It was two springs ago that Republican Gov. Terry Branstad stood before cameras and microphones in the statehouse to tell Iowans of his visionary plan to improve public services in the state. Competition is a core value, he reverently intoned, offering that it fosters customer satisfaction, rewards initiative, spurs innovation and encourages efficiency.
Competition drives quality up and costs down.
Today, I am announcing a new initiative to harness the power of competition for the benefit of Iowa citizens and taxpayers, he said. Branstad s announcement spelled pure trouble. Union leaders hit him and the legislature hard to develop a dialogue intended to bring fairness to a privatization scheme flawed from the start. Essentially, it served to drive down the standard of living in the Hawkeye state. And once a bid from workers was submitted, the Republican s privatization plan intended to add indirect costs to the public employee bid but not to the privateer competing for the same contract.