The Rick Scott Agenda?

[north miami]

and now...Scott's pick to lead DEP....

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/scott-picks-shipbuilding-executive-to-head-environmental-protection-agency/1143334

I am reminded of a heated conversation between regulator and regulated-an outright argument really-overheard while plying a state resource agency hallway.It struck me that I would not be welcome in this unescorted,on my own mode in a building within the bowels of an Agency I as the public owned.But what the heck-such ruthlessness pays off.

The choice is really quite perfect,simply a reflection of the long established world of "Environmental" law,Planner & Consultant.Lewis,Longman & Walker,Wade Hopping,Sector Plan,ghost Beltway,flawed River Advocacy/Rodman Reservoir/River Alliance/Jim King,Trust for Public Lands politics personified.Mix the agencies indeed!The behind the scenes buzz,unseen and unknown to most,now emerges like a summer Florida sunrise.This scene too shall set.And the 'press' will reference 'environmentalists" which includes a vast grouping of Floridians both inside and outside of government not typically imagined.The real needs and call for stewardship will ultimately always prevail.
Interesting to see the slight twists afforded via the Times Union vs. The Miami Herald.Jacksonville RiverKeepr poised as conciliatory in the FTU piece while the MH piece quoted a more clearly differentiated Riverkeeper.

[finehoe]

Is it just me, or does Rick Scott sound like Porky Pig when he speaks?

[BridgeTroll]

Sigh... such is the price of apathy...

[CS Foltz]

His Inaugural speech was a thing of beauty...........Porky Pig would more than likely be more presice! Could be just me since I did not vote for him.....but have yet to see anything concrete voiced about the 700K jobs he was talking about and as to streamlining government, when it happens I will believe it but not before!

[tufsu1]

I do agree CS....but to be fair, his plan is 700,000 new jobs over 7 years...so he has time!

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I do agree CS....but to be fair, his plan is 700,000 new jobs over 7 years...so he has time!

and probably hedging his number on the economy turning around a bit on its own.

[north miami]

Oh yea!..............a 'return' to 'normal',where developers and schemers develop raw land,impacting marine resources and buying expensive fishing boats with the profits.Speculative land purchases,used as very temporary hunting preserve in the face of "inevitable" development that the land owners coordinate,hanging around the campfire complaining of 'dem enviro extremists!

Perhaps we can not afford 700,000 new jobs..................

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

that wasn't normal either, just the other end of the spectrum.

[urbanlibertarian]

Glad to see the Gov and the legislature want to privatize prisons to save taxpayer money, but apparently they need to get better at it.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/08/unf-prisons-expert-blasts-state-privatization-proposal.html

UNF prisons expert blasts state privatization proposal
posted by khaughney on August, 23 2011 4:34 PM


TALLAHASSEE â€" A University of North Florida criminology expert who specializes in prison privatization issues is blasting the state’s privatization plans for facilities in an 18-county area of South Florida.

Michael Hallett, chair of UNF’s criminology program and author of Private Prisons in America, completed an unsolicited assessment of the state’s call for vendors, which he then sent to Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Appropriations subcommittee and an opponent of privatization.

“There are so many serious problems with this RFP that it is not easy to digest in one document,” he wrote in the memo he sent to Fasano.

Hallett, who has testified before several state Legislatures about privatization, called the state’s plans a “huge rush to judgment,” and said that multiple problems existed, including the possibility that the program could cost the state more money instead of saving it dollars. The biggest problem, he said, is that the the state indicates that it favors awarding the contract for 18 counties to a single vendor.

The request for proposal reads: A contract will be awarded to one proposer. The term of the prospective contract will be five (5) years with one five (5) year renewal available.

Hallett argues that this would favor an industry already dominated by just a few companies, making it difficult to create cost efficiencies.

“It renders the state subject to captivity once the contract is awarded, by giving one corporation so much power and control over such a significant segment of the state budget,” he said. “You can’t turn this around on a moments notice.”

The state’s privatization plans have been in the spotlight for the past several weeks. The Department of Corrections admitted that it was possible the state could lose money in the privatization process. Then Gov. Rick Scott’s office had the DOC pull back calls for proposals to run the prison’s health care system. The authority that ensures that the state is providing adequate medical care to inmates had to close its doors because the Legislature provided it no money in the budget, despite a statutory requirement that the organization exist. And most recently, Scott’s office pressured the Department of Corrections to end a contract with Betty Gondles, who was overseeing the health care privatization because her husband runs the only organization that accredits state prison medical services, and the contracts would have required that the medical service company hired by the state to be evaluated and pay dues to that association.

[finehoe]

Private Prisons are a scam:

Are Florida's Private Prisons Keeping Their Promises? by the Florida Centre for Fiscal and Economic Policy - notes that while there is a difference in headline annual incarceration costs - $17,216 for a private prison vs $18,980 for a public facility - this cost is largely the result of private prisons being newer and handling lower-security inmates. If the government built a new low-security prison, it would receive those "savings" too. Beyond that, it finds that the procurement process means that it is very difficult to determine what, if any, savings are being delivered; there are no actual costs computed for parts of the public system, so they just can't tell if the legally required 7% saving is being delivered or not.

[Ocklawaha]

Private Prisons are a scam:

Are Florida's Private Prisons Keeping Their Promises? by the Florida Centre for Fiscal and Economic Policy - notes that while there is a difference in headline annual incarceration costs - $17,216 for a private prison vs $18,980 for a public facility - this cost is largely the result of private prisons being newer and handling lower-security inmates. If the government built a new low-security prison, it would receive those "savings" too. Beyond that, it finds that the procurement process means that it is very difficult to determine what, if any, savings are being delivered; there are no actual costs computed for parts of the public system, so they just can't tell if the legally required 7% saving is being delivered or not.

It's worse then that Finehoe, private prisons are an industry. Think about that folks, they want to bust your 15 year old for a can of beer or a joint because it feeds the industry. Making criminals out of law abiding citizens pays big dividends, keep them rotating through the system jail-probabtion-violate-jail-probation etc. pays even more.
IMO - Prisons should be state and federal institutions, ugly places that are rarely used and that house only people with a harmful criminal intent.

OCKLAWAHA

[avonjax]

This is just another scam to make a small number of people rich off the taxpayers dime. And we cry about Welfare and food stamps...Just saying

[FayeforCure]

This is just another scam to make a small number of people rich off the taxpayers dime. And we cry about Welfare and food stamps...Just saying

Yup, corporate welfare!

Penny wise and pound foolish.

[JeffreyS]

Profit driven projects are always trying to get more customers.  Why would a profit driven prison try to rehabilitate a person so they would not come back.  Customer retention is a big deal in my office. I bet a profit driven prison would be more likely to set higher standards of good behavior to keep the parolee level down.

I do not know that any of these practices are happening except as a business owner I know these things are happening.

[Garden guy]

And how many more days do we have to put up with this republican thief?