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| Amendment May Take Back Florida's Prisons |
| By Tallahassee Democrat |
| Published: 06/19/2003 |
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Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's push for privatization has run into some novel political resistance from an unusual source. The Florida Police Benevolent Association, which represents correctional officers in the state prison system, has mounted a petition campaign to stop privatization of prisons. Since his first campaign in 1994, the PBA has been one of Bush's strongest political allies, but the jobs of its members mean more to the union. PBA lobbyists James Baiardi and Ken Kopczynski are campaign chairman and treasurer of the Public Safety and Security Initiative Political Action Committee. The PAC's proposed constitutional amendment says that 'no public body may enter into any contract, agreement or other arrangement with any person, other than a public body, to provide for the care, custody or control of individuals detained and awaiting trial, incarcerated for crime or under supervision as a result of criminal activity.' Exceptions could be made for up to one year if the state couldn't hire enough officers to staff a new prison or if unexpected crowding posed a threat of mass release of inmates. Contracts with the five privately run prisons, including one in Gadsden County, would be allowed to run out and couldn't be renewed. The amendment wouldn't prevent the Department of Corrections from 'outsourcing' office jobs, which are covered by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. There are 40 active constitutional amendment committees listed with the Division of Elections, with causes ranging from lowering the voting age to 16 to making health care a fundamental right. It's hard to get a petition past the Florida Supreme Court, then to round up the required 488,722 voter signatures, unless you've got a lot of money and precinct-level organization. The PBA has all that. If the union doesn't make it by Aug. 3, 2004, it could go for the 2006 ballot - pressing the issue with candidates running to succeed Bush. Could AFSCME or the Democratic Party, which also hates privatization, run a constitutional amendment rolling back privatization in state agencies? It would be hard to get around the Supreme Court's single-subject rule, but there's a bigger strategic problem. Notice that the prison-privatization amendment doesn't mention unions or jobs. It's the 'public safety and security initiative.' In these times of terror, that's a catchy title. 'Save the bureaucrats' wouldn't have voter appeal, if somebody started a petition to stamp out all privatizing. Corrections spokeswoman JoEllyn Rackleff said 'we haven't seen the amendment petition, so we can't comment on it.' But the DOC has insisted for years that privatization brings competition, hence lower costs, to the system. Florida voters have amended the constitution to create a high-speed rail system and to end indoor smoking, to reduce class sizes in public schools and to quit being beastly to pregnant pigs. Maybe they can be persuaded to make the state take back private prisons. But if the PBA gets anywhere near qualifying for the ballot, big companies like Wackenhut and Corrections Corporation of America will probably bankroll a campaign against the amendment. The Republican Party will probably mobilize, too, to stifle any threat to the concept of privatizing government services. |
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