JEFFERSON CITY — The trend of privatizing state services came under fire last week following the apprehension of nearly two dozen suspected illegal immigrants who were working for a government contractor.
Gov. Matt Blunt has pushed for the privatization of some state jobs, and last year created an Office of Administration council charged with pursuing private sector options for work that is currently done by state employees.
But the administration came under fresh criticism for its stance after federal and state authorities apprehended 22 suspected illegal immigrants who were working as custodians in government offices for a janitorial service contracted by the state.
“Years ago, Democrats were opposed to the outsourcing of these kinds of services,” said Senate Democratic Floor Leader Maida Coleman, adding that such jobs used to be performed by state workers. “Under Republicans, these jobs have gone to fly-by-night unethical contractors.”
Others legislators, however, question a connection between privatization of government services and questionable practices.
“You can achieve waste, fraud and abuse either through government programs with government employees, or through private contractors with private employees,” said Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin. “You can achieve high productivity and excellence and value to the taxpayer through either one as well.”
“Bad acts are not better or worse because the person perpetrating it is a private sector employee or public sector employee,” Nodler added. “Nor are heroic acts better or worse because the employee happens to be a private employee or public employee.”
Until last week, state agencies were not required to make sure that state contractors checked the immigration status of their employees.
But after Sam’s Janitorial Service had its contract with the state canceled for allegedly employing illegal immigrants, Blunt signed an executive order calling on all agencies to audit state contractors and ensure that they hire only legal workers.
The incident spotlighted potential pitfalls of a trend in states across the country to privatize some services in an effort to reduce the size of government and save money.
David Valentine, associate research professor at MU’s Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs, said privatization of government services can be beneficial but that oversight is lacking. Valentine said in sectors such as technology, where the private sector is more flexible than the government, contracting out services “makes sense.”
“But in most of the things we see, government controls aren’t as good as they need to be to make sure that somebody’s not cutting corners or doing something illegal,” Valentine said.
In the case of Sam’s, the Oklahoma-based business had performed janitorial services for the state as far back as 1998, according to Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson. The employees who were detained are being investigated for identity theft. Robinson said there was no relationship between privatization and the Sam’s incident.
Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, disagreed. “The more that you outsource, the more you risk not having the type of control over those employees that you do over state employees,” he said.
Robinson noted that janitorial duties were now falling to state workers since Sam’s contract was canceled.