Virginia’s surplus announcement has lit a match under the longtime rivalry between the commonwealth’s Republican Party and Maryland Democrats.
“[Virginia Gov.] Bob McDonnell and Virginia Republicans tout their accomplishments but — as often with the GOP — the facts tell another story,” Maryland Democratic Party Director David Sloan said Wednesday. “McDonnell’s illusionary ‘surplus’ is the result of deferred bills, dismantled programs important to the middle class, budgetary obfuscation and federal stimulus spending.”
Sloan released the statement after McDonnell announced a $544 million surplus for the fiscal year ending in June. Maryland is also expecting a surplus of at least $300 million, but the state hasn’t closed its books and released a final estimate for the fiscal year.
Despite Maryland’s surplus, Gov. Martin O’Malley says the state may have to raise taxes to close a projected $1 billion shortfall for fiscal 2013.
Virginia Republicans jumped on O’Malley’s statement and threw a couple punches at the Maryland Democratic Party Tuesday.
“So of all those Virginia Democrats who might be considering a run for governor in 2013 … we ask a simple question: Do you support the O’Malley model of governance, or the McDonnell model of governance?” a release from the Virginia GOP said. “Virginia taxpayers will be very interested in your answer.”
Sloan fired back: “Voters in Maryland have consistently chosen Democrats to make the right choices. Rather than celebrate a ‘surplus’ built on the backs of working families through cuts in education, public safety, and health care, Gov. O’Malley and Maryland Democrats have and will work together to manage our state’s finances responsibly and protect our shared future.”
Virginia has not reported its projected shortfall for the coming fiscal years. Those estimates are expected to be made public in October, according to state officials.
