Political Horizons for Sept. 13, 2009

• By MARK BALLARD
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Sep 13, 2009

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President Barack Obama last week described a private health system that fails to provide basic care for a large number of people, and offers limited choices for those who can afford insurance.

On a national level, the pendulum seems to have swung from the abuses of privatization of traditional government functions — health care, Iraqi security and the near-collapse of the economy — toward a more hands-on approach by elected officials.

Ever contrarian, Louisiana appears to be racing in the opposite direction toward spending tax dollars to hire private companies to provide government services. At least, that’s the reading many have taken from the ongoing hearings of the Commission on Streamlining Government.

The 10-member panel is made up of state legislators (no Democrats), government officials, private businessmen who have donated to Republican causes, a member of organized labor and a lobbyist for a nonprofit public policy group. They — and another 11 non-voting members serving on five subcommittees — are looking for ways to cut the budget by downsizing government without harming the quality of services.

State Treasurer John Kennedy, who chairs one of the commission’s subcommittees, said last week, “There are some people who believe in privatization as an ideology: Everything ought to be privatized. I don’t agree with that. For me, it’s a product of the numbers. If you can do it cheaper, then do it.”

Kennedy and other commission members say that privatization is but one strategy being considered and only for specific functions where it would make economic sense.

Still, perhaps my cynicism can be forgiven. Though proponents of different points of view are testifying, commission members are receiving advice from consultants who advocate privatizing government services.

Consider the Reason Foundation, a consultant for the commission. The Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization says it advances “free minds and free markets” and promotes libertarian principles. Its Web site posts numerous articles that attack Obama, including one posted Thursday that is subtitled “Free enterprise is the solution to our fiscal emergency.”

Its board of trustees is composed, primarily, of financiers, but includes a professor of economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., which is providing other advisers to Louisiana’s streamlining efforts.

Barry Erwin, another subcommittee chairman, said, “What you’re seeing, in terms of some of what this commission is talking about and some of what the consultants are talking about, is trying to figure out what are those core things that government ought to be doing itself and what are the things that they ought to pay for somebody to do.”

Erwin is president and chief executive officer of the Baton Rouge-based Council for A Better Louisiana, a nonprofit organization that says it works “on issues of public interest.”

CABL’s board is composed primarily of big firm lawyers and executives from large companies within the state.

When officials in other states began looking at how to streamline their governments, their first step was to define the core functions of government. Hawaii, for instance, built its 2002 streamlining efforts around maintaining “a strong, viable economy” and “a desired physical environment.” North Carolina included a statewide highway system and a social services safety net.