[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Structural Sacred Cows 6

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Structural Sacred Cows 6
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1237258470.shtml


   Let's examine another Sacred Cow from the Star Tribune opinion piece
   by local attorney Gregg J. Cavanagh.
    1. Cut the size of the Legislature.
    2. Eliminate the education monopoly.
    3. Turn off the welfare magnet.
    4. Place a moratorium on light-rail projects.
    5. Reduce or eliminate the corporate income tax.
    6. Outsource whenever possible.
       "Law enforcement should be performed by state employees. Most
       other tasks should be evaluated for possible outsourcing. If let
       competitively, rather than simply assigned to ever-growing state
       departments staffed by union employees, most tasks could be
       performed more cheaply by the private sector."
    7. Repeal the prevailing wage law.
    8. Ban project labor agreements.
    9. Stop trying to run everything.

   My favorite example of this is the Minnesota Association of
   Professional Employees ("MAPE"), a union representing over 25,000
   state employees. You may remember that MAPE went on strike in 2001,
   shortly after the 9/11 attack, which drew criticism even from the
   left.
   I remember reading a Minneapolis Star Tribune breakdown of all the
   disparate professions MAPE represented. I remember thinking how odd
   this was for a union. They only tie that bound was that they drew
   government paychecks. I also remember noting that every one of the
   many listed professions in the article provide services readily
   available in the private sector. Based on the article, there was no
   reason for any of these people to be government employees.
   Assuming this hasn't changed since then, these jobs should be
   outsourced, opened to competitive bidding. MAPE would be free to
   continue representing such employees, of course, so this isn't union
   busting per se.
   ***
   A related thought is school bus transportation. Some districts own and
   staff their own fleets, like Robbinsdale and Minneapolis. Others like
   Osseo outsource with companies like Laidlaw Education Services.
   I won't pretend to know which is ultimately cheaper, certainly not on
   a district by district basis. But having watched my own District 281,
   I have a nagging feeling that even if it were slightly more expensive,
   maybe we'd be better off outsourcing it.
   The reason I say that is that it seems like we're continually fine
   tuning the schedule to save money. That's an honorable goal, but it
   seems that we're setting school hours to meet this need, not what
   actually might best, grade by grade. Private operators with larger
   fleets or more flexible staffing may be able to provide the optimum
   starting times with comparable costs. But fundamentally, we elect
   School Boards and hire Superintendents to educate our children, not
   transport them.
   Getting back to the general point, we all tend to be better buyers
   than builders in most areas. We may not know a thing about brewing
   beer but we know what we like and what we're willing to pay for it.
   Define what you want, solicit bids, award contracts, and review the
   results periodically. Focus on your primary mission, your core
   competencies. Don't waste your time and money trying to be proficient
   in someone else's.