It Pay$ to Be Gov. $undquist's Friend$
Here's an interesting story from the Associated Press noting one lawmaker's fears that the governor is going slow on prison construction in order to open a "back door" to privatization. Gov. Sundquist has long favored prison privatization, though he publicly dropped the idea in 1998 after Nashville-based prison company CCA endured a spate of bad publicity over stabbings, escapes and other problems at a prison it runs in Ohio.

But does Sundquist now have renewed interest in privatization?

Given all the revelations recently by NewsChannel5 investigative reporter Phil Williams regarding how Gov. Sundquist's administration has delivered tens of millions of dollars worth of state business to friends of the governor under sweetheart no-bid contracts, it's worth noting that the CEO of the leading operator of privatized prisons, CCA, is longtime Sundquist friend and ally John Ferguson, who served as Sundquist's finance commissioner through the first two years of the push for an income tax.