The Growth Machine and public graft

Harvey Molotch's classic journal article, "City as a Growth Machine," explains how the grouping of local economic and political elites, despite what might appear to be seeming differences, is mostly united on a pro-growth agenda, centered around real estate development and land use intensification.

How it works between the politicos and the developers is generally unseemly.

Even so, I am constantly amazed that in Maryland, politicians get investigated and sometimes lose their positions, when these unseemly relationships cross the line into corruption. See "State looking into Prince George's County bribery complaints, source says: American Hospitality owner, staff member to testify before grand jury on lawmakers' alleged dealings" from the Gazette, including this:

Luthra's company filed a lawsuit Jan. 19 against the county alleging Johnson and Prince George's council members collectively pushed Luthra during a year-long period to spend more than $900,000 preparing the Four Points building so the housing department could lease space. Johnson allegedly assured Luthra the lease was "a done deal" and allegedly used his personal attorney to conduct negotiations outside of the public process, according to the lawsuit.

American Hospitality Management also alleges that council members Marilynn M. Bland (D-Dist. 9) of Clinton, Camille Exum (D-Dist. 7) of Capitol Heights, Tony Knotts (D-Dist. 8) of Temple Hills and Ingrid Turner (D-Dist. 4) of Bowie pushed the company to hire former councilman Michael Arrington as a lobbyist to handle the negotiations to move the county housing department to Four Points, a mixed-use development that includes office space, a Sheraton hotel and commercial spaces. ...

The lawsuit also states that several council members worked through Arrington to push Luthra and associates to buy tickets for political events in exchange for consideration of the lease. In another claim, Luthra said in court papers that the council wanted him to give commissions from the lease to their political allies, including Arrington and Charles Dukes, a real estate broker with W.F. Chesley Real Estate of Crofton.

Luthra's lawyers say the developer was caught in a "power struggle" between Johnson and the council over who gets to collect favors from business contracts in the county. "This system of corruption and graft has, upon information and belief, been in place for many years," lawyers for the company wrote in a new complaint filed June 1.

I wrote about this story earlier in the month. But what amazes me is that this kind of behavior is seemingly legal in DC. At least, how could steering millions of dollars of contracts to friends of the Mayor, by diverting contracts in one government agency (Parks and Recreation Department), to a nonprofit organization controlled by another government agency (DC Housing Authority), without oversight, be legal? Why aren't people going to jail?

There is a series of postings in themail by John Hanrahan about alleged conflicts of interest by Councilman Jack Evans (the third installment is in this issue) and he laments the lack of interest by local journalists:

As a former reporter for the Washington Star and Washington Post, I frequently investigated and reported on conflicts of interest and ethical problems in the Maryland General Assembly. I also am the former executive director of the Fund for Investigative Journalism. I think I have enough reporting experience to know when an elected official appears to have crossed the line into a conflict of interest and to point out that the local mainstream press is inexplicably giving Evans a free pass on this issue. Over the last two months I have sent this information to five reporters or editors at four different news organizations, and have had no response thus far.

Probably if it weren't real estate oriented (say like this issue, "Wasting Away: The Squandering of D.C.'s AIDS Dollars") the Post would get more energized. But the Post is part of the Growth Machine too and less likely to criticize development-related "suasion."