Ronald Kessler’s June 21 Newsmax column channels John M. Palatiello, president of the Business Coalition for Fair Competition, to attack the Obama administration for allegedly “changing government rules to prevent agencies from using private firms in order to reduce costs. Typically, that raises costs to taxpayers by as much as 30 percent.” But Kessler and Palatiello provide no verifiable examples of it actually occurring, let alone any evidence of the cost increase.
Kessler and Palatiello offer vague purported examples of businessmen who lost government contracts when government officials decided to do the work in-house — but there are not enough details offered that, say, a media critic can independently verify the claim. For instance, Kessler quoted Palatiello as saying, “I know a small business man up in Peekskill, New York, who is a food service catering company. … And he had a contract pulled from him and brought in-house. I know of mapping firms that have had contracts with the government where they have been canceled and brought in-house.” But that’s all the information offered, and it’s not enough to go on.
Do Kessler and Palatiello have something to hide? The lack of details they offer to support their argument certainly begs the question.