welcome to yellowstone chevrolete park, please drive thru

January 27, 2003

" The potential cuts are part of the Bush administration's effort to

identify as many as 850,000 federal jobs that could be performed by

private-sector employees. "

[using taxpayer money, but removing public oversight. But hey... they

can probably make a nice profit on all those archeological finds just

gathering dust or otherwise not being put to good - profitable - use]

=======================

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-parks26jan26,0,6791575.story?

coll=la%2Dhome%2Dheadlines

70% of Jobs in Park Service Marked Ripe for Privatizing

The administration says managers and rangers would stay, but a

variety of workers, including scientists, could be replaced.

By Julie Cart

Times Staff Writer

January 26 2003

As part of its push to privatize federal workers, the Bush

administration has identified about 70% of full-time jobs in the

National Park Service as potential candidates for replacement by

private-sector employees.

Interior Secretary Gayle A. Norton, who oversees the Park Service,

has earmarked 11,807 of 16,470 full-time positions for possible

privatization. They range from maintenance and secretarial jobs to

archeologists and biologists.

Interior Department officials stressed, however, that the number of

people replaced would not be nearly that high. Moreover, they said

that law enforcement personnel, managerial positions and most park

rangers would keep their jobs. But some of the people who have come

to embody the institution's 86-year-old tradition of public service,

as they greet visitors and lead them on nature walks, could be

replaced by volunteers.

Critics fear that the outsourcing of federal positions, including the

Park Service's entire corps of scientists, could undermine protection

of the nation's vast inventory of archeological and paleontological

sites within parks and hand over the care of forests, seashores and

wildlife to private firms not steeped in the Park Service culture of

resource protection.

" This is about respect for professionals. It is about a recognition

that people spend a lifetime learning their profession and how to

resist pressures -- political or commercial -- in the public

interest, " said Roger Kennedy, who directed the Park Service during

the Clinton administration.

" The public understands that parks are not parking lots -- they are

places that require a high degree of professional skill to manage.

Not just anyone can do it. "

The potential cuts are part of the Bush administration's effort to

identify as many as 850,000 federal jobs that could be performed by

private-sector employees.

Park Service Director Fran Minella said she wants to maintain

uniformed personnel in the parks as a " public face " to visitors.

Still, some duties performed by rangers, such as nature walks, could

be conducted by volunteers, Park Service officials said.

Interior Department officials say there is little likelihood that all

of the jobs identified by Minella will be outsourced.

Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Scott Cameron said he anticipated

that no more than 4% of the current workers would actually lose their

jobs.

He said much of the changeover would occur as current employees

retire. Cameron estimated that about 20% of the Park Service staff

will reach retirement age in the next five years.

The positions identified by Norton will be examined to determine if

they can be eliminated or filled more cheaply and efficiently with

nongovernmental contract employees.

Park Service employees would be given a chance to argue why they are

better equipped to perform their jobs than private sector workers.

Officials say the injection of free market-style competition would

bring out the best in employees.

" This is a way to capture the benefits of competition to produce

better performance and better value, " Cameron said. " Competition

makes for a much more exciting Lakers game than if only one team were

on the court. "

But critics say the responsibility of overseeing the country's more

than 380 parks and monuments is too important to entrust to people

with little or no preparation for working in the nation's park system.

" The Park Service is not a business enterprise, " said Frank Buono, a

former assistant superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park and a

former manager of Mojave National Preserve. " There is a fundamental

ideological binge that the free-enterprise system will heal all

wounds and solve all problems. Ask Enron about the efficiency of the

unregulated private marketplace. "

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and others charge

that replacing Park Service scientists with " hired hands " would

create a conflict of interest and produce a vacuum in parks where

esoteric specialists are required.

" What you get is a pliant and controllable science staff, " said Jeff

Ruch, executive director of the public employees organization. " Our

concern is that a biologist who works for the park will be replaced

by a private consulting firm, which, in order to get its contract

renewed, will tell the park what it wants to hear. "

The Interior Department is just one of the federal agencies that have

been told to trim jobs.

Randy Erwin, assistant to the president of the National Federation of

Federal Employees, said he was " outraged " by the administration's

plan to privatize Park Service jobs. " It's a travesty to turn the

Park Service into a profit-making center. "

But the trend to outsourcing is inexorable, said Fred Smith,

president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based

free-market advocacy group.

" The government is way behind the curve, " Smith said. " Something as

mulch-ridden as the Park Service is long overdue for this. Allow

voluntary groups to work in the parks. Let people and groups who care

deeply about bats and sea turtles and caves do the work. The private

museum system has been using docents for years. It's about time the

government caught up. "

But those who love the Park Service say being a park ranger is not

just any government job. The culture of the service is often likened

to that of the Marine Corps, with an almost military-like discipline

and devotion to duty. The agency's signature green uniform and Smokey

Bear-type hat underscore the image.

James Oliver Horton, a professor of American studies and history at

George Washington University, was historical consultant to the Park

Service during the Clinton administration. He said the esprit de

corps among Park Service employees is unique.

" I observed the kind of camaraderie that comes from people who

consider they are doing the Lord's work, preserving what we have come

to know as America's treasures, " Horton said. " That is, and continues

to be, a very important job. To say to those people who have stuck it

out, 'Now you are going to be cut,' seems to me a real slap in the

face. And a real slap in the face to Americans who want these places

preserved. "

Established in 1916, the National Park Service grew out of concern

for preservation of public lands during a time of widespread

plundering of Indian ruins, looting of Civil War battlefields and the

degradation of historic buildings and sites.

January 28, 2003

The man is addicted to privatization, isn't he? His (mis)administration's

motto is " Privatize the profits, socialize the risk. " Actually, that's been

his motto for life, including getting the taxpayers in Arlington, Texas, to

build a nice baseball stadium for him and his cronies.

Scumbag.

(and don't worry about your outburst. I try to keep it clean, but you were

understandably livid).

Danielle

----Original Message Follows----

EBbrewpunx

, EdibleGardening,

northern_california_punklist

CC: michele, organichomesteadinggardening

welcome to yellowstone chevrolete park, please drive

thru

Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:34:47 -0500