collection process.  Chicago Tribune

TX: City of Dallas mulls privatizing police auto pound in West Dallas. Efforts to privatize the pound (and sell its 50 acres) eventually stalled, but yesterday on its inscrutable bids website the city said it’s willing to give the proposal another spin.  Dallas Morning News

5 Ways Privatization Is Poisoning America. The free-market capitalism that drives our economy is a doctrine of individuals pursuing profit. Nothing else matters . . . With privatization of the common good we risk losing both our heritage and our humanness. OpEdNews