In his online publication The Boise Guardian, Sam Adams Alliance award winning writer David Frazier reports that the State of Idaho is setting up a business to directly compete with the private sector businesses in Boise. His article is titled State Owned Tax-Exempt Commercial Storage, Competes with Private Business.
Please read Frazier’s article carefully. It shows a pattern that may be replicated throughout the state.
You will see more of this. The Education Corridor is all about commercial development that will lease out its space to private entities. The thinking is that those entities will pay rent to the college, which generates income. The problem is that NIC’s purpose is education, not landlord.
Even so, the LCDC is a major landlord in town, as is the City of Coeur d’Alene. The LCDC owns multiple properties downtown and in the Fort Grounds, which it rents out, competing with the private sector. The City owns the old Library building, which it leases out to a non-profit. This is direct competition with the commercial landlords in Coeur d’Alene, and it’s unfair for the same reasons Fraiser mentions in the article.
If the Constitutional Amendments pass on November 2, you’ll see more of this competition: Our hospital, KMC, could build an office park using public money and lease out space to doctors to raise funds, competing with privately-held buildings. That would be perfectly legal if H.R.J. 4 passes.
Contrary to what many of my conservative friends say, government should not be run as a business. Government is government, nothing else.
Comment by Dan — October 20, 2010 @ 9:22 am
First plank of the “The Communist Manifesto”, Abolition of property in land and the application of rents of land to public purposes. You meant “communist” friends didn’t you Dan?
Comment by Steve Adams — October 20, 2010 @ 9:39 am
Nice to see your face, Steve! I believe our state constitution says that government may not compete with business. Correct?
Comment by mary — October 20, 2010 @ 11:21 am
I hear conservatives say that government should be run more like a business. That’s not the model I would prefer. Government should do those things the people cannot do for themselves, nothing more.
Comment by Dan — October 20, 2010 @ 12:01 pm
Steve,
Mary raised a good question in #3 that your book “The Idaho State Constitution: A Reference Guide” by Crowley and Heffron may help answer. Their commentary in the book might be as helpful as the constitutional wording itself.
Glad to see you figured out the gravatar.
Comment by Bill — October 20, 2010 @ 12:12 pm
Idaho State Constitution, Article VII Section 10: The making of profit, directly or indirectly, out of state, county, city, town, township or school district money, or using the same for any purpose not authorized by law, by any public officer, shall be deemed a felony, and shall be punished as provided by law.
Comment by Steve Adams — October 20, 2010 @ 12:41 pm
Steve,
I suspect the rationalization (as opposed to rationale) is this
was “…authorized by law,…”
While it might pass constitutional muster, the underlying fact is that the state is still competing unfairly with private enterprise. The state derives its “capital” for this venture from the taxes/fees imposed on people and corporations. As such, the state is forcing the taxpayer to fund the competition! Taken to the extreme, the state will force its own funding sources (private enterprise, citizens) to be unable to continue to fund the state-run enterprises. Then the state-run enterprises will fail. Apparently we didn’t learn anything from Cuba, USSR, Romania, etc.
Comment by Bill — October 20, 2010 @ 12:52 pm
Thanks, Bill and Steve, for researching the constitution’s wording.
Don’t worry about “Unfair Competition” coming to CdA, it’s already here. The City of CdA gave $3 million in public money to the private church-owned Kroc Center which competes directly with the other fitness companies in town. The Kroc Center, as a church, is tax exempt, so they get a big advantage over and above the 3 million. We were also told the Kroc Center’s full commercial kitchen would be used to service the reception rooms that compete with all the other reception businesses in our area. And now I hear the Kroc Center is using this kitchen to sell regular restaurant fare to anyone at the center. Stop in and buy a meal, it competes with our area restaurants…our tax dollars at work, against us!
PS–I know they don’t pay property taxes, but do they have to pay personal property tax on the equipment they own, just like other businesses?
Comment by mary — October 20, 2010 @ 1:24 pm
Dan, I believe when most conservatives say government should be run like a business they mean it should carry the same standards of efficiency as the private sector does. For example, in a lot of cases it is very difficult to fire a federal employee even if she is performing badly. Whereas in a private business underperforming workers are dealt with much more decisively. Government should stick to only a select group of tasks, but those tasks should be done with the same standards as a private business would have.
Comment by KootenaiConservative — October 20, 2010 @ 4:06 pm
Well-put, KC.
Comment by Dan — October 20, 2010 @ 4:55 pm