Ed Failor Jr., president of Iowans for Tax Relief, said the privatization of Iowa’s prisons would result in many positive benefits, from making communities safer to minimizing inefficiencies. But the biggest benefit would be cost savings, he said.

“Iowa taxpayers would save tens of millions of dollars from the sale and operation of private prisons,” Failor said. “The current budget situation requires lawmakers to make real changes to state government, and selling the state prison system is part of the solution to moving Iowa forward.”

Failor points to Arizona, where lawmakers project privatizing prisons could save their state more than $100 million in the corrections budget, and calls on Iowa to consider a similar move.

“Today, there are over 9,000 inmates in Iowa prisons, and the average annual cost per prisoner is approximately $30,000,” Failor said. “Iowa taxpayers spend over $265 million on state prisons, and the average cost per prisoner increases each year.”

Privatizing state functions is an idea getting serious consideration around the country, as state’s grapple with an historic economic downturn that has decimated their budgets. In Iowa, Gov. Chet Culver recently announced a 10-percent cut to the state budget in order to overcome a more than $400 million deficit.

Not everyone is sold on the benefits of privatizing prisons.

A U.S. Department of Justice study found that the cost-savings promised by private prisons “have simply not materialized.”The study concluded that rather than the projected 20-percent savings, the average saving from privatization was only about 1 percent, and most of that was achieved through lower labor costs.

Opponents of privatization also express worry that the quest for higher profits will result in lower staff levels and training at private facilities and could lead to increases in incidences of violence and escapes.

A federal study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found Iowa ranked second-lowest nationally in per-capita spending on corrections. The state spent $121 per person, lower than every state but North Dakota, which spends $116 per person. The national average was $210.

King said it would be the Service Employees International Union.

“When you think what happened to Communists after the wall fell down in ‘89,” said King, “they didn’t just curl up and decide to become capitalists. They would go back and re-form like — Oh, it’s like trying to squash an amoeba.”

King stressed that Republicans had momentum on the issue right now, and needed to “push as long and hard as we can, because once the media turns their attention away, I don’t know that they come back again.”

Here’s video of our conversation:

David Weigel covers the conservative movement for the Washington Independent, a Center for Independent Media site.

From the Washington, D.C.,-based newspaper The Hill:

“As of July, I can tell you this openly and I know the press is all here but we had worked out a pretty good agreement. Labor was at the table,” Harkin told a crowd of activists organized by American Rights at Work, a labor advocacy group. …

Harkin said prominent labor leaders were on board with the deal, including AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union.

“That’s when we needed 60 votes and that’s when I called to get Sen. Kennedy down because we needed him for three days. That’s when Dr. Horowitz told me that he couldn’t make it,” Harkin said.

Harkin has been the lead negotiator in the Senate on the bill, which would make it easier for labor unions to organize. He said in May that the bill did not have enough support to avoid a filibuster and that a compromise would have to be struck. That compromise was widely believed to involve removing the “card-check” provision, which would give workers the right to unionize as soon as a majority of employees in a workplace signed cards saying they want a union.

Workers can already unionize in this manner, but an employer can veto the vote and demand a vote by secret ballot.

The New York Times reported in July that the provision was already gone, but Harkin spokeswoman Kate Cyrul said everything was still on the table.

Harkin would not specify what was included in the July bill that managed to garner 60 votes, telling The Hill “I will not say because it was closely held, it never leaked out and it still hasn’t. I took it off the front-burner and put it on the back-burner so it is still on warm, OK?”

Now that Harkin is chair of the powerful Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, most assume EFCA will have new life.

Republicans and several conservative Senate Democrats have opening opposed the legislation, which has drawn the ire of the business community who say that without a secret ballot workers will be intimidated into joining a union.

Supporters of the bill counter that employees already face intimidation from their employer when contemplating a union vote. Under the current law employers can veto workers’ decision to organize through majority signup and force them into the election process where, according to a recent study, a pro-union worker is illegally fired in a quarter of all organizing drives.

(h/t Bleeding Heartland)

On Aug. 22, 2008, the company and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 86D could not negotiate a new five-year contract. The workers were locked out, and continue to picket at various locations within the community.

Although both sides have returned to the negotiating table at various points throughout the preceding year — the last time being in early June — no contract acceptable to both sides has emerged. The workers have twice been asked to vote on potential contracts, but have rejected both.

GPC, which is headquartered in Muscatine, has a production plant in Washington, Indiana and a laboratory in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, manufactures corn-based products primarily for industrial use. The company issued the following statement in connection with the ongoing strike and one-year anniversary:

The company’s contract proposal offers an extremely competitive wage and benefits package. As with all successful companies, and especially today in the current economic crisis, sound business decisions are critical for long-term company success.  Long-term company success comes from satisfied customers and results in job security for employees. That is why GPC has said from the beginning and remains firm on the goal of negotiating a contract that is fair for customers, for the company and for employees.  GPC will continue to operate the plant and serve customers with the current workforce until a contract is ratified.

The Associated General Contractors of Iowa PAC came in second, raising $187,851, and the Credit Union PAC came in third with $100,933.

As for cash on hand, the Service Employees International Union Political Education and Action Iowa Fund was out front with $252,511. However, the union hasn’t raised or spent any money in 2009.

Associated General Contractors of Iowa PAC was next up with $248,511 cash on hand, and the Free and Strong America PAC-Iowa, organized by potential 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has $203,380. The Iowa State Education Association PAC has $196,107.

For a full listing, go to the IECDB Web site.

Sen. Tom Harkin

The bill, of which Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin is a sponsor and lead negotiator, has been stalled for months due to opposition from all Senate Republicans and a handful of Senate Democrats. Harkin said in May that in order to pass the bill the so-called card check portion would have to be eliminated. An aide to Harkin told the Iowa Independent last week that the senator was still confident that labor legislation could be passed this year.

Now, the New York Times reports that Harkin and a group of five other labor-friendly senators have decided to drop the provision to be replaced by language requiring shorter unionization campaigns and faster elections.

Kate Cyrul, Harkin’s communications director, told The Times “Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to,” and declined to discuss the details of the changes.

Although labor leaders have been pressing for a vote on the bill this month, health care reform legislation has taken priority, making September likely the earliest the Senate will take up the measure.

Fallon, who lost to Culver in a three-way Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2006, said the public has seen “little to no progress on key front-and-center concerns such as climate change, labor law, campaign finance and the regulation of corporate hog confinements, to name a few.”

Fallon also points to Culver’s response to last year’s floods and the state of the economy as reasons why the public is losing faith in their governor.

Former state Rep. Ed Fallon.

“Culver seems to have forgotten the all-important maxim ‘dance with the one that brought you,’” Fallon writes. “A disturbing number of party activists have told me they’ve been snubbed by the governor, as have many elected officials. While failing to maintain good relations with one’s political base is always a bad idea, snubbing one’s base in advance of re-election is a recipe for political suicide.”

The Des Moines Democrat then explains his own problems getting access to the governor, something he’s talked about before. At the time he made his complaints public, the governor’s staff chalked it up to a case of Fallon trying to land a job in the Culver Administration.

Culver can not expect his party’s base to support him if he continues to ignore their issues, Fallon said.

“Like so many other disgruntled Iowa Democrats, I’m tired of being asked to be a campaign foot soldier only to be ignored – and to have the issues I care about ignored – once the election is over,” he said.

The governor has been taking repeated attacks from Republicans hoping to unseat him next year, and while Fallon’s latest critique represents the most scathing to come from the left it is not the first time Culver has had problems with his party’s base.

In 2008, the governor angered labor unions after he vetoed a bill expanding collective bargaining rights for public-sector employees. At the time, labor leaders called the move an “out-and-out betrayal.” Unions contributed heavily to Culver’s 2006 gubernatorial victory.

The two sides appear to have mended their relationship, though, and during the 2009 legislative session Culver made a public push for passage of several key pieces of labor’s agenda.

Many will see Fallon’s public criticism of the governor as an indicator that he is laying the groundwork for a primary challenge in 2010.

Fallon told the Iowa Independent he will not be a candidate for governor next year.

“In fact, I’d like to be able to actively support [Gov. Culver], like I did in 2006,” Fallon said. “But first, he has to keep his promise to provide leadership on campaign finance reform and controlling urban sprawl, and he and his staff have to be more responsive to the general public.”

The grades were based on legislator’s votes on nine bills in each chamber. In the Senate, they ranged from a bill that “streamlines the Iowa Values Fund” to bills altering the state’s workers compensation system.

In the House, bills included numerous union-backed pieces of legislation, including the controversial prevailing wage bill.

Republican Sens. Randy Feenstra of Hull, Kim Reynolds of Osceola and Ron Wieck of Sioux City scored 100 percent.

Overall, the highest scoring Democrat was Rep. Brian Quirk of New Hampton, who scored a 57 percent, and Reps. Larry Marek of Riverside and Dorris Kelley of Waterloo, who scored 55 percent.

In the Senate, Democratic Sens. Tom Rielly of Oskaloosa, Rich Olive of Story City and Swati Dandekar of Marion each scored 44 percent.

The legislation, which is sponsored by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, makes it easier for labor unions to organize. Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley said his party would filibuster the bill, which led Harkin to predict it would have to be altered to have any chance of passing.

Specter, who once supported the measure (and even sponsored it), came out in opposition to it in March. Most believe the about-face was due to a strong challenge in the Republican primary. Since that time, however, Specter has become a Democrat. U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, a retired Navy Admiral, has publicly expressed an interest in challenging him in the 2010 Democratic primary, pressuring Specter from the left.

Specter’s speech this weekend in Pittsburgh appears to signal another change in opinion that could give the Democrats the votes needed to overcome a filibuster and make Harkin’s bill a reality.

“If you want to be elected in this state, you have to come to labor,” he said. “I know that. I owe my re-election in part to the endorsement the AFL-CIO has given me in the past.”

Specter was then interrupted by a man in the crowd who declared “you want my vote, I want yours,” referencing Specter’s position on the bill.

“I understand your job’s on the line,” Specter said. “I think you’ll be satisfied with my vote on this issue.”

The contentious portion of the bill involves language that would allow unions to be certified by the National Labor Relations Board if a majority of workers sign cards designating the union as their bargaining representative. It would not do away with secret ballots for union organizing, but they would no longer be required. Union activists and anti-labor groups both agree that the change would make it easier for unions organize.

Opponents say that without a secret ballot, workers will be intimidated into joining a union. Supporters of the bill counter that employees already face intimidation from their employer when contemplating a union vote. Under the current law employers can veto workers’ decision to organize through majority signup and force them into the election process where, according to a recent study, a pro-union worker is illegally fired in a quarter of all organizing drives.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (Lauren Victoria Burke/WDCPIX.COM)

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin told the National Journal Tuesday that if those who currently oppose the Employee Free Choice Act are not willing to work with him on a compromise, he will will try to force a vote on the original bill.

Republicans have said repeatedly they will filibuster the bill. Earlier this month, Harkin said he didn’t believe he had the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster and that the most controversial portion, giving workers the right to unionize as soon as a majority of employees in a workplace signed cards saying they want a union, would likely be eliminated.

Now, Harkin says that while he is still working to get 60 votes, he is willing to put the original bill on the floor of the Senate and let lawmakers vote their conscience. As Talking Points Memo writer Brian Beutler points out, doing so would put two of the bills most high profile opponents — Sens. Arlen Specter, D-Penn., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark. — on the hot seat.

Specter, who tacked to the right and came out against EFCA before becoming a Democrat, is facing pressure from the Democratic base and Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) to move left or face a primary challenge.

And at least one high level union official has suggested that if Lincoln doesn’t come around and support an EFCA compromise, she may face a green party challenger, in addition to a Republican challenger, in the general election.

Specter told the Associated Press last week that “prospects are pretty good” for a compromise.