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Monday, June 28, 2010
Ind. Gov't. - More on "Lawmaker defends roles on call center Sought welfare site in Marion, in a building he has a stake in"
Updating this ILB entry, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an editorial today building on its Sunday story. It begins:
“It would be extremely expensive for the state to cease the contract. At this point, it would be a step in the wrong direction.”– State Rep. P. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, defending the state’s welfare privatization contract in comments to the Marion Chronicle-Tribune on July 23, 2008
“Our goal would be to make sure the call center is an important and effective part of the hybrid the governor has proposed.”
– Turner, on Oct. 17, 2009, after the contract was canceled, in response to concerns the Marion call center might be closed
“I’m very offended by this legislation, that a 10-member committee will affect 350 to 400 jobs in Marion.”
– Turner on Jan. 29, criticizing a bill that would increase oversight of welfare service contracts, including the Marion call center operation
Turner might well be a champion for jobs in his central Indiana district, but voters will have to decide if the low-wage call center positions were his primary motivation or his own financial interest in the call center itself.
The Journal Gazette’s Angela Mapes Turner reported Sunday that the assistant minority leader is part owner of a company his son created to buy the call center building in May 2008. Affiliated Computer Services, a partner in the failed $1.16 billion welfare privatization contract, was leasing the former middle school from Marion Community Schools when the sale closed. Rep. Turner does not list the name of the company on his required statement of economic interests, even though he discloses other joint real estate ventures with his son.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 28, 2010 08:11 AM
Posted to Indiana Government