NV: public defender = lowest bidder?

The Nye County commissioners are looking for "competitive proposals." From the Pahrump Valley Times:

Lawyers compete for public defender deal

Pahrump attorney Carl Joerger made a pitch for the Nye County public defender contact currently held by attorney Jason Earnest...

Commissioners will have to advertise for qualified applicants quickly as Earnest's contract expires June 30. The current three-year contract for Earnest and three attorneys is $420,000 per year. Earnest is seeking to sign a three- to five-year public defender contract through June 30, 2009...

Earnest told commissioners... (h)is team includes Harry Kuehn... and Tom Gibson... Both Kuehn and Gibson are certified to handle capital murder cases, Earnest said, which could be handy as he expects more violent offenders with a growth in murders and methamphetamine use. Earnest said the caseload for the Pahrump Justice Court increased from 532 cases in all of 2003 to 810 cases in just the first four months of 2006...

Joerger submitted an offer for $240,000 for three attorneys.

Such a deal!

Some background: Nye County's population has ranged from approximately 38,000 to 47,000 in the first years of this decade. The current private attorney contractor there has charged Nye County $420,000 per year for himself and three other attorneys. In that same period, I managed a public defender office as a department of county government in a county of 66,000 people. My budget averaged approximately $465,000 per year for me and five, later six, attorneys. Just saying.