Batting .500 big deal in majors, but not good enough for PEF
By ROGER E. BENSON
We began our Go Public campaign to fight privatization and contracting out last November, with our four accountability bills as the centerpiece of the campaign.
Since then, we’ve developed a DVD on the abuses of privatization, launched a media campaign using newspaper, television, and direct mail, held a rally with more than 1,000 participants, and lobbied the Legislature.
We took an issue that was complex and arcane and made the Legislature, the governor and those who influence state policy care about it.
LEADING THE CHARGE — PEF President Roger Benson tells reporters at the PEF Go Public rally the state must stop wasting hundreds of millions of dollars needlessly on contractors. — Photo by Jim Adsit
We succeeded in getting two of the four Go Public bills passed in both houses of the state Legislature — our contract disclosure and procurement lobbying bills.
Although we did not achieve passage of all four of our bills, passage of two is a significant accomplishment. This is especially true given the opposition of groups such as the New York State Business Council, which made it abundantly clear that its agenda of tax relief for New Yorkers is a sham. Its true agenda is an anti-public-sector one, regardless of the cost to taxpayers.
The passage of these bills is a credit to our members who participated in our mobilization and political action efforts. While we can be proud of our achievement, we now must turn our attention to getting the bills signed into law.
We will organize mobilization and public relations activities over the next several weeks to press the governor to sign the bills. I cannot predict our success, but I can assure you we will do all that is possible.
We have raised the profile of the issue of costly and inefficient privatization and contracting out. While the governor will now determine the fate of the two bills, we have positioned public accountability as an election year issue in both the legislative and gubernatorial races.
In major league baseball batting .500 is considered exceptional, but this isn’t baseball and we won’t stop until all our Go Public bills are passed.
The
Communicator July/August 05
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