Monday, August 11, 2014

Another privatization scandal (in Michigan) where no one gets punished much

In politics, it looks bad if one person wastes thousands of dollars taxpayer money on personal luxuries. But it's okay if a company loots the state treasury for millions of dollars. Or maybe they have to pay a little fine.

That's exactly what's happening in Michigan. Michigan Radio reports Gov. Rick Snyder's housing authority director took a stretch limo across Nebraska for $1,200 of the taxpayers money. Snyder fired the guy within 24 hours of the revelations.

Guess what happened to Aramark, a privatized prison food company, after maggots were found in prisoners' food and employees were fired for inappropriate behavior?

Here's Michigan Radio again:
The governor didn’t move nearly so quickly when it came to the Aramark Correctional Services abuses. For weeks, there have been stories about maggots on the chow line and scores of Aramark employees fired or suspended for inappropriate behavior.  
Many people expected that the governor would cancel Aramark’s $145 million contract with the state. But that didn’t happen. Instead, on the same day his housing director was sent packing, he announced he was sticking with Aramark. 
The governor did assess the private food service company a $200,000 fine, and said they would be obligated to change their training and staffing procedures, whatever that means.
That didn’t please the head of the corrections workers’ union, who called the fine a mere “slap on the wrist.”  
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer said prison food service shouldn’t be privatized in the first place; he would turn it back to the state.
It's always best to engage in corruption that costs taxpayers millions. The small stuff will get you in trouble, but not when your plunder reaches into the seven and eight figures.