The Unsavory Use of Nonprofits as Bargaining Chips

In reporting the other day about deals cut by a Maryland county executive to allow developers to purchase and build on public land in exchange for contributions to county charities, The Washington Post focused on the failure of those developers to pony up the scratch once the agreements were in place. But the big pickle, in my mind, is the use of those charities as extortion leverage in backroom swapping done without public scrutiny. As the Post noted:

The arrangements, laid out in five contracts in recent years, were shrouded in mystery. The county did not name the charities in four of the five contracts. It identified some of the organizations only under pressure from the state. Officials at the nonprofit groups said they knew nothing about the funding they were to receive.

Certainly the nonprofits could use the funding, but the seedy nature of the deals surely taints the contributions. Oh, wait, that’s right: There have been no contributions. This is a lousy, lousy way for government to fund charities — or, more precisely, to compel private businesses to fund them charities. Shame on Prince George’s County for deceiving its residents and its nonprofits in a sadly familiar unethical tale of political influence and under-the-table, sweetheart deals. | 501(c)