Be Prepared for Four Years of Broken Promises, Maryland
by Big Dog on Jan 17, 2007 at 17:08 Political
Martin O’Malley was sworn in as Maryland’s 61st Governor at noon today. It will be an interesting four years as he finds that he is unable to lay blame for everything on someone else’s shoulders as he has done throughout his political career. Outgoing Governor Bob Ehrlich stated many times during the campaign that whining is not leadership. Unfortunately, this is the only leadership style O’Malley knows.
During the campaign O’Malley discussed Ehrlich’s broken promises. He has a web site that spells out all Ehrlich’s so called broken promises. Many of these items are open to debate (as to whether they are broken promises) and are not important to this discussion. What is important is that O’Malley claimed that Governor Ehrlich failed to fully fund Thornton (an educational initiative). Thornton had two components, the mandated portion and the portion that was optional. Robert Ehrlich funded the mandated portion. It is important to note that this was passed without a funding source identified. This is something the Maryland Legislature likes to do. They pass items with no way to pay for them. I imagine it gives them a reason to increase our already oppressive taxes.
Ehrlich did not fund the non-mandatory portion of Thornton and O’Malley was all over him for it. From O’Malley’s web site:
[Ehrlich’s]Broken Promise/Idea #10: “Fully fund Thornton Commission Fair Education Act by guaranteeing that the bulk of the money earned from slot machines is earmarked for all Maryland schools.â€
In 2002, Bob Ehrlich refused to sign the Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act, also known as the Fair Education plan, enacted by the Maryland General Assembly. Based on the recommendations of the Commission on Education, Finance, Equity, and Excellence (“The Thornton Commissionâ€), the Act was mandated to ensure adequate funding for the state’s K-12 public schools according to the Geographic Cost of Education Index.
Since the Thornton Commission was enacted without Bob Ehrlich’s signature, Ehrlich has refused to fund the Geographic Cost of Education Index.
As Governor and Lieutenant Governor, Martin O’Malley and Anthony Brown pledge to fully fund the entire Thornton Commission plan, including the Geographic Cost of Education Index.
The Maryland Legislature did not pass a slots bill so slot machines were never legalized in this state. Ehrlich’s “promise” was to use slots revenue to fund Thornton. The geographical portion is the non-mandated part and notice that O’Malley said he would FULLY fund it. In case O’Malley says this was a misprint or taken out of context (more blame shifting) here is the same issue from another part of his web site:
As Maryland’s next Governor, Martin O’Malley will:
Fully Fund the Thornton Education Plan. Martin O’Malley will fully fund the entire Thornton Commission plan to improve K-12 education across Maryland, reduce the achievement gap, reduce class sizes and recruit and retain the quality teachers our children deserve.
On two different parts of his website O’Malley says he will fully fund Thornton, something he criticized Ehrlich for not doing. In numerous campaign speeches O’Malley chided Ehrlich and iterated that he would FULLY fund Thornton. Ehrlich and many other wondered where the money would come from but O’Malley insisted that he had the leadership to make this happen.
Well, O’Malley broke that campaign promise before he ever took the oath of office. In mimicking the national Democrats who immediately decided that they could not do everything they promised (like FULLY implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations) O’Malley has decided that he can not FULLY fund Thornton. He is unable to come up with the money to fund the non-mandated portion, the very part he chided Ehrlich for not funding. While Maryland’s Democratic politicians were on the bandwagon against Ehrlich for not funding it they gave Martin a pass. Senator Hogan of Montgomery County said “I understand if he can’t do the full thing, but at a minimum, they have to show some down payment,†and this is because he campaigned on it. How is it Hogan understands if he can not do the whole thing? O’Malley said he would FULLY fund it which means the whole thing. How come O’Malley’s web site called it a broken promise when Ehrlich did not fund it but Democrats say it is understandable when O’Malley can’t do it?
This is the typical BS that O’Malley is famous for. He promised to reduce crime in Baltimore when he ran for Mayor. He reduced crime by keeping the police from making arrests. The number of murders in Baltimore supposedly went down during his tenure though this was due to creative accounting and the way dead bodies were classified. Suspicious deaths called suicides and such. In reality though, the number of murders per capita is up because people left the city in droves. O’Malley said that FULLY funding Thornton was important because education was his priority but in Baltimore the school system is dismal. In addition to low pass rates and failing achievement scores the system lost, misplaced, or misappropriated millions of dollars that has yet to be accounted for and all of this was on O’Malley’s watch.
O’Malley will get a pass from the Democrats in this state because he is a Democrat. He can do no wrong as far as they are concerned. The Legislature will give him slots if he wants them and will raise taxes as well. Payroll taxes will increase, gas taxes will increase, tobacco taxes will increase, and the state sales tax will probably go up 20%. O’Malley will do what Democrats have been good at for a long time and that is raising money to spend, spend, spend, at the expense of the working class folks who just want to make ends meet. In four years this state will not be fiscally sound and O’Malley will probably be given four more years to fix the mess he created. That is, if he does not abandon the ship he sank in exchange for a higher office.
In the end, the outlook is bleak but how do Democrats respond to all of this? ‘‘It’s a great day for Democrats in Maryland — and in Congress for that matter,†said Del. Gerron Levi (D-Dist. 23A) of Bowie.
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