Monday morning at a meeting of Governors at the White
House, President Obama could not
remember Governor Martin O’Malley’s
name.
But as the head of the Democratic Governors Association,
the national 527 in charge of electing Democratic governors,
O’Malley is someone Obama should be quite familiar with. And as the
2016 elections grow closer, the Maryland Governor who would have
likely been Hillary Clinton’s running mate will soon become a
household name to political observers.
When this reporter recently asked legislators in the
Annapolis capitol building what they think of O’Malley, one of them
succinctly described him as a “pious, partisan
pugilist.”
O’Malley, when he is not governing or playing the guitar
in a Celtic rock band, is starting his unprecedented second term
running the DGA, a group that empowers America’s 20 Democratic
governors to raise unlimited corporate contributions. And O’Malley
has not been shy about tying state business to donations to the
DGA, which has allowed his organization to raise more than $20
million last year (a 57 percent increase since 2007), while
simultaneously raising O’Malley’s national
profile.
A frequent guest of Sunday-morning talk shows, O’Malley is
known to often refer to the “Bush economy” and
once likened the former President, his
favorite villain, to the now-deceased Osama bin Laden. Whether it’s
O’Malley, a Catholic,
defending the Obama administration for
requiring Catholic hospitals to provide birth control, receiving
national attention for requiring
a
“green”
curriculum
for young students, or being such a vocal supporter of gay
marriage that pop band Bye June
dedicated a music video about homosexual
swan hand-puppets to him, there is little question the
controversial, telegenic governor has national aspirations that
will take him far beyond the Free State. This ambition was driven
home this month in his eagerness to ram gay marriage through the
Maryland legislature, whose members knew full well that O’Malley
was desperate to match New York Governor and 2016 presidential
hopeful Andrew Cuomo’s singular success in getting gay marriage
passed in his state.
On February 1, O’Malley delivered a lengthy 33-minute
State of the State address to minimal applause, which promised more
of the Great Society policies he’s been implementing since his two
terms as Mayor of Baltimore, a city left with a rapidly shrinking
population and growing crime rate, as popularized by the HBO cop
drama, The Wire. (The show’s creator David Simon noted
O’Malley was “one of several inspirations” for the character of the
ambitious and ruthless Mayor Tommy Carcetti.)
In the address, O’Malley opined,
“Asking our fellow citizens to do more will not be popular. But
without anger, fear or meanness, let’s ask one another: How much
less do we think would be good for our children’s future? How much
less education do we want? How much less public safety? How many
fewer jobs? There are costs and there are values.”
And those values are attached to a hefty price
tag.
As promised, O’Malley will sign Maryland’s same-sex
marriage bill this week. In addition, he proposed sweeping tax
increases, such as an 18 cent/gallon gas tax increase,
across-the-board income tax increases, a doubling of the “flush
tax” for waste-water treatment plants, a new sales tax to online
shopping, and higher electricity rates for all consumers to
subsidize an offshore wind farm near Ocean City.
Interestingly, as a matter of percentages,
O’Malley’s
tax
hike
proposals
hit families making under $34,000/year twice as hard as
families earning over $500,000/year.
O’Malley’s calls for increased taxpayer investments in
green energy come on the heels of serious accusations of cronyism.
As
noted by the Gaithersburg
Gazette’s state house columnist Barry Rascovar, one such
deal involved plenty of strong arming for Maryland Solar, a company
owned by O’Malley’s friend and former Chief of Staff Michael
Enright:
Quickly, [the Department of General Services] latched onto
Maryland Solar’s idea of not renewing farmer Jeremiah Weedle’s
lease for the farmland where he grows wheat, alfalfa and
soybeans.
Instead, DGS issued a “request for qualifications” (RFQ)
looking for someone to turn the land into a renewable energy
project that had to be started by December (so it would be eligible
for a huge federal energy tax credit).
Was it merely coincidence that this RFQ was exactly what
Enright’s affiliate company had proposed?
A month went by and — surprise! — just one proposal was
received, from Maryland Solar. Yet even before bid solicitations
were closed, the company informed the Public Service Commission on
May 10 that Maryland Solar expected to be awarded a long-term lease
for the state land.
The company seems to have a knack for anticipating future
events in state government.
This is hardly an isolated incident. For example, campaign
finance records show Energy Answers International donated $100,000
to the DGA on the same day O’Malley indicated publicly he would
sign legislation worth millions to the company. And Chicago-based
Exelon Corp’s support for the DGA increased tenfold when seeking
approval from Maryland regulators for a merger with Constellation
Energy Group. This is how O’Malley unapologetically conducts state
business.
Maryland’s 6.9 percent unemployment is lower than the rest
of the country, largely due the state’s closeness to the federal
government, which spends billions in the state and employs many
residents. Nonetheless, the state should be doing much
better.
Instead, Marta Mossburg of the non-profit Maryland Public
Policy Institute told TAS, “The state has more than
100,000 additional unemployed than when the recession started in
2007 and has a higher tax burden than its surrounding states, while
ranking near the bottom in economic growth.” Mossburg added, “[Gov.
O’Malley] has his own agenda, which is completely disconnected from
economic reality.”
The Tax Foundation supports Mossburg’s claims, which shows
Maryland with one of the worst outmigration problems in the
country, losing $5.6 billion in tax revenue from 1999 to 2009. The
tax foundation ranks Maryland’s tax climate as the 8th worst in the
U.S., a statistic that O’Malley’s new proposals won’t
improve.
With a 55 percent approval rating, O’Malley’s territory
includes very friendly territory for a tax-raising, big-government
agenda. And we will soon enough find out how well this
worldview is accepted on a national stage.
