News-Record.com

Welcome to those of you finding your way here after reading this story on the Polo.com incentives.

A couple notes:

• Once the deal is done with an incentives package, the Commerce Department and other agencies have to make with the records, which is a relatively recent addition to the state’s open records laws. Incentives are an area where the public’s right to know about how their government chooses to spend tax dollars is in conflict with the objectives of the business and government agencies. Having the records available after the fact doesn’t balance out this equation in my mind – it doesn’t, for example, let taxpayers who oppose a particular deal get organized far enough in a advance to stop it – but it does give folks a window into the workings of the incentives process.
• The Commerce Department is one of the few agencies I’ve been to where officials won’t let you into the office area. This is not because they think you’re dangerous, but because you might hear some over-enthusiastic employee espousing about some pending deal that’s not ready for daylight…at least that’s what they told me. I’m betting they just don’t want anyone around all those gold shovels they use for groundbreakings.
• The folks at Polo.com didn’t respond in any meaningful way for this story. Heck, once you get $4.4 million in taxpayer money, there’s really no reason to explain why or how you made your decisions is there?

As always, the comments link is open.