December 9, 2012 2:35PM # How Government Actually Works, Especially Unaccountable, Multi-Jurisdictional Government By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE In my book [*Libertarianism: A Primer*](http://www.amazon.com/Libertarianism-Primer-David-Boaz/dp/068484768X), 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](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/dc-airport-authority-employment-is-frequently-a-family-affair/2012/12/08/e29ab88a-3eef-11e2-a2d9-822f58ac9fd5_story.html?hpid=z3) 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](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/hr-crawford-says-friends-relatives-worked-at-mwaa/2012/11/14/a0e0d318-2e67-11e2-beb2-4b4cf5087636_story.html), 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.” ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).