DON'T BAIL OUT PRISON FIRM

The last thing Wisconsin needs is a private prison built on speculation by a
corporation seeking to make a buck at the intersection of misguided
policy-making and political gamesmanship.

Yet Gov. Tommy Thompson is determined to saddle the taxpayers of Wisconsin
with just such a prison. And if he gets his way, the state will have crossed
a line that will result in more prisons, more failed criminal justice
policies and the unnecessary squandering of billions of taxpayer dollars.

Thompson wants the Legislature to give him permission to have the state
start operating a privately built prison at Stanley. The Republican governor
has permission from the Republican-controlled Assembly to pour an initial
$17.5 million into the boondoggle. But the Democratic-controlled Senate is
blocking the move.

So now the governor is attacking Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala,
D-Madison, for standing in the way of prison progress.

No one should fall for the governor's absurd arguments on behalf of a move
that is nothing more than a taxpayer-funded bailout for an Oklahoma
corporation. That corporation, the Dominion Venture Group, built a prison at
Stanley, Wis., without state permission.

Since the state does not allow private firms to operate prisons within its
borders, it should be clear that the Dominion project was a scam from the
start. Everyone knew they were going to try and unload the facility on the
state. What's hard to figure out is why Thompson is trying to help them do
so.

Chvala Cynics will suggest that Thompson is serving the interest of another
corporation in return for real or anticipated campaign contributions. But,
in the spirit of charitable analysis, we prefer to believe that he is simply
so used to wasting tax dollars on prisons that he can't pass up even the
most ridiculous opportunity to do so.

Whatever the explanation, the state of Wisconsin should not be paying for
the Dominion Venture Group's irresponsible actions.

Chvala should stand his ground against this one.

And he should keep talking about what should be done with the state money in
question.

At a time when thousands of Wisconsin senior citizens are struggling to pay
for obscenely expensive prescription drugs, the senate majority leader wants
to set aside $10 million to help the state's most vulnerable citizens.

"I'm not willing to deal with (the) Stanley (prison) and leave seniors out
in the cold,'' Chvala says.

Chvala's right. Thompson's wrong. And the Stanley "prison'' ought to be
turned into a Motel 6.