Minnesota’s public services should
not be for sale to the lowest bidder. Essential services are
government’s responsibility.
It’s risky business
to let cut-rate workers plow our roads, keep our dangerous criminals
behind bars, and care for our sick and vulnerable.
Click here for the 2007 Corrections ad. (Quick Time)
Click here for the 2007 Snow Plow ad. (Quick Time)
Taxpayers deserve quality
and accountability. We expect that:
- snow and ice will be removed from our roads for safe winter driving
- criminals will remain in prison where they cannot harm us
- our sick and vulnerable
will be well cared for in hospitals and nursing homes
National polls show that most voters oppose privatization, particularly
when it results in gross profiteering, reduced services and harmful
consequences.
Privateers preach three
steps to salvation: shrink government, slash public spending and
cut taxes. It’s an ideological scam
that ranks profits over people.
Governor Jeb Bush’s
push to privatize public services has cost Floridians millions of
dollars:
- Unisys won an $86 million
contract to administer health insurance plans for more than 100,000
state employees, retirees and their dependents. For
two years, state employees and retirees put up with an insurance
system that didn’t work. Taxpayers covered a $200 million
deficit created by the fiasco.
- The state hired Lockheed
Martin and Maximus to streamline records and collect child support
from deadbeat parents. Consultants
received a $4.5 million contract to collect $104 million in child
support. Only $207,000 was collected.
- The Legislature, mistrusting
the Department of Corrections, established the Correctional Privatization
Commission to send convicts to private prisons. The commission has been wracked with scandals, and
the private corporations (Wackenhut and The Corrections Corporation
of America), which contributed heavily to political campaigns, haven’t
provided the cheaper, higher-quality services they promised
Read on to learn about reasons to oppose private takeover of public
services:
- Quality services are sacrificed for corporate profits.
- There’s no proof
that privatization saves money.
- Privatization is a budget
shell game – cost shifting is
not cost savings.
- When privatization fails, citizens pay the price.
- Private contractors are not held accountable.
- Contracts are often awarded to politically connected individuals
and firms.
- Local control of vital services is diminished.
- Public access to basic services is restricted.
- It’s a recipe
for reduced wages and benefits.
- Low-paid government
workers – administrative and custodial – are
targeted.
Visit the “Take
Action” page
to find out how you can curb the private takeover trend in Minnesota.
