Nah...it's all on the
up and up! 
Usually, our mistrust of lawmakers is a little fuzzy. Just a vague sense that something's happening, and we're not quite sure what that something is.
That's why this prison privatization saga has arrived at such a perfect time for those Floridians whose paranoia had atrophied.
Behold the hanky-panky!
With almost no help from anyone else, Senate President Mike Haridopolos and Senate budget chief JD Alexander have renewed our faith in deceit.
A handful of legislators were so hell-bent on turning state prisons over to private companies they tried to sneak it into the 2011 budget only to be slapped down by a judge.
Undeterred, they tried to change laws in 2012 to make it easier to pass. They rigged Senate committees to squash opposition. They hid $25 million in potential costs to the state. I'm not sure, but they may have even suggested the redemption at Shawshank was due to privatization.
At some point it's worth asking why this issue is so important to them. It's not health care reform. It's not a groundbreaking education initiative.
Now cost-cutting is a swell plan in some areas of government, but I'm not sure it works here. No. 1, a Walmart-style prison system sounds a little reckless. No. 2, reducing jobs and cutting pay in a state with 10 percent unemployment sounds a little heartless.
Besides, some lawmakers have rightfully questioned whether a private company is really going to save the state much, if any, money.
Florida already has a few private prisons, and the handoff has not always been smooth.
A Department of Corrections visit indicated one of the prisons was either understaffed or inept when officials stood outside pushing the buzzer and waving at security cameras for 20 minutes. They eventually left without being acknowledged.
An audit also discovered the state overpaid a couple of the companies by more than $13 million.
And then there is the question of what strategies a private company might employ to make money. A few years ago, a couple of judges in Pennsylvania were convicted of accepting bribes in exchange for sentencing juveniles to prison so the facility could pump up its profits with additional inmates.
Yup. Nothing to see here. Move along!
