Corbett: Privatize the state parks

Gov. Corbett suggested Thursday that Pennsylvania's 117 state parks might be ripe for privatizing.

With a new gubernatorial commission to study privatization in the works, Corbett was asked what, besides the Liquor Control Board, might benefit from private-sector control. He replied: "Prison health care and running state parks."

Corbett, a former lifeguard, cited the lack of lifeguards at beaches and park pools.

"There are some places where we don't have any lifeguards in our state parks," he told reporters after a bill-signing event in Hershey, Pa. "If we privatize that, can we save a little money and have the lifeguards back?"

The idea didn't sit well with the Sierra Club of Pennsylvania.

"Certain aspects of the parks might lend themselves to private control, but operations of the state parks?" said Jeff Schmidt, the club's state executive director. "We'd want to know more about it, but it doesn't sound good." - Amy Worden