According to the Maryland Stadium Authority, paying ex-employees for not working and showing careless disregard for managing cash receipts and pursuing back rent makes it “very well managed and very well run.”
In the government galaxy, maybe such reasoning can find believers. But not in the real world.
A new Department of Legislative Services audit chastised the agency, established 21 years ago to lure an NFL team to the region and negotiate a long-term lease with the Orioles, for poor management on multiple levels. Among its findings are that it gave a disgraced former director $42,000 for work never done; paid indiscriminate severance packages; failed to seek competitive bids for a building redo; mishandled cash receipts paving the way for employees to defraud taxpayers, and didn?t adequately pursue $1.7 million in unpaid back rent from the Orioles.
We don?t think the audit went far enough. One of the recommendations in the report is so mild as to be laughable: “We recommend that, in the future, MSA ensure that compensation for consulting services be commensurate with actual hours worked or specific deliverables.” Are auditors kidding? Is this not self evident?
The pathetic part of the report is that none of the charges are new. A 2004 audit found that the MSA inappropriately granted $66 million in construction projects. Did we mention the Attorney General?s office said the agency?s decision in 2005 to spend more than $100,000 on outside counsel to block the Washington Nationals from moving to the region violated state procurement laws? When will it learn?
Better yet, when will state legislators learn?
The agency fulfilled its original mission years ago by bringing the Ravens to Baltimore and winning a long-term lease from the Orioles. It has since branched out into a number of money-losing projects. It?s 2006 annual report shows an overall loss of more than $42 million prior to government contributions, up from a loss of about $31 million in 2005. Current projects include advocating for a Maryland Horse Park, Allegany County Motorsports Park and a minor league baseball stadium in Waldorf, all of which will require taxpayer dollars. If the perpetually money losing, state-financed Rocky Gap Lodge and Golf Resort in western Maryland can serve as an example ? if the MSA?s historical record is not adequate ? the state should not be in the entertainment business.
We totally agree with Gov. Martin O?Malley that the report shows a need to change leadership at the agency ? at the very least.
In August The Examiner outlined why legislators should dissolve the agency. The latest report only bolsters our opinion. We urge O?Malley?s pick to be a member of the board of the MSA, Fred Puddester, the chief budget officer of Johns Hopkins University, to dismantle it.
Legislators can assist him by withdrawing funding for the perpetually mishandled and money-losing agency. Otherwise, what?s the point of the audits? Why do taxpayers fund them if they serve only to make legislators look as if they believe in oversight?
