Another Bush Privatization Initiative Fails

Only this time, it was Chimpy's slightly-more-intelligent brother who was behind the failed program to privatize the food service operations in the Florida prison system.

Florida is coping with the effects of a failed and expensive food-privatization venture of former Gov. Jeb Bush. In 2001, the state turned over most prison food operations to Aramark Corp., even after Ohio had scrapped a similar experiment, citing bad results.

After seven years marked by numerous irregularities, fines for sloppy service and a state report that flagged the vendor's ''windfall'' profits, Aramark pulled out of Florida prisons last month.