Political Quotes

“But it does seem to me that just because the operators of the plant want a monopoly does not necessarily mean that is good public policy or that we ought to go along with it. By definition, if at the time bonds have been paid off-- since I doubt seriously these plants are constructed by anything other than bond issues--but once the bonds have been paid off, they have been built. They may continue to have high operating costs. But at that point it is the citizens of the State and the community whose interests we ought to have in mind, which is the rationale behind the interstate commerce clause in the first place, that a State should not grant a monopoly to either a private business or a State enterprise to extract more money from the taxpayers of the community than is necessary. And if a private investor or some other competitor can build a plant, can come up with the capital to do so and compete favorably with an institution that has already been totally financed by public funds and had that financing repaid, then at that point public policy would suggest that the people are more benefited by the lower prices and the competition because, by definition, they are the ones who are getting the contract rather than the older, outmoded or very expensive facility that we have been protecting in the meantime.”