posted March 24, 2005
Ron Littlefield’s Feb. 24, 2005 letter to Chattanooga’s Public Works employees entitled Your Jobs are Safe With Me ”denies his very public record as a proponent of privatizing city services and shows that Littlefield is a career politician who will who will misrepresent his own record to get elected," said Ann Coulter Campaign Manager Jeff Olingy.
“Ron Littlefield has written city employees telling them that he has not privatized jobs, when his record clearly shows his support for privatization of city services,” Mr. Olingy said. “This indicates he will say anything that suits his purpose.”
Mr. Littlefield called the charge "another example of the Coulter campaign putting out false and misleading negative information."
The Coulter campaign said Mr. Littlefield in his letter said, “I am the only candidate with a track record of not privatizing jobs. I headed Public Works for several years back in the 1980’s and didn’t do it then – I won’t do it now.”
Coulter officials said, "Media accounts from Littlefield’s tenure as Public Works Commissioner and as a City Councilman show that he pushed private waste services and even became a consultant for private waste firms after he pushed the city to privatize."
They said he was quoted in 1995 as saying, “Privatizing municipal public works would be a simpler, cheaper and more effective option (to consolidation).”
Mr. Olingy said this quote was made "when Littlefield was employed by a national firm that specializes in privatizing government services.”
Mr. Littlefield added in the article, “Privatized crews can fill potholes, do roadside mowing, street sweeping and other road crew work now done by departments of transportation.” He said private companies “can also perform other services for municipalities, like operating sewers and managing buildings better than the governments themselves.”
Mr. Olingy said Mr. Littlefield’s recent letter "contradicted his statements and actions in previous years. The recent letter says, 'I have always believed and often have said that in a head to head contest, public employees can provide city services better and cheaper than private contractors.'"
Mr. Olingy said, “This is an issue of honesty and who you can trust. Obviously Ron Littlefield is telling city employees one thing while he has long advocated the other side. He says whatever suits his purpose at the moment. Chattanoogans all deserve better, and they will get a person of integrity and honesty with Ann Coulter as mayor.”
Mr. Littlefield responded, "This is just another example of the Coulter campaign putting out false and misleading negative information. It's interesting that the charge comes from Coulter' paid operative Jeff Olingy - the same individual that recently denied that Coulter was conducting a negative 'push' poll alleging all sorts of misdeeds by Littlefield. Then, when confronted with admission by their Florida pollster, he had to eat his words.
"Mr. Olingy is used in an attempt to shelter Ms. Coulter from such unpleasant and embarassing mistakes by her campaign. This privatization issue arose because someone spread the rumor among city workers that, if elected, Littlefield would give all their jobs to private contractors but Coulter pledged that she would not contract anything out. It is not difficult to imagine who might have started such a rumor.
"Nothing could be further from the truth. I am proud to have worked on both the public and private sides of the economy - and I've never made a secret of my business education and private enterprise knowledge. An individual such as myself with proper experience knows that there is a financial break point between public and private work and there is plenty of work for both. Some things can best be done by the public sector and other things are more appropriate for private contractors.
"Knowing how to compare public costs and private charges is how an elected official uses public resources most efficiently and effectively. The result is the best use of taxpayer dollars and everyone wins. The practice of comparing costs and making choices is known as 'managed competition.' I've stood before public employees and private contractors here and in other cities all over the country. My story is always the same: There is plenty of work for both and with proper management of scarce taxpayer dollars everyone wins."
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