Privatization

UTOPIA: How much socialism is too much? posted 4.27.10

Since I was first elected to the Senate, I have worked continuously to end socialized programs in Utah, to get government out of the business of business. Government operations simply never can be as efficient or effective as the private sector. Even worse, when government competes with private business, private, taxpaying businesses end up subsidizing their government competitors. Nothing could be more perverse.

Utah had its biggest privatization victory in 2008, when Rep. Craig Frank and I passed a pair of bills giving Utah's Privatization Policy Board real teeth. (See the Reason Foundation's 2008 Innovators in Action award Rep. Frank and I received for championing these bills.) HB 75 balanced the representation of the private and public sectors on the Board, so that they could take a serious look at where Utah state government is doing what the private sector could do more cost effectively. And SB 45 requires Utah's largest counties and cities to evaluate their operations, and report to the Privatization Policy Board where they are conducting activities that are not core government functions. Based on these analyses, the Privatization Policy Board is making recommendations to the Legislature on how to let the private sector do what it does best.

Unfortunately, some Utah elected officials didn't get the memo that the Berlin Wall fell, that government shouldn't be in the business of business. As I explained in a recent Deseret News opinion piece, Eight years ago this month 11 Utah cities formed UTOPIA, a municipally-run telecom company competing directly with the private sector. As State Senator, I have fought to protect taxpayers from the UTOPIA boondoggle at every step. I told the city fathers committed to municipal telecom that they could not succeed in the rough and tumble of the telecom market, but they refused to believe. The taxpayers in those 11 cities are already on the hook for up to $503 million over the next 30 years, and UTOPIA is begging taxpayers in its member cities for another $20 million, just to keep the lights on. When will they finally say, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" When will they realize that socialism doesn't work?!

I am committed to stopping socialism in Utah. That's why I've been appointed to the the Privatization Policy Board, why I've passed the most important privatization legislation in Utah's history, and why I am asking for your support in my campaign this year. Utah is the best managed state in the nation, but we will fail if we follow California and other tax-and-spend states down the socialism rabbit hole.