Privatized Parts (with apologies to Mr. Stern)

By Noel Shank

Privatization is basically taking what are traditionally governmental services and contracting them out to private companies. This has proved a bonanza to politicians who, wanted to reward their big business contributors, portray themselves to voters as "cutters of wasteful government." Overall expenditures will probably remain the same or rise, but the slight of hand involved in taking people payroll works politically. For decades, government assistance programs and government employees in general have been derided-so public outcry is often muted even when services and local economies decline.

Probably the best known privatizer of public services in Halliburton. For the first time in American history, private contractors are providing a great amount of food, supply, and other services for the armed forces, including armed mercenaries who fight (and die) providing security for those missions. All at vast cost overruns, but hey, the military looks lean and mean to the public. My guess is that millions are diverted "off the books," and who will know the difference?

In Kansas, as in many states, private prisons are a growth industry. With the crackdown on crime in the last few decades, and mandatory sentencing, inmate populations have soared. The prison contractors locate in small towns with stagnant economies, promising new jobs and community growth. And, the jobs probably WILL pay more than is usual in those areas. $10 per hr. is not bad wages in some parts of Kansas. Private prisons are not bound by civil service rules governing state employees' pay, benefits, and hiring practices. They hire as few people as possible, pay as little as possible, as they can get away with. Safety of the guards, the townspeople, and the inmates themselves is of secondary importance. Thus, another characteristic of privatization-human needs are disregarded in order to have a good financial bottom line. I have a relative, a young woman, who works as a prison guard to support her young children. She had worked in a state prison, but changed to a private prison for slightly higher wages. She is now concerned about the lack of safety stemming from understaffing, but she needs the job. She says they are now hiring, when they do hire, people off the street for $10 per hr, with little training to deal with all types of convicts, violent and non-violent. I don't know about you, but if I lived in a prison town, I would prefer professional, well-trained guards!

Also in Kansas, an outfit called Maximus took over a great deal of the Medicaid program. They are in a lot of states, providing various services that once were done by government employees. In Kansas, they took over a program that was covered very well by local states offices, and centralized it in Topeka, at enormous additional costs. A whole new bureaucracy was created, privately run but with government money. Services to the actual customers fell off, and are still not at the same level. People once called their local caseworker if they had a problem-now they call a voice mail system, pick a menu option, and often never speak to a real person. The problem is still so bad that when people who have given up trying to get Medicaid through the centralized office come in to a local state welfare office, workers at the local office are mandated to process the application, then transfer the case to the Maximus office, where credit for the work is received, and payment made, to Maximus. Pretty good trick, getting a contract to do government work, then getting what is left of the government staff actually do the work. A state caseworker I know in Topeka gave a customer the phone number of the Maximus worker who was supposed to handle her case. The caseworker got a blistering e-mail from the Maximus worker, saying she was not to give his number to the public. Meanwhile, the local state welfare office takes in and processes applications, even though the Maximus office is right there in Topeka-because the Maximus office is not open to the public they are supposed to serve!

Of course, I realize that public sector workers are not always the best, and private companies are not inherently costly and inefficient. In the real world, however, the process of privatization is drearily familiar-private business treats government funding as slush money, to be used however they see fit. I think this stems from 2 factors: the first, a lack of accountability on the part of the private contractors. Unlike owners and stockholders, who demand a return on their investments, taxpayers have no way to hold private companies accountable for their expenditures. Secondly, the inherent conflict of interest of having state politicians and officials awarding contracts to companies that may in the future be able to reward those same officials with lucrative jobs creates a reluctance and inability to properly supervise those contracts. When a state employee makes a mistake, a legislator or official can hold him accountable. When that same employee works for a private company, there is not the same direct command and control.

So, what can we as citizens do? Well, unlike the national level, I believe that state politicians are still more reachable, and sensitive to, the voters. We the public need to pay attention, demand good service from our state and local governments, and question them when our friends and neighbors who are government employees are let go and replaced by a private company. It's up to us, I guess. No white knights, no superstar heroes, just us.