The latest piece of propaganda by the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, "The coming showdown with public labor," is another attempt to force Connecticut taxpayers to swallow the failed policies of former Gov. John G. Rowland. Its author, Lewis M. Andrews, claims the report’s intent is to "make the public sector more efficient and more effective," yet it advocates more of the costly contracting-out schemes that were the hallmark of Rowland’s reign.

Andrews cites several examples from as far away as San Diego and even New Zealand, where elected officials outsourced public services to private sector corporations, claiming millions were saved. Recent experience in Connecticut shows that this irresponsible ruse does little more than achieve short-term savings while creating huge long-term issues and costs.

Consider the theft of more than $6 million from state taxpayers by Maximus, Inc. This offshore information technology firm was contracted to develop a new criminal justice computer system, which it failed to deliver.

Then there’s the “Little Dig" debacle on I-84 that involved three separate private consulting firms that so badly botched a highway-widening project that taxpayers will end up paying more than $90 million for a contract originally bid at less than $60 million.

Finally, let’s not forget the $2.3 billion UConn 2000 comedy of errors. In one of the many episodes where out-of-state contractors built unsafe dorms, taxpayers were billed $650,000 for repairing carbon-monoxide leaks in one constructed by Capstone Development.

Andrews should have looked closer to home before preparing his study. Not only would he have found these glaring examples of consultant waste, fraud, and abuse, he would have learned what our members in CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 reported in 2004: that private sector consultants and contractors cost state taxpayers an average of 54 percent more when compared to state employees performing the same work.

I find it disturbing that every time the economy slips, the Yankee Institute and its network of free market radical "think tanks" exploit the situation to push "privatizing" public services. After nearly 20 years of service to the citizens of Connecticut in the Department of Correction, I have seen the real danger with allowing special interests to advocate such reckless public policy: It provides cover to elected officials like John Rowland for carrying it out. 

Mark L. Lucey Sr.The writer is a correctional lieutenant and the executive vice president for Correction Supervisors Council, CSEA/SEIU Local 2001.