Like all insular institutions, Martin County’s Business Development Board is not connected with the rest of the county. It appears that the staff and executive board have no outside contact with the people who live here and who pay for their very existence. I envision them sitting around the office running one more bad idea “up the flag pole” and everyone in the room applauding. Then they announce it to the rest of us and when it is met with derision, they can’t understand why.

From hiring a public relations firm (do they really need more publicity?) to substituting the faces at the negotiating table, is this going to fundamentally change the dynamic? There was a problem from the very beginning with the concept of the BDB. It was one of those ideas that sound fantastic in the abstract, but when it comes down to the implementation of the idea, it just does not work.  Like so many government or quasi-governmental bodies, their nebulous mission becomes easily subservient to the actors involved. The board, politicians and especially the employees continue to lobby and expand the organization not for any discernible benefit to the community but for the survival of those receiving the financial benefit.

So often when it comes to government action, I feel I am watching an old Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland movie where the kids put on a show and they end up on Broadway.  Reality and common sense take a back seat to poor ideas run amuck. I believe it stems from a lack of thoughtful and serious beliefs in the role of government by us as a community and a nation.

How can one formulate good policies if one has no philosophy of governance? If you are a proponent of truly free markets of capital and labor, then the very idea of a Business Development Board is ludicrous. A free market approach rules out the choosing of winners and losers by government. By definition, if government is going to give an advantage to “A” of any kinds, then “B” through “Z ”are at a disadvantage.

Not only philosophically is it a bad idea for government or government-financed entities to dispense favors to chosen businesses and individuals, it is also a corrupting influence on our body politic. When tax dollars are being dispensed in this way, there is actual or perceived corruption in the awarding of those dollars. Did the winner contribute to the commissioner’s campaign? Was the looser someone the director of the BDB disliked?

By using tax dollars for the benefit of the chosen, the remaining citizenry receive no benefit. It is not anti-business or growth to end funding with tax dollars of the BDB. Our county should use a portion of those funds saved to have a person to expedite the governmental bureaucracy for new and existing businesses who want to open or expand in the county.  Excellent quality schools, low taxes and transparent government would do more to bring jobs to Martin than the crony capitalism expressed in the very idea of a Business Development Board. It smacks of favoritism and more reminiscent of the planned economies of the defunct Soviet Union than the principles of Adam Smith. No one should feel you need to know someone in order to be successful. It should be a level playing field for everyone regardless of whether your friend is on the County Commission or cousin employed at the Business Development Board.