The Political Spectrum

Not to detract from all of the more interesting news out there, (such as the speculation over the possible retirement of at least one, maybe two Supreme Court Justices), but I feel in some way compelled to point out Sally Jenkins’s sports column in today’s Washington Post. The long story is that Jenkins takes the GOP to task for recent comments from conservative congressmen Tom Davis (R-VA) and John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) regarding George Soros’s participation in one of the eight investment groups currently bidding or preparing to bid to purchase the Washington Nationals.

For those of you not aware, the Washington Nationals (Nats) are currently owned and operated by Major League Baseball, and as such are collectively owned by all the rest of the teams in the league. While the team has its own management, that for the most part appears to be independent, it is not a stretch for me to say that this current arrangement puts the Nats at a considerable disadvantage. This, of course, makes the fact that the Nats are currently in first place in the National League East such a great story. All that aside, the fact is that MLB is in the process of attempting to sell the team, and as such have placed a deadline on perspective bidders to put together proposals in order to bid on the team. Prices are expected to be anywhere between at least $ 200-500 million, if not more, for the rights to the Nationals. A lot of money to be sure, which is why most, if not all, of the bids are not made by individuals, but rather by investment groups that ban together to divide the cost and spread the risk.

Soros is participating in one of the groups. Not, however, as the GOP congressmen would have you believe, as a majority or primary shareholder, rather as a minority investor. Meaning he would have little, if any, direct influence in the team. For example, even George Steinbrenner, the majority stakeholder and public face of the New York Yankees, doesn’t own the team outright. He has many minority stakeholders and thus, ownership of the team is divided among several people and other financial arrangements. So, you ask, why the fervor over Soros, a potential minority investor? Simple, he’s a “liberal” and worked hard, by contributing millions of his own personal wealth to defeat President Bush and Republicans in the 2004 election. Guess what, he lost. Thus, the fear and concern that he would own the Nationals and give MLB a “black-eye” is totally lost on me. True, Soros has also actively promoted the legalization of marijuana, but arguably so did Justices O’Connor, Thomas, and Renhquist (at least with respect to the use of medicinal marijuana) by dissenting in Gonzales v. Raich. Presumably no one would object if they were a minority investor (of course as among the highest judges in the land they aren’t paid enough (even after 20+ years) to afford an MLB team, but that’s a post for another day).

The silliness of the GOP’s concern over Soros’s potential ownership in the Nats, got me thinking, where again are all the “free market” supporters. The bidding process employed by MLB is almost the textbook free market situation. Blind bids, best one for MLB wins. The highest bid gets the prize, everyone is treated equally, no favorites, no advantages, except how smart you are relative to the other investors. It’s perfect competition, all information is made available, and may the best man/woman or group win. Why interfere? Because like every other “interest group” the GOP is opposed to the free market when it might produce a result they don’t like. Soros might win; his group’s got just as good a chance as the other 7 groups, therefore, a little public influence and pressure (like threatening to revoke MLB’s antitrust exemption if Soros’s group wins. For the record, MLB’s antitrust exemption should be revoked, post haste, but not because of Soros, but because its bad policy and for that reason only) can’t hurt, right?

Not true. In my opinion, this makes Rep.’s Davis and Sweeney look like fools and drags down the credibility of the GOP especially on free market, business competition issues. Note to Davis and Sweeney, let the bidding process work its will, if you don’t like the results, don’t go to the games, and enjoy the drive to Baltimore if you want to see MLB in the Mid-Atlantic. My guess is that 99.9% of DC area fans won’t care who buys the Nats as long as they continue to put a scrappy, high-quality, talanted team on the field that can compete year in and year out. Baseball owners are influential for sure, but they are not the reason the fans go to the game, the team and its players are. So long as whomever eventually owns the team understands that, whether they be "liberal" or "conservative" they will have the communities support.