Public-private deals rarely benefit the public

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I wonder on which back nine of what exclusive, exclusionary golf course in what pristine resort that a politician-patron foursome thought up the public-private model that uses public dollars to line private pockets? Slots machines for racetrack and casino owners at public expense in Maryland? Stadiums for sports magnates at public expense in the District? Now, even mass-transit lines for construction conglomerates at public expense? What's next? Clean, safe water? Watch out for those freely dispensed water filters that ultimately will need not-so-free filter replacements.

Clearly, it must not be profitable for enough of the proper people to build new schools, new hospitals or new roads with public dollars merely for the public benefit.

Where's the rush to provide a hefty, long-term gain for a public investment in human capital? When we don't spend the capital to invest in future generations by adequately educating all of our children, for example, we end up with a work force that's ill-prepared in the specialized skills needed for today's jobs.

Somebody needs to remind these elected and appointed folks that they are conducting public business with public money, and legally, that business must be conducted in full public view. Virginia officials are playing public poker with their backroom public-private deal to construct a Metro line in the Dulles corridor. No question that the mass-transit service is needed to reduce traffic. However, negotiating secretly to award a multimillion-dollar contract to a company that is being sued in another state for massive cost overruns on another public-works project is beyond the pale.

But the public-private partnership that topped my list this week was a report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It informs Old Dominion residents that their tax dollars are being used for a contractor who employs a call center in India to answer "help desk" questions for food-stamp recipients in Virginia. One state official told the paper that at least six or seven local jobs could be created to handle those calls.

This is outsourcing at its most outrageous. This is the public-private ploy running afoul, or calling "fore." This winter, I listened at a public hearing where disabled Alexandria residents, who depend on a city-funded transit system to travel to their jobs and medical appointments, complain of deteriorating taxicab service because the newly consolidated taxicab company's dispatch center was manned somewhere in the Midwest and the requests were being processed using Internet maps.

Meanwhile, in Maryland, the governor threatens to veto a bill that will provide a livable wage to residents working on government projects issued to private contractors and developers.

This is the same Free State that could not get a bill out of committee that would have paid for health care of thousands of uninsured Marylanders by placing a minimum tax on health maintenance organizations, which also receive their share of government reimbursements. Anybody checked on the million-dollar salaries and benefits packages of health care corporate executives lately? The state worker should expect some personal profit, too, on a government contract with state dollars. Yet, this is the same giddy governor who's willing to veto a measure designed to close the tax loophole for certain corporations.

Speaking of corporate tax breaks, Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos is not about to let anybody else feed at the same public trough that brought Marylanders a field of Camden Yards dreams.

Does D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams really believe that anyone -- least of all Mr. Angelos but most of all District residents -- really cares whether he throws a temper tantrum and refuses to root in Camden Yards unless he gets his own public-private playpen, too? If he really wanted to play hardball, he'd call for a full-count D.C. fan boycott.

How many lives will Mr. Williams' empty threat save? How many children will his empty threat educate? How many seniors can purchase prescriptions because of this misguided mayor's personal quest to bring baseball back to the nation's capital?

Baseball has no lasting effect on the pressing issues that D.C. residents face. Mr. Williams pledges $340 million for a stadium while he allots $175 million for school construction in this latest budget proposal. Does anyone remember that Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin tried to make the District pay for constructing the MCI Center until Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson upped the ante by offering to buy the team and kick in for the structure, too? If Major League Baseball wants a team here, let it put up or shut up. D.C. residents truly have better things to do with their public funds.

If Mr. Williams is so dead set on seeing his name on an arena and if he had any real vision at all, he'd build a world-class soccer stadium for D.C. United to feature local talent Freddy Adu and bring in the big bucks from that untapped burgeoning source of fan revenue.

If Mr. Williams is so determined to create a lasting legacy, he should make amends for closing D.C. General Hospital by putting the same kind of Herculean efforts he's willing to expend for a baseball team into establishing a world-class teaching hospital on those same grounds in Southeast. That's the type of public-private partnership among the city, the federal health care agencies like the National Institutes of Health and Howard University Hospital that makes sense and is a benefit to all.

When will the public receive bigger and better benefit from the public's proceeds? When the public becomes better stewards and holds public officials accountable for being better stewards at getting the best returns on the public dollars for the public good, not the best benefits to line the private pockets of patrons and investors.

It's no longer enough for the people to vote at election time. The people need to get informed and lobby lawmakers all the time. Otherwise, we'll just see more spanking new stadiums than spanking new schools.