Notes For Saturday, March 08, 2003

OPPAGA. The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, more commonly referred to as OPPAGA, studies state programs and reports to the Legislature. This relatively independent agency is about to be axed by our Governor; reports like this are the reason why. According to a report just released by OPPAGA:

- "Florida has relatively low state and local taxes and total revenue compared to other states;"

- "Florida has relatively high government debt compared to other states, and state government debt has risen over the last decade in response to the needs of a growing population;"

- "Florida has relatively few public employees compared to other states, and efforts to outsource public services have contributed to a recent decline in the number of state government employees."

This latter point is worth talking about. At first blush, the reduction of state workers might be considered a good thing as far as Bush is concerned; the St Pete Times puts it this way in an editorial today:

"The study also said Florida has 49 government employees per 1,000 residents, which makes it 47th among states. The state dropped from 39th to 47th from 2000 to 2001 largely because of Bush's aggressive privatization of government programs, such as human resources, payroll and personnel." (St Pete Times Editorial).

As the editorial suggests, but does not develop, privatization skews proper consideration of a claim that there are fewer state employees. While the state may be the direct employer of fewer workers, many workers are indirectly employed by the state via privatization schemes. In a 2001 Special Review, OPPAGA pointed out that the government “outside” workforce (such as employees of state service contractors whose positions are funded with state dollars) exceeded the number of state personnel system employees. And, a 2002 OPPAGA Information Brief, reports that the state’s “actual” workforce is increasing primarily due to growth in outside jobs (to wit: privatization).

Hence, Bush's claim that he has reduced state employment is at best misleading. OPPAGA itself reports that Florida's "“actual” workforce is increasing", not decreasing. The media does a disservice when it uncritically reports Bush's claims in this regard. The real story is that the states "actual" workforce is increasing via privatization and that government largesse is being transferred into the private sector (which returns the favor via contributions to the Florida GOP and private sector jobs - like this job being held open for Bush's daughter by a company that apparently was improperly awarded a massive state contract),

And, in the process state employees - who previously did the work now being performed by contractors) have been booted out of the Florida Retirement System and state medical insurance plans.


7:57 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]