House Halts Administration Plan to Outsource Park Staff

WASHINGTON, July 17 /U.S. Newswire/

The U.S. House of Representatives decided today to preserve language in the fiscal year 2004 Interior Appropriations bill that protects national park staff and visitors from a damaging White House policy that would outsource to private contractors up to 70 percent of positions in the National Park Service.

"This is an enormous victory for our national parks and for millions of park visitors," said Thomas Kiernan, National Parks Conservation Association president. "We hope that the Senate and conferees also stand up for our parks and do not allow the administration to put the stewardship of our parklands in the hands of the lowest bidder without full consideration for the implications to our parks."

Interior Ranking Member Norm Dicks (R-Wa.), and Representatives Mark Souder (R-Ind.), Brian Baird (D- Wa.), and David Obey (D-Wis.) spoke on the House floor about their concerns with the administration's privatization policy. Even the amendment co-sponsor, Representative Tom Davis (R-Va.), said that the "administration's plans overreach." ---


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he must be throwing TANTRUMS by now!!!!!

Thank you for the good news.

Ahem, that's Norm Dicks (D-WA) he's my congressman and I just can't let him be slandered as an (R).

The wholesale privatization of the federal government must be stopped at every turn. This particular bunch of bastids just don't know when to lay off. I know they are on an accelerated schedule and all, but how many fingers do they have that they can poke them in so many pies?

"National park positions subject to the administration's privatization scheme include archaeologists, biologists, museum curators, interpreters, maintenance workers, and others whose jobs are critical to meeting the needs of park visitors, educating school groups, and protecting the parks."

Once privatized, I bet the next step for the administration would be to champion the idea of faith-based archaeologists, biologists, museum curators and interpreters. Not to mention a few timber company front groups added in, you know, for the irony factor.

The Seattle P-I has a great article on the ramifications of the craven bush plan:

Bush cost-cutting plan stirs unease on Rainier

LONGMIRE, MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK -- Rich Lechleitner's job sounds simple enough at first: He takes care of backcountry toilets.

In blizzards and storms, in all conditions, Lechleitner and his crew of five strap on skis or hike miles for hours to clean them, keep them in working order and empty baskets of waste into 55-gallon drums, strap them to helicopters and watch them fly away.

He makes $18 an hour as a maintenance worker -- a deceptive title for what he actually does. He's a skilled mountaineer, trained for search-and-rescue missions, and the park's former animal biologist, with a doctorate in zoology. He's a licensed firefighter and an emergency medical technician who finds many opportunities to use his skills on a mountain that claimed 11 lives last year.

"The reason I work at the park is to protect the resources so future generations can enjoy the place," he said. "To do my job, you have to understand that."

more:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/130993_parkmaintenance16.html

The honeymoon is over for the "pathological liar". When the right leaning house tells the little fake NO, there's got to be trouble in paradise! This is my best summer since '73 when Nixon was swingin' in the wind!

Yeh, Ernesto! This is so much like that summer!

May this situation have the same results! (except for the pardon)