Landrieu,Terrell Disagree over Privatizing National Services

BATON ROUGE - It's past time for government to stop competing with the private sector, says U.S. Senate runoff candidate Suzanne Haik Terrell, who is endorsing the Bush administration's move to privatize more government services.

"If we can find a good or service in the Yellow Pages, we ought to consider getting the government out of that business," the Republican said. "If the private sector can do it better and more efficiently, then they should be allowed to do it. So today, I call on Mary Landrieu to support the Yellow Pages Test, returning tax dollars to the people who earned them."

Terrell's comments came at a press conference where 40 of the state's 48 Republican legislators endorsed her in her Dec. 7 bid to unseat Democrat incumbent Mary Landrieu.

"I couldn't disagree more," Landrieu said while talking to a group of supporters at the American Legion Hall in Chauvin. Such a program would do away with federal employees who get good pay and benefits, she said.

"I'm not for anything that would drive down wages and benefits and replace those jobs with people who are worked 38 hours a week so they get no benefits," Landrieu said. "I'm all for saving money to be more efficient, but you do not achieve efficiency by doing away with good wages and benefits."

Terrell's endorsement is another in a string that includes Gov. Mike Foster and the two other major GOP candidates who shared votes in the Nov. 5 election, U.S. Rep. John Cooksey of Monroe and state Rep. Tony Perkins of Baton Rouge.

"We've got 40 Republican legislators that understand the importance of having a senator that's in the majority party to go work with President (George W.) Bush to get things done for the good of Louisiana," said Rep. Steve Scalise of Metairie. "We've got all the major areas of the state covered."

Terrell told a crowd of supporters gathered in a House of Representatives meeting room, "We've got a long way to go in the next 17 days."

The road is getting shorter, she said, because she's also picking up support of fiscally conservative Democrats. Terrell called upon supporters to enlist assistance from their Democrat friends.

"Republicans and Democrats are coming together to show that Louisiana values can go to Washington (D.C.) and that we can do what's best for Louisiana in Washington," she said.

Scalise said having a Republican senator who will work with the president could enable Louisiana to get funding for needed projects, including Interstate 49 construction, which he said is important to the entire state.

Joining Scalise at the Capitol were, among others, Reps. Buddy Shaw of Shreveport, Jane Smith of Bossier City and Wayne Waddell of Shreveport. Sen. Max Malone, R-Shreveport, also supports Terrell but was unable to attend the news conference.

40 of the state's 48 Republican legislators endorsed her

For many hears, the LA legislature (105 in House and 39 in Senate) had fewer than ten Republican members. Now it is 34.5 percent Republican. The state's Democrat voter registration is coincidentally 66 percent. Most of the Republican legislators are in the southern portion of the state. There are very few Republican lawmakers in northern LA, a few in the Shreveport-Bossier City and Monroe areas, none in the Alexandria area.

The problem I have with privitizing government jobs is that the big companies (Lockheed, Raytheon) get the business - it never goes to the small business. Lockheed and Raytheon will fill the jobs with foreign workers who will work from India. Net loss of jobs for US workers. We should instead be looking to cut the amount of money the government doles out in the form of grants and subsidies to farmers, highways, and schools.

Terrell proposed Wednesday what she calls the "Yellow Pages Test." "If we can find a good or service in the Yellow Pages, we ought to consider getting the government out of that business," the Republican said. "If the private sector can do it better and more efficiently, then they should be allowed to do it."

That's good, Suzie, but I'll go you one better. It's called the "Constitution Test." If we can't find a power delegated to the federal government in the Constitution, we ought to consider getting the federal government out of that business (e.g., education, health care, retirement pensions). That intent of the Framers is made unmistakeably explicit in the Tenth Amendment. But your "Yellow Pages Test" would at least be a step in the right direction.

"I couldn't disagree more," Landrieu said. . . .

A real contrast between a conservative and a liberal! Now, Mary, just be honest and call yourself what you are. Use the "L" word. What are you ashamed of?

Lockheed and Raytheon are already private businesses and are getting the contracts.

The problem is that we have full time roofers working on gvt. bases. They have to pay the roofers 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year plus benefits even if they only have enough roofing jobs to keep them busy for 30 weeks,not to mention the amount of roofing equipment that the government buys that is also idle. The remaining time is spent doing odd-jobs and work that earns much less than a roofer makes. If an emergency comes up (a tornado for instance) they still have to go to the yellow pages and hire contractors to come in and help out.

Doesn't it make a lot more sense to wait until you have a roofing job, send the job out to bid and award it to a private company that will get the job done and end the government involvement in roofing?

In case you wonder, my step-father was a civil-service roofer that spent most of his time helping out in the carpenter shop.

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