Keller @ Large: For MBTA Reform, Stan Rosenberg Should Take Own Advice

BOSTON (CBS) – By now, everyone knows what a mess the MBTA has become - expensive, inefficient, and unreliable.

The consequences of all that were graphically demonstrated this winter.

And last week the governor's bi-partisan commission on MBTA reform proposed a bunch of ideas to help fix the mess, including suspending for certain MBTA functions the onerous restrictions of the Pacheco Law, a measure that makes it next to impossible for a state government service to be farmed out to a private contractor.

The House has approved this move. But the Senate comes next. And yesterday, according to the Globe, Senate President Stan Rosenberg told reporters he believes there's no need to exempt anything from the Pacheco Law because privatization has been going ahead just fine without doing so.

That's surprising and disturbing to hear from someone as smart as Rosenberg, because it's false.

Proposals for exemption from the Pacheco Law must meet arcane standards that have earned it recognition as the nation's most hostile anti-privatization statute. The state auditor is the arbiter of whether or not they've cleared the bar.

A visit to the auditor's website shows that in the 22 years since the law was passed, only 19 have reached the auditor's office, and only a handful of those were approved.

Proponents of competition in the awarding of state contracts argue we can save money and deliver services better. The unions who benefit from the Pacheco Law bitterly disagree. That's all fine.

But as Senate President Rosenberg puts it: "We ought to be driving policy based on outcomes and data and how things actually work."

If only he would take his own good advice.

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