Panel Would Privatize Mail Service, Prisons

WASHINGTON —  A bipartisan presidential commission, going beyond President Reagan’s own mostly ignored proposals, today told the President the government should begin a gradual but wholesale transfer of mail delivery, air traffic control, prison operations and scores of other services to the private sector.

Controversial even before its submission, the report by the Presidential Commission on Privatization goes far beyond earlier proposals by Reagan to sell off federal assets and reduce the scope of government.

“The government with its checks and balances does not lend itself to managing high technology,” said the commission’s chairman, David Linowes, a Democrat. “Government entities have injected themselves well beyond the realm of government into business to the detriment of both business and government.”

No Early Enactment Seen

Linowes, a political economics professor at the University of Illinois, said at a press conference after meeting privately with Reagan that the President “hasn’t had an opportunity to read the report yet” and did not indicate what, if any, of the suggestions the White House would push.

But he acknowledged that none of the recommendations is likely to be enacted before Reagan leaves office next January.

“This is the first time there has been an independent exhaustive analysis of the issues,” Linowes said. “We didn’t take on this job with the expectation that it would stay with just one Administration.”

Recommendations

Among the commission’s recommendations:

--The Postal Service’s monopoly on delivering letters should be ended over time, with private companies allowed to compete for the business.

--Airport control towers should be privately run, although the government should “continue to regulate the national airspace.”

--A system of educational “vouchers” should be established to give parents greater freedom of choice in selecting elementary or secondary schools for their children.