Editorial: Privatizing will become boondoggle

Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 | 5:38 a.m.

Last week the White House, flush from the Republican takeover of Congress, announced that President Bush wants to privatize as many as 850,000 federal government jobs in coming years. If the Bush administration follows through on privatizing nearly half of the federal civilian workforce, it would be a capstone of sorts for privatization, which the White House says reduces government costs and increases efficiency. Despite the White House's contention about its benefits, privatization has suffered a number of setbacks in recent years and should be avoided. In the past year President Bush signed into law legislation, passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, that created a federal security force at our nation's airports, replacing the broken-down, privately run system.

Many states, including Nevada, have found out on their own that privatization isn't what's it's cracked up to be. Services actually can deteriorate, because in order for the private sector to turn a profit, a company may have to hire fewer employees and even pay them less. One of privatization's most glaring failures has been the operation of prisons. Low-paid guards increase the risks to public safety, and when these same poorly trained guards abuse inmates, it can lead to costly lawsuits filed against the state. Unlike when government runs programs, privatization eliminates accountability to the public. For many reasons, privatization has turned out to be a mistake.

It's really quite simple why Bush would turn to privatization -- and it has nothing to do with increasing efficiency. First, the president wants to reward GOP-friendly corporations that would like to run some of the services that government currently provides. Second, the Bush administration has been worried for some time about an increase in spending on the military and on domestic security following Sept. 11. That means bigger government, something anathema to the Republican Party's right wing. The last thing Karl Rove, Bush's influential adviser, wants to do is discourage party loyalists, who vote in large numbers and can tip an election, so that they stay home in 2004. Bush and his White House advisers may be feeling giddy about the GOP's future prospects, but if the privatization plan is indicative of other right-wing ideas that may be forthcoming, Bu sh may quickly lose the center of the political spectrum that he not only needs to govern from but also that he needs to wi! n re-election.