*Gasp* Oh my! How totally shocking! Brewer has numerous ties and connections to, uhm..who was that again, exactly? Oh! That's right, silly me! The private prison corporations like CCA. Having a prison industry lobbyist on your staff would certainly have no bearing whatsoever on decision like handing contracts to private prisons now would it? To be precise, her prison connections according to State lobbying records show two of her top advisers — her spokesman Paul Senseman and her campaign manager Chuck Coughlin — are former lobbyists for private prison companies.
A state commission studying privatization will likely recommend privatizing Arizona's parks and prisons as a way to help ease the state's budget deficit when it releases its full report in December.
KPHOChannel5
"This is one way to economize in a way that will cause the least amount of pain to the public," said Glenn Hamer, a member of Arizona's Commission on Privatization and Efficiency.
Gov. Jan Brewer created the commission to help Arizona save money.The state is currently facing a more than $1 billion budget deficit."This is 101 for good government to look for ways that you can save taxpayer dollars," said Hamer, who is also the president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Hamer said most of the commission's recommendations will be kept secret until the report is released, but he expects the report to recommend privatizing Arizona's state parks and privatizing more state prisons."Privatizing prisons is a still good deal for this state," said Hamer.The issue of privatizing prisons is controversial in Arizona.
Opponents -
"I think that's a horrible idea," said state representative Chad Campbell, D-District 14. "We should not be looking at privatizing more prisons. People escaped; people were killed and it was due to privatizing a very important government function without any accountability."
Campbell also said the commission's recommendations could result in thousands of state employees losing their jobs."I think we need to very cautious about how we about privatizing anything," he said.
Full Story on KPHO
Exposing the waste of our tax dollars by politicians and private prison profiteers...
***** We've Moved! *****
Showing posts with label campaign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label campaign. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Purchasing Access: Examining the GEO Group's Texas Political Expenditures
National Public Radio recently ran a story about how private prison companies helped write Arizona's controversial statute (currently being litigated in federal court) requiring local police to arrest and detain illegal immigrants. Private prison companies' interest in immigration law should come as little surprise for Grits readers: Nearly five years ago I wrote that the potential for expanded detention of illegal immigrants appeared virtually "limitless,"and this blog has long lamented the extra costs to county jails from such policies.
The NPR story inspired me this a.m. to look more closely at private prisons' political influence in Texas, and I plan to follow up with additional, related posts in the coming weeks. A 2006 public policy report (pdf) from the Institute on Money in State Politics identified Texas pols as the second largest recipient of private prison political spending after Florida.
The three big players in Texas' market are the GEO Group, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), and a company called Management and Training Corporation (MTC) out of Utah. Of the three, only the GEO Group operates a state-level PAC in Texas. CCA and MTC's contributions appear to come mainly from individuals associated with the company, which are a bit more time consuming to track, so let's start with the Geo Group.
I went through the contribution reports for the Texas Geo Group Inc. PAC for this last election cycle and compiled a list of all Texas House and Senate members who both a) received contributions from GEO in 2009 and/or 2010 and b) won their elections and will be in the Legislature next year. Read the list, with totals combined from multiple reports on Grits For Breakfast
The NPR story inspired me this a.m. to look more closely at private prisons' political influence in Texas, and I plan to follow up with additional, related posts in the coming weeks. A 2006 public policy report (pdf) from the Institute on Money in State Politics identified Texas pols as the second largest recipient of private prison political spending after Florida.
The three big players in Texas' market are the GEO Group, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), and a company called Management and Training Corporation (MTC) out of Utah. Of the three, only the GEO Group operates a state-level PAC in Texas. CCA and MTC's contributions appear to come mainly from individuals associated with the company, which are a bit more time consuming to track, so let's start with the Geo Group.
I went through the contribution reports for the Texas Geo Group Inc. PAC for this last election cycle and compiled a list of all Texas House and Senate members who both a) received contributions from GEO in 2009 and/or 2010 and b) won their elections and will be in the Legislature next year. Read the list, with totals combined from multiple reports on Grits For Breakfast
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Arizona PrisonTalks Delayed
Coolidge Examiner
City officials will have to wait until the dust is settled from gubernatorial election before they know whether or not they can move forward on a private prison for Coolidge.
The project also hit a snag when in July when three prisoners escaped from a facility near Kingman, Ariz.
A minimum- and medium-security private prison was approved by City Council over the summer.
“I think it’s been without question that the council has fully supported this from the moment we heard about the project, and the fact that we could be a player in the game,” Mayor Tom Shope said in June.
City officials will have to wait until the dust is settled from gubernatorial election before they know whether or not they can move forward on a private prison for Coolidge.
The project also hit a snag when in July when three prisoners escaped from a facility near Kingman, Ariz.
A minimum- and medium-security private prison was approved by City Council over the summer.
“I think it’s been without question that the council has fully supported this from the moment we heard about the project, and the fact that we could be a player in the game,” Mayor Tom Shope said in June.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Prison industries pony up cash in governor's race
The New Mexico Governors race seem to have fallen into the hands of the Private Prison corporations. The money that is contributed surely is an honest contribution with no string attached.
These might not be the kinds of sources for campaign cash that candidates like to brag about, but the industries behind them are reliable contributors to politicians in both major parties in New Mexico. And this election year is no different.
In the governor's race, it appears that Republican Susana Martinez has a lock on money from private prison operators.
Gambling interests, including tribes who operate casinos, wagered early on Democrat Diane Denish, the current lieutenant governor. The latest campaign finance reports, however, show some of them are hedging their bets by making late contributions to front-runner Martinez, the district attorney in Las Cruces.
Denish, meanwhile, has smoked her opponent in terms of tobacco industry cash and has chugged more money from the liquor industry.
The corrections industry
The state first began contracting with private prison operators in the 1990s under then Gov. Gary Johnson, a Republican. But the prison industry didn't start pumping real money into New Mexico campaigns until after Democrat Bill Richardson became governor eight years ago.
Richardson became a favorite of the GEO Group, a Florida company formerly known as Wackenhut, which operates three private prisons in New Mexico. The most recent one, in Clayton, came about during Richardson's watch.
GEO gave Richardson $43,750 for his 2006 re-election campaign — as well as another $7,000 for his 2008 presidential run. According to the Institute of Money in State Government, Richardson has received more money from GEO than any other politician nationwide running for a state office since 2003.
The company also been generous with other state politicians, contributing more than $200,000 in recent decades. New Mexico, which has no limits on contributions, is second only to Florida among the states where GEO made political contributions. In fact, four of the top 10 recipients of GEO contributions since 2003 are New Mexico Democrats — including Denish, who has received $11,000 from the company during that period.
This year, however, Republican Martinez is getting the lion's share of GEO cash. The company has given her campaign $33,000 — including a $25,000 check contributed on Oct. 14.
These might not be the kinds of sources for campaign cash that candidates like to brag about, but the industries behind them are reliable contributors to politicians in both major parties in New Mexico. And this election year is no different.
In the governor's race, it appears that Republican Susana Martinez has a lock on money from private prison operators.
Gambling interests, including tribes who operate casinos, wagered early on Democrat Diane Denish, the current lieutenant governor. The latest campaign finance reports, however, show some of them are hedging their bets by making late contributions to front-runner Martinez, the district attorney in Las Cruces.
Denish, meanwhile, has smoked her opponent in terms of tobacco industry cash and has chugged more money from the liquor industry.
The corrections industry
The state first began contracting with private prison operators in the 1990s under then Gov. Gary Johnson, a Republican. But the prison industry didn't start pumping real money into New Mexico campaigns until after Democrat Bill Richardson became governor eight years ago.
Richardson became a favorite of the GEO Group, a Florida company formerly known as Wackenhut, which operates three private prisons in New Mexico. The most recent one, in Clayton, came about during Richardson's watch.
GEO gave Richardson $43,750 for his 2006 re-election campaign — as well as another $7,000 for his 2008 presidential run. According to the Institute of Money in State Government, Richardson has received more money from GEO than any other politician nationwide running for a state office since 2003.
The company also been generous with other state politicians, contributing more than $200,000 in recent decades. New Mexico, which has no limits on contributions, is second only to Florida among the states where GEO made political contributions. In fact, four of the top 10 recipients of GEO contributions since 2003 are New Mexico Democrats — including Denish, who has received $11,000 from the company during that period.
This year, however, Republican Martinez is getting the lion's share of GEO cash. The company has given her campaign $33,000 — including a $25,000 check contributed on Oct. 14.
Private prisons looking to cash in on illegal immigrants?
Excerpt from KTAR News -
The immigration bill was looked upon to be a "business model" as a continuous source of revenue for the community, the story says.
Pearce says the NPR story is wrong to suggest companies like Corrections Corporation of America had a hand in crafting SB 1070.
Gov. Jan Brewer agrees.
"The state has no business with CCA, it is a federal issue, those are federal-incarcerated prisoners," Brewer said.
State Representative David Lujan (D) thinks differently:
"If Senate Bill 1070 is to be enacted in full, and it increases the number of illegal immigrants that are to be detained, then they will stand to benefit from their facilities here in Arizona."
Read Full Story
The immigration bill was looked upon to be a "business model" as a continuous source of revenue for the community, the story says.
Pearce says the NPR story is wrong to suggest companies like Corrections Corporation of America had a hand in crafting SB 1070.
Gov. Jan Brewer agrees.
"The state has no business with CCA, it is a federal issue, those are federal-incarcerated prisoners," Brewer said.
State Representative David Lujan (D) thinks differently:
"If Senate Bill 1070 is to be enacted in full, and it increases the number of illegal immigrants that are to be detained, then they will stand to benefit from their facilities here in Arizona."
Read Full Story
Friday, October 1, 2010
The United States of McAmerica
My last article covered a few of the “acts” that ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council; a special interest conservative right leaning organization) has helped our legislators to write and implement across the country. What I outlined previously were merely a few examples of their good works put out by their Criminal Justice/Homeland Security task forces. While I focus on ALEC in much of my writing, please keep in mind that ALEC is but one of a hundred or so groups who work behind the scenes in D.C. to buy off our politicians and force policies that meet their own political and profit driven agendas. I tend to single out ALEC only because they are one of the most prominent groups and there are numerous connections between ALEC, private prison corporations, declining education and our ever tightening and restrictive ‘tough on crime’ laws…but I cannot emphasize enough that they are just one of the players and takers of the big profit pie that our lawmakers gorge themselves on.
For this article, I am going to highlight some of the ways ALEC (and other outside influences) has helped our educational system along. Since there seems to be a direct connection between education and incarceration, this is an important piece of how politicians and CEOs are legislating profits for prison industry. Let’s face it, very few ‘hardened criminals’ have college degrees and if our government wanted high achievements from our schools, we’d damn well have high achieving schools, don’t you think?
From ALEC’s webpage on their education task force:
Each year, the Task Force releases an annual Report Card on American Education. One of ALEC's flagship publications, the Report Card takes a comprehensive look at the state of public education all across our country. Based on a variety of indicators, the Report Card consistently shows no direct correlation between conventional measures of education inputs, such as expenditures per pupil and teacher salaries, and educational outputs, such as average scores on standardized tests.
As always, the Task Force will continue to focus on those policies that hold teachers accountable for the education they are providing as well as developing new ideas on how businesses can become partners in educating the next generations of our children.
We’ve already seen the wonders of bringing businesses into our prisons, now they want to do the same to our schools? Pardon me if I don’t jump up and down in excitement over this idea.
Here is more from ALEC’s page:
“Our Model Legislation
Resolution Supporting the Principles of No Child Left Behind”
Apparently NCLB has been a smashing success for those who profit from filling up cellblocks. Pink said it best with, “No child gets left behind, we’re not dumb and we’re not blind; they’re all sitting in your cells, while you pave the road to hell…”
When you read more closely into parts of NCLB here is what is written into the fine print, and again, this is straight off of ALEC’s page:
“Focus on Achievement: NCLB not only promotes—and fully funds—innovative reforms in public education, but the law also holds schools accountable for their own success. For the first time in history, states must prove that they are yielding academic results before the federal government hands over the money. When achievement is not up to standard, the federal and state governments expect them to focus on how they can improve public education standards.”
Back the hell up. Schools that are doing poorly get cut off from federal aid.
Friday, August 13, 2010
The Kingman Case: Private Prison Politics
August 13, 2010
Globe-Miami Times
The Private Prison sales pitch finds a receptive audience among small, economically challenged communities who want to find jobs and a way of paying the light bill at City Hall. Or, perhaps more to the point in the case of Globe – a way of getting a new sewer line for the NW Corridor.
Yet, it turns out the sales pitch is does not give the whole story.
The Information Highway goes both ways
Consider the information provided by the Prison Policy Initiative, a non-profit, non-partisan organization which researches and documents prison policy. They report that in spreading the gospel of privatization, our friends at Corrections Corp of America (James Parkey) and its competitors (Emerald Companies, Management & Training Corp (Kingman),Cornell and others)”… have used a small body of professional literature that purports to approve the superiority of for-profit corrections. What they fail to mention is that much of this literature has been written by analysts who are either being funded by the industry or have an ideological predisposition in favor of privatization.”
What were murderers doing in Kingman?
In the effort to package their message to local communities who are more open to warehousing the “not so violent” residents are often told by the pitch men, “Prisoners housed in private facilities are far less likely to be convicted of serious or violent offenses, or to have high medical and mental health needs,than prisoners housed in public facilities used to generate cost comparisons.”
In actuality, PPI reports, Public prisoners were seven times as likely to be serving time for violent offenses, three times as likely to be serving time for serious offenses and twice as likely to have high medical needs than those housed in private facilities.
You need look no further for proof of this than our own example here in Arizona recently, when 3 murderers escaped last week, from the 1400 bed facility in Kingman which was approved in 2004 by voters as a minimum to medium security prison to house DUI and Substance Abuse Cases!
According to Management & Training Corporation – the needs of the DOC “expanded.”
Next week, we will look at the issue of funding and how that plays out in the debate over Private Prisons. You know that saying, “Freedom isn’t Free”? Well, Neither are Private Prisons.
Globe-Miami Times
The Private Prison sales pitch finds a receptive audience among small, economically challenged communities who want to find jobs and a way of paying the light bill at City Hall. Or, perhaps more to the point in the case of Globe – a way of getting a new sewer line for the NW Corridor.
Yet, it turns out the sales pitch is does not give the whole story.
The Information Highway goes both ways
Consider the information provided by the Prison Policy Initiative, a non-profit, non-partisan organization which researches and documents prison policy. They report that in spreading the gospel of privatization, our friends at Corrections Corp of America (James Parkey) and its competitors (Emerald Companies, Management & Training Corp (Kingman),Cornell and others)”… have used a small body of professional literature that purports to approve the superiority of for-profit corrections. What they fail to mention is that much of this literature has been written by analysts who are either being funded by the industry or have an ideological predisposition in favor of privatization.”
What were murderers doing in Kingman?
In the effort to package their message to local communities who are more open to warehousing the “not so violent” residents are often told by the pitch men, “Prisoners housed in private facilities are far less likely to be convicted of serious or violent offenses, or to have high medical and mental health needs,than prisoners housed in public facilities used to generate cost comparisons.”
In actuality, PPI reports, Public prisoners were seven times as likely to be serving time for violent offenses, three times as likely to be serving time for serious offenses and twice as likely to have high medical needs than those housed in private facilities.
You need look no further for proof of this than our own example here in Arizona recently, when 3 murderers escaped last week, from the 1400 bed facility in Kingman which was approved in 2004 by voters as a minimum to medium security prison to house DUI and Substance Abuse Cases!
According to Management & Training Corporation – the needs of the DOC “expanded.”
Next week, we will look at the issue of funding and how that plays out in the debate over Private Prisons. You know that saying, “Freedom isn’t Free”? Well, Neither are Private Prisons.
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