PRISON ESCAPE REPRESENTS A FAILURE OF STATE GOVERNMENT

Let us review for a moment the first purpose of government: It's the
protection of the public safety. Nothing's more important.

The escape of two dangerous convicts from the state penitentiary at
Fort Madison Monday night shows that protecting public safety didn't happen.

In other words, state government failed Iowans Monday night.

It's the second time in two years lifers have escaped from an Iowa
prison. (Two years ago some dolt left the alarms on fences turned off
during a construction project at Oakdale.)

To borrow a prison phrase from actor Struther Martin: What we have
here, is a failure . . . of politicians.

Both Republicans and Democrats at the Iowa Statehouse have
participated in shorting corrections budgets in Iowa for too long. A
guard tower went unmanned, and an escape resulted. Now political
leaders must be called to account.

This is one of Gov. Tom Vilsack's worst nightmares. It eclipses
everything else he's trying to do as he prepares for his last year in
office and a run for president. Governorships and political careers
have been ruined over prison episodes like this. That's because at
some point voters figure out the governor is the CEO and is
accountable for the Department of Corrections.

The initial reaction of Statehouse politicians on Tuesday was to
point fingers. Democrats said Republicans cut corrections budgets.
Republicans said they approved the budgets sent them by Vilsack --
and increased spending each of the last two years. The nasty fact is
all have been too cheap. Iowa has some of the lowest per-capita
levels of spending on corrections.

The only group with the right to say "I told you so" is the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union. It
represents prison guards, and it has warned both parties that the
staffing levels at the state correctional institutions were too low.

Soon, look for a cover-up. All the politicians and prison bureaucrats
will figure out that this name-calling is a no-win deal for
everybody. So, they'll agree to say nothing. They'll start
stonewalling and hiding information. (Confidential security matters, you know.)

And they'll use the Abu Ghraib defense: They'll try to it pin all on
some lowly, overworked prison guard. This peon will be fired, proving
again that bureaucracy always assigns accountability at the lowest
levels to cover the fannies at the highest levels.

Iowans deserve better. As the governor and the Legislature prepare
their budget for next year, they need to give corrections first dip
in the money bucket. As we vote for a new governor and a new
Legislature next year, don't let them forget what the first purpose
of government is. We have a right to be safe from sex offenders, meth
dealers and, yes, escaped lifers. Elderly Iowans live in special fear of crime.

There will be other ramifications. The escape will embolden other
inmates. And it will add fuel to the fire for a death penalty in
Iowa, something polls show Iowans already support. Death-penalty
opponents are fond of saying, "We do have the death penalty in Iowa.
We lock them up, and they die in prison." Uh, Messrs. Moon and
Legendre just shot a hole -- or strung a homemade rope -- through that theory.

You can bet gun sales are increasing as well. News stories said
Wednesday people around Fort Madison were locking their doors. Yeah,
and I imagine some were were locking and loading, too. People have a
legal right to do that, and many do. If government can't protect us,
more probably should.

Right now, our hopes and prayers have to be with the men and women in
the manhunt for these chaps. These officers are doing the hard work
of cleaning up the mess left by our politicians and their minions.

These law officers range from young adults with families to grizzled
veterans. I have always wondered what it was that motivated people to
devote their lives to protecting the rest of us from society's lowlifes.

But I'm glad they do. At some point, one of them may come face to
face with the duo, convicts with nothing to lose.

May God be with our thin blue line.