Montgomery County officials said Wednesday they will open a $300,000 contract to run a Silver Spring day labor center for competitive bidding next year. Immigrant advocacy group CASA of Maryland has operated the University Boulevard center since 1994.
A probe of the organization’s finances published in The Examiner on Wednesday revealed that more than 80 percent of Montgomery’s funding for CASA of Maryland is awarded through grants, noncompetitive contracts or direct handouts at the request of the organization.
County officials say they wanted to allow contractors to compete for access to the growing pot of taxpayer funding that goes toward providing services for immigrants. They add that as Montgomery’s immigrant population grows, so does the number of groups qualified to run such projects. When contacted for comment on the policy change, the development director of the CASA Silver Spring center didn’t believe that the contract would be put up for open bidding.
County officials, though, said the policy was set for next year.
Whether there are groups as able or interested as CASA in running the center is another question.
“My take on this type of stuff is at the end of the day is I’m not into fixing things that aren’t broken,” said Jaime Contreras, area director for the Service Employees International Union 32BJ. “Frankly, I don’t know of any other groups in Maryland who would be able to do it.”
Patrick Lacefield, spokesman for County Executive Ike Leggett, said he was not aware of any other groups who had expressed interest in the contract but that when other groups hear of the openings, they will “get in the mix.”
Manny Hidalgo, executive director of the Latino Economic Development Corporation, a group that partners with CASA to help immigrants start their own businesses, said the county’s new approach could be based on political factors. Hidalgo speculated that the county’s move could be an effort to silence anti-illegal immigration group members that have complained about the county’s cozy relationship with CASA.
“You also have this sort of political minefield if you will, with people like the Minutemen and other racists who have made this very personal,” Hidalgo said. “They have really targeted people who work at CASA as doing something that is in some way wrong. I totally disagree, but maybe this will help shut them up.”
