Effing Arizona.

Sometimes, a story comes along that really makes me wonder whether a lot of politicians just really don't give a shit about people at all.  And no, I'm not even talking about how North Carolina decided it would be a good idea to codify discrimination in its frigging constitution.  I'm talking about the great state of Arizona, whose political leaders have given up their charade of pretending to represent their constituents.

Now, you might say that's a bit of hyperbole, but how else can I explain the fact that, faced with evidence from numerous sources, including a government study, that demonstrated private prisons actually cost Arizona taxpayers more than government run facilities, the Arizona legislature decided to not only fund more private prisons, but to eliminate the requirement for the government to report on the efficiency and services it receives from the companies it contracts with to operate these money pits?

The industry is already exempt from public records laws that government agencies must adhere to, a distinction granted because it is comprised of private corporations (despite the fact that they perform an inherently governmental function).  So Arizona actually found what might have been the only way to further reduce transparency and oversight for an industry that's not required to report much of anything about how it operates.

In addition to removing that reporting requirement, the budget that just passed allocated $16 million for 1,000 new private prison beds, while taking $50 million from funds intended to help struggling homeowners manage their mortgages.  That $16 million might go to MTC, the company that operates the Kingman prison, from which 3 prisoners escaped in 2010 in one of the most highly-publicized prison escapes in years (largely because they murdered an elderly couple).  Or it could go to CCA, the company that, despite all its denials about its influence on the legislation, was in the room when SB1070 was drafted and stands to profit handsomely from it.

In yet another example of the corrupting and toxic influence of money in government, this budget proposal was really the handiwork of Governor Brewer's Chief of Staff, Chuck Coughlin.  Coughlin founded HighGround Consulting, the most powerful lobbying force in the state.  HighGround happens to represent the private prison industry.  A former CCA lobbyist, married to a current CCA lobbyist, also works on Brewer's staff.  And John Kavanagh, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, is quite cozy with Public Policy Partners, a lobbying firm that represents the GEO Group.  So it naturally made sense for him to be the one to introduce the provision that eliminated the analyses of private prisons in the state.

I don't even think it's a question who Governor Brewer and the rest of the Republican establishment in Arizona represent.  And it's a damn shame.  Thank god I don't live there.

More on ALEC's Demise

I must say, I've been more than a little pleased to see all the negative press coming out about ALEC, especially considering how it has helped promote prison privatization and laws (like stricter immigration legislation and sentencing "reforms") that boost the industry's bottom line.  Many people are jumping on the Hate ALEC bandwagon, and I say, "Welcome aboard!"

Much of the coverage has focused on the corporations who have stopped sponsoring these conservative dbags, but not so much the thousands of state legislators who are members.  One of the first legislators to dissociate from ALEC is NM State Senator George Munoz, who basically said that ALEC's solutions to his constituents' problems were "not right for New Mexicans."  Soon after, the New Mexico ALEC State Chairman called the organization "too partisan," indicated that model legislation coming from the group is often altered to remove indications of its origin, and that its member list is actually larger than disclosed.

So maybe, hopefully, state legislators are beginning to see just how unpopular it is to support corporate-written legislation, and we're witnessing the beginning of the end of one of my pet peeves.  More likely, ALEC will just figure out new and inventive ways to disguise its insidious handiwork and push corporate welfare privatization on all of us.

New Report on CCA

Another quick link here, this one to a great new report from Corazon Tuscon, titled "The Corrections Corporation of America: How CCA Abuses Prisoners, Manipulates the Public and Destroys Communities."  Which is a perfectly appropriate description.

Private Prisons Don't Save Money in Arizona

Arizona sure loves it some privatization.  Facing extreme budget shortfalls, the state attempted to sell off and then re-lease its state house in 2009 to earn some extra money, along with privatizing its entire prison system.  But while that plan failed, the state's thirst for privatization never waned.  Though it already had multiple private prisons holding prisoners from other states and the federal government, a prominent republican in the state legislature introduced and helped pass SB1070, the now-infamous "Breathing While Brown" law.  This law, as pointed out in an investigative report by NPR, was written by ALEC, a conservative legislation front group that has longed worked with the major players in the private prison industry and promoted privatization across the board.  They're also the ones behind attacks on global warming, voting rights, and unions, but that's a different story.

So, the state basically gave a handout to private prison operators, who would undoubtedly benefit from stronger enforcement of federal immigration laws and increased detention.  This came after the industry donated heavily in the 2010 election cycle, to candidates, political parties, and ballot initiatives favored by republicans.  Then, even after 3 prisoners escaped from a private prison found to have numerous security deficiencies and went on a murderous rampage, state officials still pushed for more private prisons.  They re-initiated a request for proposals from private companies to construct 5,000 prison beds.

Thankfully, people began to take notice.  An advocacy organization filed a lawsuit trying to block the RFP, which was dismissed on a technicality.  But the substantive issue in the lawsuit wasn't resolved; namely, that the state, by law, is required to conduct performance audits of its existing private facilities every two years, including cost-comparisons with public institutions.  So the state began its audit late last year to compare public and private prisons, and the request for proposals was put on hold until the state could evaluate whether or not it would save money by turning to for-profit incarceration.

Now, common sense would tell you that there's no way to improve services in a not-for-profit venture without raising the budget for that given venture.  Private prison companies don't make money by generating more revenue; they make it by cutting costs, in things like maintenance, security, and medical care provided to prisoners.  So private prisons simply don't offer better or even equivalent services and conditions compared to state-run facilities.  But the findings of the audit may surprise those who aren't familiar with this blog or the industry: the state wouldn't actually save any money by privatizing its prisons.  That's right; even though they pay less, offer less benefits, cherry-pick the cheapest prisoners, and cut corners in every area of operations, private prisons cost just about as much to operate in Arizona as state-run facilities.

As a result, Arizona has cancelled its request for proposals for new beds, and the plan to further privatize the system is on hold for now.  This is a smart move for many reasons, including the fact that the state's rate of prison population grow slowed dramatically over the past few years.  And when one looks at the numbers a little deeper, the myth of cost-savings offered by private prison operators becomes even more apparent.  For medium-security prisoners, it cost the state of Arizona $5 less per prisoner, per day to house than a private prison would.  If say half of the state's 6,400 privately-housed prisoners are medium security, that means the state paid private prison companies $5,840,000 more than it would have cost them to just house those prisoners itself.  In just 2010.  For minimum-security prisoners, private companies offered a whopping $0.03 in savings per prisoner per day.  And that's for the cheapest possible population!  Delving even further into the numbers, the audit seemed to show that private prison facilities' value depreciates at an exorbitantly higher rate than public facilities (probably because they don't perform regular maintenance, as a way to increase the bottom line).  For example; state-run facilities depreciated at a rate of about $1.40 per prisoner, per day.  Private facilities in the state depreciate at a rate of $12 per prisoner, per day.  That's around eight times as fast as government-run facilities.

The full report of the Arizona DOC can be found here.

Liar!

Steve Owen, a professional shill for CCA, recently went on record in the Columbia Tribune as saying that CCA had no role in crafting Arizona's SB1070 (The "Breathing While Brown" law), they don't engage in legislation involving criminal justice issues, and they didn't donate to any Arizona politicians in the 2010 election. All of which would be great, if he wasn't blatantly lying. I've already covered their influence on SB1070 through ALEC; here are two links to some of that.

Mr. Owen claims that CCA made no donations to Arizona politicians in the 2010 election cycle. However, four members of CCA’s executive board donated $140 each to Governor Brewer’s campaign. Damon Hininger, CCA’s President and CEO, and Executive Vice Presidents Brian Collins, Tony Grande, and Todd Mullinger all donated.

CCA also appears to have donated through two of its chief lobbyists, which hold influence in the Governor’s office. Brewer’s campaign manager and advisor, Chuck Coughlin, owns Highground consulting, which counts CCA among its clients. Chuck donated more than $3,600 to Arizona politicians during the 2010 cycle; hardly more than one percent went to Democrats.

Paul Senseman, Brewer’s deputy chief of staff and a former CCA employee, donated $640, all to Republicans. His wife Kathy is a lobbyist with the firm Policy Development Group, which also lobbies on behalf of CCA. Kathy donated more than $1900 in the 2010 cycle, with a little over 98% going to Republicans.

Why is it so important that all this money went to Repbulicans? Well, Mr. Owen specifically said, "Schlemeier (the author of an article he wrote in response to) did not report the fact CCA made no contributions to any Arizona legislator — supporter of last year’s immigration legislation or otherwise — in 2010"

SB1070 passed the House on a 35-21 party-lines vote, and the Senate 17-11 with all but one Republican voting for it. The bill was signed by Governor Brewer, another Republican, and who received hundreds of dollars from CCA executives. CCA’s lobbyists donated thousands more to Arizona Republicans in the 2010 cycle, so clearly some of CCA's money was donated directly to Arizona legislators who supported SB1070.

Finally, to address his lie of not engaging in legislation involving criminal justice issues. During much of the 90's CCA held a seat on ALEC's "Criminal Justice" Taskforce (now called "Public Safety and Elections"). This means they paid tens of thousands of dollars per year to hold one of a handful of authoritative positions on a subdivision of ALEC that worked on model legislation involving criminal justice issues. So clearly, they do engage, and they are still members of ALEC, though they relinquished the company seat in favor of having one of their lobbyists hold it (so it's harder to trace to them).

If you were alive during the 90s, you might remember a big wave of "tough-on-crime" legislation, maybe the most famous of which was "3-strikes" legislation that was enacted in over a dozen states, including California, where it has directly contributed to their having the most overcrowded, and second largest, prison system in the country. Guess who crafted that 3-strikes legislation. Yep, that would be ALEC. Guess who's got $600 million worth of contracts to house California prisoners. Did you guess CCA? Great work!

So CCA chaired the taskforce in which 3-strikes legislation was created, putting their stamp of approval on legislation guaranteed to raise the prison population. They then cashed in handsomely on their investment. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I really hate CCA.

PS - I submitted most of this as a letter to the editor refuting Mr. Owen's bogus claims, but the Tribune has not published it. I don't know if they will, but I'm not hopeful.

UPDATE: The Columbia Tribune did indeed publish my letter on Sunday, April 24.

Another Blow to "Breathing While Brown"

The 9th Circuit released another decision on the case surrounding Arizona's "Breathing While Brown" law today, refusing Governor Brewer's appeal to lift the stay. This is great news in my opinion, because it helps to stave off the impending immigration crackdown that will inevitably ensue, the result of which will be another dramatic rise in our immigration detention population (and more money to private prison operators). You may recall that CCA actually helped draft and promote the law.

The Definition of Insanity?

Arizona has had a lot of troubles with the private prisons it contracts with over the past few decades; the Kingman escapes last July were only the most recent in a long history of troubles (including those at Saguaro). Additionally, recent reports have found that privatization may not even save any money for the state, which is really the only selling point the privateers have going for them. Thankfully, the state rescinded a request for proposals for 5,000 new private prison beds following the Kingman escapes. Unfortunately however, the state has re-issued that request for private prison companies to pitch them on new beds.

I simply don't understand why the state continues to fail to learn from its past mistakes. Governor Brewer is a strong supporter of private prisons, possibly because some of her most trusted staffers currently are employed by, or used to work for, CCA. The new RFP has new protocols for companies pitching the new bed, but it's still a call to increase capacity among companies who haven't earned the trust they have. I guess the influence CCA bought in Arizona has truly paid off; the state seems incapable of breaking its addiction to private prisons, despite all the evidence demonstrating how terrible privatization is.

In fact, the Kingman prison still hasn't even responded properly to government pressure to improve its operations. A few state officials are unhappy with progress at the prison, with the House minority leader remarking that "they're still pretty far away from meeting their obligation... obviously their response has been inadequate." Basically, MTC has failed to properly secure and maintain the facility, even with the heightened scrutiny from the escapes. But I'm sure the company that wins the contract from this new proposal won't suffer from any of the same sorts of deficiencies that led to the escapes...

What The Eff?

It just blows my mind sometimes how ridiculous the conflicts of interest in politics can be. Governor Brewer in Arizona created a Commission to study ways to reduce the budget, called the Commission on Privatization and Efficiency. Basically, it's a way for conservative Arizona politicians to legitimize their attempts to undermine government agencies and transfer money from the public sector to their private-sector pals.

So this commission on privatization was comprised of, among other people:

1) A former Senior Director of State and Customer relations for CCA

2) The outgoing president of the Arizona Senate, who received campaign contributions from both CCA and GEO, and who also happens to be the Arizona Public Sector chair of ALEC. ALEC has a very strong contingent of Arizona legislators, and CCA is a major player in what has been called "Corporate America's Trojan Horse."

3) President of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, of which CCA is a "Board Level" Corporate member

Shockingly, this commission recommended, wait for it, that Arizona PRIVATIZE MORE of its prisons. You know, despite the fact that private prisons in Arizona are unsafe, unsecure, and don't save money.

I apologize, because I'm about to break my tradition of a PG-rated blog,

but this is completely fucking absurd!

It is ludicrous that these asshats are the ones directing policy in Arizona. I hate you, Arizona Commission on Privatization and Efficiency, the hypocrisy in your name and mission, and the ignorant moron of a governor that created you.

It is exactly this sort of absurd conservative political manipulation that has caused our country to lead the world far and away in rates of incarceration. If anyone remains unconvinced that our prison system is simply a cash cow for private corporate interests, his head is clearly buried in the sand. This is little more than corporatocracy masquerading as legitimate government. It is corruption and a conflict of interest to the highest degree. These greedy assholes are the reason our justice system is a joke to the rest of the world.

Catching Up

Good Morning.  As I mentioned before, I failed to report on some major issues that had surfaced over the past month or so, which I am hoping to rectify now.  Today's first link goes to a brief story following up on Jan Brewer's office's connections to CCA through the lobbying firm High Ground Consulting, which is run by her campaign chairman.  It turns out the favors run both ways.

High Ground's client list has nearly doubled since Brewer became governor, giving a higher profile to Chuck Coughlin and his company. And now a dozen employees of High Ground's clients have landed positions on boards and appointments to state government positions.  A former senior director of CCA is now the chairman of the Arizona Commission on Privatization and Efficiency (I imagine they're aware of the irony in that nomenclature).  In fact, Chuck Coughlin has such a close and beneficial relationship with Brewer's office that it prompted numerous current and former representatives to remark that "The position and influence Coughlin enjoys is unusual."

More on NPR's Investigation

Just a quick link here to the transcript of yesterday's "Talk of the Nation," an NPR show that discussed the organization's investigation into SB1070 and its connections to the private prison industry.  This was a very good episode of the show that really got down to the dirty details of CCA's and GEO's influence on the drafting and passing of the legislation.

Misplaced Priorities, Wasteful Spending

Private prisons are often touted by supporters as being more cost-efficient alternatives to government-run prisons.  They fail to mention how those cost savings are realized, namely through under-training staff, short-staffing facilities, and cutting corners on things like medical care, security, and maintenance.  But it turns out in Arizona that, despite the private prison industry employing all these tactics, they still cost more per prisoner than state-run facilities.

Significantly more so, in fact.  It costs Arizona about $7.70 per inmate, per day MORE to house their incarcerated population in private facilities, amounting to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in wasteful spending.  Arizona spends more than ten percent of its budget incarcerating people; more than it spends on funding for higher education.

This is the second such study in Arizona within the past year or so that has found private prisons to be more expensive than state-run ones, in addition to various studies in other states. Unfortunately for Arizonans, Governor Jan Brewer and the state legislature have already demonstrated their affinity for the private corrections industry, as has been reported on extensively in the past.  Governor Brewer has hired former and current CCA lobbyists to her staff, while state Senator Russel Pearce introduced SB1070, Arizona's "Breathing While Brown" law, which NPR showed to be a product of CCA's influence through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). 

After getting the bill introduced, the private prison industry in Arizona went to work, donating thousands of dollars to state legislators to ensure it would be passed.  Unfortunately for Arizona taxpayers, they were successful.  Now, the nation's most racist and draconian immigration statute will help funnel an ever-increasing number of illegal immigrants (nonviolent offenders) into private prisons.  The same private prisons that the state has found repeatedly to cost MORE than government-run facilities.  Facilities that are operated by companies that engage in the sanctioned bribing of politicians, companies who have for years been working to pass harsh criminal sentences, mostly against nonviolent offenders, all across the country.

So despite audits that dispel the common myth of cost savings, and with clear evidence of the abuse, negligence, and cost-cutting inherent to the industry, the private prison industry continues to thrive.  It does so by wooing conservative politicians with promises of savings that never materialize.  It's a shame that these sorts of politicians, who rail against pork and wasteful spending, are seemingly incapable of even seeing this inefficient and disgraceful situation in Arizona.

Letting The Experts Do Their Job

I'll keep it simple today.  The title link goes to part 2 of NPR's outstanding expose on how the private prison industry helped draft, promote, and eventually pass SB1070, Arizona's "Breathing While Brown" law.  This has garnered a tremendous amount of media buzz, to which I can offer little that hasn't been said.  So I'll just provide you with a few links here to some of my favorite pieces of coverage surrounding this groundbreaking story.

Coverage of a hearing on private prisons in Tucson, AZ, that took place shortly after NPR's story dropped, including even more background on CCA's and ALEC's influence on the state legislature to promote harsh criminal sanctoins

7 Striking things to take away from NPR's story

A story from US Catholic that describes the immigration debate and the legislation.  Though not surprising, it's nice to see the religious establishment come out against this sort of thing

An article that allows Russell Pearce to feebly try to refute the story and CCA's impact

Another article in which Mr. Pearce basically admits CCA had a heavy hand in drafting the legislation he later introduced as SB1070

Enjoy!

I've Been Saying This for Months

I couldn't possibly NOT post the article linked to in the title today.  As I have been ranting about on here for months and months, CCA had a direct and heavy influence on the drafting and passing of SB1070, Arizona's "Breathing While Brown" law.  NPR did a bang-up job on exposing the true nature behind the negotiations and donations that led up to the bill's passage, and this story has been picked up by many varied media outlets.

So you're probably asking yourself, "OK Mike, just exactly how much influence did CCA have on the bill, and how was that influence exerted?"  It turns out that:

1) State senator Russell Pearce, in a highly secretive meeting, made a presentation before ALEC (with CCA reps present) on how immigration needed to be addressed.  The meeting, like many of ALEC's, was filled with corporate reps who spent literally tens of thousands of dollars to have direct access to lawmakers

2) from this presentation, the idea for the bill was hatched.  The bill was then drafted by a task force that included CCA employees

3) after the bill was introduced, an unexpectedly high number of cosponsors signed on almost immediately.  more than 2/3 of those cosponsors are either ALEC members or attended the meeting.

4) 5/6 of those cosponsors received campaign donations from private prison industry interests over the next six months

5) Jan Brewer hired a former CCA employee, and their current lobbyist, to work as advisers while the bill was finalized and eventually passed.

To put it simply, this stinks.  It's terrible that a corporation, representing a very small constituency, can have such tremendous influence over the drafting and passing of legislation.  It's not often we get a glimpse into the workings of how legislation is drafted, introduced, and eventually passed to anywhere near this degree.  CCA corrupts the democratic processes of our government, usurps power from individual constituents, and manipulates legislators all in the name of ever-expanding profits, at the direct expense of American taxpayers and the poor souls who are forced into their prisons.  If they aren't the face of evil, I don't know what is.

Jan Brewer Retaliates Against CBS Affiliate for Investigating Her Ties to CCA

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Things are getting pretty hairy down in Arizona.  Here's a great new report from Rachel Maddow detailing how Jan Brewer's campaign has retaliated against the CBS affiliate that has uncovered all her connections to CCA, including the new smear campaign against the network being employed by Brewer and her cronies at High Ground Consulting.  In includes an interview with the reporter who's been on the case, Morgan Loew, who says that Chuck Coughlin won't even respond to questions about how much he advised Brewer before she signed the bill.

Why Privatizing Prison is a Bad Idea

I would like to use the sub-headline of the wonderful article linked here to describe it, because I couldn't put it any better:

"Arizona puts more of its inmates into privately run prisons every year, even though the prisons may not be as secure as state-run facilities and may not save taxpayers money."

So you should go read this article about the mess in Arizona and why the state should reconsider its strong push to privatize everything (at one point last year the legislature had proposed privatizing 100% of its prisons and even selling the state house to a private company, then leasing it back).  Privatizing services is not always the best solution to a problem, and sometimes creates more of an issue that existed initially.

The Wrong Priorities

Following up on the escapes from the MTC facility in Kingman, Arizona, Dave Safier wonders why the state is seemingly so keen on privatizing its prisons.  Arizona already holds nearly 20% of its prisoners in private facilities, and just last year they put out a request for proposals to privatize the entire state correctional system.  Aside from the already known political connections (mostly CCA's) within Governor Brewer's office, it turns out Russell Pearce, the legislator who introduced SB1070, received the maximum allowed contributions to his PAC from private prison companies and accepted "substantial donations from their lobbyists."  He believes, as does Why I Hate CCA, that the profit motive inherent to the industry is the cause of its inability to humanely and adequately operate a facility.  But what is most unfortunate is that Governor Brewer and many other Republican legislators in the state have yet to question their affinity for this grotesque industry.  Mr. Safier believes that "Money and influence, it seems, trump prison security and Arizona's safety with our most powerful Republican politicians."

Rachel Maddow Exposes the Corruption in Arizona

Private Prison Industry Helped Push SB1070

Despite repeatedly claiming they took no action regarding SB1070, Arizona's controversial immigration law, CCA actually had a significant role in developing and promoting the bill through its work with ALEC, The American Legislative Exchange Council.  ALEC is a nonprofit group that creates and distributes conservative model legislation on behalf of corporations who don't want to sully their reputations by being associated with much of the clearly anti-social legislation that comes out of ALEC.  It's an effective front group for conservative ideology, with estimates that as many as 1 out of every 3 state legislators belong to ALEC (they don't exactly publicize a list of members; trust me, I've looked).  ALEC serves as a clearinghouse for conservative legislation by literally handing model pieces to these legislators, who then work to have them passed in jurisdictions around the country.  ALEC was behind California's three-strikes laws and much of the "truth in sentencing" laws (laws that require prisoners serve all or most of their sentence, effectively abolishing parole in a lot of areas) across the country, both of which were guided by CCA, which sat on the chair of ALEC's Public Safety board while these laws were debated and eventually passed (because they had contributed so much money to them - it's essentially a pay-to-play organization).

So, you may be asking yourself, what does all this have to do with Arizona's immigration law?  Well it turns out that a draft version of the bill was sent to ALEC for revision before it was introduced in the Arizona legislature.  That means ALEC, and by extension CCA, had direct influence on the law before it was passed, even though CCA has categorically denied it had any role in crafting the law or helping to get it passed.  Further, a week after the bill's introduction, CCA hired a consulting firm owned by Jan Brewer's campaign manager to represent it in the Arizona legislature.  So CCA stands to benefit financially, and significantly so, by a law it helped draft through a non-profit agency front group; with the average stay of immigration detainees now at 443 days (mostly for civil, not criminal violations), private prison companies like CCA will earn more than $62,000 per immigrant that gets arrested and detained.

CCA is extremely effective at using their money to garner political influence, through direct lobbying, campaign contributions, or their work with ALEC.  After CCA spent $3.5 million to lobby on immigration and homeland security issues in 2005, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) began in 2006 to detain all immigration violators until their trial date, despite no evidence demonstrating that is a more effective way to ensure they show up for proceedings (and it's certainly a more expensive option than home monitoring).  The truth in sentencing and 3-strikes laws they helped draft forced our prison system to its current obscene population, which has benefited private prisons primarily because of their ability to build and bring new facilities online quickly.  As our prison population skyrocketed from these overly-harsh sentences, the number of private prisons grew by 500% between 1995-2003, and the large majority of prison construction for the federal system has been private ever since.

So at this point it seems pretty clear that CCA influenced the legislation that became Arizona's "Breathing While Brown Law," even though they continue to deny any involvement.  As with other large corrupt industries however, the ties go even deeper than just their work in this one front group (ALEC).  In a fantastic piece of investigative journalism, Beau Hodai of In These Times magazine uncovered a treasure trove of political relationships and influence in Arizona that really helps to clarify the picture of how CCA is connected to Governor Brewer's office through multiple sources and various industry front groups.  The private prison industry and its political connections form one large revolving door of influence, which has been very effective at keeping CCA profitable in Arizona, at the great expense of Arizona taxpayers.

Chuck Coughlin is a Walking Conflict of Interest

Despite CCA's and Governor Jan Brewer's repeated claims to the contrary, CCA has been wiedling its influence on the governor in subtle ways for quite some time, including when she was debating whether or not to sign the "breathing while brown" bill. Chuck Coughlin, who runs High Ground Consulting, which CCA has used for over a year to lobby for them in Arizona, also happens to be an advisor to, and campaign manager for, governor Brewer. By Coughlin's own admission, he advised the governor on the bill while he was receiving payment from CCA as their lobbyist. And so while CCA can claim that they technically didn't lobby on the bill, I'm willing to go out on a limb here and say that the man they hired to lobby for them might have just possibly helped nudge along one of the most controversial laws I've ever seen, one that stands to directly benefit CCA in a big way.

Close Relationships

Just an interesting little tidbit I noticed in a story about how CCA stands to profit from Arizona's racial profiling law: Governor Jan Brewer's administration has some close ties to CCA and its lobbyists.  Ms. Brewer's deputy chief of staff, Paul Senseman is a former CCA lobbyist (and Paul's wife is currently a lobbyist for them), and her campaign manager/advisor, Chuck Coughlin, is the director of a public affairs firm that lobbies for CCA.