New ideas to better the Old Line State
Campaign season means costly promises — but not just to voters
Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner
By Stephen Janis, The Examiner
Published on Thursday, August 23, 2007
MPPI IN THE NEWS
BALTIMORE - After the Sept. 11 primary election, the city’s taxpayers may be left holding the bag while outsiders count the cash.
Some fear that political donations by out-of-town companies with lucrative city contracts could put pressure on mayoral candidates to bow to special interest groups.
“The forgotten minority in Maryland and in Baltimore is the taxpayer,” said Christopher Summers, president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute. “Whether it’s education or other services, taxpayers in the city are getting a terrible return on their investment.”
Campaign donations to Mayor Sheila Dixon include out-of-state companies who have fed or are feeding at the city’s trough, according to city’s financial records.
Poppleton Development LLC, an Aspen, Colo.-based company, donated $3,000 to the Dixon campaign. A company of the same name won approval of a neighborhood master plan from the Baltimore City Council in 2005 that paved the way for a major East Side development when Dixon was City Council president, according to council records.
Los Angeles-based Medcalf and Eddy, an environmental consulting firm that has worked for the city’s Water Bureaus, donated $1,500 to Dixon’s campaign.
And while there is nothing illegal, or perhaps even unethical, about campaign donations from companies that benefit from the city’s largesse, keeping track of how companies benefit from campaign donations is not easy.
The City Board of Estimates, the body charged with awarding city contracts, will dole out nearly $500 million for road improvements, equipment purchases, and water and sewer work in 2008.
But the Board of Estimates’ minutes are indexed only through 2004. That means if taxpayers want to track how much money a company received in the past four years, they need the exact date the contract was awarded.
“If we had all the money in the world we would put everything online, but we don’t have the ability right now,” said Douglas Pierson, assistant to comptroller Joan Pratt. His job includes indexing the board’s minutes.
The lack of transparency, Summers said, at the very least fuels the perception that campaign donations are part of a “pay for play” system.
“It simply seen as a way of keeping your name at the top of the list,” he said.
Mayoral candidates speak out
As part of The Examiner’s ongoing coverage of Baltimore’s mayoral race, we asked the candidates to outline what they would do to make city contracting more transparent.
Andrey Bundley (D)
» “You have the same individuals doing business with the city consistently. There is a dependency between the mayor and people giving money, and it distracts the mayor from making the right decision.”
Jill Carter (D)
» “When I’m the mayor we’re going to put all the Board of Estimates minutes on the Internet. All information that relates to city government will be a mouse click away.”
Frank M. Conaway Sr. (D)
» “I think all expenditures over $1,000 have to be online so the citizens can see who is getting what. There is abuse in the system.”
Robert Kaufman (D)
» “The incentive of a capitalist system to corrupt both legally and illegally is overwhelming. The only viable solution is a socialist society.”
Keiffer Mitchell Jr. (D)
» “Let’s post campaign contributions from companies doing business in the city online and update it every 30 days. That means a check on mayoral power.”
Anthony McCarthy, spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon (D)
» “Most of the contributors to the mayor’s campaign have been longtime contributors and longtime supporters. She is not bought by anyone or interested in being bought.”
sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com
Examiner
