Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

The Democratic wave of election victories last week fell short of the banks of the Red River.

That means Texas will remain firmly under the control of a "less-is-more" Republican leadership that loves to outsource whatever governmental functions it can't kill.

With the blessing of Grover Norquist disciples like Gov. Rick Perry and House Speaker Tom Craddick, the process involves starving programs like the Children's Health Insurance Program until the public won't abide any more. Then they resurrect the programs under private administrative contracts so the anti-government crowd can at least cash in on what often prove to be lucrative contracts.

That might be acceptable if not for the sad fact that many people who are supposed to be helped — often the Texans least able to stand up for themselves — begin falling through the cracks when profit-driven contractors try to do the job on the cheap.

Earlier this year, this scenario reared its ugly head as reports began to emerge about thousands of Texas children being erroneously dropped from the rolls of the CHIP program, leaving them without health care coverage that in some cases made a life and death difference in their medical care. And that was with just a limited roll-out of a new shift to privatized enrollment administration for social services provided by the state.

The newest questions about the privatization of state operations are being raised by State Sen. Jane Nelson, a staunchly conservative Republican from Flower Mound. Nelson has for several years been one of the real voices of conscience in the Texas Legislature, one of the few leading lawmakers in Austin who have given more than just lip service to the concept of compassionate conservatism.

As chair of the Texas Senate's Health and Human Services Committee, Nelson has consistently tried to focus legislative debate and actions on doing what is best for Texans rather than just what is cheapest. Although she is no spendthrift, Nelson is focused on doing the job right.

At a hearing on Tuesday, Nelson was questioning the wisdom of the Legislature's decision in 2005 to fully privatize — over the course of five years the — the state's foster care system. The state already relied upon private agencies to recruit and manage about 80 percent of the foster families in Texas, but had retained oversight by continuing to have state employees responsible for case management and foster home visits.

Nelson, who had resisted privatization of those oversight functions during the legislative session but eventually acquiesced to the demands of House negotiators, said Tuesday, "We're not privatizing the printing of telephone books here. We're talking about children, and we can't make mistakes."

Her comments came as hearing participants discussed the case of a 16-month-old foster child who died on Labor Day after being placed in five different foster homes in seven months by Mesa Family Services, a private foster care agency. Young Christian Nieto died of head injuries and his foster mother has been charged with capital murder.

Clearly, a mistake was made. It's not clear yet exactly who made the mistake, but it is clear who paid the price for it.

Representatives of other private family agencies cautioned against jumping to the conclusion that privatization is bad. One spokesman, Mike Foster of the Caring Family Network in Austin, said that the solution to the problem is to hold failing agencies accountable for poor service, saying, "If we don't do a good job with children and families, we should not get a contract."

The problem with that is that one of the too frequent outcomes when a private contractor fails to do a "good job" is the injury or death of a child under the state's care.

As Nelson said, "We're talking about children, and we can't make mistakes."

When the Texas Legislature convenes early next year, let's hope Nelson can convince fellow lawmakers to reconsider the privatization of the state's oversight role in foster care and to look instead for better ways to avoid tragedies like the death of little Christian Nieto.