Economy, Prison And The Blame game.

Here in Appleton, the privately run Prison is loosing it’s inmates. Most are from the state of Minnesota, and the prison population is about one fourth of what it used to be. Understandably the staff at the facility are concerned, as there already have been lay offs. However, the puzzling thing to me is why so many are blaming our State Representative Andrew Falk.

I worked at the facility my self from 1993 until 2001. I first worked for PCF, and then of course I believe it was late 1996 when CCA took over. I became a sergeant, then assistant training manager, and then a vocational instructor. I also was the facility spokesperson responsible for dealing with the news media. I should also mention that since my time at the facility I have attended the University of Minnesota Morris for political science, and have worked for the DFL. Last summer, and the campaign of 2008, I had the privilege of working along side Andrew Falk. Enough time, (about 50 hours a week for months) to have lots of conversations and an ability to identify the kind of man he is. Let me put it this way. Taking into account all my experience as noted above, I believe Andrew Falk.

It was last winter, When Falk, and State Senator Gary Kubly had their Governors budget town hall meeting. The one here in Appleton turned into a prison meeting. Out of 150 or so there about 90% were prison employees. Some were angry at the two gentlemen hosting the meeting. That they were not able to wave their magic wand and make inmates from Minnesota stay at the Appleton Facility. The whole meeting had an eerie familiarity to one held in about 1995-1996. Then the subject was that of State Representative Chuck Brown’s bill, for the state to purchase the facility. (Even though it was only a ploy to get Minnesota to sign a contract with us) Prison management whipped employees into a frenzy and they were angry. They were angry at Chuck and ready to run him out of town. (He was not in attendance to defend himself) I could go into long detail about that whole deal, but that is the past. Suffice to say, the way everything shook out, it was discovered that Prison management lied to us, and Brown told us the truth. The real irony in this, right now, is there are those I have heard say around town, that if Chuck were still alive, and our Representative, we wouldn’t be loosing our inmates. As much as I dearly loved Chuck, and was an avid supporter of a man I thought of as friend and mentor, not even he could prevent this from happening right now.
After the meeting last winter, Andrew called me, and we talked at length about what next steps should be taken. He said that he already had a call into the Commissioner of Corrections office, and wanted a meeting. A meeting between him, the DOC, and CCA. It was later that we found out, that CCA was not in attendance. However I am not ready to put the blame there. I believe that even then CCA knew it was futile. Lets look at the real culprit.

To paraphrase James Carville and Paul Bagalla….”it’s the economy stupid!” In case folks don’t know, our state is facing the biggest economic challenge of its time. What is prevalent in any government budget crisis, is that of department heads circling the wagons, and putting on their best spin on numbers to hold their department as harmless as possible. In this case, the DOC is doing exactly that. We can argue until we are blue in the face that CCA can do it cheaper, but the DOC has presented its case that they can. It doesn’t really matter if it is true or not. However, when you think about it, it is true when they leave fixed costs out, and CCA includes them. The theory being of course, whether a state facility has inmates in it or not the state still owns it, so why figure that in. I know, I know, I am not saying I agree with it, its just that, that is what they are doing.
Another economic piece to it, is that with the current budget deficit, there are early releases into half way houses, and home monitoring, thus bringing inmate numbers down.
But here is the real thing that is going to sound cold. Its going to sound like I don’t care, but really I do. Here it goes. Why should Appleton be any different? I mean so our state Representative goes down to St. Paul, (remember budget is already set, and they are not even in session) and says to the 133 other state Reps, “hey we have to send inmates to Appleton so they don’t loose jobs.” At that point the Rep from where Medtronic resides tells of that companies layoffs. Then the Rep from N.W. Minnesota tells of the layoffs at Caterpillar, and another tells of the layoffs at Arctic Cat. The bottom line is this. Every single state Rep in Minnesota has at least one company that is laying off workers, as well as schools, units of government, and non profits that are also loosing and laying off workers. Every single state rep and Senator, Republican or Democrat are racking their brains, and fighting tooth and nail to hold their district as harmless as possible.

For those of you that believe this has to do with Union, I should remind you that the Commissioner of Corrections was appointed by the most anti-union Governor this state has ever had. Speaking of which, the scenario in 05-06 I talked of above? It was when I was a union Steward. That’s right before CCA came into the picture we were union. As Stewards we helped Chuck Brown develop language in his bill that guaranteed we kept our jobs. Even though the bill was never introduced, and Brown was insulted and degraded by prison management, it dawns on me now, that had he introduced the bill, and we trusted his instincts rather than managements, we wouldn’t be having a problem with loosing inmates today.

Grandma Marian and Gov. Pawlenty's budget.

A few years ago, I had the honor of speaking at my Grandmothers funeral. I told of how she had become my hero, after I became a parent. It was than I gained an appreciation for the fact that she was a single working mom of 4, and did such a marvelous job raising my mom, two aunts, and my uncle.

Grandma was 97, and only had to spend the last several weeks of her life in a Nursing Home in Montevideo. The tiny little Norwegian woman was one of the strongest women I knew. She and her husband had just bought a farm, when my grandfather passed away, leaving her with 4 kids ranging in age of 2 to 11. They had yet to make the first payment on the farm near Hanley Falls, but my Grandmother, with help farming from her little brother, made the last payment on it, and passed it on to Uncle Arlen who still owns it today. Grandma, put the kids to work, out in the field, in the barn, before school, and after. She realized the value of a good education and was able to scrape enough together to send her three girls to college. (one didn't finish, she met my dad instead, kinda glad for that)

You might be asking what does this have to do with the Governor's budget? Well, whenever these tough cuts to the budget arise, I think of grandma, and the hardship it would put on her and people like her. She didn't have a lot. She lived on a fixed income when she retired. When she moved away from the trailer she shared with her little brother, after he passed, she moved into senior apartments in Granite Falls. Apartments she had to pay rent for, like a lot of seniors that lived on fixed incomes. After a few years there, she had to spend the last couple months of her hard, but wonderful life, in that nursing home. Staffed by wonderful people, that are way too under paid for that which they do. It was when Rep. Rukevina, and Rep. Marquardt gave their eloquent speeches on the floor, earlier today, that it made me think of Grandma, those apartments, and that nursing home. You see Governor Pawlenty's budget, would call for a 20% decrease in the renters credit, taking money away from and effectively taxing seniors in this state that rent, apartments such as my Grandmothers to the tune of $126.00 a year, all the while he has made it clear, that it is unacceptable to him to raise the taxes on someone making 300k a year, by $109.00 per year. Governor Pawlenty's water carriers seem to want to tell us that that this raise in taxes, is a "job killer." Meanwhile they don't want to talk about the 20-30 thousand jobs that will be lost in their budget. Many of them health care workers. Workers like those that take care of our grandmothers, and grandfathers. Fathers and mothers. People like my Grandma, who downright deserved it! People that made this state one of the finest in quality of life. People like Gandma Marian, that even though odds were against her, she managed to raise crops, and 4 kids that turned out to be very wonderful and productive assets to their state. With the work I do now, I realize that Grandma's story, isn't unique. It is the story of Minnesota, and America, of the day to day heroism, that made this state what it is today. Don't let Governor Pawlenty get away with this. Stand up to him, and tell him, "we are better that this." Stop him from dismantling this state, the way he has the last 6 plus years.