With Conservatives Like These . . .
Dale Francisco’s vote in favor of the jail tax demonstrates how conservatives get co-opted by the bureaucracy after they’ve been in public office a while. The truth is, the county already has more than enough money to pay for the new jail. The problem is, they are diverting those tax dollars to their excessively overpaid, over-benefited and over-pensioned government employees.
What’s more, they’ll have to hire even more $100,000-per-year deputies to staff the new jail.
Francisco is not the only culprit. So is the County Taxpayers Association, which unconscionably endorsed the tax hike. With “conservative” friends like these, who is looking out for taxpayers? Apparently nobody.
If a new jail is actually needed, we should get a bid from the Correctional Corporation of America (CCA). They have designed, financed, built, and now operate jail facilities for 35 state and local governments, as well as for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Marshals Service. They do so at a fraction of the cost of a government union-run prison.
The “conservatives” on the Santa Barbara City Council, plus the lapdog County Taxpayers Association, can redeem themselves by getting a bid from CCA for the Santa Maria jail. How about it, guys?
