Well, that is if you believe the Maryland GOP Caucus:
Republican leaders in the House and Senate today condemned Governor Martin O’Malley’s call for another federal bailout for Maryland’s budget. They also called upon the Spending Affordability Committee to significantly reduce the spending recommendations for the FY 2011 budget.
“ Maryland is in desperate need of true fiscal leadership,” said House Minority Leader Anthony O’Donnell. “Governor O’Malley’s total lack of fiscal responsibility has put the state in this precarious position and he needs to stop looking to everyone else to solve these tough problems. First he raided all the surplus revenues, then he increased taxes and government spending, then he advocated for a horrendously flawed slots plan. The federal government bailed him out once already and now he is seeking more federal taxpayer dollars? That is not leadership.”
“My concern is that Governor O’Malley’s first reaction is whining for a federal bailout,” said Minority Leader Allan Kittleman. “The failure of Governor O’Malley’s budget policy is evident by the fact that his three years of misguided leadership has resulted in a $2 billion deficit with no solution except begging for federal funds.”
“Governor O’Malley and the Democratic leadership on the state and federal level are mortgaging our children’s future,” said Senate Minority Whip Nancy Jacobs. “The only way to sustain state and federal spending levels will be to increase taxes which will have a catastrophic impact on this economy. As we come together for the holiday season and watch our children and grandchildren unwrap their Christmas gifts, I shudder to think about the massive national debt we are also passing on to them.”
“Governor O’Malley’s patterns never change, it is always the same story,” said House Minority Whip Christopher Shank. “As mayor of Baltimore, he looked to the state to bail him out of his budgetary problems. As Governor he has gone to the taxpayers, state employees, vulnerable populations, and now twice to the federal government. Some have compared this to going to MasterCard and asking them to increase your credit limit because your Visa card is maxed out. The state needs to stop spending and live within its means, just as our citizens do.”
“It is clear that the Governor lacks the fortitude to manage our fiscal house, and needs the legislature’s guidance,” said Delegate O’Donnell. When the Spending Affordability Committee meets this evening, it needs to send a strong message to the Administration that this fiscal irresponsibility will not be allowed to continue.”
As a matter of fact, the SAC recommended no increase – but that simply means the status quo of coming back to make budget cuts again and again next year unless either the federal government bails us out AGAIN or the economy improves enough to create the revenue stream that the state needs to meet its obligations. My money (what little I have left) is on the former.
O’Donnell, Kittleman, and Shank are right on point with their assessments. While I like Nancy Jacobs overall, perhaps she could have expressed her opinion in a slightly different manner. As we’ve already seen with Governor O’Malley’s first round of tax increases, capital has fled the state in a mass economic exodus. She is right that a tax increase will wreck the economy, but incorrect that it would raise the revenue necessary to feed Martin’s growing appetite for spending with re-election coming nigh.
Yet of this group only Kittleman has voted against all three of O’Malley’s budgets; the other three were fine with O’Malley’s FY2008 budget before voting against the FY2009 and FY2010 versions. In some respects perhaps a pass is necessary since we didn’t have to revisit the budget too often during the Ehrlich years.
With Maryland’s fairly unique status as a state with an executive-driven budget, it’s going to be more important than ever for GOP leadership to present and publicize a sound alternative and maintain the caucus’s position against the bloated budget Governor O’Malley is sure to produce regardless of what the SAC said. Trust me, he’s counting on the difference to come out of Obama’s “stash,” and like those hapless Detroit residents in line for stimulus money, Governor O’Malley obviously believes the taxpayers have a stash to send him money from. Sorry, we’re tapped out.
