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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>In part, Tom wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>“</span><span style='color:#1F497D'>UI tossed in health care for the AlliedBarton employees . . . ALL AT IDAHO TAX PAYER EXPENSE.”</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Now, let’s think about this, Tom: surely you know that a payment of $101.54/month per employee isn’t going to provide meaningful health care coverage for those employees -- assuming any of the AB-UI employees work long enough, or enough hours, to be eligible for any benefits -- so it seems to me the question is: what is that money <b>really</b> for??? One can’t help but wonder if it’s really nothing more than padding to increase AB’s profit margin. Or, maybe it will go towards reducing the employer’s contribution for AB employees in other locales. Or, maybe it will be funneled off to pay for another self-thrown $3M birthday party for Blackstone’s (AB’s parent co) CEO? Who knows, but as taxpayers, I do think we have an interest in knowing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>OTOH, if that $101.54/month/employee actually goes to provide health benefits for AB-UI employees, I can’t imagine that you would have any complaints about that, would you? If so, why? Frankly, I think that any time a government entity decides to “cut costs” by contracting work out, it should insist that something basic like health insurance is part of the package. Otherwise, those “cost savings,” come in large part from choosing contractors that don’t provide appropriate wages/raises or health insurance or sick leave or vacation pay or retirement or adequate training, etc. IOW, it’s a way for the UI (or any government entity) to distance or insulate itself from the abuse of workers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Of great interest to me are a few other points.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>First, as you mentioned, the UI was interested in “cutting costs,” but what they’ve come up with is going to cost – yet again – more than a quarter of a million dollars <b>more</b> than what it’s currently paying. It is absolutely mind-boggling to me how many of the cost-cutting “solutions” the UI comes up with wind up costing more for less. The UI sure seems to have a real penchant for blowing huge wads of money here & there for everything <b>but</b> things that actually benefit students or employees.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>I really have to question how those – whoever they are – making these very costly “cost cutting” decisions that always wind up costing significantly more than promised manage to keep their jobs. <shaking my head><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Second, I’m afraid I see the handwriting on the wall with this stunt: I’m concerned this is the first step in the process of the UI ending its longstanding and very satisfactory relationship with MPD at the expense of local accountability and <b>quality</b> service. Perhaps the community uproar made the UI realize that cutting ties abruptly wasn’t going to be acceptable, so they’ve opted to take a “gradual erosion” approach.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Third, if the UI has some reason for thinking it can get better <b>quality</b> elsewhere (an argument I’d dearly love to see it try to defend), then why on <b>earth</b> would it choose a company with as rotten a track record as AB?! Quite frankly, as a parent, I’m not going to be at <b>all</b> interested in sending my daughter to a school that’s chosen a company with AB’s sordid history:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><a href="http://thedp.com/node/54500">http://thedp.com/node/54500</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>“</span>As she let herself into her house late last Monday night after being walked home by an escort, a Penn student turned around and was confronted with the guard's penis in his hand. She reported the incident, and the Division of Public Safety and AlliedBarton have since fired the guard and instituted new policies to prevent this from happening again.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>This is the company the UI expects to instill safety confidence in parents, students, potential students, faculty, and staff?! You’ve <b>got</b> to be kidding me! BTW, the “new policies” referenced above weren’t anything that would reassure me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.ivygateblog.com/2007/11/penn-responds-to-bad-cop-allegation-yup-hes-one-of-ours/">http://www.ivygateblog.com/2007/11/penn-responds-to-bad-cop-allegation-yup-hes-one-of-ours/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>I found the above in less than five minutes on Google . . . who knows what else is out there? Apparently, AB campus “security” professionals in Florida and elsewhere carry guns & nightsticks and are known to abuse both. Do we have that to look forward to here in Moscow? How about people trapped in elevators for unreasonable amounts of time because AB just isn’t up to snuff? Do we want a “security firm” that’s history includes “guards” escorting someone carrying a gun straight to his victims (three fatalities)? Yes, let’s hand over the keys to our kids – and their confidential info – to AB! I think not. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Fourth, in my brief Googling, I couldn’t help but notice how frequently persistent allegations of poor-to-nonexistent training and “low wages and benefits” are mentioned in conjunction with AB. Now, I <b>know</b> this is Moscow, ID where our . . . illustrious Rand Paulbots on the City Council recently decided to do away with our Living Wage Ordinance that cost the City NOTHING. And I <b>know</b> this is the UI, where lip service about supporting living wages is just that: lip service.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>But I would certainly expect the UI to have the mother wit to understand that when it makes a claim that it needs to “cut costs” yet wants to go with a more expensive solution, that money had darn well better at least be getting more bang for the buck rather than less. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>I’m also struck by the fact that when it comes to hiring highly paid administrators, the UI makes excuses about the outrageous salaries on the basis of having to pay more for “quality.” Yet when it comes to the <b>safety</b> of the university community, the UI wants to “cut costs” by going with a private security company that has a less than stellar record, but that sacrifice in <b>quality</b> is actually going to cost more.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Finally, I’m highly annoyed that the UI managed to keep this on the QT until it was too late for anyone concerned to have a chance of any input to the SBOE. I can’t help but wonder why the UI is being so sneaky about this. Oh, wait . . . I guess it thinks the surprise “bend over and grab your ankles” approach is more likely to be successful.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>The sad thing is it might work.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Saundra Lund<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Moscow, ID<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>~ Edmund Burke<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='color:#1F497D'>***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2010 through life plus 70 years, Saundra Lund. Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the author.*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Tom Hansen<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, August 11, 2010 11:09 AM<br><b>To:</b> 'Art Deco'; 'Vision 2020'<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Vision2020] What the . . . ?<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>The original purpose of seeking contractual arrangements with private security was to save money and reduce costs of campus security.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Yet, the contractual arrangement with AlliedBarton, as an addition to MPD’s contract (which has already been signed, sealed, and delivered), is going to cost the Idaho tax payer $280,000 more than last year.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>This arrangement with AlliedBarton wreaks of fraud. I get the impression that a behind-closed-doors deal may have already been made between AlliedBarton and “the powers that be”. Regardless of what was said or done . . . or what the Idaho tax payer said or felt . . . AlliedBarton (and all of its crookedness) was/is going to be contracted as UI’s security, and . . . just as a door prize . . . UI tossed in health care for the AlliedBarton employees . . . ALL AT IDAHO TAX PAYER EXPENSE.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Esto Perpetua,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Moscow, Idaho<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>UI ‘96<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Art Deco<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, August 11, 2010 10:08 AM<br><b>To:</b> Vision 2020<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Vision2020] What the . . . ?<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Read on:</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.ripoffreport.com/security-services/allied-barton-securi/allied-barton-security-allie-xb7bc.htm">http://www.ripoffreport.com/security-services/allied-barton-securi/allied-barton-security-allie-xb7bc.htm</a></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>w.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid black 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt;margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>----- Original Message ----- <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:#E4E4E4'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <a href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com" title="thansen@moscow.com">Tom Hansen</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" title="vision2020@moscow.com">Moscow Vision 2020</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Sent:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> Wednesday, August 11, 2010 9:33 AM<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Subject:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> [Vision2020] What the . . . ?<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal>“I have worked for AlliedBarton for 3 years. This is the most dishonest company I've ever worked with. As an account manager you are forced to lie to your clients, forced to lie to your employees, cover-up thefts and other violations. I'm leaving the company as soon as I can find something else. I hate my job and my employer. As a retired policeman, I was used to working with a mostly honest organization. This has been a real eye opener. If yo are thinking about taking a job with AlliedBarton (especially in Charlotte NC), think again.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>- From StreetInsider.com at:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.streetinsider.com/Mergers+and+Acquisitions/Blackstone+(BX)+to+Acquire+AlliedBarton+Security+Services/3848468.html">http://www.streetinsider.com/Mergers+and+Acquisitions/Blackstone+(BX)+to+Acquire+AlliedBarton+Security+Services/3848468.html</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>--------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In a related matter . . .<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“The University of Idaho will seek approval this week for a proposed security services contract with the privately owned AlliedBarton company to supplement a proposed policing services contract with the Moscow Police Department.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>- From thee August 11, 2010 edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.dnews.com/story/local/54230/">http://www.dnews.com/story/local/54230/</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Hmmm.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Moscow, Idaho<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"Corporations are an oppressed minority forced to move headquarters from state to state in search of friendlier tax codes--sometimes being forced to live just off our shores in tiny mailboxes." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>- John Oliver, The Daily Show<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><hr size=2 width="100%" align=center></span></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>=======================================================<br> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br> <a href="http://www.fsr.net">http://www.fsr.net</a> <br> <a href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>=======================================================<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote></div></body></html>