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Monday, February 21, 2011

Gov. Scott Walkers' hidden agenda - giving away state owned utilities with a blank chek

Hidden away in the Wisconsin budget is this little bit of crony capitalism.

16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).

Republicans want to privatize everything regardless of cost or efficacy. What this atrocious piece of duplicity does is allow the state to let private companies take over public utilities without any external control or input.

It doesn't take much effort to connect the dots and it all leads back to Koch Industries and the biggest financing force in politics, the notorious Koch Koch brothers. Koch Industries donated over $43,000 to Walker's campaign and another few million indirectly to the campaign through the Republican Governor's Association.

Guess who stand to benefit most from this part of the law and guess who stands to lose the most. If this passes it won't be long before the red carpet is rolled out for Koch to step in and take over the running of State owned utilities and screw the people of Wisconsin. who won't be able to do anything about it. His attack on Public Unions serves to misdirect the people of the state away from schemes like this. It's the GOP's overlord's wet dream and the citizen's nightmare.

Do those Tea Party idiots backing Walker even realize what is being done under their noses. Maybe they will wake up when their utility bills suddenly go up for no apparent reason. I'm a little surprised that this issue has gone under the radar but not surprised that Walker is trying something as flagrantly egregious as giving away control of state owned utilities with a blank check.

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