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In order to make sure
Union County taxpayers are fully informed of the facts on a new jail, and
not left holding the bill for another overblown project by its current
county political leaders, we have researched and found the following
information which the fiscal court refuses to consider.
From the 2005 Kentucky State Auditors figures:
Union Co. had 18,250 inmate days at a cost of $42.15 per day. That
equals $769,237 The fiscal court, through taxpayer dollars, paid $750,567
of this cost.
Henderson Co. cost per day including debt service was $29. They lost
$420,000. Davies Co.
cost per day including debt service was $23. Christian
Co. cost per day
$20.
One recommendation by the Kentucky Dept. of Corrections (DOC) is for a
bigger jail, but with a joint venture with at least 3 other counties. The
DOC pays less than $31/inmate/day to counties for state prisoners housed in
county jails. All new jails are built on the hopes of getting state
prisoners. But the DOC states it WILL NOT GUARANTEE state prisoners to any
county or regional jail, or their length of stay. The Governor’s Office for Local Development (GOLD)
states that Union County is at its bonding cap with a new jail. It would
have to raise taxes to fund a new jail. Bond re-payments would be at least
20 years, with an estimated $1 million per year in payments.
Hopkins County (Madisonville) jail has 390 beds, and was built 5 years
ago. It was also designed by
JKS Architecture firm. Hopkins Co. officials were told they would make over
$250,000 a year in net profits by building a new jail of this size. They
have lost money 4 of the 5 years and broke even one year. The jail cost to
taxpayers was $1.6 million in 2005 (state auditors report), including their
annual bond payment of nearly 1 million dollars.
The
state has never supplied enough inmates to the Hopkins Co. facility to
attain full capacity. They house approximately 150 prisoners from within
their county, the same number they did before building the new jail, plus
some state prisoners. Because of this, they county is preparing to spend
additional funds to try and meet federal standards required to house
federal inmates, in order to fill their jail, and better meet their debt
obligations. Hopkins Co. currently
has a class-action lawsuit against it, similar to the one against Franklin
Co. that was for $6 million. The suit is for illegal strip searches, even
though they followed DOC procedures.
Information obtained from the state auditors office, and the Trigg
County jail shows that Trigg Co. fiscal court voted to close its jail as of
March 31, 2006. It contracted
with Christian County at a rate of $25/inmate/day. This will cut the cost
to Trigg Co. taxpayers in half. Their jailer became the transport officer
as of April, 1, 2006.
Crittenden County is currently preparing to build a 133 bed jail. We
have spoken with their Judge-Executive, Fred Brown, and their jailer, Rick
Riley. They are offering to house prisoners from neighboring counties such
as Union, at a rate of $22/day, or $25/day if they handle the
transportation of prisoners. This contract rate would save Union County
taxpayers between $294,317 to $349,067 a year, depending on which option
and corresponding rate was charged. (based on 2005 state auditor figures,
U.C. jail cost/loss).
Kentucky State Auditors Office has stated, “Counties operating at a
huge loss can not build a larger jail to lower inmate cost and simply
expect to turn a profit. It all comes down to management” Union County
jail loss/cost to taxpayers is over $750,000/yr.
CONCLUSION
It is highly
profitable for consulting and architectural firms to build jails at county
taxpayers expense. But the facts show that once built profits are rare, if
ever. State Auditors 2005 reports shows that only 8 jails made money in
Ky last year, and all of those
jails were at least 120% overcrowded. With the state wanting to take
over the county jail systems, shouldn’t we be asking why are county leaders
in the current and past administrations pushing for a big, new jail when
they say we had no funds and needed an occupational tax? Who will financially benefit
from building a new jail here?
Certainly not the taxpayers.
(All facts and figures were obtained from the following: Ky state auditors office, Ky Dept.
of Corrections, Governors Office for Local Development, Hopkins Co.
Judge-Executives office and Hopkins Co. treasurer, Crittenden Co.
Judge-Executive Fred Brown, and Crittenden Co. jailer Rick Riley.)
Jail Loss/Tax
RISING JAIL LOSS LED TO OCCUPATIONAL TAX
As the old
saying goes, you may not like it but sooner or later you have to face the
facts. This statement holds
true concerning our ongoing jail situation. It is the same situation that has now spanned three
judge-executives, and the nearly $1 million a year loss goes on.
As long as
this jail situation has been kicked around, and as many people that have
stated their opinion in the local papers, and tried to put their spin on
the situation, the basic facts always remain the same. The
huge loss at the Union County Jail is due to the cost of employment. This cost of employees that continues
to escalate year after year is clearly evident in the jail revenue and
expenditures financial statement that can be obtained by anyone either
directly from the county, or by contacting the state auditor’s office (as
we did) by phone or the information can be viewed via their web address at
www.auditor.ky.gov
The
following figures are taken from the jail financial statement cost of
employee section for the years 2002 through 2006.
________________________________________________
2002
2006
Jailer Salary
$62,453
$65,474
Deputies Salaries $241,089
$310,000
FICA
$22,208
$29,000
Retirement
$17,992
$32,000
Group Insurance
$73,968
$147,050
Workmans Comp.
$3,435 $13,493
ญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญ_________________________________________________
Total cost
to operate the jail in 2002 was $636,315, and in 2006 it was $862,957. Total income by the jail was
$156,982 in 2002, and $134,055 in 2006. Thus leaving a net operating loss of nearly
three-quarters of a million dollars.
Union
County is not alone in having a huge loss in it’s jail operation. However, most counties that are
similar in population to Union have net losses of less than half of Union’s
amount. The other big
difference is many have closed their jails and contracted with a
neighboring county and saved nearly half of what they were losing. And it did not take them 3 plus
years to make this decision. A
case in point to this was uncovered when we were directed to contact Trigg
County last spring. Trigg
County Fiscal Court voted to close their jail effective March 31, 2006, as
they had contracted with Christian County for $25/day to house their
prisoners. Our conversations
with Trigg County jailer/transport officer Glen Cunningham in mid-March,
and again in late April of 2006 revealed that their economic development
director had found jobs for 8 of the 10 jail deputies at local businesses
and nearby factories. Two
deputies, that were both over 60 years old, were retained at part-time
status at a rate of $12/hour.
THE LESLIE COUNTY
INCIDENT
On
February 14, 2007 one of our contacts in Frankfort called to tell us of a
meeting that had just taken place in Leslie County, Kentucky over their new
jail. We made our usual calls
during the following week to the state offices that were involved in the
meeting, and eventually to newly elected county judge-executive Jim
Sizemore (R). All confirmed
the following information.
Judge Sizemore called the special meeting of the auditor’s office,
the department of corrections (DOC), and the Governor’s Office for Local
Development (GOLD) to ask if
Leslie County (pop. 12,500) had to open the new 150 bed, $8 million jail
that would be completed in the summer of 2007. Leslie County had closed it’s jail in 2003 and currently
transports it’s average of 12 prisoners to Clay County. After taking office in January,
Judge Sizemore knew it would be cheaper not to open the jail, as it could
possibly break the county. He
had contacted the state, as well as Corrections Corporation of American
(one of the largest prison operators) to see if they would buy or rent the
new facility as a regional jail. Both turned him down, as there is already
other large jails in neighboring counties. Sound familiar? Judge-Executive Sizemore was told by the
GOLD officials he did not have to open the new jail, but still had to make
the bond payments, and that the state would not bale him out.
Judge
Sizemore read us a letter over the phone he had received from D.O.C. Deputy
Commissioner Kelly White after the meeting. The letter contained the following statements; If Leslie County were to
achieve and maintain full capacity on it’s 150 bed facility it would still
lose $600 to $800 thousand dollars a year, due to operational costs (cost
of employment). The D.O.C. has
no need for extra bed space at this time, as there was now a surplus of
county bed space in the state. The letter further stated that a facility of at least
300 beds filled to capacity would be required to reach a financial
breakeven point. This is consistent
with what the DOC and the auditor’s office has been saying for over two
years. This does not mean a
county should build a 300 bed jail!
In order
to meet their debt obligations to the state for the new jail, whether they
open it or not, the Leslie County Fiscal Court is in the process of
installing a 5% tax on insurance sold in the county to meet the bond
re-payment.
CFGA INVOLVEMENT
In the
early spring of 2006, Citizens for Government Accountability (CFGA) began
to investigate the jail issue and the occupational tax. In order to educate ourselves and
obtain the facts concerning county jails, the first calls made were to the
state auditor’s office, and to D.O.C. Commissioner John Reese, and Deputy
Commissioner Kelly White. We
learned from the initial phone call to the DOC that they had facilitated a
meeting in 2004 between Union, Crittenden, and Livingston Counties. The
meeting concerned the jail issues and the possibility of building a
regional jail between these counties.
In this meeting, Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown made the offer to all
counties that surrounded Crittenden to house their prisoners for $22/day if
they transported them, or $25/day if Crittenden County transported the
prisoners. This information
was confirmed by our first conversation with Judge Brown.
CFGA
members made this information public via the handout “Independent Jail
Facts”. Since it became public, several magistrates, other elected
officials, and their supporters have tried to discredit the existence of
this offer from Crittenden County. This offer could easily be obtained
or used to negotiate with other neighboring counties. Embarrassment over not having
all the facts, or not wanting the public to know all the facts, and
possible job protection, are the most likely motivators for these
individuals efforts to try and discredit the facts. And we continue
to re-elect and pay these people, and an occupational tax from which they
handout large bonuses from.
$650k Jail Study?
$650,000 FOR
A *#*#*** JAIL STUDY? !!
Ever wonder why every
controversial government project has an overpriced ‘independent’ study that
comes to the pre-determined conclusion the elected officials wanted in the
first place? So it is no
surprise our state tax dollars got wasted on a study for the jail project
too.
State Representative John Arnold was asked, and he delivered
$650,000 for the design and site development of a new jail. If only he had recommended that
county leaders use the state resources at our disposal we already pay for
with our state tax dollars.
The state auditor’s office, the dept. of corrections, and the
G.O.L.D. office are the offices that have all the information and
experience in these matters.
You have to deal with them to do a jail project, or any other
project needing bonding anyway, so why not use them before you waste
$650,000, not after. Shouldn’t Representative Arnold already know this after
all his years as a state representative?
Still the fiscal court moved forward and went through the usual
political dance. They formed
jail study committees, hired the architecture firm JKS, that has designed
many of the new jails in recent years in Western Kentucky. JKS in turn
hired Powell Consulting to write what was a 19 page “needs assessment”,
which states in it’s title page “Prepared for JKS
Architectures/Engineers”. Is
it any surprise that this study would come to any conclusion other than
Union County, or whoever, needs a new jail, and the biggest one they can
afford to build? Any truly
independent consulting report would have included copies as well as referenced reports, and written
statements from the auditor’s office, GOLD officials, and the commissioner
of the DOC. Information from
these offices would have included the positive and negative financial
impact of building a jail, as
well as all other options and their respective costs/benefits. DOC recommendations for state
inmate housing needs in respect to Union County’s location should have been
a must, not an afterthought, when considering building a new jail.
After
learning of this, CFGA Executive-Director J.C. McElroy questioned in a
fiscal court session in March of 2006, the contract with JKS Architecture,
and the proposed contract with Codell Services. It was explained
in fiscal court that JKS would be paid a fee for three different jail size
designs, and a commission of 5
1/2% of the jail construction cost, if a jail was built. However, in the summer of 2006 it
became evident no one had read the contract with JKS before it was signed, as
he sent the county a bill for $591,000 in commission on top of the $40,000
fee he had already been paid in the spring. The contract had stated in effect, JKS would be paid the
commission regardless of whether a jail was built. This is yet another blaring example
of what taxpayers get when voters elect people based on who is most
popular, or the ‘parties choice’, instead of who is best qualified. With a judge-executive,
five magistrates, and a county attorney, someone should have read
the contract before it was signed. The end result;
$631,000 of state taxpayer money spent (wasted) with one firm on 3
jail designs for a new jail the three aforementioned state offices had
already told us at the CFGA, and others, Union County did not need, and
could not afford a new jail without higher taxes.
State
leaders should not be wasting taxpayer dollars and then giving themselves
raises anymore than they should provide and allow local leaders to spend
tax dollars on unneeded projects.
One of the most idiotic statements you will often hear is ‘if politicians are going to waste
tax dollars on something, they might as well do it here.’ Pork barrel spending only leads to
higher taxes in order to maintain these structures, or more pork spending
to keep from raising taxes further.
Isn’t that a form of vote buying?
The next
large project for politicians to waste our tax dollars on is the $200,000
plus for one company to provide broadband internet service in the county to
then charge residents for the service. You can already get it through a
satellite dish, and not one company is going to locate here because of it.
Companies want roads, active rail lines, river terminals, and qualified
workers that can pass a drug test.
Not highspeed internet they can get anywhere via phone or a
dish network. This
$200,000 misappropriation of
our tax dollars is nothing more than corporate special interest compensation
that is being pushed from Frankfort.
Tax Dollars Wasted Again
It was revealed in the
August 2006 fiscal court sessions that elected county officials have been
wasting our tax dollars with their mismanagement once again. This time they don’t even have an
overpriced building with a
politicians name on it to show for it. Our judge-executive and magistrates signed a contract
with JKS Architectural firm for designs on a big, new jail, without knowing
the full details of the contract, or so they claim. Some blame the county attorney for
not reading and explaining the contract to the fiscal court members, others
blame the judge-executive and magistrates for their poor judgment in voting
to sign such a fiscally irresponsible contract. Actually all are to blame. After all they are suppose to be intelligent people we
elected to make wise decisions with our tax dollars. After this bill is paid the
$650,000 state grant will be gone to one firm. This grant money, or “free money”, as one magistrate termed it, is really our
state tax dollars.
Financial mismanagement has gone on too long in this county, and we
are now getting the bill through higher property taxes and an occupational
tax for the overbuilt and overpriced projects of the past administrations. If the voters continue to elect the
same group of people from the political parties then we will only get more
of the same.
THESE ARE YOUR TAX
DOLLARS. SHOULDN’T YOU DEMAND
THEY BE SPENT WISELY.
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Tax Petition (the efforts of cfga director Pete
Van)
UNION COUNTY OCCUPATIONAL TAX
Starting in October 2004, Union County workers were once again
forced to pay more in taxes.
This beast of burden is known as the occupational tax. This tax of .05% was levied against
all employees, businesses, and anyone who derives income in Union
County. If you work here on
salary or by the hour, this percentage was withheld from your check and
sent to an account controlled by the county fiscal court. Businesses and others are billed
at the end of the year.
The reason that was given to the public was a shortfall in the
budget, and increased expenditures to run the county. Given the level of
pork barrel spending in this county over the past ten years this is no
surprise. The penalty for not paying the tax is to this day still
unknown. No one has dared to
ask.
The idea of a new tax raised public concern immediately. Most citizens feared that the
years of large scale building projects done in the county, most unneeded,
had finally depleted the county’s funds. The old saying, ‘if they are going to waste money they might as
well waste it here,’
always comes with a bigger yearly bill to the taxpayers.
The insult to injury came when the local radio station, WMSK,
revealed that the two salaried women in the judge’s office, and the new
county treasurer, who had all volunteered to implement and collect the
tax would each receive a six thousand dollar bonus. ($3,000 each the
first year since the tax was not installed for the full year.) This $18,000 in bonuses to
salaried employees led to a greater uproar over the tax. If the county was nearly broke
and needed a tax, how could Judge-Executive Larry Joe Jenkins and the
magistrates see fit to hand out lavish bonuses at yet again the taxpayers
expense. Wouldn’t any ‘extra’ money be better
spent at the Sheriff’s Department that serves everyone. Not just in the bank accounts of
three people.
It
was also revealed that most of the money collected was being put in the
county jail fund, as it was draining a large portion of the annual budget
of the county. In July of
2005, the fiscal court approved a transfer of over $500,000 to the
jail. Total fiscal court/
taxpayer contribution for that year to the jail to cover it’s operation
was $750,567. (state auditor’s report). It seemed as though the magistrates did not look to
fix the source of the jail problem, but merely threw more taxpayer money
into the problem. Thinking
as all politicians do that it would somehow cure itself.
Letters came into the local paper complaining of the huge loss at
the jail and the bonus pay for the three salaried women in the
courthouse. Most noted that these
were salaried employees, and salaried workers are paid regardless of the
hours they put in or the tasks they are asked to perform. One such letter came from local
factory worker Peter Van, who stated integrity was quickly disappearing
in local politics and people needed to stand up and make a change.
There were a record number of candidates in the May 2006 primary
elections, Van included.
Many candidates asked voters to vote for their financial future, not for
name recognition. Unfortunately,
old habits die hard, and the results are therefore always the same.
After the November election most candidates disappeared as quickly
as ice in the summer, except for two. Mr. Van and Mr. Jack Matthews. The two announced to the public that they were going to circulate a
petition asking the fiscal court to repeal the occupational tax at the
beginning of the next fiscal year. This petition got the attention of the media in the
county. Mr. Matthews said,
“My phone has rung constantly with businesses asking for a copy to
display for signatures.” Mr.
Van had set a goal of 1,000 names, and his first completed page contained
the names of Magistrate Joe Clements, and former Magistrate Bobby
Veatch. The petition was
well received in the community, and by the end of December they had
surpassed their goal and collected over 1,400 signatures.
In
January of 2007, Mr. Van asked to be put on the fiscal court agenda to
present the completed petition.
Mr. Van presented the new Jenkins Administration with a two inch
thick stack of signed petitions against the occupational tax. In a speech before the court, Mr.
Van referred to the occupational tax as “taxation without
representation.” He also
informed the magistrates that the money taken from the paycheck of county
workers could mean the difference between paying the bills, buying a
child new clothes, or going without. He strongly urged the fiscal court members to cut
county expenses, not take money from the hardworking citizens in the form
of another tax. Newly
elected County Judge, Jody Jenkins, informed Mr. Van that when he got the
new budget he would see what he could do. Van told the paper he had also given Judge Jenkins a
written plan with many options on how to end the occupational tax.
“Basically, they need to learn to live within their means,” Van stated. When prompted to reveal the
options he had presented in written form to the court he replied, “I’d
rather give Jody the opportunity to act on them first. But the eighteen thousand dollars
in bonuses needs to go immediately.
No question about it.”
$18k Bonus? (top)
A couple of years ago the
fiscal court in Union County implemented an occupational tax. They cited
reasons such as increased cost of running the county, shortfalls in state
resources and of course the loss of coal severance money. There was a public outcry of how
unfair this was to the average Union County worker, who, like citizens in
Henderson, struggles with the real life problems of trying to survive
with inflation. Well, we
paid or we faced uncertain consequences. Then late last year it was
announced that three ladies in the judge-executives office that had
helped implement this tax had received bonuses of $6,000 apiece, for a
combined total of $18,000. I
along with many other residents and workers here took this as a big
proverbial slap in the face. I voiced my opinion in the letter to the
editor forum of our weekly paper. The public took notice of this and the
outcry began. This
year we had a record number of candidates file for the May primary. We watched as the voters in
Henderson ousted many of the incumbents, in hopes of a better
future. Unfortunately we
didn’t follow your intelligent lead and voted for name recognition, and
against change. This month the
fiscal court voted once again to give the same three ladies $18,000 to
divide amongst themselves. The ladies in all this time have never put in
one hour of overtime, or had to take home work. They were just asked to
incorporate this duty into their normal day. They obviously had that time available. So why such a
bonus? I am a factory worker
who has had to pick up many more duties in the 15 years I have been there
and they never once gave me a $6,000 bonus. How about you? - Peter J. Van - Sturgis, Ky.
HealthCare (top)
HEALTHCARE IN KENTUCKY
- WHAT ABOUT THE
PEOPLE’S NEEDS
In
April of 1994 our friends and neighbors that represent us in the Kentucky
legislature voted into law The Kentucky Healthcare Reform Act, via the
passage of House Bill 250.
They immediately created one of the three worst healthcare systems
in the nation, and some might successfully argue the worst.
Democratic Governor Brereton Jones lobbied for months for the
passage of H.B. 250, which re-wrote the rules for health insurance
providers in Kentucky by instituting government mandates on providing
affordable insurance to highrisk individuals. Healthcare costs would be shifted to the young and
healthy in order to make insurance and healthcare more affordable to the
elderly and terminally ill.
Kentucky’s H.B. 250 healthcare plan was similar to the proposed
national healthcare plan the Clinton administration tried to push through
in 1993. It was know to most
as Hillary Care, as Mrs. Clinton was outspoken in her support for the
measure.
Where the Clinton national healthcare program was heavily
scrutinized in the national media, and got barely a luke warm response
from a democratic congress, Kentucky’s democrats, and few republicans,
pushed ahead with H.B. 250.
Prior to April 1994, and the enactment into law of The Kentucky
Healthcare Reform Act, there were nearly 40 private companies throughout
the state that sold health insurance. Most all of these companies lobbied the legislature
and spoke with a common voice.
The insurance providers told the legislators that the passage of
H.B. 250 would drive insurance rates up not down for the majority of
people, making health insurance even more unaffordable to the middle
class and small businesses.
They all stated if this bill was passed into law their company
would stop selling health insurance in Kentucky and possibly leave the
state altogether.
The legislative supporters of H.B. 250 took strong notice of the
industry’s words, but instead of not passing the bill they began to lobby
the health insurance providers.
In particular, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kentucky, now know as
Anthem. It was most likely
the first time in American political history where a corporation was
actively lobbied by politicians in order to save face over bad policy,
and created a monopoly in the process.
Independent government reports on
healthcare and insurance have shown that as a result of the Kentucky
Healthcare Reform Act more Kentuckians go without health insurance each
year than in previous years.
Simply put, the law left more Kentuckians unable to afford
health insurance. Instead of
controlling insurance costs, H.B. 250 increased them significantly. Instead of having more choices
from a variety of coverage plans from various companies, as was promoted
by it’s legislative supporters, it limited the choice of companies
providing health insurance in Kentucky to one, Anthem Blue Cross/ Shield,
by driving all other health insurance companies out of the state
overnight.
In
the years since it’s enactment, many have alikend it’s results to nothing
more than the Kentucky legislature throwing out all but one health
insurance company, putting up a prison fence around Kentucky’s border,
and telling it’s citizens if they want health insurance you have one
choice, like it or not, you can either afford it or not.
Health insurance has always been an item of choice, either to have
or not. But after the
enactment of H.B. 250 it became
a luxury item few could truly afford. But in true political fashion, our state representatives
and senators, who are part-time employees of the state, have voted
themselves the benefits of full-time status. Voting themselves lavish pensions and full healthcare
at taxpayer expense. So they have never felt the true bite of rising
health insurance cost they created.
Some tout a variety of solutions to ‘fix’ the system. Vouchers, tax credits, and most
recently medical savings accounts.
None of these are solutions to anything. They are not even a bandage on the problem. All of the aforementioned amount
to nothing more than the tail trying to wag the dog. They do however offer hope to a
very select few who can barely afford health insurance. Tax credits and medical savings
accounts do make it slightly more affordable to those borderline few.
The real problem with health insurance in this state is lack of
competition. Due to
government regulations on forcing insurance providers to cover high risk
individuals at lower than normal rates. In a broader sense, statewide and nationally, the
problem is much deeper.
Political influence from the medical industry and big drug
companies guarantees political favoritism that always comes at the
people’s best interest and expense.
The Kentucky Healthcare Reform Act (KHRA) was a failure even
before it was enacted into law.
Then and now, other states, and the nation, look upon our health
insurance system as a standard of what not to do, and the dire costs to
the citizens and businesses it brought with it. Is it any wonder that few new businesses want to
re-locate here. Initially,
the KHRA allowed for businesses with 200 or more employees that had a
headquarters outside the state to insure their employees through
out-of-state insurers. This
undoubtedly kept large employers from dropping employee health insurance, or leaving the state
altogether. If all Kentuckians were allowed to
buy health insurance from a neighboring state such as Indiana, Illinois,
or Tennessee, they would find they would be able to buy the same
coverage, receive a cheaper deductible, and save up to one-third on their
current monthly premium. And
people in those states think they have high insurance rates. But by Kentucky law, the average
citizen can not do this, and you can not even get a price quote if you
call an out-of-state insurer and tell them you live in Kentucky.
It
is truly disgraceful those we elect would continue to put such bad policy
upon us, and continually blame others in the legislature for it, while
taking their insurance at our expense. It is even more disgraceful that we continue to
re-elect them, and call them friends.
Energy Rates
UTILITY MONOPOLIES PLUS
POLITICAL CONNECTIONS EQUAL RATE INCREASES
Doesn’t
it seem that no matter how hard you try to save on your monthly utility
bill the energy savings are eaten up by more fees and surcharges. The most recent fee is the
monthly customer charge. As
if it is suppose to be a privilege to do business with a government
created and protected monopoly.
Sounds like a bad story line from a socialist government not a
free market society.
Utility companies would have us believe electricity was only
discovered recently and their territories and profits should be protected
by law to ensure their companies survival. And they are. All state and national energy boards are filled with current or
former executives from all the major utility providers, i.e. big oil,
coal, natural gas, propane, and the electrical companies. Paying millions of dollars
each year to both political parties is how they gain a seat at the very
board that will create the regulations for the government regulators to
follow in regulating their own industry. It is the equivalent of the fox making
the rules as to how you can guard the hen house.
On
December 4, 2006 Citizens for Government Accountability (C.F.G.A.) sent a
letter to the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) in regards to
Kentucky Utilities and Kenergy’s customer charges. Specifically the fuel adjustment
charge, environmental surcharge, and customer charge. The letter was made available to
all local media. The letter
cited our concerns of the politicians selling out the best interest of
the consumer they are suppose to represent to the very government
protected monopolies they are suppose to protect the consumer from. The PSC’s response dated December
21, 2006, stated these extra utility charges were, in their words,
“creatures of statute.”
Meaning the utility companies asked for them to be made into law
and they were.
The best solution to the problem would be to breakup the utility
monopolies, and allow for open competition among the companies already in
the state. The Kentucky Division of Energy
states that Kentucky produces 25% more power than it uses per year, and
can produce more. So there
is obviously no shortage of power.
But the utility companies, just like the oil companies, want you
to think there is a shortage.
It helps justify price runups. Remember the breakup of AT&T in the 1980’s. It was considered a
monopoly. And monopolies are
bad for consumers, unless they pay enough to the political parties. Phone service only got better,
not worse. The only bad
thing to come out of that monopoly breakup was a phone call nearly every
night from a new company offering you better service at a lower price.
The big problem is the utility companies love to strike fear into
the consumer’s mind by telling people energy de-regulation would cause
blackouts, poor service, or companies might go broke. This is only self-corporate
monopoly preservation.
Didn’t AT&T make the same claims in the early 1980’s? The utility companies, selected
former employees, or an occasional politician will almost always point to
the energy fiasco in California a few years ago that cost Governor Davis
his job. The truth of that
matter is energy de-regulation was not the cause of their problem. It was the state legislators
allowing a company to try and make a huge profit from taking over the
de-regulated energy industry in California. Which really only traded one monopoly for
another. Only politicians
backed by political parties with their hands out could get away with
something that stupid and corrupt.
All but one anyway.
Hope when you open your next utility or natural gas bill you are
reminded to thank your state representatives for doing nothing on your
behalf once again.
National Issues
POLITICAL PARTIES SELLOUT CITIZEN’S BEST INTERESTS
-- AGAIN
With the
last national election citizens went to the polls with a
throw-out-the-bumbs mentality.
And they did. The only
problem is now the old bumbs that were thrown out in 1994 are back in
power. With two corrupt
political parties that control government to pick from, is it any wonder
that history repeats itself.
And nothing really changes in Washington, not even the rhetoric.
The real problem in Washington, and at the state level of
government, is special interest money. Corporations hire political lobbyists to ‘influence’
elected politicians via large contributions to both political parties,
and special so-called ‘working’ vacations. It is all in the special interest groups quest to
influence, or help write, political policy. And they are successful at doing so. It all amounts to nothing more
than an immoral selloff of the political process at the expense of the
taxpayer/consumer. But this
should not be a surprise since both political parties are controlled by
lawyers, who choose their morals based on how much they stand to
financially gain. Naturally,
they have written the laws and government ethics rules to make this sort
of government policy influenced by large special interest groups legal. It is only immoral when the
national press, which is also now owned by large corporate conglomerates,
decides to expose a particular politician.
Currently the only option the citizens have is to
throw-the-bumbs-out at every election. It won’t keep them honest, but it will keep them on
their toes. The bigger
question is, what is the cost to the taxpayers to let special interest
groups influence political policy?
All one need do is look back at the merger mania of the past
decade that was allowed to happen via industry lobbyists.
Starting
in the mid-1990’s, the top 14 oil companies merged into 5 companies. The major stockholders, i.e. the
CEO’s and the corporate directors, made off like bandits. It gained the merged companies
greater control of the oil supply, which is not, and seldom has been, in
short supply relative to world consumption. Which is in contrast to what the industry would like
us to believe. In the early
part of this decade Wallstreet commodity and investment firms saw their
opportunity in the oil market.
They lobbied for and got more relaxed commodity trading laws. Oil is no longer priced for the
market on it’s actual cash price based on true supply and demand, but on
it’s speculative commodity futures price. Which is just that. A traded commodity on paper based on speculation, not
on fact. We all have felt
the full impact at the pump and in heating our homes of this special
interest duo of big oil companies and Wallstreet commodity traders
influence on politics. Don’t
expect the newly elected bumbs to talk of investigating this fiasco
anytime soon.
If
the oil company mergers haven’t taught us enough then maybe the more
recent tele-com mergers will.
After breaking up the AT&T monopoly in the 1980’s, the fed.’s are now letting Ma
Bell put herself back together again. Yep,
AT&T has bought out her baby BellSouth, and wireless giant
Cingular. I wonder how much
it cost her to buy that much political influence. You can bet the press release
about the buyouts said it would be in the best interest of the consumer.
Err, they mean long range corporate profits.
All this reminds me of one of the big issues from the 2006
elections the politicians tried to scare us with. Illegal immigrants. All that talk of too many
illegals, and if they got to vote they would mess up politics in this
country. Really. How could anybody mess up
politics anymore than we already have. What’s the worst thing a group of illegal Mexican
immigrants might do if they were a majority of voters. Sellout the government? It’s already been done. The only difference is they might
sell it to Wal-Mart. That
wouldn’t be all bad.
Wal-Mart is efficient. Maybe we should let Wal-Mart take over the
government. At least then
the average person could afford to buy a politician. Currently political influence
costs too much, unless you have a billion dollar corporation.
Cost to buy influence with the two corrupt political
parties..............millions of dollars a year.
Cost to have your industry influence political
policy........................priceless.
Cost to the taxpayer for corrupt
politics............................................endless.
State Auditor Report(top)
Click on link at far right auditor.ky.gov for Ky auditor’s website and
full reports.
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