The government should not be in the business to compete with private sector services. Government should look first to the private sector to provide the goods and services that the public needs.
That is a very important statement made by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that describes why ALEC is trying to decimate our public good s and services.
And before I begin with the main reason for this post – here is more historical background on ALEC’s position related to government goods and services.
1996 ALEC Business Plan
Report Card on American Education ALEC will publish the fourth annual Report Card on Education in 1997. It is our most quoted work and makes the compelling case for revolutionary change in our monopoly education system .
1997 Annual Meeting Workshop Description
The basic problems are a centralized governmental education monopoly
1997 ALEC State
Efficiency in Government Act. This bill establishes the framework for streamlining government and promoting efficiency in government. Efficiency cannot be achieved if government is permitted to act as a monopoly, with no competitive incentive to reduce costs or improve services.
The “model legislation” included this statement
Section 2. {Legislative Intent.}
(A) It is the public policy of the state to provide the highest quality services at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers. Efficiency cannot be achieved, however, if government is permitted to act as a monopoly, with no competitive incentive to reduce costs or improve services. In order to achieve competition and efficiency, decisions about how services should be provided must be governed by three fundamental principles:
(1) The government should not be in the business to compete with private sector services. Government should look first to the private sector to provide the goods and services that the public needs.
1998 ALEC Annual Meeting Task force Agenda
The task force will consider The Passenger Transportation Deregulation Act, which eliminates the monopoly currently held by municipal bus services by allowing multi-passenger van services to compete in the transit market .
Report Card on American Education
A State-by-State Analysis • 1976-20012001
And finally, by forcing the veritable monopoly that is our public school system to compete in an open educational market, we can harness the immense power of the free market system to bring about improvements in our nation’s schools.
ALEC Policy Forum 2007
Comparing Iowa and Michigan
In order to limit the unions’ power through monopoly bargaining laws and to make Michigan
Lawmakers in Iowa should look to Michigan
Inside ALEC October 2008
(An article advocating the elimination of college accreditation)
And given the monopoly they exercise, accreditors have been able to apply intrusive, prescriptive standards. Sadly, Congress has allowed them to get away with it.
ALEC wants to
harness the immense power of the free market system
for their Corporate Profit Sector members
by expanded privatization of government goods and services.
You see – it is okay if ALEC Corporate Profit Sector members have a monopoly in your area providing you goods and services, continually raising your rates and eliminating your services.
But, it is not okay with ALEC for the government to provide those or similar services.
Government services that historically – you as a citizen can have oversight of and comment about.
But, when the ALEC private sector gets control of goods and services historically provided by the government – YOU LOSE – you lose the ability to ensure transparency and oversight of and comment on those goods and services, which are now controlled by the private sector.
Privatization Gone Wrong – Data Protection Issues
Lack of Transparency
I found an article about a Minnesota Data Protections lawsuit in a Connecticut paper – the only reason it drew my attention is because in the Connecticut write-up they drew the connection to problems related to privatization of government services – which Minnesota journalists are evidently, too inept to do.
Why would Connecticut
Because this could affect every state.
It can not be proven that Johnson Controls is an ALEC member (ALEC keeps their Corporate Profit Sector members secret)– but then, this is not about Johnson Controls – it is about what happens when the private sector gets involved with providing government goods and services and lack of transparency.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — When Minnesota governments farm work out to private companies, state law presumes most data "collected, received, stored, used, maintained or disseminated" for those projects is available to the public just as if the work was done by public employees.
That open records principle is at the heart of a dispute before the state Court of Appeals.
SNIP
The case springs from a small-town newspaper editor's effort to access data from a construction management firm and its subcontractor on a major school buildings project.
The stakes go beyond the regional school district's $78 million project behind the information standoff. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent annually on services or construction projects authorized by Minnesota
Transparency is at issue – how taxpayer dollars are spent is at issue.
Lack of transparency has now become a major issue - because of ALEC “model” legislation that pushes privatization of public goods and services.
If the ALEC philosophy of privatization of government goods and services had not been allowed to expand and flourish in our state governmental offices – this issue – would probably not be an issue.
If the ALEC philosophy of privatization of government goods and services had not been allowed to expand and flourish in our state governmental offices – this issue – would probably not be in litigation right now. The ALEC philosophy of privatization, pushed by ALEC legislators, is an underlying factor in this legal issue.
An attorney for the Timberjay Newspapers in northern Minnesota
"It would knock a gaping hole in what has been past practice in Minnesota in terms of the public being able to find out about contracts entered into between government agencies and private contractors," Timberjay lawyer Mark Anfinson said.
Privatization of public services is not about cost and efficiency as ALEC would lead you to believe – it is about the overall destruction and decimation of transparency of how taxpayer dollars are spent - in favor of ALEC Corporate Profit Sector members.
An advisory opinion from a state information officer appointed by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton ruled that Johnson Controls failed to comply with the Minnesota
An administrative law judge appointed by former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty ruled the main company was properly protecting sensitive information that its own contract with the school district didn't seek.
Protection of private sector members
Intellectual property
Trademarks
Patents
Sensitive information
It doesn’t matter if it is about this – about snuff, about plain packaging of cigarettes, about GMO seed/pollination or about what is in the water used for fracking – ALEC is ready to step up and protect their Corporate Profit Sector members.
If we allow the corporate sector to further erode our ability to control what is going on in our cities, towns and states – WE LOSE.
ALEC is not going to stop promoting the free-market, market-driven, privatization of public goods and services.
We must stop ALEC.
Over and over again, it appears that is the only thing that the American Legislative Exchange Council is in business for – is to protect the revenues of ALEC Corporate Profit Sector Members - through privatization schemes, pro-business "model" legislation and amici briefs.
– Why in the hell does ALEC have to get involved in this?
– Oh, yeah - to protect ALEC's revenue stream from their Corporate Profit Sector donors
We must stop ALEC.
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