The Olympian Logo

Outsourcing of public services doesn’t work | The Olympian

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • About Us
    • Buy Photos and Pages
    • Contact Us
    • Plus
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Newsletters
    • Newspaper in Education
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Services
    • Archives

    • News
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Databases
    • Death Notices
    • Education
    • Local News
    • Military News
    • Obituaries
    • Politics & Government
    • State
    • Traffic
    • Watchdog
    • Weather
    • Opinion
    • Cartoons
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Opinion Columns
    • Submit a Letter
    • Sports
    • College
    • High School
    • Mariners
    • Preps Stats
    • Seahawks
    • Sounders
    • UW Huskies
    • Politics
    • Living
    • Announcements
    • Food
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel
    • Entertainment
    • Arts & Culture
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Events Calendar
    • Horoscopes
    • Movies
    • Restaurants
    • Outdoors
    • Fishing

  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place An Ad
  • Mobile & Apps

Opinion

Outsourcing of public services doesn’t work

Donald Cohen

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 26, 2014 12:00 AM

All over the country, cash strapped state and local governments have handed over control of critical public services and assets to corporations backed by Wall Street banks that promise to handle them better, faster and cheaper. Unfortunately for taxpayers, not only has outsourcing these services failed to keep this promise, but too often it undermines transparency, accountability, shared prosperity and competition.

Washington taxpayers have seen this first hand. Washington previously contracted out provision of prison services to Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Inmates from Washington were housed in a private prison located in Arizona.

In 2007, in part due to CCA’s inadequate staffing practices, two Washington inmates, convicted of murder charges, overpowered a guard were able to escape the facility. Fortunately, the escapees were eventually caught, but the company’s decision to cut corners by not maintaining adequate staffing put the public at serious risk.

Outsourcing means taxpayers have very little say over how tax dollars are spent and no say on actions taken by private companies that control our public services. Outsourcing means taxpayers cannot vote out executives who make decisions that hurt public health and safety.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Olympian

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Outsourcing means taxpayers are contractually stuck with a monopoly run by a single corporation – and those contracts often last decades. And outsourcing too often means a race to the bottom for the local economy, as wages and benefits fall while corporate profits rise.

That’s why In The Public Interest is supporting the Washington Taxpayer Protection Act, a new proposal from Rep. Sam Hunt that would give Washington tax payers some of the strongest outsourcing protections in the nation.

The measure Rep. Hunt is sponsoring will reign in predatory contracting of government services in Washington. It is a common sense agenda that, left or right, we can all agree on.

Specifically, the Washington Taxpayer Protection Act would:

 • Require a thorough cost analysis of all bids and guarantee taxpayers a minimum 10-percent savings before any service is privatized.

 • Ban contractors from using taxpayer resources for private gain.

 • Require agencies to conduct a “comprehensive impact assessment” before outsourcing services that were formerly provided by public service workers.

 • Require contractors to maintain open books, just as governments must when performing public services.

 • Require contracts to specify periodic performance reviews, wage information for contractors and subcontractors, as well as ensuring contracts can be cancelled when contractors don’t keep their promises.

In an era of outsourcing, it is essential that lawmakers remain watchdogs for the public interest. Elected leaders should vote in favor of the Washington Taxpayer Empowerment Act. Lawmakers championing these proposals, like Rep. Hunt, stand on the side of taxpayers, and plain common sense.

Donald Cohen is executive director of In the Public Interest, a national resource center on outsourcing public services and responsible contracting.

  Comments  

Videos

Opinion: Trump vs. the experts on Iraq, North Korea

Coal miner to Trump: “Coal mining isn’t coming back”

View More Video

Trending Stories

Restaurant inspections for Feb. 20

February 20, 2019 05:22 AM

Pedestrian in stable condition after being hit by pickup truck on Yelm Highway

February 20, 2019 12:48 PM

State commission removes 2 Thurston Conservation District board members from office

February 21, 2019 09:06 AM

Work on Westman Mill begins Monday with pile driving

February 20, 2019 03:01 PM

‘Wall’ protesters march through downtown Olympia

February 20, 2019 06:54 PM
Local display advertising by PaperG

Read Next

How President Trump helps divide Democrats by fanning the flames of socialism

Opinion

How President Trump helps divide Democrats by fanning the flames of socialism

By Andrew Malcolm

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 20, 2019 03:00 AM

The socialism Ocasio-Cortez advocates is packaged far differently than the traditional heavy-handed, failed version that Trump describes with government controlling production and distribution.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Olympian

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE OPINION

Knight Foundation’s investment in media seeks to preserve an essential element of democracy: an informed citizenry

Opinion

Knight Foundation’s investment in media seeks to preserve an essential element of democracy: an informed citizenry

February 19, 2019 11:35 AM

Editorials

Planning for the long term may be more than human brains can handle

February 15, 2019 03:46 PM

Letters to the Editor

Obeying laws seems to be arbitrary

February 15, 2019 02:58 PM

Letters to the Editor

The future of agriculture in Thurston County

February 15, 2019 02:57 PM

Letters to the Editor

Kudos to the U.S. Post Office

February 15, 2019 02:57 PM
Trump’s foreign policy is pushing allies into China and Russia’s waiting arms

Opinion

Trump’s foreign policy is pushing allies into China and Russia’s waiting arms

February 14, 2019 03:26 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

The Olympian App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Contests-Promotions
  • Vacation Hold
  • Rewards
  • Pay Your Bill
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Photo Store
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • Place an Obituary
  • Today's Circulars
  • Special Sections
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story