December 28, 2007

Russ Winch once again blames the free market for the lack of spending discipline by elected officials. He might take note that no “developer” has turned one shovel full of earth without paying the full required tribute to the bloated bureaucracy.

As Mr. Winch probably cheered, a past governor proposed collective bargaining rights for all government employees, and required artificial wage rates for all school construction.

Since I am in the construction industry, let me show you the ridiculous wage rates mandated by the government for all state construction projects, not to mention the minority set aside programs, environmental requirements, and all the benefits we must supply to our ever increasing bureaucrats and politicians. All of these have compounded the costs of building infrastructure.

Mr. Winch’s stop all growth approach is simplistic and self-serving. Why is it not fair to ask him, and those like him, why it’s okay for him to clog the roads and schools, but no one else? He feels justified in commuting “down the road” for his larger than local employment paycheck. He demands a comfortable commute, safe neighborhoods and the quality of life afforded in a rural area. He then proceeds to clog the road, fill the schools with his children, collect the larger paycheck and complain about overcrowding. After all, he was here first; they are late to his party.

As corny as it may sound, I have worked in Frederick County my entire adult life, forgone the down-the-road pay scale, and despised the crowded roads, too. But unlike Mr. Winch I don’t blame the free enterprise market; I blame the self-serving, big-paycheck commuters and ever-increasing bloated government for our lack of adequate infrastructure.