How Government Actually Works, Especially Unaccountable, Multi‐​Jurisdictional Government

In my book Libertarianism: A Primer, I have a chapter of pop public choice called “What Big Government Is All About.” The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority isn’t really big government, just a local D.C.-Virginia-Maryland authority to run a couple of airports. But it demonstrates some of the problems you can expect from economic entities that don’t face a market test. Here’s how the Washington Post story today begins:

Meet the Kulle family: mom Helen, daughter Ann Kulle‐​Helms, son‐​in‐​law Douglas Helms, son Albert, daughter‐​in‐​law Michele Kulle and Michele’s brother, Jeffrey Thacker.


They all worked for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. All at the same time.

And what about Dad, I wonder. No job for Dad?


Anyway, officers of the agency don’t seem perturbed by the story.

“There were no clear‐​cut guidelines,” said MWAA board member H.R. Crawford, who will leave the board next month when his term expires.


Crawford, who has had at least three relatives, including a daughter‐​in‐​law, work at the agency, said family members are employed frequently, particularly among board members.


“If you ask a third of those folks, their relatives work there,” he said. “I never thought that we were doing anything wrong.”…


“This is a government town and an agency town,” Crawford said. “If there’s a possibility that you can hire a relative . . . it was the norm.”…


“This is not a patronage mill,” said Davis, whose daughter worked in the fire department for two months in 2011. “Dozens of employees’ kids worked there.”

At this point the response of good‐​government liberals is always: Pass an ethics law. Yeah, that ought to work.

MWAA’s ethics code prohibits employees from hiring, supervising or working with relatives. They also cannot supervise family members — directly or indirectly — or “have influence over their work.”