President Obama invited Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to attend his jobs speech before a joint session of Congress on Thursday, according to O’Malley’s office.
White House officials, who extended the invitation to O’Malley earlier this week, did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether the president invited any other governors.
O’Malley, a fierce supporter of the president, has been getting regular invitations to the White House since he became chairman of the Democratic Governor’s Association in December.
But the Republican National Committee pounced on this particular invitation on Thursday, using it as an opportunity to criticze both Democrats for their records in office.
“It’s rather fitting that President Obama who has been a complete failure when it comes to job creation, would invite the governor of the state that has been dead last in job growth over the past year to his economic address,” RNC spokesman Ryan Tronovitch said in a statement e-mailed to reporters. “When it comes to jobs, Gov. O’Malley and President Obama’s tax-and-spend policies have been nothing more than a roadblock to economic recovery.”
Maryland’s unemployment rate, at 7.1 percent, is considerably lower than the 9.1 percent national average.
Maryland is home to tens of thousands of federal employees and ranks fifth in the country for federal spending per capita, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Roughly 24 of every 1,000 Marylanders are employed by the federal government.
Under O’Malley’s direction, Maryland will become one of the first states to implement a health exchange, which is required by the health care reforms that Obama championed through Congress.
The elected chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, recently stepped down from his position to run for the Republican presidential nomination. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell replaced Perry at the helm of the governor’s association.
