Time for a Red Card

Apparently the O'Malley folks still don't realize the state has money problems:

With negotiations to build a stadium for D.C. United stalled in the District, Maryland officials have agreed to consider constructing a home for the soccer team in Prince George's County.

The Maryland Stadium Authority has decided to spend $75,000 on a feasibility study to look at the economic impact and potential tax benefits. The step concerned Vincent C. Gray, chairman of the D.C. Council, who noted the team's success and potential for financial growth.

"I continue to believe that we should work with D.C. United to construct the stadium in Poplar Point," Gray (D) said.

The study comes two months after Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) wrote a letter to David Raith, the stadium authority's acting director, asking the state to help the county lure the team.

I'm not really sure exactly how this benefits the taxpayers of Maryland in any way. Particularly when you consider the fact that the through the profligate spending of O'Malley and legislative Democrats, we are still facing a projected deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars. Annapolis Democrats still cannot grasp the concept of basic economics and fiscal responsibility. To say that the state should be spending money on a study to consider spending more money to build a stadium in an area that already has five stadiums of 30,000 or more seats within a 20-mile radius is laughably absurd.

From a business perspective, D.C. United Holdings should be looking at building soccer-specific stadium to fit their needs, and I am sympathetic to the fact that they probably need such a venue to thrive financially. But if they want to build in Maryland, they should have to find the private capital to do it. The state should not be fleecing taxpayers to direct money towards an already mismanaged agency to build venues again beyond their intended scope. If they want government to build it, talk to D.C. or talk to Virginia.

I mean seriously: do Democrats really want to put stadiums before schools?