Politicians, prison privatization, and cold hard cash.

There are currently two bills being pushed through the Florida Legislature at breakneck speed. SB 2036 and SB 2038 are attempts to privatize government services, but in reality are huge give aways to companies that could stand to make millions at the expense of taxpayers.

In short, the 2 bill will privatize government agencies and services WITHOUT any public or expert input, and any cost analysis studies to justify the need for privatization. That's right, an agency can be privatized without any studies to show that it could be done cheaper than the government could. No hearings, no studies, and no justifications to show if privatization is a better option.

This give away of government facilities and services is so over the top, that Republican State Senator Mike Fasano spoke out against the rush to push these 2 bills through the process. Senator Fasano quite rightly pointed out that the way these 2 bill are being pushed through the Senate is wrong and not following the rules on how bills should handled. Because Fasano spoke out on the how this is wrong, Senate President Mike Haridopolis stripped him of his chairmanship of the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee.

Haridopolis's actions lay bare his true intentions of giving away prisons and in the future, other government facilities and services to Private interests, and the reason for this is money. Not money saved for taxpayers, but money that will go into the pockets of private companies and politicians and we the taxpayers are paying for it. Once those prisons go private, owners will push politicians to impose mandatory sentencing for what are now petty crimes. That is the reason companies like GEO give so much in campaign contributions is that the see it as an investment that they intend to make up in spades by filling jails and charging taxpayers for it. Politicians like Haridopolis are only to willing to extend their hands when GEO is passing out the checks.

To those who think that there is nothing nefarious going on behind the scenes in Tallahasse, one only needs to look at the case of Judge Mark Ciavarella to get a glimpse of what will happen if Florida privatizes prisons. For years "cash for kids" Ciavarella took money from a private prison and in return, sentenced children to serve time for infractions like flipping off a police officer. To think that won't happen here is beyond foolish, it is stupid.

When honorable politicians like Fasano are punished for considering what is best for taxpayers, and politicians like Haridopolis are rewarded for selling out those very same taxpayers, the corrupt system in Tallahassee needs to be exposed.