As a federal government shutdown loomed late last Friday, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D) engaged in one of his favorite pastimes: burning conservative straw men, or the “aberrant strain” as O’Malley likes to think of them.
O’Malley, head of the Democratic Governors Association, issued a statement saying, “Congressional Republicans are allowing their hate of government to hurt the hardworking families of our country. It appears they care more about hurting our government than they do about helping our recovery.”
O’Malley’s sanctimonious hyperbole aside, the rest of his statement admitted a fact he consciously downplayed during last year’s gubernatorial campaign. Maryland’s economy is based on federal spending.
O’Malley said, “Maryland faces the prospect of reduced state income tax revenue should federal workers experience a furlough without retroactive pay. In addition, state revenue losses are anticipated from the furloughing of federal contractors working in the State. Further impeding our economic recovery would be the loss of projected revenues from reduced spending on taxable goods.”
This Martin O’Malley—we keep losing track of all his various incarnations—is a far cry from the candidate who touted himself as the private sector “jobs” governor during the campaign.
Even though a shutdown was averted, Maryland simply cannot continue to rely on federal spending to sustain its economy. Unfortunately, O’Malley’s California-style policies have ill-positioned the state to walk away from the federal crutch.
O’Malley promised to submit a budget without tax increases. However, his budget proposal contained a slash in Medicaid payments to hospitals, which will result in higher hospital fees and increased health insurance premiums. O’Malley also weaseled his way out of taking responsibility for any other tax increases by allowing the state legislature to pass tax and fee increases. Maryland’s budget for 2012 will contain tens of millions of dollars fee increases, and a 50 percent hike in sales tax for alcohol.
Many more of O’Malley’s clever campaign conceits have unraveled since the election, in particular the notion that fees are taxes, a theme he used to bludgeon his opponent, former governor Robert Ehrlich (R).
As the O’Malley campaign commercial said, “if it comes out of my pocket, it’s a tax.”
