The Failed Lake Texoma Redevelopment - Stephen L. Willis

When Privatization Becomes Theft

Beginning in the early 1980's about the time Ronald Reagan was elected president, we started hearing a lot about deregulation, outsourcing and privatization. Many government and industry officials felt that they could do a better job of voluntarily regulating themselves if they were given the chance. They also felt that government was too inefficient and that we should "outsource," or contract private companies to do much of the work that was being done by public agencies.

"Privatization" was another more official sounding word to describe the outsourcing of public services and assets. The main assumption supporting privatization was "if it is not owned, then it is not being properly appreciated." The problem with this argument is that our public libraries, universities, hospitals, schools and parks are owned. They are owned by the public taxpayers who invested billions in them over the past hundred or more years. Just because some slick libertarian snake oil salesman comes along spewing misleading claims, doesn't mean that they are true. These are our schools and parks, not theirs to steal for pennies on the dollar under the pretense that the "private sector" and the sacred "free market" can do a better job.

By the mid-90's the trademark of the "Reagan Revolution" had taken hold in many areas of government services. We were now contracting out billions in public funding to hire private military contractors (PMC's) like KBR, private intelligence-gathering like Booz Allen Hamilton and private prisons by Wackenhut and Correctional Corporation of America.

Say Goodbye to Public Schools and Parks

On the domestic side, we were experimenting heavily with the public funding of private charter schools, private package delivery with the development of Federal Express and UPS which took a large chunks of that market away from the U.S. Postal Service. We passed bonds to finance private toll roads, private parking meter operations in Chicago and private hospitals, zoos and libraries across the U.S. No publicly owned services or assets were immune to the onslaught of privatization.

Then too came the move to privatize our public parks. A proven recipe for creating the right conditions for privatization was to cut taxes on the top income brackets, and then cut funding for parks maintenance and services. Once a state park or groups of parks fell into disrepair, or "blight," these new true believers in "free market solutions" could talk just about anyone into trying this amazing new privatization that would solve all of your problems, while "revitalizing" your favorite public parks.

The main problem with the agents of privatization was that their sales presentations were usually filled with false promises of revitalization, when their actual goal was to take ownership of the park. This is exactly what happened at Lake Texoma State Park in southeastern Oklahoma. It began over fifteen years ago beginning with the administration of Republican Governor Frank Keating and Lt. Governor Mary Fallin.

As a result of the poor performance of the private charter school movement and the deception underlying the park privatization movement, Americans of all political persuasions are starting to question the wisdom of just giving away our public investments in our public schools and parks.

Privatization Snake Oil Quickly Losing Supporters

In Oklahoma, our state land commission is suing Aubrey McClendon's Pointe Vista Development for failing to construct a promised hotel since purchasing a large section of Lake Texoma State Park in 2008.

Keith Kuhlman, assistant secretary of the Commissioners of the Land Office was one of the original state proponents of this deal over ten years ago in 2004. Former Democratic state senator Jay Paul Gumm and Republicans George Nigh and Mary Fallin were also among the most vocal supporters for revitalizing the park. But the end result of all their promotion of the project was that 758 acres of federally protected park land now hangs in the balance in the Oklahoma County District Court.

Meanwhile, Pointe Vista has just received Marshall County approval for a private Rural Water and Sewer District to serve their planned residential development north of US Hwy 70 adjacent to the Chickasaw Pointe Golf Course. This does nothing to meet their legal obligation to construct the promised hotel and convention center which they could have begun in 2008.

We have reached the endgame of a dispute with an estimated $100 million in public lands at stake if the state fails to act to protect the public investment in Lake Texoma State Park. State and federal officials conspired to take this park land from the public taxpayers. They violated multiple state and federal laws in the process. Privatization without public accountability is nothing less than theft.

The privatization of Lake Texoma State Park is a top priority taking from the public. There will be no justice for the public unless the voters are able to identify state candidates or U.S.Attorneys with the political will to restore Lake Texoma State Park to the public trust.

NOTE: Part 2 of this series on the Lake Texoma Redevelopment will cover the legal violations underlying this privatization and the role of Oklahoma's political officials in laying the foundation for it.