Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley will move from the still murderous and potholed streets of this city to the quieter cobblestone byways of Annapolis come January. In a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 2-1, that?s not surprising. But it?s disappointing.
O?Malley?s ascendance to the governorship means a return to one-party rule in Maryland. That is not good for the “working families” the mayor always talks about wanting to help nor the “common good.” The U.S. Congress provides an excellent example of how one-party rule, after only 12 years, leads to profligate spending and corruption of both spirit and the law.
For an excellent investigation of how Democratic rule worked in Chicago, pick up a copy of Mike Royko?s “The Boss,” a quick read and exceptional portrayal of the elder Richard Daley?s rule of the Windy City from 1955-76. It chronicles how Daley?s drive to perpetuate Democratic rule led to installing incompetent boobs to important city posts and neglecting some of the city?s neediest citizens.
While the book portrays a bygone era, the depiction of power corrupting and absolute power corrupting absolutely remains vividly modern.
And O?Malley, like Daley, is very much a part of the Democratic machine and beholden to it, having risen through the ranks on the Baltimore City Council and having married into a family with deep political ties. He has shown independence in starting CitiStat, an innovative program that monitors government agencies? performance. We applaud him for that. But raising taxes is his default mode for “making government work” ? a penchant he shares with the largely Democratic state legislature.
And he has shown no willingness to stand up to the education bureaucracy ? like Democratic state legislators ? to make the structural reforms necessary to improve ailing public schools. That does not bode well for those whose high tax bills take so much money out of their pockets they can?t afford private schools for their children.
For Robert Ehrlich to have even been elected once in this state, and for U.S. Senate candidate Michael Steele to perform as well as he did against lifetime Democratic politician Benjamin Cardin, speaks to the presence of a large minority who don?t like the status quo. To govern responsibly O?Malley must recognize the more than 700,000 people who voted for his opponent and check the legislature when it oversteps its bounds, as his predecessor admirably has done.
For starters, O?Malley could appoint Republicans to his administration ? like Ehrlich did in asking Democrats to join his ? as a way to show he intends to represent all of the people in the state.
And he must veto future Wal-Mart bills and other fiscal foolishness that serves only to drive out the jobs of those in our state who need them the most.
The Examiner will regularly remind him of that responsibility to ensure state government over the next four years remains by the people and for the people.
