Maryland Dems soiling themselves with prospect of Ehrlich Running

In a nice moment of synergy, Center Maryland's centrist facade meets scare(d) tactics with this morning's advice that Bob Ehrlich should wait to run for Governor until 2014.

I'm not going to bother quoting the article, but I think the message is pretty clear: DEMOCRATS ARE TERRIFIED O'MALLEY IS GOING TO LOSE.

They may want to grab some clean underwear, too.....

The Brian Griffiths Minute: 02-08-2010

A Prebuttal

A prebuttal to Governor O'Malley's State of the State Address:

Deschenaux questions O'Malley Budget

Last week I called Martin O'Malley's budget irresponsible budgeting. Warren Deschenaux, the General Assembly's Chief Budget analyst, seems to agree:

Maryland lawmakers should consider a Plan B in case the roughly $389 million in federal stimulus funds Gov. Martin O'Malley is counting on to balance the state's budget doesn't materialize, the General Assembly's top budget analyst said Monday.

"Some have questioned whether that money is reliably in the bank," Warren G. Deschenaux said at a hearing. "I would say that is not a certainty. The question then is: What to do about it?"

Deschenaux also warned that the roughly $442 million in cash infusions from previously untouchable parts of the budget that O'Malley uses to help close the revenue hole "amounts to an erosion of accounting standards." But he stopped short of ruling the transfers out-of-bounds, saying they had been used during past downturns to keep services going.

"We've been doing this for a long time," he said. "There is very little that is actually new in terms of the thinking underlying the 'found money' aspect of this budget."

"An erosion of accounting standards." Seems like a synonym for irresponsible budgeting for me.

The question, of course, is what the General Assembly is going to be with Deschenaux's assessment, particularly in regards to the $389 million in Monopoly money that O'Malley invented in order to cover this budget shortfall. When the General Assembly's own policy analysts are telling them that a budget seems to be relying on gimmicks, smoke, and mirrors it (should) be incumbent upon them to make appropriate cuts in order to pass a responsible budget.

But I'm not holding my breath...

O'Malley loses The Sun

You have to know that the budgetary mess that Governor O'Malley has created for the people of Maryland is bad when even the Sun attacks his budgetary shenanigans, labeling his budget as one held together by "Chewing gum and bailing wire":

Governor O'Malley's spending plan would, if all goes according to plan, leave $274 million in the state's bank account at the end of fiscal 2011. That's good. It would also leave the rainy day fund alone, also a fine thing. After that, things go south -- and fast.

The Department of Budget and Management predicts that Maryland will be $1.5 billion in the hole in fiscal 2012, followed by shortfalls of $2.1 billion, $2.2 billion and $2.5 billion. Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. complained that his predecessor left him with $4 billion in out-year deficits, and Governor O'Malley complained that Mr. Ehrlich left him with $3 billion in shortfalls. But with this spending plan, Mr. O'Malley saddles himself or his successor with an $8.3 billion problem. The governor said putting together this budget plan was painful, but it's peanuts compared to what's coming in the future if something doesn't change.

The editorial goes on to point out, much like we did earlier, that the O'Malley budget plan is an irresponsible budget saddled with gimmicks instead of solutions:

The answer is that too many of the solutions he has employed are one-time tactics, not long-term fixes. For example, the governor saves $330 million in the fiscal 2011 budget by keeping most aid to local governments funded at the already-reduced level they are at now. But in subsequent years, that aid is expected to grow by 5.9 percent a year. He saves $78 million through continuations of employee furloughs, but that isn't a permanent solution either. He shifts money from special funds, like those dedicated to preserving open space, into the general fund and pays for those programs through the the state's capital budget, effectively borrowing money for them. Because they displace other capital projects, they won't increase the state's debt burden, but nonetheless, Maryland's debt service payments are expected to grow by hundreds of millions of dollars in the future.

Now in fairness, the Sun went on to attack Republicans by saying their criticism "rings a bit hollow, since they have offered few concrete ideas for reducing spending." Of course, there are tons of Republican ideas for cutting spending, none of which get a fair shake in the General Assembly. But the fact that a Sun editorial actually calls out O'Malley for his reckless spending and his inability to get our budgetary situation under control really should give the O'Malley Administration at least a bit of understanding about how far off the reservation that they have truly wandered....

When you look up irresponsible budgeting in the dictionary, you see a picture of Martin O'Malley playing his guitar

Not to take away from the zeitgeist of Scott Brown's epic victory in Massachusetts tonight, but take a look at the latest budget shenanigans from the office of Martin O'Malley:

Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to rely on a billion dollars in one-time accounting maneuvers to help balance next year's $13 billion state operating budget, avoiding deep cuts to services in an election year.

The strategy drew immediate concern from critics, particularly Republicans, who say the Democratic governor is deferring tough decisions.

O'Malley presented a broad outline Tuesday of how he plans to fill a $2 billion gap between revenues and expenditures in the spending plan he is required to submit to the General Assembly today.

And what is going to take the brunt of the Governor's budget axe? Health care and state workers, naturally:

He proposes steep cuts to to hospitals, and wants to continue this year's plan which forced state workers to take up to 10 days off without pay. Counties would receive the same reduced amounts of local aid and highway money they got this year.

And sometimes we joke about politicians trying to play with imaginary money when using their budget protections, but Martin O'Malley is actually budgeting using imaginary money!

O'Malley is also banking on Congress approving a new package of emergency assistance to states grappling with the worst economic downturn since the Depression. The governor allocates $389 million he believes the state would receive from that program if it materializes.

What planet is Governor O'Malley living on? He wants to cut aid to hospitals, but talk about expanding health care. He wants to confiscate two weeks worth of pay from state workers, but continue to expand the state bureaucracy, all while trying to be a "jobs Governor" as he runs for re-election. Most laughably of all, he wants to stick it to unionized state workers by (let me say this again) confiscating their pay but expect that SEIU and AFSCME will gladly and cheerfully give their money and time to his re-election efforts this fall.

You know, we have talked about O'Malleynomics for a long, long time as Martin O'Malley has smoked and mirrored his way through the first three years of his administration. But just when you think his budgeting skills can't get any worse, they do. All while trying to use Monopoly money to make it all work.

The General Assembly needs to force Governor O'Malley to make the tough decisions when it comes to passing a budget. We cannot afford to continue this gimmicked budgeting, and we need real solutions to dealing with our budget woes. And those solutions cannot be created on the backs of Maryland State Workers: regardless of whether or not state government is too big, it is irresponsible to take money out of the pockets of these workers who are serving the state of Maryland.

The O'Malley Budget is just the latest in a round of budgeting decisions that eschew responsibility and take money directly out of the pockets of state workers who make up a sizable chunk of Maryland's middle and working class families. And I have a feeling that voters are getting tired of the O'Malley Charade...

State needs to help roll film

I just wanted to expand upon something that we discussed yesterday on the Ehrlichs Radio Show about Martin O'Malley's work to eliminate the film production tax credit.

For those of you who don't know, Governor Ehrlich worked with folks in Hollywood during his administration in an effort to procure more film business for the state of Maryland, and established a tax credit for the first $6 million that a production company spent to film television shows and movies here in the state. When you consider the number of productions that have filmed here in Maryland (from the good, to the bad, to the demented) providing more incentives for production companies to do business here in Maryland seems like a pretty good idea.

Except it didn't seem like a good idea to Martin O'Malley, who worked to axe the tax credit.....never mind the fact that the cost to the state, in the grand scheme of things, was relatively minuscule.

Why is a tax credit important? Because it provides one huge incentive for production companies to do business here in Maryland. And when you talk about mid-size to major studio productions, that business provides a sizable impact to the state. I'm not sure how many readers have been on a movie set, but I got the opportunity to be an extra in a terrible Winona Ryder film that was filmed at Camp Fretterd. And there were hundreds of people working on that film at any given time; even David Paulson managed to get a gig with the film. And those hundreds working on the film didn't even include all of the other ancillary business that was attracted by the film; food purchases, hardware purchases, port-a-potty rentals, etc.

And those benefits are even greater if the state can attract an episodic television show to the area. While movies only need to film roughly 90 minutes of footage one time, episodic television creates about 26 hours of programming for every season. That means long-term, stable economic development in the area a film is being shot on location; you can't tell me that city businesses in locations around Baltimore didn't feel a sizable economic uptick that was directly attributal to the production of Homicide or The Wire.

If Governor O'Malley suddenly now wants to become a jobs Governor, why did he work to eliminate a tax credit that created jobs? Skilled labor that works in the film industry cannot survive the reduction in jobs that are available due to the elimination of the tax credit, which hurts union film workers. And the reduction winds up hurting small businesses. A small business owner from Baltimore County who owns a local production company that works on documentaries called into the show yesterday and noted that the elimination of the tax credit hurts his labor pool and his bottom line since so much skilled talent has left to the state. And that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the small business owners who run the flower shops and the food stores and the port-a-potty companies that would be hired to work on these productions.

Maryland remains attractive as a location for film companies; our state needs to be doing more to attract these large productions and the jobs and economic impact that comes with them...

Meaningless Numbers

The left has decided to examine Governor Ehrlich's chances of unseating Martin O'Malley next year, and Adam Pagnucco decided to start his analysis with the most meaningless statistic in all of politics: voter registration data.

Overall, the Democrats have an absolute majority (at 56.9%) and outnumber Republicans by better than two-to-one. But the total numbers mask the geographic domination of the Democrats and the regional isolation of the GOP.

The Democrats have more than 50% of registered voters in eight jurisdictions: Baltimore City and Baltimore, Charles, Dorchester, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George’s and Somerset Counties. Those jurisdictions account for 60% of the state’s registered voters. The Republicans have more than 50% of registered voters in two jurisdictions: Carroll and Garrett Counties, which account for just 4% of the state’s registered voters.

Let’s lower the threshold to 40%. The Democrats have more than 40% of registered voters in 18 jurisdictions (all except Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Queen Anne’s and Washington Counties) that account for 88% of the state’s registered voters. The Republicans have more than 40% of registered voters in eight jurisdictions: Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Queen Anne’s, Talbot and Washington Counties, which account for just 17% of the state’s registered voters.

All of which, statistically speaking, was incredibly similar to the numbers that then-Congressman Ehrlich faced in 2002 when he defeated Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

Pagnucco goes on to continue with his analysis:

Registration does not always determine voting behavior. Maryland is a state in which Democrats can and do vote for Republicans, the most successful of whom has unquestionably been Bob Ehrlich. But all of the above means that the Democrats have a far broader reach across the state than does the GOP. Western Maryland is the only region in which the Democrats struggle to compete. The Republicans are non-competitive in three of the state’s four biggest jurisdictions (Baltimore City and Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties) and lag Democrats in Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, fast-growing Charles County and even some parts of the Eastern Shore. All of this is a hurdle that any statewide GOP candidate would have to overcome.

Which of course, is also completely meaningless. When you look at voting results, and not voting registration, you see a picture that is, statistically speaking, more of a level playing field for Republicans running in Maryland; particularly a more-moderate, high-name ID Republican such as Bob Ehrlich. And, of course you need to look no further than the aforementioned Anne Arundel County to notice that a Democratic-majority county has elected this decade a Republican County Executive, Clerk of the Court, Register of Wills, two Circuit Court Judges who ousted Democratic appointees, three Judges of the Orphans Court, four of seven County Council Members, a majority of the Delegates, half of the State Senators, and gave two solid majorities to Bob Ehrlich and George W. Bush, and even one to John McCain.

What does this all mean? It means that voter registration numbers as a means of determining voter performance are completely useless......which was something Pagnucco could have learned had he read my analysis from six months ago, the last time he tried this argument.

If Democrats are hanging their hat on voter registration numbers to bail them out next year, Bob Ehrlich and the Republican Party may be in better shape that even we think...

Well, We Can Try

It looks like the Governor is going to be having a Virtual Town Hall on Wednesday. Mainly because he almost certainly does not have the cojones to hold a live town hall...

Show starts at 8:00 PM, and will be online at www.martinomalley.com/townhall. You can submit your question to the Governor at the website, where more than likely readers of this site will have their questions discarded for asking something legitimate about O'Malley's failure to lead.

(H/T Adam Pagnucco)

And Jim Zorn is the NFL Coach of the Year....

Four-and-a-half years ago, Time magazine named then-Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley as one of America's five best big city mayors. I noted at the time that Time must be setting low standards to credit O'Malley as being good at his job.

Fast forward back to today, and you would be shocked and appalled to discover that Governing magazine has named Martin O'Malley one of their 2009 Public Officials of the Year.

Seriously:

Everyone knows Martin O'Malley is a numbers guy. The data-driven approach to policy and administration that he created as mayor of Baltimore, known as "CitiStat," has been copied by cities across the country. Now, as governor of Maryland, O'Malley is showing that states, too, can improve performance by measuring what they do and relentlessly monitoring their progress.

Emphasis mine. Because I'm not exactly sure what progress we are improving upon here in Maryland thanks to O'Malley and any of his metrics.

Frankly, somebody needs to get the guy a calculator and a clue so he might realize that spending more than you make is an irresponsible, reckless, and immature way to run a government.

The Governing article gets even deeper with O'Malley in an extended interview that has some, well, enlightening comments.

So as you're tackling these big jobs, how do you keep everyone focused and keep morale up when the budget situation is so tough?

I think there's two things that allow us to stay focused as we're jumping these budgetary bowling balls that keep coming down the gutter at us: It's clarity about the big goals — sustainability, security and skills — and it's the relentless stat meetings.

I ask you this; is a Governor who is so focused on his band really able to keep his entire administration focused on public service?

Next, we get to Martin O'Malley's thoughts on power and "being mean":

But how do you know when to back off a little and when to lean in?

When you actually hold the power, I don't think you ever have to be cruddy or mean. I appoint judges, and that's one of the things that I share with them. If you're wearing the black robe you don't have to be cruddy or mean, you've got the power.

Hasn't Martin O'Malley made a career of being cruddy, mean, petty, immature, irresponsible, and a bunch of other adjectives that you could insert here? O'Malley has some of the thinnest skin in the history of Maryland politics, and loathes it when he doesn't get his way. Just look at his shakedown of Constellation Energy and you will see a Governor who is more petulant than poised, and more concerned in political posturing that doing real work for real people.

And furthermore, you will note in the original that O'Malley himself put an emphasis on the phrase "you've got the power." You can draw your own conclusions of O'Malley's views on government intrusion and the scope and size of government from that little emphasis on that little word.

Then, the subject turns to the budget and the economy, and O'Malley continues to show that he has been living in some fiscal wonderland that the rest of us are not privy to:

We did a lot of things prior to getting hit with this recession. When we came in, we had what was primarily a structural deficit, not a cyclical deficit. That was the result of Democrats and Republicans alike, who had voted for huge increases in education investments, the cost of which they knew wouldn't come ashore for another five or six years, while simultaneously voting for 10 percent cuts to revenues. And so we had to address that utterly irresponsible fiscal math, and we chose to do that in a special session eight months into my first year.

Yes, he somehow managed to squander a $1.2 billion surplus eight months into his term. It was amazing and stupefying, yet he was able to pull it off. That leads us to....

Most of us remember it as a really miserable session — there was nothing terribly special about it. But we looked at virtually every revenue source available, the primary one being the sales tax. So we raised that by a penny. We also put in place a progressive income tax for the first time in Maryland's history, where we asked higher-earning folks in our state to pay a little more than a single parent who might make only $30,000 a year. And we also increased our corporate income tax by 1 percent. Those were some of the things that we did. And as difficult as it was, the fact that we did them before the recessionary tsunami hit has stood us well.

Yeah, it was a miserable session alright; mainly for Maryland's middle and working class families who have been suffering at the hands of Governor O'Malley's recklessness and incompetence. Higher and higher taxes continue to slow our economy, drive jobs out of state, and force middle class Marylanders into continued economic uncertainty, but Martin O'Malley thinks that this is a good thing. And what's even more delusional is the fact that Martin O'Malley thinks that Maryland's fiscal situation is good right now. He raises billions in new taxes, adds billions in new spending, wonders why the math doesn't work out, and then in an Orwellian fashion declares the crisis managed and that victory has been won. It's surreal.

Finally, as is Governor O'Malley hadn't already shown how divorced he was from reality, comes this:

In talking to some of the Republicans in the legislature, while they complain about Democratic dominance they do say that your administration is at least approachable. What's your basic strategy when it comes to working with the legislature?

I was elected following a term of tremendous polarization. It was almost the Newt Gingrich sort of thing, that you'd better not be seen having lunch with people that are not of your party. So I've tried to bring us together, and to underscore that we're one Maryland and we're all in this together. I do understand that each legislator is individually elected and each has a vision that they bring into government.

A Maryland Democrat talking about polarization is so incredibly comical, given the fact that it was Democratic leadership in Annapolis that refused to work with Governor Ehrlich when he came to them with a collaborative approach. In the time since O'Malley has taken office, he has taken a my way or the highway approach, particularly with Republican leadership in Annapolis; how many times over the years has Republican leadership been completely left out of the conversation, particularly when it comes to important issues such as taxation, the budget, and health care.

Sure, there are some Republicans who for whatever reason will give O'Malley cover and vote for his plans. But I think it is safe to say that Martin O'Malley has presided over the greatest partisan divide in Annapolis in my lifetime.

The fact of the matter is that this article in Governing has shown that the O'Malley camp is doing a nice job of pulling the wool over the eyes of people who don't see how he operates on a day-to-day basis, nor people who are living here in the state of Maryland. We see the kind of petulance, incompetence, and indifference that comes out of the O'Malley Administration on a Daily Basis. We see the middle and working class families who are struggling to make ends meet as they suffering from higher taxation and fewer job opportunities. We see state employees suffering furloughs because of lower than expected tax revenues due to businesses, people, and jobs leaving the state in droves.

It makes you wonder how any objective observer could recognize O'Malley's "Accomplishments". I suppose there is hope for Jim Zorn yet...

Other People's Money

Who else is stunned by this development?

A union representing more than 30,000 Maryland state employees asked Gov. Martin O'Malley on Thursday to tap into the state's $750 million rainy day fund to help avoid deeper cuts to state services. Patrick Moran, executive director of the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, held a news conference Thursday with dozens of union members, who held up signs that read: "It's Raining." State officials avoid using the fund, fearing the state would to lose its Triple-A bond rating, which enables Maryland to borrow money at a more favorable rate.

I am glad that the Union at least can acknowledge when it's raining, but this is one of those metaphorical time when somebody is trying to piss on your head and tell you it's raining.

The rainy day fund exists when the state is short on money. This is true. However, financial mismanagement and incompetence by Governor O'Malley and his allies in the State House is no excuse to dip into the rainy day fund. It's very easy for AFSCME to call for O'Malley to take money out of the rainy day fund because it's other people's money; money that was collected in taxes at a time in which the state was collecting more money from the taxpayers than it was spending. The money was put aside for an emergency; a real emergency.

AFSCME trying to protect its flank in order to save union jobs in a bloated state government? That's not an emergency...

Governor O'Malley would be right to refute calls to dip into the rainy day fund in an order to cover the costs of his own mistakes. But there is an opportunity in this, but only if Governor O'Malley learns the lessons from his prior mistakes, reduces state spending, and reduces the size of Maryland state government. However, I'm sure the political pressures from his union allies to spend other people's money to protect their hide will take precedence over such common sense ideas...

Fitting

Adam Pagnucco reported on Friday about Governor O'Malley's fundraiser that was scheduled for today...........in South Beach...........at a place called "The Meat Market."

The jokes just write themselves at this point.

What's not quite as funny, though, is this thought: what is Governor O'Malley doing going to South Beach to raise money at a time in which Maryland's middle and working class families are suffering from his incompetent leadership?

.....or are business owners and Democrats in South Beach merely thanking Governor O'Malley for driving more and more businesses out of Maryland, improving the business and economic climate of states like Florida?

Either way, I am glad to see that Governor O'Malley had the economic resources to fly down to South Beach while so many of Maryland's families are suffering due to the Governor's inability to control spending and his never ending desire to raise taxes on the middle class.

"Sure Maryland's economy is in the crapper, but who needs to worry about that? Now watch me play this riff"

Hey, remember back when Martin O'Malley was running for Governor back in 2006 and he talked about giving up his side gig in a crappy band in order to focus on his day job. Well, neither does he:

O'Malley's March, the governor's semi-retired Celtic rock band, won't be hanging it up for good anytime soon.

The band has two concerts planned the night of Nov. 21 at the historic Avalon Theatre in Easton. And Tuesday morning, the Rams Head in Annapolis said it had landed Gov. Martin O'Malley's band Dec. 20 (in an announcement that also included newly booked shows by Keb' Mo' and Sonny Landreth).

"Yeah, we have a couple of jobs," O'Malley confirmed in an interview Tuesday morning after a gubernatorial event in Glen Burnie. "I guess they're near enough to the holidays that we felt free to do them. It will be good to play again."

Sure, it's not the only promise O'Malley threw out the window after the election, nor is it the first time that he fell off the music wagon....

But god forbid the Governor actually, you know, try and do something for the taxpayers of Maryland and focus on lowering taxes, cutting spending, and solving this deficit.

Maybe an enterprising group might choose to protest to make that point outside of the Governor's gigs....

Until then, maybe somebody should remind the Governor that he can always pursue his dream of being in a band and living out of a van, resign the Governorship, and turn the responsibility over to somebody who actually gives a damn. I think we'll all be happier that way...

Now and Then

Remember the good old days, say about 2006, when Bob Ehrlich was in the process of leaving Maryland with a $1.2 billion budget surplus at the end of his term? You're right, it wasn't that long ago, and it really just emphasizes how bad of a steward Martin O'Malley is with your money when a $2 billion budget shortfall is staring us in the face.

We as conservatives and Republicans can jump up and down in the face and say I told you so. We told you that the Democrats spending plans were going to bankrupt the state. We told you that the historic and immoral tax hikes from the 2007 Special Session were going to dry up revenues. And now it seems like every day we are being proven right.

But none of that is going to provide responsible fiscal leadership here in Maryland. Martin O'Malley has shown time and time again that he does not care about the interests of Maryland's middle and working class families. Nor has Governor O'Malley shown the ability to learn from his mistakes.

Unfortunately, just being right on the issues isn't enough in a state like Maryland. So what you need to do is to go ask your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues, one simple question.

Is Maryland better off now than it was three years ago?

Hope and Change Pain

It is obvious to everybody that President Obama's handling of the economy leaves much to be desired. With monetary giveaways to any company with their handout, our "investment" in the auto industry, and record deficits on the way, Obama's fiscal policy seems more like a call for the limbo than it is a plan for fiscal recovery.

And apparently, as I have noted before.....we've seen this movie:

Barack Obama is committing the same mistakes made by policymakers during the Great Depression, according to a new study endorsed by Nobel laureate James Buchanan.

His policies even have the potential to consign the US to a similar fate as Argentina, which suffered a painful and humiliating slide from first to Third World status last century, the paper says.

There are "troubling similarities" between the US President's actions since taking office and those which in the 1930s sent the US and much of the world spiralling into the worst economic collapse in recorded history, says the new pamphlet, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs.

In particular, the authors, economists Charles Rowley of George Mason University and Nathanael Smith of the Locke Institute, claim that the White House's plans to pour hundreds of billions of dollars of cash into the economy will undermine it in the long run. They say that by employing deficit spending and increased state intervention President Obama will ultimately hamper the long-term growth potential of the US economy and may risk delaying full economic recovery by several years.

The study represents a challenge to the widely held view that Keynesian fiscal policies helped the US recover from the Depression which started in the early 1930s. The authors say: "[Franklin D Roosevelt's] interventionist policies and draconian tax increases delayed full economic recovery by several years by exacerbating a climate of pessimistic expectations that drove down private capital formation and household consumption to unprecedented lows."

Well, that's a cheery way to spend your Labor Day. But I think it is incredibly illustrative of the arguments being put forth not just in Washington but also in Annapolis. Both Obama and O'Malley are hellbent on trying to spend our way to fiscal prosperity while, at the same time, making it harder and harder for middle and working class families to compete on a level paying field. Both the President and the Governor are taking us on a reckless fiscal course that will lead to higher deficits at the national level, long-term inflation, and a reduction in earnings and income for most Marylanders.

At the Maryland level, this is a particularly damning problem. With our state Constitution requiring balanced budgets, it is painfully obvious to everybody the danger that comes with proposed overspending. When you combine liberal belief in the myth that Maryland has a recession proof economy with a senseless devotion to Keynes, you wind up with a hyper-bloated state budget that requires piecemeal cuts. And Governor O'Malley, instead of showing leadership and reducing state spending and the size of state government, instead tries to finagle his way out of it.

In short, the fiscal policies of Barack Obama and Martin O'Malley are not sustainable, will cause more and more pain for middle and working class Marylanders and are designed to avoid the tough choices that these leaders need to be making.

On this Labor Day, I challenge Maryland's leaders at the federal and state level to figure out how exactly they are going to make life more affordable for Maryland's middle and working class families. Your reckless fiscal positions have gotten us to this point; so how do you plan on fixing it?

Seeing the Light

Who is surprised to read this:

"...the Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel has failed to live up to rosy predictions made in more robust times. The 757-room hotel, a block north of Camden Yards, has fallen short in a key measure of a hotel's performance - revenue earned per room. And city officials are less certain the hotel will turn a profit in the three- to five-year time frame originally projected."
- Baltimore Sun, 8/22/2009

If there were only somebody who saw that this was going to happen.....oh, yeah:

This in a city that continually runs deficits in its school system. A city where the crime rate remains one of the highest in the country. A city where drug dealers rule many streets. To spend that amount of money on a business venture is nearly criminally absurd.

What makes it more absurd is the failure of other publicly financed projects of similar magnitude in other major cities. As the Sun cites, similar projects in Myrtle Beach, St. Louis, and Sacramento have been built at tremendous costs to the taxpayers, but without the expected benefits in bookings and revenues the city expended. And on top of those projects, the Rocky Gap resort in Garrett County and our very own Compass Pointe Golf Course are local publicly financed projects that have run in the red since their conception.
- Brian Griffiths, 8/10/2005

Comic Relief

As part of Governor O'Malley's plan to pretend to listen to budget suggestions from Marylanders, his staff put forth some of the more commonly suggested ideas from the citizens and provided a response on the web. What's comical here is not the idea of becoming a "shall issue" state for concealed weapons, it was the completely bogus response:

Permits for the carrying of handguns are regularly issued to Marylanders who meet statutory requirements established by the Maryland General Assembly.

Regularly? That's probably news to the thousands of Marylanders who live or work in some of America's most dangerous urban areas and want to be able to protect their person, their familiy, or their property....

Asking for It

So Governor O'Malley, devoid of any ideas of his own in how to manage a budget responsibly, is asking the public for their ideas on how to cut spending.

I have a funny feeling that I'm not the only conservative in Maryland who has ideas on how to accomplish this task. So maybe we all need to tell Governor O'Malley what he really doesn't want to hear.

Do your part over at http://www.governor.maryland.gov/budgetcuts.asp.

Peanuts

In Martin O'Malley's never ending quest to show he is incompetent when it comes to fiscal matters, he announced his plans to put a band-aid over a severed limb:

Health care providers who serve Medicaid patients will get paid less, the University System of Maryland will hire fewer faculty members and 40 state workers will lose their jobs as part of $280 million in budget cuts proposed by Gov. Martin O'Malley.

The Democratic governor has compiled a list of budget cuts to be presented today to the Board of Public Works, a three-member body that can approve midyear budget adjustments when the General Assembly is not in session.

But the cutbacks won't end there: O'Malley plans up to $470 million in further budget cuts before Labor Day. The next round of spending reductions will target aid to local governments and state employee compensation, O'Malley said during a news conference.

And what exactly is included in the current proposed reductions?

• Limiting how much Medicaid will pay for hospital stays over a certain length. Savings: $24 million
• Reducing funding for operating expenses at the University System of Maryland. Savings: more than $17 million
• Reducing the Maryland Lottery's advertising budget. Savings: $5.5 million
• Cutting funding for stem-cell research and Chesapeake Bay cleanup. Savings: $5 million
• Laying off 40 state workers

It's almost like Governor O'Malley is doing his part to do as little damage as possible now, in order to really have to do some financial jujitsu later.

Meanwhile, the adults are the only ones stating what's painfully obvious to the rest of Maryland:

The governor, who briefed reporters on his plan Tuesday afternoon, was harshly criticized afterward by Republicans for not acting more boldly.

"It appears to me to be inadequate and avoids the difficult decisions that need to be made," said House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert), pointing to projections showing an even larger budget shortfall next year. "We are in dire financial straits, and the governor continues to fail to act."

It just continues to defy logic and explanation that Governor O'Malley refuses to face the facts that he has wrecked Maryland's economy. He continues to refuse to face that fact that his draconian and immoral tax hikes have stretched Maryland's taxpayers thin, and forced business to close or move out of state. And he refuses to take any preemptive measures to avoid near certain budget shortfalls in the future through adequate planning and fiscal prduence. Martin O'Malley is continuing to cut out peanuts when we desperately to take meat out of our budget.

Just once, I'd like Martin O'Malley to act like he gives a damn about the plight of our state and its taxpayers......

The Governor needs to pay attention

How come it only ever seems like Governor O'Malley and his administration are surprised at the need for fiscal restraint, most recently shown through the announcement of an impending $700 million in cuts for the current fiscal year that would be coming down the pike?

How many times over the course of this economic downturn have Republicans, economists, and yes Maryland's conservative blogosphere, warned of the impending economic calamity from the imposition of O'Malleynomics here in Maryland? How many times did people note the folly of increasing discretionary spending during a budgetary deficit? How many times were Annapolis Democrats warned that drastic and immoral tax hikes during a recession would lead to a reduction in tax revenues (something that we have already seen this year)? How many times have people noted that the time Keynesian economics has passed, and its continued implementation would provide disastrous consequences to our state and its taxpayers?

Instead, Governor O'Malley insisted on continuing to raise taxes and to increase social spending in order to keep the coalition of interest groups that elected him in line. It's sad, it's objectionable, and it shows O'Malley's commitment to putting special interests ahead of the interests of Maryland's working and middle class families. Now, it looks like the Governor is actaully going to have to make cuts, which is a good thing except for one small fact.

O'Malley declined to detail specific cuts that he's considering but indicated it would be "impossible" to fully preserve budgeted spending for education, health and public safety because those areas comprise such a large part of the budget.

Two of those three are a severe problem, as two of the state's constitutional duties are to provide funding for public safety and for education. So instead of cutting spending or retreating on his silly list of 15 goals, he is going to really put the screws to the people and cut where it really hurts, presumably in a ruse designed to create popular support for a tax increase or to blame Bob Ehrlich for these cuts. Either way, O'Malley is (as usual) putting the political calculus ahead of the bottom line for Maryland's families.

I think the people are really starting to see through this charade. It is long past time that we return competent leadership to Annapolis. And Governor O'Malley is neither competent or a leader...

MDE's Abuse of Power, Abuse of Reason

One of the classic arguments that liberals like to put forth is that when disaster strikes, the government should be strong so it can "help," Ronald Reagan's words notwithstanding. However, here in Maryland, it seems like a certain government agency thinks that the when disaster strikes, your first responsibility should be to......the government.

After last weekend's tornado, officials from the State Department of the Environment managed to determine that John Long of Dundalk had "purposefully placed a significant amount of yard waste, debris or items that could have resulted from the recent storm we had" into a nearby creek and a nearby flood plain. Mind you, MDE had exactly no reason to suspect that Mr. Long was responsible for the debris that was in the yard. In fact, trash and refuse has been washing down from nearby locations off of Merritt Blvd for fifty years prior the last weekend's tornado, and a lot of the debris that MDE is trying to ping Long for has been washing up during that entire time period. In fact, I'm hard pressed to figure out a good reason as to why MDE decided to wait until immediately after a natural disaster to start poking their head around this particular area. Butthat doesn't seem to keep the zealots that Martin O'Malley has placed in charge of the Department of the Environment from demanding that Long clean up the mess he didn't make....under the penalty of a $10,000 a day fine if the mess is not cleaned up within thirty days.

We all know that Governor O'Malley and many of Maryland's other leftist Democrats enjoy using the power of government to keep the citizens in check. But even the most adamant liberal has to be able to comprehend that a government that is prepared to use its instruments of power to put the screws to a homeowner who is trying to clean up for a natural disaster is a government that is abusing its power. And you have to think to yourself that it is only a matter of time that a government that is going after the downtrodden is going to come after you.

Perhaps you might want to let MDE Secretarty Shari WIlson or the Governor's Chief of Staff what you think of their ridiculous handling of this matter.....

The Impact of O'Malleynomics

Governor's Martin O'Malley's seemingly neverending quest to destroy Maryland's middle and working class families looks like it is right on schedule:

Unemployment in Maryland climbed to 7.2 percent in May, a more than 25-year-high, as joblessness rose in nearly all states, preliminary government statistics show.

Compared with a year earlier, unemployment rose in every state last month, including Maryland, where the rate has jumped from 4.1 percent in May 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday.

Maryland's unemployment rate has not been 7.2 percent or higher since July 1983, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows.

During the 12 months through May, Maryland lost more than 64,000 jobs, not adjusted for seasonal changes, preliminary government numbers show.

Of course, as we have noted here time and time again, this is what happens when you enact the economic policies that Governor O'Malley and his Democratic cronies have been pushing for the last three years. When you continue to raise taxes, when you continue to inflate spending to unmanageable levels, and when you continue to make it harder and harder for business to compete, middle and working class workers and their families pay the consequences. Jobs are lost. Businesses are shuttered. Tax revenues plummet. And the economy is destroyed.

I hope Governor O'Malley can sleep well knowing that he put the expansion of government and his own political self interest ahead of average Marylanders by adopting such reckless fiscal policies. O'Malley has cost a lot of people their jobs and a lot of people their livelihoods, and I hope that these people who have been negatively impacted by the Governor's incompetence remember the toll these policies have taken on them and their families...

Double Take

I had to do a double take when I saw this mini-editorial posted on the Sun website:

The Maryland Public Service Commission's order Thursday concluding that it has the right to review Electricite de France's proposed purchase of part of Constellation Energy Group's nuclear business looks like nothing more than an attempt by the state to shake down the company for cash. That wouldn't be so bad, except that the state already shook Constellation down 18 months ago with the promise that it wouldn't do so again. But it seems that when it comes to Constellation and BGE, Gov. Martin O'Malley and his appointees on the Public Service Commission don't know when to leave well enough alone.

Read the whole thing.

If I were in the O'Malley Administration (and, since I have common sense, I'm obviously disqualified there) and the Sun editorial board (who has been at the vanguard of the "stick it to Constellation" movement) started question questioning my appointees decisions as overreaching, maybe I'd start wondering if they were right.....

Squeezing for the Last Drops

As if Governor Martin O'Malley hasn't spent enough money, hasn't raised enough taxes, and hasn't bloated the size of the Maryland state government enough, apparently he has decided to double down in advance of his re-election campaign:

Drawing little public attention so far, a small team of aides has developed a list of 15 major goals -- and several dozen smaller ones -- intended to guide the remainder of O'Malley's term, as well as a second one if he wins reelection next year.

Among the targets: Increase public transit ridership by 10 percent a year. (That would require doubling the growth seen last year, when high gas prices led many people to abandon their cars.) Reduce violent crime against women and children by 25 percent by 2012. (That would require recent trends to accelerate and continue for several years.) And end childhood hunger in Maryland by 2015. (No one seems to know exactly how that would be measured.)

Other goals provide aggressive benchmarks for education, the environment and health care.

O'Malley's office is preparing to publicize the efforts in coming days. But the loftiness of the goals and the motives behind them are already sparking debate as O'Malley prepares to stand for reelection.

Yeah, no kidding. Governor O'Malley has already left a trail of broken promises across the state from his first election campaign. Remember lower energy rates? Remember promises not to raise taxes? Remember enforcing the death penalty? Yeah, the Governor hopes you don't remember those promises either. But in typical O'Malleyesque fashion, he decides not to explain his failures as a Governor and instead goes back to his old bag of tricks to criticize......Bob Ehrlich:

In an interview, O'Malley described the goals as "pretty ambitious but not unachievable," and he said that is by design.

"If by putting my political neck on the line we're able to get halfway to these goals, it will be far more progress than the previous administration," O'Malley said. "The politically safe thing to do is never have any goals, because then you can't be judged or measured by them. That's the risk we take."

No Governor, working towards your goals isn't progress. It's a regressive strategy that is designed to increase the size of government at the expense of Maryland's middle and working class families. It's a strategy that is designed to create feel-good talking points for your re-election campaign instead of providing any actual goals to create good public policy. Even those goals that seem reasonable are festooned with your administration's previous failures. Take a look at transit policy; how can the MTA hope to increase ridership when they are so hopelessly mismanaged? Ending childhood hunger? Maybe a good place to start would not to make feeding children so difficult through aggressive tax increases and large increases in government spending. Do you not understand that those policies are what makes it hard for families to make ends meet, harder for individuals to support local charitable efforts, and harder for businesses to stay open to continue to employ Maryland's middle and working class families?

It of course is easy to be cynical of Martin O'Malley's efforts due to his failed administration. But since O'Malley and Co. never seem to learn their lessons, the only way the people of Maryland will notice the administration's new efforts is the continued contraction of Maryland's economy and more and more taxes coming out of their paychecks unless we eneact positive change at the ballot box next November....

The Brian Griffiths Minute: 05-14-2009

For more info on this story, click here.

Where have I heard this before?

Let's just say some of us saw this coming....

One of Maryland's budget-balancing tactics - asking millionaires to pay more money to the state - appears to be backfiring as the number of the highest-earning taxpayers dwindles with the flagging economy....

....But as the state comptroller's office sifts through this year's returns, it is finding that the number of Marylanders with more than $1 million in taxable income who filed by the end of April has fallen by one-third, to about 2,000. Taxes collected from those returns as of last month have declined by roughly $100 million.
- The Baltimore Sun, 5/14/2009

That's because the General Assembly as a whole refuses to act like grown ups and live within their means. Instead of acting responsibly and reducing state spending last year when they had to opportunity, they chose to approval O'Malley's irresponsible tax hikes, and bless his near immoral increase in discretionary state spending. Instead of cutting spending to manageable levels, Democrats railroaded a $2 billion tax increase to cover a $500 million shortfall, and then added $1.5 billion in spending just to break even.

No reasonably intelligent person would think that's a good idea. It's an even worse idea when you considered, as conservatives have noted time and time again, that tax revenues decrease when individuals and businesses change their spending habits or leave the state entirely.
- Brian Griffiths, 9/4/2008

Still, the "substantial decline" in million-dollar earners filing on time was enough for the comptroller's office to announce that it will "be thoroughly analyzing these returns and their implications." And it was enough for opponents of the state's new surcharge to say, in essence, "I told you so."

"I don't think anyone can dispute that some people have left Maryland," said Senate Minority Leader Allan H. Kittleman (R-Howard). "That's what we were trying to explain when we were voting on this."
- Washington Post, 5/14/2009

It's true that the housing and retail sectors being down are going to lead to lower tax revenues. But what the writers do not take into account, naturally, is the decrease in tax revenues due to the increases in taxes. I have noted before that when tax rates are increased, revenues decrease. This is particularly true when you make it a point to pass taxes targeted at those with the means to leave.
- Brian Griffiths, 7/13/2008

"This is not an unexpected development, but it is a very unfortunate development," Schuh said. "It is deja vu all over again."
- The Captial, 5/14/2009

Of course one thing that we noted time and again was the fact that increases in taxes would lead to decrease tax revenues. While a small portion of that can be attributed to the national economy, the bulk of the difference in revenues collected vis-a-vis revenues projected has a lot to do with the impact of this profligate spending and irresponsible tax hikes.
- Brian Griffiths, 7/9/2009

So, we are going to go ahead and try to further fleece those Maryland taxpayers who are simultaneously most able to pay more taxes and able to pick up and move someplace that their tax burden won't be so high? This is what passes for fiscal responsibility in the minds of Maryland Democrats?
- Brian Griffiths, 3/27/2008

Now it gets Interesting

For a long time I was discussing the likelihood that Comptroller Peter Franchot would challenge Governor O'Malley in next year's Democratic primary. Well, it looks like the Governor is going to get a challenge.....not from the left, but from the right according to the Sun:

George W. Owings III, a former Democratic delegate and party leader from Calvert County, is “actively considering a challenge” to Gov. Martin O’Malley in next year’s election, the former majority leader told The Baltimore Sun.

The 64-year-old Vietnam war hero from Dunkirk, who served on Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s cabinet, said he was “45 to 60 days” away from deciding whether to challenge O’Malley in the 2010 Democratic primary. He acknowledged that the odds of anyone unseating the incumbent governor “are very long.”.....

....After serving in the House of Delegates from 1988 to 2004, Owings was Ehrlich’s secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs. A conservative Democrat, Owings said he believes the state party has “strayed from its working class roots” under O’Malley’s leadership.

The former mortgage banker said he began mulling a challenge after the governor pushed unpopular tax hikes through the General Assembly in 2007 in order to confront the massive structural budget deficit he inherited.

“I see a lot of good, solid working-class Democrats with serious concerns about the direction we are taking,” Owings said. He said he has “the mechanics in place” for an organized campaign, including “some guarantees of operating money” from a “loosely knit financing committee.”

This is the best piece of news that opponents of Governor O'Malley could possibly hear. A bruising Democratic primary means there is a pretty good chance that O'Malley will need to waste financial and political capital running against a fellow Democrat, while the Republican candidate will be able to criss-cross the state introducing themselves to voters and stay above the fray......assuming we united behind one candidate (which is an altogether separate problem with all of the competing interests amount the Bob Ehrlich, Charles Lollar, and Mike Pappas camps).

And Owings isn't the only one contemplating a challenge. Former Prince George's County Executive Wayne Curry may jump into the fray too. Even usually reliable Democratic quote machine Matthew Crenson even concedes the following to the Sun:

“Even if they’re not true, the fact that there are so many rumors suggests that O’Malley is perceived as vulnerable,” Crenson said.

This is a good sign, but let's not bet the ranch that this is the be all and end all of the 2010 Election, either. Sure, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend may have been morally wounded when she gave up 20-percent of the priamry vote to grocery store clerk Raymond Fustero in 2002, but remember that incumbent Governor Parris Glendening bowled right through then Harford County Executive Eileen Rehrmann and former Redskin Ray Schoenke in the primary in his 1998 re-election campaign.

This is a positive development that O'Malley is drawing potential primary challengers, but there is a lot of work for Republicans to do over the next 18 months for us to be able to draw any benefit from it...

Thanks for playing along

Republicans, conservatives, and sane people in the state of Maryland have been saying for some time now that fiscal policy during the the 2009 Legislative Session has been nothing like the common sense fiscal changes our state truly needs. We have been saying for some time (even going back to the 2007 Special Session) that O'Malleynomics was no way to run a state, and that the Democrats tactic of gaming the system now to forestall actual fiscal decisions until later was no way to solve the budget crisis.

Nice to know that the Baltimore Sun and the rest of the state have caught up:

But all that effort still won't put the state on solid, long-term financial footing.

Even with the influx of federal stimulus money, the General Assembly will reconvene in nine months facing a budget gap that analysts expect will reach more than $1 billion.

That's right. The Democrats mismanagement of the budget situation this year has already sunk us $1 billion into the red for next year. And if there is any solace in the fact that the Democrats can't lead their way out of a paper bag on economic issues, it's this following fact:

And, some would argue, it might be the worst possible time for Gov. Martin O'Malley and lawmakers to make unpopular cuts that could include layoffs or curtailing services.

After all, it will be an election year. The governor is expected to seek a second term, and all 188 General Assembly seats will be on the ballot.

"Next year is going to be enormously challenging, and that's an understatement," said Warren G. Deschenaux, the legislature's chief fiscal analyst, who has pointed out to lawmakers that the next budget they craft will take effect four months before they face re-election.

That's right. The Democrats are going to have to eat their long-standing, long-developed budget disaster at precisely the time they hope the voters are not going to notice.

Now, the last time we had an incumbent running for Governor was in 1998. In that year, the state increased social spending and passed a significant tax cut in order to head off at the pass any momentum that Ellen Sauerbrey might have had going into her rematch against Parris Glendening. It seems like it will be impossible for the Democrats to do either next year given the deficit that O'Malley and legislative leadership has already dug for themselves.

Just wait until 275 days from today, when the General Assembly reconvenes in Annapolis (unless Governor O'Malley reconvenes them in Special Session for some cockamamie reason). And the Democrats, who have already ruled out both spending cuts and tax cuts, are going to have to try and figure out how to get out of the ocean of red ink they made for themselves. And we all know who is going to wind up paying in the end; the taxpayers.

Is is any wonder that tax prostests are popping up all over the country, particularly here in Maryland? Maryland Democrats have proven time and time again that they are incompetent stewards of our taxpayer dollars, and incapable of learning the basic economic lessons that the majority of Marylanders have known for years; that you can't spend your way out of debt.

And I think that come next November, the middle and working class families of Maryland who Democrats are continually screwing over are going to say "enough is enough"......

Fool me once, shame on you....

....but apparently, you can get fooled again:

Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to introduce emergency legislation Wednesday that would give the state authority to acquire Maryland's bankrupt horse racing tracks and the Preakness through eminent domain, officials confirmed.

However, legal experts say the bankruptcy filing by the tracks' owner could prevent the state from exercising that power.

Debate on the bill, which has the backing of the General Assembly's presiding officers, could begin as soon as Thursday afternoon in a joint hearing of Senate and House of Delegates lawmakers.

The last-minute legislation was prompted in part, O'Malley aides said, by reports last week that a Pikesville developer was interested in razing Pimlico Race Course -- where the Preakness has been run since 1909 - and turning the Northwest Baltimore property into a shopping center.

Of course, does anybody remember how this turned out the last time that the State of Maryland tried to seize a sports property through eminent domain? Mark Newgent mentioned it last summer, and it didn't quite work and looked kinda like this:

The dramatic move enraged citizens and officials of Baltimore, and the state of Maryland. Irsay's son Jim said moving the team was a difficult decision, and one his father had hoped not to have to make. The final straw, necessitating the dramatic move, was action by the Maryland legislature to use eminent domain laws to force the franchise to remain in Maryland.

So, thanks for that.

Now, as the article notes this is probably not going to get too far due to the bankruptcy proceedings. But this brings a whole slew of questions into the mix:

1. Why is this emergency legislation? How can this even remotely pass constituional muster?
2. Why is this a priority?
3. If the state has the right of first refusal to buy the property, why are we trying exactly to seize it?
4. Even if we did buy it, how can the state afford it as we are (as usual) in an O'Malley-induced budget crunch?

I get the fact that the Preakness is important to Maryland, but in the grand scheme of things it is not so important that we need to seize it and operate it as a state entity. The fact that O'Malley and Legislative Democrats didn't learn from our first foray into these type of shenanigans proves that once again O'Malley and company are looking at the short term instead of the long-term picture. Because if I owned a business in Maryland, I'd be a little concerned that they would come after my business and my property next. This is a great way though to reaffirm Maryland's longstanding anti-business climate, though...

At the end of the day O'Malley and Company are (again) treading where they don't belong, and once again the taxpayers of Maryland are going to get to foot the bill for their inability to learn from the past...

You mean O'Malley lied to us?

Yeah, I know that O'Malley fibbing would be inconceivable. But remember how O'Malley and his slots supporters said that by adopting the slots amendment we could turn Maryland into the land of milk, honey, and free money? Well....

As they prepare to open bids for slots licenses today, Maryland officials are casting a wary eye on Kansas, hoping that recent history will not be repeated.

In Kansas, two gambling development companies won the rights to build "destination casinos" near Kansas City and in the southeastern part of the state - projects that the state was relying on for an economic boost. But in the face of the recession, the companies have withdrawn their bids, leaving Kansas officials hanging, and delaying the flow of gambling dollars.....

....As in Maryland, Kansas saw the legalization of casinos as a way to stem the flow of gambling dollars out of state and to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.

"There was a feeling that there was a lot of money leaving Kansas that we would like to keep here," said Stephen Martino, executive director of the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, which recently announced layoffs because of the stalled casino initiative. Kansans now gamble aboard Missouri riverboats and in Oklahoma tribal casinos, as well as in Iowa and Colorado.

In 2007, the Kansas Legislature passed a measure authorizing slots parlors at greyhound and horse tracks, and full-scale casinos at four "gaming zones" across the state. The winning proposals, selected by a commission, were grandly conceived....

....As of last month, all three projects had been withdrawn, casualties of the economy. Of the four winning proposals, only the smallest - an $88 million casino in Dodge City - is moving forward. No slots parlors at racetracks have materialized.

Now, this legislation in Kansas passed long before the people of Maryland were given the opportunity to vote on the slots amendment. And long before the people of Maryland voted on this proposal, Kansas' gaming enterprise was heading towards its inevitable doom due to a deflating economy and competition from surrounding states.

Gee, I don't know of anywhere else such a paradigm might exist. Or even find a worse predicament due to the expansion of gaming opportunities.

But, be that as it may, slots supporters (and the mainstream media, of course) found it completely unnecessary and inconvenient to talk about the fact that Kansas did not find their financial panacea through the slots industry. And all of that would not bother me (being pro-gambling and what not) had it not been for the fact that O'Malley sold his reckless spending and fiscal shenanigans to the populace under the false pretext that slots revenues were going to save the day. Here, we have a populace sold a bill of O'Malleynomic nonsense when the Governor and his cronies willingly and knowingly oversold the potential economic impact of slots licenses.

But hey, it's not like we've ever been able to trust O'Malley anyway.....

Divorced from Reality

Almost as if in rebuttal to my comments about The Wire, Governor O'Malley mouthed off about it:

O'Malley also answered a question about the HBO television show "The Wire," a gritty crime show that was based on and filmed in Baltimore, mostly while he was mayor. The student asked whether O'Malley believed the show had anything to offer about problems facing big cities.

"I tell you what: I can't stand 'The Wire,'" O'Malley said. "I can't stand 'The Wire.' I can't say that I've ever seen an entire episode of it. I watched enough of it to know that it did not portray the full picture of what Baltimore is all about as a city."

The governor then added that he supposed the show has value as an art form "to the extent that it can make us more sensitive to the sort of carnage and suffering that goes on in so many big American cities, especially around the issue of drugs and drug dealing.

As I noted to the clerk in Seattle, the Governor is right in that The Wire "did not portray the full picture of what Baltimore is." The city is much more violent and much more corrupt than it ever could have been portrayed on television and still be believable to the casual viewer.

(I'm sure that it didn't help his opinion of the show that the character on the show based after O'Malley was elected Mayor and portrayed as a womanizer. Maybe it hit too close to home, I don't know...)

Be that as it may, what really disturbed me is how divorced from reality Martin O'Malley is about life and the human condition in Baltimore City. Yes, it really is that bad and worse. And yet during his time as Mayor and during his time as Governor, O'Malley has done bumpkis to fix it. O'Malley didn't root out corruption. O'Malley didn't address the crime problem. O'Malley didn't work to fix city schools. He merely played the blame game and looked forward to his next promotion, i.e. the Governorship. You could probably argue in reality that Martin O'Malley was, to an extent, an enabler that allowed the conditions portrayed on The Wire to persist.

O'Malley can like the show or not, but The Wire accurately portrayed life in Baltimore. If O'Malley wants to put his head in the sand and complain about the show now that's fine, but in reality he should look in the mirror and ask himself if he has done everything he can do to try and improve the city.......he won't, but that's what he should do.