WolfeNotes.com

Murphy DEP Issues Management Report That Promotes Privatization

Legislators Urged To Say NO To Privatization And Create A Public System

(Source: NJ DEP Report Note: “IOU”, righthand column, is privatization)

The Murphy DEP recently released a management Report that evaluates various management models to reform the City of Trenton’s drinking water system, known as the Trenton Water Works (TWW), see:

• 360 DEGREE REVIEW OF TRENTON WATER WORKS
  A Comparative Analysis of Governance and Asset/Liability Optimization

There is a strong possibility that the Murphy Administration will try to ram through a privatization scheme, most likely under the deceptive slogan of a “public private partnership”.

In fact, Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette, a former corporate lawyer, hinted at exactly that in his interview with NJ Spotlight.

Spotlight reported that both DEP and the Mayor of Trenton “support” a “public – private partnership”.

But if you actually read the report, it provides explicit statements that expose the high costs and consumer ripoffs of privatization, concluding:

the IOU [privatization] Model’s serious drawback are its framework that includes taxes and profits as well as stakeholder and community resistance fomented by privatization. (@ page 35)

The privatization model also has the highest costs (see chart above).

So, people need to circle the wagons and kill the privatization scheme in its crib, and not be duped by the stealth form of privatization known as a “public private partnership”.

I sent the letter below to Senate Environment Committee Chairman Bob Smith, urging a public model, see:

———- Original Message ———-

From: Bill WOLFE <b>

To: senbsmith <SenBSmith@njleg.org>, sengreenstein <sengreenstein@njleg.org>, “senmckeon@njleg.org” <senmckeon@njleg.org>, “Hansen, Eric” <EHansen@njleg.org>, “senzwicker@njleg.org” <senzwicker@njleg.org>

Cc: “shawn.latourette@dep.nj.gov” <shawn.latourette@dep.nj.gov>

Date: 01/28/2025 8:50 AM EST

Subject: Legislation Needed For Trenton Water Works

Dear Chairman Smith and Members of the Senate Environment Committee:

As I’m sure you know, the DEP recently released an important management report regarding the Trenton Water Works, see:

360 DEGREE REVIEW OF TRENTON WATER WORKS
A Comparative Analysis of Governance and Asset/Liability Optimization

https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/uploads/trentonwater/docs/360-degree-review.pdf

The Report qualitatively analyzes various management models to reform TWW.

Based on the evaluation criteria in that Report, it appears that a “Special Purpose Entity” (SPE) model offers the best overall approach. However, that model requires new Legislation: (Report, @ page 35, emphasis mine)

“SPE Model outpaces the other models being a hybrid that combines the advantages of the public and private models, i.e., its improved governance, great independence, and strong management, coupled with super-tax-exemption, strict KPIs, and ability to provide local Tax & Budget Relief. However, a state sponsored SPE will most likely require legislation whereas a nonprofit entity can generally benefit from existing laws and regulations.”

The Report also finds significant drawbacks to a privatization model, primarily due to the consumer cost impacts of profits and taxes, which can be up to 45% of the consumer’s water bill. (p.34). Additionally, financial incentives (pass through for profits on return on investment drive increases in consumer rates: (page 33)

• Pass-Through operating expenses (OpEx) (operating, maintenance, debt interest, and tax expenses) are borne by ratepayers and thus there is limited incentive by IOUs to fully contain such expenditures, and
• Capital expenditures (CapEx) eligible for Rate Base require regulatory approval, but an IOU has an incentive to not fully contain such costs as its profits are directly tied to the return on the capital invested.

In fact, the Report found that the IOU (privatization) model has by far the highest costs (see attached chart).

These same drawbacks result from the “public private partnership” model.

Given the benefits of a SPE and the strong drawbacks of the various privatization models, I urge you to move legislation establishing a SPE to replace the TWW. Such legislation could also protect the City of Trenton and promote the City’s policy objectives for local employment and consumer protections.

Respectfully,

Bill Wolfe

Trump Seeks To Dismantle The Federal Government

First, I’m still trying to get the list of the IG’s that were fired.

Looks like the Department of Interior AG was fired and Trump is straight up lying about it, calling it a “common thing to do”, when it is unprecedented in violating the law on notification of Congress and in its scope and lack of justification.

The DoI IG firing comes after Trump issued a series of Executive Orders that declared an “energy emergency”, a policy of “energy dominance”, invoked the “Unitary Executive” theory that vests all federal executive power in himself, and sought to over-ride environmental laws that govern federal lands and oil, gas and mining extraction.  So it’s obvious why Trump eliminated informed and independent expert oversight.

Trump also lies by omission, given Project 2025’s Plan to fire federal experts and replace them with political loyalists, and his Executive Order to do exactly that, known as “Schedule F”.

[A hack named Sergio Gor, whose only qualifications appear to be Fox News and a Trump loyalist, is Trump’s Director of Personnel. That’s really all you need to know.]

[Public Citizen reports that EPA IG was one of those fired.]

Second, a reader has pushed back and falsely claimed that the IG’s are political and do nothing (she drinks the Trump Kool-aid). So, for those unfamiliar with the work of the IG’s, check out the EPA IG webpage.

And for those who think that IG’s are political and do nothing, check out this scathingly critical EPA IG Report:

• EPA’s Voluntary Chemical Evaluation Program Did Not Achieve Children’s Health Protection Goals

There are MANY like this.

Even the environmental groups are not this critical or don’t have this kind of expertise and inside information and access to EPA scientists and staffers.

Executive Orders And Purge Of Independent Oversight Are First Steps In Consolidating Fascist Power

With A Loyal Republican Congress And Federalist Society Driven Supreme and Federal Courts, Trump Is Now A Dictator With No Oversight

In the dark of Friday night, Trump just fired 17 Inspectors General (IG’s). (see NY Times, Washington Post,  and Reuters stories). Trump’s “Friday Night Massacre”.

Echoes of Richard Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre come to mind, but Nixon’s corrupt abuses are dwarfed by Trump’s moves.

Once again, the corporate media is downplaying and not reporting on the significance of these outrageous Trump moves or calling them out. Here’s just one example from the Reuters story:

The dismissals appeared to violate federal law, which requires the president to give both houses of Congress reasons for the dismissals 30 days in advance.

Appeared to violate federal law? Just like several of the Executive Orders, the illegality  is blatant.

At least the Washington Post headline correctly described them as a “late night purge” – but they too pull punches by saying the move “appears to violate federal law”.

The IG’s conduct rigorous investigations and serve as independent watchdogs of federal agencies to prevent waste, fraud, abuse, and other corruption. They also investigate the performance of federal agencies in implementing and enforcing federal laws. IG’s often followup the claims of whistleblowers in exposing corruption.

Their firing invites corruption.

Their firing allows Trump to dictate illegal and corrupt policies to federal government agencies, with no independent accountability.

Their firing allows Trump to mask any exposure of his administration’s actions, suppress information and science, and spin the narrative with no oversight, countervailing force or inside information from federal agencies.

Congressional oversight is controlled by Trump’s Republican loyalists. Judicial oversight is controlled by a right wing Supreme Court and decades of right wing Federalist Society federal court judicial appointments.

Trump can replace the IG’s with his loyalists and lackeys, or allow the positions to remain vacant.

Just like his illegal Executive Orders, it is another classic move of a Fascist.

These are impeachable offenses.

Democrats need to shut down Congress and make this shit stop.

Trump Seeks To Slash The Social Safety Net To Offset Billionaire Tax Cuts

MAGA Working Class People Would Be Harmed

MAGA Will Not Oppose Trump’s Cuts

The New York Times has a long story today abut Trump’s proposed cuts to social safety net programs. The story goes into detail about the impacts of such cuts on working class people, especially Trump’s MAGA base, see:

• Trump Drive to Cut Safety Net Could Hit His Voters

The new administration wants to slash aid for health, food and housing, but many of those programs now reach the struggling working class he is courting.

Gee, it’s a little late now. Perhaps they should have reported this story BEFORE the election?

The NY Times and the Democratic Party have ignored the working class and poor and homeless for decades now, as they abandoned the New Deal Coalition in favor of taking corporate money and championing Neoliberal economic policies that destroyed labor and deindustrialized and devastated working class communities.

The Democrats and media lost touch with the idea that government and government programs benefit the day to day lives of real people and that there are direct links between politics and all those “kitchen table” issues they tend to trot out during campaign rhetoric.

As a result, they both have zero credibility and many working people feel so betrayed that they voted for Trump, some even knowing that they were voting against their own economic interests.

The NYT story seems like an obvious attempt to drive a wedge in Trump’s MAGA base.

It won’t work.

First of all, MAGA does not read The NY Times (it’s “fake news” to them).

But there are many other reasons, which I listed in this reader comment to the NYT:

MAGA will not oppose even elimination of the social safety net for the following reasons:

1) they are in a cult and the leader is never wrong and even if he is, he is not to be resisted or criticized;

2) MAGA believes welfare is evil because it creates dependence on government and saps the individual’s will and dignity. They prefer “Christian charity” and tough love to build character;

3) MAGA thinks welfare recipients are lazy, stupid, drug or alcohol dependent, or mentally ill and don’t deserve to live the easy life with their tax money;

4) MAGA thinks most of the money goes to black people, a blatantly racist false assumption;

5) MAGA is cruel – they enjoy making people suffer, particularly liberal democratic people;

6) MAGA hates government and wants it dismantled. They have been told by right wing media, the Christian White Nationalist Church,  and Republicans for decades that all their problems were created by government, not the corporations who shipped jobs overseas to exploit slave labor and no environmental regulations and the billionaire’s who rigged the system;

7) MAGA thinks they earned what they have and the poor, homeless, unemployed, sick, et al deserve what exactly they got and should suffer.

There is no reasoning with MAGA and virtually no ground for traditional politics as usual compromise.

The media and the Democrats need realize this and focus on the dangers of Trump’s fascist regime and get people of good will off the couch and out in the streets.

A Strong Historical Contrast

President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address delivered on On March 4, 1865, only 41 days before his assassination (emphasis mine):

“One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves not distributed generally over the union but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen perpetuate and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. … It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces but let us judge not that we be not judged. …

“With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Trump’s second inaugural remarks: