Sen. David
Vitter, joined by Jefferson Parish President John Young, ask
state government to set in motion constitutional changes to allow any of a
private company, private/public partnership, or government to take over
forcibly a utility deemed to be underperforming. Incredibly, they argue
it “would inject real competitive pressure” into power provision.
Let’s see if we have this straight: according to these guys,
government’s bringing its power to bear to achieve an outcome it desires by
fiat, where the decision-making doesn’t have to have anything to do with
customer service but instead may be captive to fulfilling dozens of allied (on
this issue) different special interest agendas for dozens of different reasons,
is what defines “competition?” There’s zero guarantee that this action of
stripping a company of its assets, even at fair market value, would not reflect
a hidden agenda driven by political considerations.