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Pork prevails

Originally published in the Frederick News-Post

Economic & Fiscal Policy, Government Transparency

by Marta Hummel Mossburg

OP-EDS

What does it say about state legislators when even in the middle of a financial crisis they funnel money to pet causes?

They always have less pork to dollop on home districts in the form of bond bills than their counterparts in Congress do through earmarks. There is $15 million this year, the same as in 2009. But the fact that Speaker of the House Michael Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller cling to the practice in the worst of times reveals their willingness to leverage state taxpayers' future for short-term political gain.

Sen. David Brinkley, R-Frederick and Carroll, is sponsoring with Delegate Galen Clagett, D-Frederick , a $500,000 bond request for the Way Station Inc. Brinkley says the money is useful when it supports the common good. The Way Station sounds like a worthwhile organization. It counsels 5,000 children and adults with mental illness and provides employment services for veterans.

The problem, however, is that for every Way Station, 20 requests exist for narrow interests that often benefit organizations where legislators sit on the board and sometimes even employ their relatives, as reported by The Baltimore Examiner and The (Baltimore) Sun. Brinkley admits the requests "can get way out of hand."

One undeserving bond bill is a $500,000 request for CASA de Maryland Inc. by Montgomery County Democrats Sen. Jamin Raskin and Delegate Sheila Hixson. This money would supplement millions state and local taxpayers have already given the organization in the form of previous bond bills and grants. CASA advocates government services for illegal immigrants and helps them find jobs. So while the state rounds up undocumented workers and arrests employers who hire them, it pays CASA to subvert the law.

Another is a $250,000 request Raskin sponsored with Montgomery County Democratic Delegates Thomas Hucker, Hixson and Heather Mizeur to repair the academic services building at the National Labor College. Union members learn how to organize overseas workers, direct campaigns against lawmakers who don't support a government takeover of health care and how to squeeze fees from workers they don't represent at the NLC. Have Raskin and the others asked Andy Stern of the Service Employees International Union how his organization could spend $60.7 million to elect President Barack Obama but can't afford to fix the windows at its training center?

Other requests include myriad and repeat petitions for local museums that can't support themselves. There is one for a tai chi court in Cabin John Park in Rockville, a stadium at Owings Mills High School and a $100,000 request by Speaker Busch for a concession stand at Annapolis High School -- because selling popcorn and soda to minors is a top priority of the state when legislators are not trying to ban sugar and trans fat.

The requests that pass comprise a tiny fraction of the budget. But the fact that they will be allowed when legislation to address a looming $30 billion shortfall for state employee pensions and other retiree benefits will once again be pushed to another year highlights the leadership void in Annapolis. People who buy flat-screen TVs and $300 monthly cable packages but don't pay their mortgage will lose their house. The problem with the state is that it will be taxpayers who pay through fewer services and higher taxes when the price of legislative folly comes due.

Marta Mossburg is a senior fellow at the Maryland Public Policy Institute. mmossburg@mdpolicy.org