Government Sets Aside Money For Insiders

A three-month investigation by the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute found that a federal program intended to help disadvantaged business owners win contracts at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix is benefiting a small group of political insiders who are anything but disadvantaged.

The federal Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program (ACDBE or DBE) sets guidelines requiring minimum levels of participation by small businesses owned by minorities and women in airport concession contracting. Award winning investigative reporter Mark Flatten, formerly of the Mesa, Ariz.-based East Valley Tribune, shows that many of the DBE owners at Sky Harbor have a net worth in excess of $1 million and hold multiple city contracts, both on and off the airport.

Of the $52 million in sales attributed to disadvantaged businesses at Sky Harbor in fiscal year 2008, $15.4 million was generated by five DBEs owned by people active in politics. And of the more than 140 individual concession storefronts at Sky Harbor, city records identify only two that are not operated exclusively by a master contractor or owned, at least in part, by a certified DBE.

(more…)