News

Transparency Outsourced as U.S. Hires Vendors for FOIA

At least 25 federal agencies are outsourcing parts of the FOIA process. The contractors, sometimes using workers with security clearances, are building FOIA software, corresponding with requesters, redacting documents and recommending what information should be withheld…. “I’m very troubled by this example of offloading responsibility,” said Paul Light, a public service professor at New York University. “Once you put this in the hands of the contractors, you lose a degree of control in terms of goals like open government. That’s the real downside of it.” Bloomberg

Revisiting Privatization in Intercity Rail

Smith suggests that with privatization, Amtrak could radically improve its efficiency. The biggest problems with the rail agency, he argues, are related to low worker productivity. Despite Amtrak’s privately motivated interests that I pointed out above, much of its labor rules remain affected by politics and can be altered by Congressional action. Are we willing to accept reducing the influence of democratic actors in agency decision-making? It would mean restructuring labor agreements — reducing the income and health benefits that unions have fought for decades to acquire — and firing huge numbers of workers (a third in the case of JNR’s privatization). If privatization slashes the number of workers needed to do the same job, rail in the U.S. could indeed become profitable, since most of Amtrak’s costs are labor related. For the transportation public, that could produce cheaper ticket prices and fewer subsidies. But it means, fundamentally, that we are bringing private companies in to do the dirty work that the government is politically incapable of doing.   The Transport Politic

OH: Jobs Ohio: Behind the Curtain  – editorial

Mark Kvamme will step down this month as JobsOhio’s president and interim chief investment officer. Governor Kasich hired him in 2011 to privatize Ohio’s economic-development efforts. The former California venture capitalist has not disclosed why he’s leaving. That’s hardly a surprise, given the cloud that obscures public scrutiny of most of the inner workings of the agency. The lack of transparency that surrounds the job-creation agency remains troubling. While it waits for the liquor money, JobsOhio is funded in part by secret corporate donors. Ohioans have no way of knowing what influence or favors those donations might buy. When JobsOhio gains control of liquor profits, the money — and how it’s spent — will be removed from public view. The agency doesn’t have to share how it determines how much of a return on investment is enough. That, it says, is a trade secret. Even Republican lawmakers question the agency’s focus on short-term gains. Toledo Blade

NY: Charter pre-school coming our way

Two weeks ago, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott announced that Educare would be coming to Brooklyn next fall. A birth-to-five program that serves at-risk kids, it’s become the darling of politicos from Obama on down, not to mention billionaire philanthropist George Kaiser, who’s funneled millions into Tulsa’s three Educares, as well as a growing number of schools around the country…Standards, accountability, privatization. Sound familiar? The Head Start community is sweating this big-time, worried about the siphoning off of public funds to create a new “charter preschool movement.” But what about the children? What about equity? How level is their playing field? These are tough questions, especially for those of us who believe that early care and education must be a public good, one that should have robust government support. Huffington Post

NY: Madison County seeks to outsource mental health outpatient services

A near-unanimous decision Tuesday by the Madison County Board of Supervisors will move forward the outsourcing of the ADAPT program. All but Smithfield Supervisor Rick Bargabos voted in favor for privatizing the outpatient substance abuse and mental illness evaluation and treatment program. The program, which is not mandated by the state, has run at a deficit in recent years by as much as $89,174 and as little as $10,906. The move to privatize follows a trend the county created last year with the outsourcing of its home health care and long-term home health care agency. Oneida Dispatch

 

News

OH: Ohio Turnpike Privatization Plan Advances

Ohio Gov. John Kasich reportedly expects to unveil a privatization plan for the Ohio Turnpike within the next 30 days. Kasich has talked about privatizing the 241-mile turnpike, one of Ohio’s most lucrative assets, since taking office, saying it could generate up to $2.4 billion. It’s one of several proposed public-private partnership plans aimed at raising cash for the Buckeye State. ..KPMG LLP is advising the administration on the deal… Kasich’s announcement comes a week after the Ohio Supreme Court dealt a blow to his plan to advance a long-stalled plan to privatize its liquor distribution system as part of a $1.5 billion plan. The top court last week announced it would not take up the state’s lawsuit, sending it back to the lower courts. The legal process delays a plan for the newly created non-profit entity JobsOhio to sell $1.4 billion of bonds to take over the liquor distribution system. The proposal had called for $500 million of the proceeds to be used to plug a deficit. The Bond Buyer

CA: How Gloria Romero Became The Face Of Prop 32

New York University Research Professor of Education Diane Ravitch, who has followed the lobbying efforts of DFER since its inception in 2005, is blunt about Romero: “She’s working for Wall Street hedge fund managers. That’s where her interest lies.” Indeed, DFER is the brainchild of Whitney Tilson, founder of the hedge-fund firm T2 Partners – an LLC that, like other hedge fund contributors to DFER, is conveniently exempted from Prop. 32′s proposed donation restrictions. In a 2010 New York Times interview about charter schools, Tilson suggested that privatized education was a potentially lucrative investment target for Wall Street. Huffington Post

LA: Teachers: Don’t let Gov. Jindal sell the Office of Group Benefits!

Despite an outcry from thousands of public servants, Governor Bobby Jindal seems determined to sell the State Office of Group Benefits to a private company. OGB manages the health insurance of some 60,000 current and retired public employees, including teachers and school employees in a number of school systems. It is one of the best-run and scandal-free operations in state government. In fact, it has built up a surplus of some $500 million over the past few years. Please click this link to learn more and tell members of the Joint Budget Committee to vote NO when they are asked to approve privatizing the Office of Group Benefits.  Louisiana Federation of Teachers

News

Debate: Are we better off privatizing water?

From the consumer’s perspective, privatization’s results have been mixed. In some cases, cities have retaken control of their water services. And not every private provider has delivered on promises of reduced rates. But to governments strapped for cash, the option is seen as increasingly attractive. Here, two policy experts exchange views on what is best for our communities. Richard G. Little is a senior fellow at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. Wenonah Hauter is the executive director of Food and Water Watch, an advocacy group for food and water quality.  The Wall Street Journal

Serious pay at private toll operations

Chief executives of the typical public sector toll operations in America seem to be paid somewhere in the range $150k to $350k per year. We thought it was hilarious when some newspapers in the Delaware Valley reported the $175k paid to Frank McCartney as CEO of the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Authority (DRJTBC) as some kind of scandalous overpayment. There are unionized toll collectors and maintenance workers who make $100k, but the threshold to trigger lefty reporters’ indignation is pretty low.  Toll Road News

FL: Fla. Medicaid program in limbo

Rick Scott and the Republican-led Legislature want to privatize the state’s Medicaid program, but need the Obama administration’s permission. San Francisco Chronicle

PA: Liquor board appointee expected to favor privatization           

Tom Corbett’s campaign to privatize state-owned liquor stores is expected to get a new player on the governor’s side when the Senate returns to work later this month, a Republican official said Saturday. The governor’s appointment of Philadelphia attorney Kenneth Trujillo means the governor has his first chance to see a majority of his appointees on the three-person board.  Pittsburgh Post Gazette

PA: Performing Arts charter school’s $10M hall spurs debate on privatization

Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland has taken on a daunting financial responsibility with the construction of the 9,000-square-foot Alumni Hall. That responsibility stems from financial arrangements that would be unheard of in the traditional public school world, but are increasingly common in the expanding charter school realm.  Pittsburgh Post Gazette

VA: Advisory panel backs toll rate hike on Dulles Toll Road

An advisory committee is recommending a series of toll increases on the Dulles Toll Road that will provide funding for the new Silver Line. The Dulles Corridor Advisory Committee endorsed a 50-cent toll rate increase.  Fairfaxtimes.com

MI: Lansing May Privatize School Busing

For some families, busing is the only way kids can get to and from school. It’s also expensive. The Lansing School District is spending about $5 million this school year on general education busing. District administrators are thinking about changing tha…They’re considering outsourcing the general education transportation services. With a vote from the school board, Lansing School District is now a part of the Ingham Intermediate School District Transportation Consortium. That gives them the option to use the group’s contractor – Dean Transportation. Even with potential cost savings, some parents are reluctant to go down that route. “We need to make sure that we’re not spiting ourselves by costing others a job when they take good care of our kids that are already on the buses now,” said Lansing parent Debora Dawsey.   WILX-TV

MI: Sam Zell on Detroit, unions and privatizing U-M: ‘Survival of the fittest will prevail’

Sam Zell – a University of Michigan alumnus, billionaire real estate mogul, and investor – said he would like to see U-M privatize. He made that statement after giving the keynote address Friday morning at the Zell Lurie Institute’s Private Equity Conference at the Michigan Union.  AnnArbor.com

GA: Metro Atlantans must organize to prevent privatization of MARTA – opinion

For many years now, there has been discussion at the state legislature about privatizing MARTA. In recent weeks, it has intensified. Privatization is being presented as a necessary move because of MARTA’s ongoing financial crisis…The bottom line is that the profit motive has no place in public transit. There are some necessary services that a society provides that are not designed to make a profit – fire, police, libraries, schools, and mass transit. Other funding mechanisms, including state funding, must be found to restore MARTA to its rightful place at the core of any regional system that will be developed in the future…. The Atlanta Public Sector Alliance urges all residents of Metro Atlanta to stop this take-over of public assets for the enrichment of a private few. Let’s organize for a regional transit system that is just and equitable, democratic and well-funded, with universal design to facilitate the mobility of all. Only a public MARTA can achieve these goals.  Saporta Report

 

News

NJ: Privatizing Ambulances Saved Money, Lost Lives

Privatizing emergency services could have saved a few dollars but there is no accounting for lives lost in the three years since Diaz turned responsibility for the city’s ambulances to Raritan Bay Medical Center, which itself was “hemorrhaging money,” according to hospital president Michael D’Agnes in November 2008. NJ TODAY

NE: Morale falls for UHC employees

And although many students are unaware of the health center’s privatization, or of what privatization even means, the university has asked UHC staff, as well as the students on its health center review board, to “keep quiet” about the issue, according UHC officials. UNL leaders have sought privatization for the health center because they want a new building, but don’t have the money to fund its construction on 21st and Vine streets. University administration said privatization was its only option because it didn’t want to raise student fees. Bids for a new health center are expected Friday.  Daily Nebraskan

VA: Hundreds turn out to hear port-operation proposals

A public hearing drew a standing-room-only crowd Thursday, where port stakeholders and other citizens got their first chance to weigh in on the idea of turning the operation of the Virginia Port Authority’s terminals over to a different company…Most spoke in support of the current operator, a few backed APM, and some simply raised concerns or expressed a need to learn more. The port-privatization issue has become increasingly controversial since the state’s May 23 announcement that APM was interested in running all of the Port Authority’s terminals for 48 years, in a deal APM says could be worth up to $4 billion to the state in current dollars.  The Virginian-Pilot

NY: Legislature looks to privatize Onondaga County nursing home

The county’s Ways and Means Committee has approved funding for Van Duyn through next year, but their goal is to privatize it by selling it to nursing home operator, Upstate Services Group. According to legislators, part of the problem has been state funding. They say the funding formula hasn’t been updated in over a decade. They’ve been filling the gap using a rainy day fund, but that money has now run out.  Officials say plans must move forward or eventually it would bankrupt the entire county.  YNN

 

 

 

News

IN: Indiana panel approves lottery outsourcing deal

The commission voted 3-0, with two members absent, to approve a 15-year contract with Rhode Island-based GTECH that is expected to make $1.7 billion in profit over five years — a $500 million increase over state projections. GTECH already provides and maintains vending machines for the Hoosier Lottery. In exchange for running the lottery’s marketing and other services, GTECH will be paid a management fee that hasn’t yet been determined as well as a share of the lottery profits. The state received $188 million in lottery proceeds last year….Illinois Lottery Superintendent Michael Jones criticized Indiana’s search for a private lottery manager in August, saying Indiana officials didn’t seem to have learned from Illinois’ problem-plagued lottery outsourcing effort. New Jersey and Pennsylvania also are researching whether to outsource their lotteries. Businessweek

MI: Detroit Workers Fight Back Against ‘Union Busting,’ Privatization Plans

The battle over the privatization of public water services is playing out in Detroit, as water department workers now risk losing their jobs as they continue a strike over what they see as a “union busting and privatizing” plan by the city. Wastewater workers in the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) who are members of AFSCME Local 207 began their strike on Sunday, in violation of a state law that prohibits strikes by public employees, over the city’s plan to sign five-year, $17 million contract with private corporation EMA Inc. which would eliminate over 80% of DWSD jobs.  Common Dreams   Video here Truthout

NJ: Democrats Struggling to Push Ahead With Privatization Bill

Among other things, the legislation would require public agencies get a fiscal analysis before they contract for more than $250,000 with a private vendor to take over services. Subsequent performance would be subject to a state audit, which could lead to penalties or even loss of the contract for failing to produce promised savings. The bill also would require that private vendors pay “comparable wages” to public employees and give hiring priority to those laid off because of the privatization. A hearing on the measure before the Senate Labor Committee earlier this week quickly broke along partisan and ideological lines. …Several speakers mentioned the pending Lottery privatization, pointing out that the governor is not promoting it on the basis of potential savings, but increasing revenues. “Our members could perform the duties that this private company will go out and do, however they’ve been shackled” by departmental regulations, said Bob Purcell, a representative of the CWA local representing some state workers. He and other speakers identified GTEC, the company that provides lottery machines, as the frontrunner for the new contract. While it has U.S. headquarters in Rhode Island, it is a subsidiary of the Lottomatica Group of Italy. “It seems to be ironic that last year a bill went into place to require state workers who live in Pennsylvania and New York to move into New Jersey to keep their jobs . . . but the profits from that contract will go to a foreign country.”  NJSpotlight

TX: State rejects bid to privatize psychiatric hospital

The Department of State Health Services has rejected a bid by Geo Care to privatize Kerrville State Hospital. Last year, legislators told State Health Services it had to solicit proposals from mental health providers that wanted to run one of the state-run psychiatric hospitals. Those proposals had to show that the bidder could run the hospital for 10 percent less then its current budget. Boca Raton-based Geo Care was the only company to submit a proposal. Its bid was to run Kerrville State Hospital.

But the state has rejected Geo Care’s bid. Geo Care is a private company that runs mental health hospitals and prisons across the county. Its proposal alarmed mental health advocates because Geo has come under fire for its care of both patients and prisoners. The protests grew louder this year when the American-Statesman reported that State Health Services had fined Geo Care more than $107,000 for violations in a psychiatric hospital that the company runs for Montgomery County. Austin American-Statesman

IN: IU Employees Fear Losing Jobs Over Privatized Parking

Some unionized workers at Indiana University say they are worried about losing their jobs if the school decides to privatize its parking operations. In a short period of time, Indiana University officials could issue a request for proposals which would seek a trade: a private firm gives a large lump sum of money to the school in exchange for running IU’s parking operations for years to come… But that worries Communication Workers of America Local 4730 President Ed Vasquez. “The burden is that once you start doing all these privatizations I think there will be an impetus to start privatizing other services throughout the campus,” he says. “This provides a lot of anxiety for a lot of staff.”  Indiana Public Media

VA: Virginia port officials to hold public hearing on privatization proposals

Virginia Port Authority officials are holding a public hearing on proposals to privatize some of the Port of Virginia’s operations. The hearing is scheduled from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at Nauticus in Norfolk. Three private entities and the port’s current operator, Virginia International Terminals Inc., have submitted proposals to the state. The Republic

Tim Hogan: Privatization of our public lands

Having just returned from a splendid autumn backpack in the Hunter Fryingpan Wilderness in Colorado, I was particularly discomfited by the recent article on privatization of our public lands (Feds push for privatization of U.S. forest campgrounds, Sept. 28).  While claims of American exceptionalism are often over-blown during an election, it is fair to say our public lands in western North America are an exceptional legacy of our cultural heritage. For some of us, the shameless rush to cash in on their bounty is reminiscent of the money changers in the temples. Daily Camera

 

News

TX: Poll results reflect a few surprises from a red state

The poll also measured whether Texans would be willing, or not, to pay more in taxes for a number of proposals. The majority responded that they would be willing to pay increased taxes for construction of new schools, additional art and music instruction, increased pay for school staff and teachers, and investing in physical education classes and high tech equipment. They also believe water rights should be public, instead of owned by individuals, and they would be willing to pay more in tap fees to ensure the state’s water needs are met.  Dallas Morning News

WI: Abele wants to ‘revolutionize’ county government, privatize more

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele unleashed his inner wonk Tuesday, touting his 2013 budget as preserving services and freezing property taxes and extolling his long-term aspirations for overhauling county government… He promised to aggressively pursue privatization ventures… “I’m not here just to run the ship, I want to revolutionize what government can be,” Abele told an audience at a Milwaukee Rotary Club luncheon. …He declined to say what services he’s considering for outsourcing. Gov. Scott Walker, Abele’s predecessor as county executive, pressed for privatizing food service, housekeeping, building security and even the airport. Each issue provoked strong opposition, but Walker eventually won on food service and housekeeping. Walker’s unilateral move to privatize courthouse security was reversed by an arbitrator. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (blog)

OH: Mark Kvamme Abandons Sinking JobsOhio Ship

…Kvamme moved to Kasich’s staff and quickly began developing what would become known as JobsOhio: a private development organization that would replace the Department of Development.  JobsOhio would be funded with state money but would not have any of the transparency or accountability requirements of a state agency.   Kvamme was eventually appointed to lead JobsOhio and, since taking over, has been fighting to get that state money in the form of liquor revenue, which he planned to bond out to pay the state a fee and keep the rest for operating JobsOhio. Again, the constitutionality of JobsOhio’s funding plan was challenged by ProgressOhio. …We wondered out loud what Kasich might possibly do next, but I don’t any of us guessed this:  Mark Kvamme, the guy who came up with the brilliant idea for a private development organization funded with state money,  just announced he’s leaving JobsOhio to start his own venture capital firm. This can not be good news for what the Dispatch called the ”centerpiece of the administration of Gov. John Kasich”. PlunderBund

FL: Lifeguards hired as public employees, Private Contractor fired

Remember when 18 year old lifeguard, Tomas Lopez, was fired by the private contractor, Jeff Ellis Management for rescuing a drowning man outside the Management companys contracted section of beach in the City of Hallendale Beach, FL?   Recently the role of the contractor and the Lifeguards have reversed themselves. Good paying full time lifeguard jobs and 3 part time jobs were filled by the City to patrol and protect beach goers. These are much better paying jobs the what the contractor offered.   Video Link portraying the new hires with short story availabe here.   Daily Kos

Postal Service privatization: New York magazine takes delivery into its own hands

News this week that the U.S. Postal Service has defaulted on a second $5.6 billion benefits payment — the second miss in two months — is sure to reawaken a debate among think tanks such as the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation that USPS should be privatized.  Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has blamed Congress for not taking action on the proposals USPS has put forth over the past year, as they recess until after the November elections, saying, “Absolutely, we would be profitable right now.” New York magazine, thanks to increased postage costs with declining service, has decided to experiment with its own kind of delivery privatization: door-to-door delivery by hand in Manhattan.  Washington Post Blog

Deconstructing the PMSC Frame

But privatization of military tasks is inextricably linked to our conception of the free enterprise system and over the past few decades we have been conditioned to accept, in Tarzan-like terms — you: big bureaucratic, wasteful, inefficient, free spending, government apparatchik; me: lean, mean, outsourced, cost-effective, fighting machine..So, most of us willingly drank the neoliberal Kool-Aid, at least until the economy started melting down. But since then people have been expressing doubts about both neoliberal economics and privatization. Are they right to do so? Possibly, according to an article published earlier this year.  Huffington Post

 

News

NJ: Lawmakers seek to tighten rules on public contractors

State lawmakers hoping to strengthen scrutiny on contractors privatizing government services moved forward with a measure to make vendors deliver savings, while also tightening rules on cost-cutting…Madden urged lawmakers to find a “balance” between two different concerns: that governments determine that private contractors provide services which are really less expensive, while also blocking the contractors from simply paying their workers less than state employees would earn in pay and benefits. The newly combined proposal means vendors with contracts worth $250,000 or more would have to show they could provide services at lower cost than government could through use of innovation and streamlining, not just lower pay. Bidders for those state and local government contracts would have to provide payroll estimates to back up that claim, under the bill…Unions for state workers who might lose work to a private company would have a chance to review and revise their own cost estimates during an agency’s search for bids for cheaper services. NorthJersey.com

NC: GOP, environmentalists mount fiscal challenges to DOT toll projects

Republicans have scheduled a showdown this week in their push to kill the $650 million Mid-Currituck bridge, a toll project long favored by coastal Democrats to speed the beach drive for tourists who visit North Carolina’s northern Outer Banks…Meanwhile, environmental lawyers are mounting a broad challenge to the state’s way of justifying the need for major toll roads and bridges.….. Mid-Currituck would be North Carolina’s first big public-private partnership venture, planned in concert with a private consortium that hopes to turn a profit by collecting bridge tolls for 50 years. “I think the Currituck project smells of political cronyism,” Sen. Bill Rabon, a Brunswick County Republican and Senate Transportation chairman, told the Road Worrier. News & Observer

MI: Detroit workers striking in defiance of federal court order: ‘We’re not going anywhere’

Striking water department workers continued to picket Monday afternoon despite being ordered back to work by a federal judge…”We are fighting to stop the contracting out of over 80% of our jobs… The workers have been demanding better staffing, training and equipment to improve water quality for years, and management has always lent a deaf ear. Now, with the disingenuous claim of ‘environmental protection’ they are simply union busting and privatizing.” Workers from the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant walked out and began picketing Sunday, protesting a planned 81 percent reduction in the city’s Water and Sewerage Department. A federal judge this morning ordered the striking water department employees back to work, but union attorneys plan to challenge ruling, arguing that U.S. District Judge Sean Cox himself caused the labor dispute. A spokesman from Mayor Dave Bing’s office praised the court ruling in a news release. “It is imperative that there be no interruption in the service or an impact on the quality of water provided to our citizens or any negative impact on the environment,” said Bing’s Chief Communications Officer Bob Warfield.  MLive.com

VA: Should Virginia Put Its Port On the Auction Block?

Largely out of sight in the Northern Virginia media, there has been a controversy raging in the Hampton Roads area about the privatization of Virginia’s Port. Governor McDonnell is very passionate about privatizing government functions. Everyone is familiar with his effort to privatize the state liquor stores. He has also announced multiple efforts to privatize Virginia’s roads by selling tolling rights to foreign investors for I-95, US 460 and a new tunnel between Portsmouth and Norfolk. Patch.com

CA: Union threatens lawsuit over plans to outsource REU’s call center

A labor union representing employees at Redding Electric Utility’s customer service department has filed a grievance, warning of a lawsuit if the city tries to outsource the call center. The city has until Oct. 8 to respond to Service Employees International Union’s letter dated Sept. 19, which argues Redding is breaking the labor contract by considering outsourcing jobs to a private company and transferring the call center workers to other city departments… Cutty said outsourcing issues are cropping up throughout Northern California. SEIU’s attorneys are involved in six different cases, he said. “Outsourcing mat be cheap in the short-term but in the long-term, it may be more expensive,” he said. “Once you privatize, what drives you are the profits … not the services.” Record-Searchlight

Education Profiteering; Wall Street’s Next Big Thing?

The end of the Chicago teachers’ strike was but a temporary regional truce in the civil war that plagues the nation’s public schools. There is no end in sight, in part because — as often happens in wartime — the conflict is increasingly being driven by profiteers. The Real News Network (blog)

 

News

WI: Feds Slam Wisconsin Public-Private Partnership for Economic Development…The state was faulted for granting “forgivable” loans to a range of companies and giving $20,000 per job created to a manufacturing company called Kapco, twice as much as allowed under its own policies, the Journal reported. Two companies receiving $1.4 million were not properly assessed for financial soundness, the paper said. HUD was critical of the structure of the new public-private partnership and the “hasty” handoff of activities traditionally undertaken by traditional state agency employees at the now-extinct Department of Commerce. HUD ordered the state to hire a high-level administrator to monitor and oversee the new group’s activities and ensure proper compliance with state and federal laws.   Stateline

MI: State workers bid for own jobs as prison health union battles private sector. Nearly 1,300 health and mental health jobs are on the line in Michigan’s prison system as state officials begin to review bids to privatize them…. The push for privatization is part of an effort by the Republican-controlled Legislature to find new ways to save money. ..But it also puts state employees in an unusual position of competing directly with the private sector to maintain their livelihoods. Holman said state employees remain concerned about the push for privatization, adding union officials are convinced that privatizing prison services is simply a bad idea. Lansing State Journal

MI: Hearing scheduled over Detroit’s health department outsourcing. Lawyers for the Detroit City Council and Mayor Dave Bing will appear Thursday before a judge hearing the council’s request for a temporary restraining order to stop the Bing administration’s outsourcing of the city’s health department to a nonprofit group. The council says privatizing the department would cost jobs, violate the city charter and endanger services to poor and elderly residents. Bing seeks to do the same with the city’s workforce development department. An arbitrator ruled this week that the city could not move forward with the transition — among cuts the Bing administration says the city must take under its fiscal stability agreement with the state. Detroit Free Press

NE: University moving ahead with plans to privatize health center. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln plans to privatize its health center operations — a plan being closely watched by university staff, faculty and students. Student body president Eric Kamler says he’s rarely used the University Health Center, but he likes to know it’s there and that he can count on it.  “I think the biggest concern that students have that we’ve heard at student senate and in our offices is maintaining the same quality of health care and services,” he said. The Republic

FL: Lake commissioners’ priorities skewed with thoughts of privatizing ambulance service – commentary. This  county is served by Lake EMS, a nonprofit organization and one of the finest ambulance outfits in the country, literally. Having the best of something is a claim this county rarely gets to make. Yet commission Chairwoman Leslie Campione and Commissioner Sean Parks want to find the cheapest company possible to attend to your stroke, complaining that the $5.4 million annual subsidy that the county pays EMS is too high. What Campione and Parks fail to mention in this offensive tirade is that THEY are the ones responsible for both paying the subsidy AND for spending it. They sit on both the commission that makes the grant and the board of directors of the agency that spends it. Neither of them ever has mentioned during an EMS board meeting during the last 11 months that they thought there was the slightest problem.  Orlando Sentinel

Working America: 10 Reasons Not to See ‘Won’t Back Down’. The Walden Media film “Won’t Back Down,” starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis, opens in theaters today. The film dramatizes a parent fighting to improve her child’s school, but it’s actually a dishonest Hollywood portrayal of the problems in our educational system—funded by the very people who want to privatize and profit from our schools. Here are 10 reasons to skip it.  AFL Blog

Political and Class Issues Complicate a Colorado Land Dispute. This is a story of a quiet billionaire and a middle-class mountain town, of class divisions, small-town quarrels and competing visions of the future of the West. But at its core, like so many stories here in the aspen-dappled hillsides, it is really all about land. Specifically, it is about a belt of public land that cuts straight through a ranch owned by the industrialist Bill Koch, whose brothers Charles and David are top contributors to conservative Republican causes. The New York Times

The sobering consequences of privatizing NPR – opinion. Evidence indicates that as public radio has increased its reliance on private revenue sources, the programming is adversely affected. An elimination of federal appropriations likely would accelerate that process. I recently completed a study of NPR from 2000 to 2010, examining the impact of privatization on news content. The public radio system has seen an 8 percent swing away from public funding sources toward more market-sensitive sources. This was accompanied by a shift in NPR content away from the mission of public broadcasting, which is to rovide diverse and in-depth coverage responsive to local communities. Analysis of programs “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition” reveals a decline in the type of news stories that public radio is intended to provide. There was a 23 percent decline since 2000 in the amount of in-depth topical news content on those programs. Public radio’s mission is to provide content that serves communities in a way that conglomerated commercial media cannot. If the trend of privatizing public broadcasting continues, we may be left with a monolithic presence of syndicated content that is insensitive to the diverse nature of North Carolina.  The Charlotte Observer

 

News

Romney pledges to privatize foreign aid. Mitt Romney pledged Tuesday to shift foreign aid toward the private sector and deprioritize humanitarian aid in favor of promoting free enterprise and business development around the world. In remarks at the Clinton Global Initiative, Romney laid out his most detailed proposals on foreign aid thus far, including his plan to move foreign aid to rely more on public-private partnerships that enlist American corporations to the cause of helping the developing world. Foreign Policy (blog)

What is ‘The United States of ALEC?’ Most people have no idea what ALEC, or the American Legislative Exchange Council, is or does, but everyone should. This week, Bill Moyers is helping get the word out with a detailed look at it on PBS stations.  ALEC calls itself a “nonpartisan public-private partnership,” but this is a case of false identity. What it actually is is an organization that writes “model legislation” on a variety of topics that its membership of conservative legislators use in state after state to make new laws that promote privatization in every part of American life: education, health care, the environment, voting rights, etc.  The Washington Post

Private Prisons: Immigration Convictions In Record Numbers Fueling Corporate Profits. This spring, a group of inmates at a privately operated federal prison in Mississippi — most of them undocumented immigrants from Mexico — rose up against their guards, setting fires, taking hostages and ultimately killing one correctional officer. The riot, the latest in a string of uprisings at low-security private prisons housing undocumented immigrants, came after complaints from prisoners about “substandard food, medical conditions and disrespectful staff members,” according to a federal court affidavit filed by the FBI. The inmates incarcerated in the Mississippi prison and more than a dozen private facilities across the country are not awaiting deportation in the immigrant detention system. Instead, many are serving prison time for the crime of crossing the border, a federal offense that prosecutors are filing in record numbers as part of a government crackdown on illegal immigration.

Highway Toll Hikes Inflate Prices, Slow Recovery. As the gap between federal highway improvements and state transportation needs continues to widen, some states are quietly jacking up tolls to finance repairs, light rail projects and bridge maintenance. This tactic by the states in response to a virtual freeze on federal gasoline tax revenues and the recent five percent reduction in federal transportation funds for the coming fiscal year is having a significant impact on commerce – especially the trucking industry – and could prove to be another drag on the economy as average Americans get hit with higher fees. The Fiscal Times

The Life and Death of Schools…Ravitch sees a terrible confluence of forces at play among the reformers: policymakers who know nothing about public education, allied with organizations that expressly want to see it dismantled. She said, “There’s a tremendous push for privatization, and privatization does not bring about equity.” It’s not just charters and vouchers: The “Reform” movement is now promoting “parent trigger” bills, which – using test scores as the unexamined standards – would allow parents to take over neighborhood schools and turn them straight over to charter school companies. Unsurprisingly, right-wing bill machine the American Legislative Exchange Council has been pushing such trigger legislation in multiple states. Then there are establishment Republicans, like former Florida governor and educational businessman Jeb Bush, who are shilling hard to expand for-profit, “virtual” schools – even though many have been abject failures. The Austin Chronicle

CA: Plan to Privatize LA Zoo Stopped. The plan to privatize operations of the Los Angeles Zoo has collapsed, officials with the non-profit Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association announced Thursday. Negotiations between the zoo association and the city broke off Sept. 21 over the amount of autonomy a private non-profit operator would have in running the zoo….But in recent months, the biggest stumbling block has proven to be over control of zoo operations.  In a letter to City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana released Thursday, the zoo association said that it broke off negotiations because existing city policies and regulations made it too difficult for a private operator to function. Los Angeles Business Journal

PA: Allentown council hears concerns about water, sewer privatization … Opponents of the lease held a news conference before the meeting, holding signs that read “water is a right not a commodity.” Later they packed council chambers, groaning loudly during the presentation and applauding anti-privatization speakers. Guridy stopped the meeting on several occasions to quiet the crowd. Al Wurth, who spoke on behalf of the Sierra Club before the meeting, said the lease will be a burden to taxpayers, regardless of whether it will raise income for the city. A private water and sewer operator will raise rates to compensate for the city’s asking price, he said. “There is no income or advantage to the citizens of Allentown,” Wurth said. Seth Gladstone of Food and Water Watch called the plan “taxing through the tap.” Morning Call

NE: Colleges experience mixed results in health center outsourcing. With the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s move to privatize the University Health Center, UNL would become the only Big Ten Conference school with an outsourced health center. Outsourcing student health centers has, historically, been a big hit or a big miss at other colleges, according to several collegiate health officials. Daily Nebraskan

OH: ODRC: No More Privatizing Ohio Prisons. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC) on Tuesday said it will not seek further privatization of state prisons. The announcement was made less than a week after CityBeat published an in-depth story detailing the various problems posed by privatizing prisons. Cincinnati CityBeat

News

NJ: Camden Rejects Bids for New Jersey’s 1st Privately Owned Public School…In January, Christie signed the Urban Hope Act, a law allowing nonprofits to apply to start up to a dozen new public charter schools in Camden, Newark and Trenton. Once a school board approves an applicant, the groups are free under the law to contract with businesses to purchase land, construct facilities and manage the schools with taxpayer money – a provision that could give companies unprecedented control over public schools in New Jersey… The board considered four applications, including one brought by affiliates of powerful South Jersey Democrat George Norcross, before voting down the proposals when the district’s school business administrator could not produce cost estimates for the projects…. Barbara Morgan, a DOE spokeswoman, declined to say whether the state would step in and override the vote.  NJ.com

GA: Georgia Archives to Cut Back Service, History to the Public. The move will make Georgia the only state without an archives open to the public on a regular basis. But this closing is simply the most severe symptom of a greater crisis facing permanent government collections in nearly every state, professional archivists say.  The New York Times

TX: With 85 MPH Speed Limit, Trucks May Avoid New Toll Road. In a matter of weeks, a 41-mile stretch of toll road with the fastest speed limit in the country will open in Central Texas. But truck drivers may steer clear of the new high-speed road, said John Esparza, president of the Texas Motor Transportation Association, which represents the trucking industry in Texas. “It’s going to be a deterrent, yes,” Esparza said of the road’s 85 mph speed limit….[M]ost trucking companies try to keep drivers from traveling faster than that speed, both out of concerns for safety and because it reduces a truck’s gas mileage, Esparza said….The American Trucking Association has urged the Texas Transportation Commission to reverse its decision ton the 85 mph speed limit for the new toll road. The group favors a maximum 65 mph speed limit for all highways.  Texas Tribune

IN: Panel delays vote on outsourcing Ind. lottery. The State Lottery Commission postponed a vote on outsourcing most lottery operations to a private business that had been scheduled for Wednesday so members could have more time to digest proposals from two possible vendors behind closed doors. Businessweek

IN: Hoosier Lottery’s aim: Avoid Illinois’ privatization troubles…In Illinois, which last year became the first state to outsource management of its lottery, results have been mixed. Northstar Lottery Group, which is a partnership between GTECH and Scientific Games, brought in record profits but fell short of the $825 million it promised the state to win the bid. ..Under Illinois’ deal, Northstar receives bonuses or pays penalties based on two thresholds: the amount of money the state projected it would bring in without Northstar’s assistance and the amount of money Northstar promised for the state in its bid. Those two different systems of bonuses and penalties have the potential to essentially cancel each other out. Northstar could bring in more money than the state would have earned but still fail to reach the amount it promised.  IndyStar.com

LA: Shreveport residents, employees rally against LSU Health budget cuts. SU Health employees and concerned citizens in Shreveport rallied Wednesday morning against the privatization of the hospital…Caddo Parish Commissioner Ken Epperson, who says they are adamantly against the possibility of privatization. “Once you privatize a facility or outsource a facility, the basic motive is profit. Once profit is in place, there’s the degradation of facility maintenance, there’s employee layoffs, there’s loss of wages and benefits and the quality of services certainly diminishes, because those institutions that purchased this facility under privatization, their main motive is profit.” Among those in the small crowd were nurses and people who say they’ve used the hospital and don’t want to see services cut, along with Louisiana State Representative Barbara Norton (D) Shreveport. KPLC-TV

The corporate education agenda behind “Won’t Back Down”… Anything that moves the needle of public opinion toward privatizing K-12 is a victory. And it’s a victory for more than just for-profit charter and private school companies. The school-choice army is increasingly diverse. It has a growing “digital learning” wing of technology and software companies eager to “individualize” and “virtualize” American classrooms.  Salon ‎