You Got To Pay to Play In Unfree State

Unfree State

Unfree State politicians depend on economic development to prop up the over-spending bureaucracies they create, especially during economic downturns.

For example, during his state of the county report, Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson told his audience that “this government will do whatever it can to provide you with the resources to get through these tough economic times,” according to the Washington Post. Despite the current economic downturn, Johnson’s speech was upbeat because his county is sitting on top of the billion-dollar-plus National Harbor development project.

In the audience, which was half the size of last year’s according to the Post, sat some of biggest developers involved in the 300-acre project straddling the Potomac. They included Peterson Cos., Konterra Town Center, being built by developer Kingdon Gould, and Toll Brothers Inc., a builder of luxury homes.

While it’s perfectly legal to contribute money to political campaigns, there can be little doubt that money talks and can pave the way for developers in the Unfree State, based on Maryland campaign contribution data!

Unfree State did a little homework at the Maryland Board of Elections’ site and found that these developers gave substantial sums of money to both Democratic and Republican politicians. Democrats Johnson got his fair share as did State Sen. Ulysses Currie, who is now being investigated by the FBI. At least one developer was a big supporter of former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

Here are the total number and amount of contributions each developer made to Maryland pols:

Konterra Town Center: 76 Contributions for a total of $35,455.

Kingdon Gould: 69 Contributions for a total of $81,650.

Toll Brothers: 35 Contributions for a total of $16,805.

Peterson Cos.: 10 Contributions for a total of $750.

Unfortunately, the site does not allow you to cut and paste individual links. However, you can view the totals developers contributed to pols to help move their projects along by going to this link and typing in the each developer’s name.

If you’re so inclined, check out which elected officials got the most contributions from the developers. You might be surprised!