Privatization

By Raymond Scalettar The Centers for Disease Control has weighed in very publicly in the debate surrounding the privatization of state liquor stores in Pennsylvania, suggesting that privatization would harm public health. The studies CDC cites as evidence, however, do not support that claim. Robert Brewer, who leads the alcohol program in the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, has repeatedly pointed to a review by CDC's Community Task Force.

A largely Republican cadre of business leaders and political power-brokers will have Gov. Corbett's ear as he develops policies about whether to sell the state's liquor stores, roads, bridges, and other assets to private industry. Corbett named his 23-member Advisory Council on Privatization and Innovation on Thursday. "This panel will further evaluate potential privatization, public-private partnerships, or managed-competition opportunities with the ultimate goal of streamlining government and saving taxpayers' dollars," Corbett said in a statement.

Unionized city workers and others protest outside the health center at 43rd Street and Chester Avenue yesterday. The protesters oppose Mayor Rendell's plan to privatize operations of the Philadelphia Nursing Home and one of the city's district health centers. The targeted health center is rumored to be the one at 43rd and Chester.

It's a simple, critical, and sobering question at the heart of the debate over privatizing state liquor stores: Will Pennsylvanians drink more booze if sales are wrested from government control? Advocates say liquor privatization would mean more convenience, better selection, and lower prices. But public-health experts say reducing the government's role in alcohol sales comes with a potentially harmful downside - people buy more of the alcoholic beverage that is privatized. In 2011, the Community Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group appointed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommended against privatization "based on strong evidence that privatization results in increased per-capita alcohol consumption.

It's finally come - privatization that will cost city workers their jobs. The Rendell administration has signed an agreement with Episcopal Hospital to take over operation of the Philadelphia Nursing Home, at at Girard and Corinthian avenues, which serves indigent patients, some of whom have AIDS. Any of the 350 workers now employed at the nursing home who want to stay there will have to work for the new operators. The city's contract with Episcopal preserves the workers' pay, but permits the reduction of some fringe benefits.

An editor friend likes to talk about the Drawer of Durable Headlines, which include such newsroom favorites as "Tensions Rise in Middle East," "Mumia Seeks New Trial," and "Pa. Republicans Push to Privatize Liquor Sales. " Earlier this week, it looked as though we could retire that last headline for the summer, as GOP legislators failed to count enough votes to bring their latest proposal to scuttle the State Stores to a vote on the House floor. For three hours Monday, legislators debated the pros and cons of the issue — the first time in Pennsylvania it got that far. But conversation stopped, and the measure seemed to be bottled until at least after summer break.

Privatization - the use of private and nonprofit organizations for the delivery of public services - can be an effective tool for public administrators if, like any tool, it is used properly. The report issued by President Reagan's Commission on Privatization does a disservice to the concept and undermines public management at all levels of government. The commission's report suggests wholesale changes in the delivery of governmental services. Among its recommendations, it calls for the elimination of the postal service's monopoly, the use of vouchers in education and housing and the selling off of assets.

Remember privatization? The conservative cure-all for government inefficiency, the curse of municipal unions, the hot campaign issue? Some business leaders grumble that Mayor Rendell seems to have forgotten the idea. Not so. Private bids were opened last week for City Hall custodial service and art museum security, and contract awards will follow soon. Bids have been sought on two other functions - trash transfer stations and medical services at the Riverview Home for the Aged - and the city has formally notified its unions that it has run preliminary numbers for 20 other services it may privatize, eliminating 1,700 jobs.

It's nice to have some big friends if you're headed for a rumble, but you'd better check to make sure they're behind you. City blue-collar union president James Sutton said yesterday that City Council President John Street was "without a doubt" on his side in fighting any attempt to privatize weekly trash collection. "Not exactly," Street said in an interview a few hours later. Street said he generally favors keeping trash collection in public hands, but said he's "prepared to take a look at" any privatization scheme Mayor Rendell proposes.

Six of the eight mayoral candidates were quizzed on privatization, municipal services and city finances by an eclectic and enthusiastic crowd of 200 last night on Rittenhouse Square. The forum, sponsored by a coalition of labor and community activists, was one of three major events on the candidates' circuit last night. Steady rain and gusty winds did not deter voters from coming out to learn more about the three Republican and five Democratic candidates. About 500 people turned out for a political rally for women at the Civic Center and an estimated 250 residents of Park Towne Place met with candidates at their high-rise apartment complex on Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

A local unit of drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has a central role in a $200 million public-private project announced Wednesday to develop antibiotics against biological terrorism and treat drug-resistant infections in health-care settings around the world. The U.S. government will pay Glaxo $40 million in the first 18 months, and, if the project is on track, $160 million more over five years. Glaxo will contribute more of its own money to the project. Glaxo is one of the few big pharmaceutical companies that still works on antibiotics.

HARRISBURG - When it comes to selling alcohol in Pennsylvania, this much is clear: No one agrees on how best to do it. That lack of consensus was on display Tuesday in the second of three hearings before the Senate Law and Justice Committee, which is considering a hotly contested bill to privatize liquor sales. Witnesses represented sellers - beer distributors, supermarkets, hotels, bars, restaurants. Each wants something different from privatization, or "modernization," as some call it. And from the questions asked, some senators are still struggling with how to change the system without jeopardizing the livelihoods of those who run their businesses according to current laws.

In the last 30 months, five U.S. cities have turned to private management companies to run their respective convention centers, among them Detroit and Chicago. Philadelphia and Los Angeles are now looking to do the same. Requests for proposals to manage the Convention Center are due at 5 p.m. Friday. Turning to privatization to handle key convention center functions has everything to do with the need to run these complexes as if they were five-star hotels, said some industry experts.

HARRISBURG - Liquor privatization is bad. That seemed to be the sum total of testimony Tuesday at the first of three hearings in the state Senate on Gov. Corbett's push to get Pennsylvania out of the liquor business. The hearing in the Law and Justice Committee focused on the impact privatization would have on public health and law enforcement. Witnesses from the union for state troopers, who enforce liquor laws, and from drug and alcohol prevention and treatment groups said privatizing would lead to more liquor outlets, more drinking, and more alcohol-related crime and violence.

HARRISBURG - On the eve of key hearings on Gov. Corbett's liquor privatization push, the top Republican in the state Senate is making no promises that his chamber will kick out a privatization bill any time soon. President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) said Monday that everyone in the Capitol had become fixated on getting such a bill passed before the legislature's summer break even though little work had been done on other major, time-sensitive initiatives, such as the budget.

By Raymond Scalettar The Centers for Disease Control has weighed in very publicly in the debate surrounding the privatization of state liquor stores in Pennsylvania, suggesting that privatization would harm public health. The studies CDC cites as evidence, however, do not support that claim. Robert Brewer, who leads the alcohol program in the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, has repeatedly pointed to a review by CDC's Community Task Force.

TRENTON - Democrats finally had an opportunity Thursday to question - and criticize - Republican Gov. Christie's treasurer about the partial privatization of the state lottery. But it appears there is little Democrats can do to stop it. Barring the plan being struck down by a judge or deemed illegal by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, a private consortium known as Northstar New Jersey will take over marketing and sales of the $2.8 billion lottery. The lottery, which provided $950 million last year to state programs, would still be overseen by the state.

It's a simple, critical, and sobering question at the heart of the debate over privatizing state liquor stores: Will Pennsylvanians drink more booze if sales are wrested from government control? Advocates say liquor privatization would mean more convenience, better selection, and lower prices. But public-health experts say reducing the government's role in alcohol sales comes with a potentially harmful downside - people buy more of the alcoholic beverage that is privatized. In 2011, the Community Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group appointed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommended against privatization "based on strong evidence that privatization results in increased per-capita alcohol consumption.

HARRISBURG - Let the liquor hearings begin. The first of what will likely be three state Senate hearings on a controversial bill to privatize Pennsylvania's government-run wine and liquor stores has been scheduled for next Tuesday in the Capitol - and it is bound to be telling. That the bill has few ardent fans in the Senate is no secret. Republicans who control the chamber have strongly signaled they are leaning toward modernizing, rather than privatizing, the State-Store system.

I'll bet that flying means to you roughly what it does to me: battling seat pockets that eat knee space. Emptying your inner life into plastic trays. Far above the clouds, another, better world exists: It's a paradise of infinite legroom and no one around to pat you down preflight. In fact, as a passenger in a private jet, you call the shots, even when it comes to buckling seatbelts. Celebrities and Romney-class politicians know this well. And so do I - since a business-owning pal let me fly aboard a JetSuite Embraer Phenom 100 from Providence, R.I., to New York.