Moving Maryland Forward Again

This is the clever and often repeated rhetoric that Martin O'Malley uses all the time. He has used it as a jab against former Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich every chance he gets. He never has any substance to support these hollow promises. He just likes photo opportunities, sort of the Snow White of local politics. Yes, Martin, you are the fairest of them all. All the guys at the Hippo think you are just the cutest!!!

So how has Martin O'Malley moved us forward again? First, he has attacked Ehrlich for hiring his political cronies rather than the best-qualified individuals who will help hard-working middle class families. Instead of following this pattern, O'Malley has hired his cronies, such as Marcus Brown, former Baltimore deputy police commissioner, to become chief of police for the Maryland Transportation Authority. He has also appointed the following:

Otis Rolley III - former chief of staff for Sheila Dixon

Susan Brogan - former member of PSC who approved of deregulating electricity and instituting price caps
Steve Larson - appointed as PSC Commissioner - former insurance guy, has no experience in energy regulation

Harold Williams - appointed to PSC. He worked for BGE for 20 years. How the hell does working for the public utility that you're regulating make you impartial???

Peggy Watson - appointed deputy chief of staff. She served Martin O'Malley as Finance Director for Baltimore City.

Matthew Gallagher - appointed deputy chief of staff. He served Martin O'Malley as Executive Director for CitiStat.

As you can see, Martin O'Malley is a big fat hypocrite when it comes to appointing cronies.

In another move that needs to be criticized is the deal that Marcus Brown got. The police pension fund requires that officers serve for 20 years before they are eligible to receive a pension. Mr. Brown only served for 15 years, yet this 42 year-old lapdog of O'Malley will receive $55,000 a year as his retirement package. Employees that are laid off are normally eligible to receive this benefit. Corupt and incompetent Baltimore City Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm claims that Brown was laid off when O'Malley said that he wanted to hire Mr. Brown.

Hmm. How convenient. This certainly helps Hamm's credibility as not being corrupt. (warning - sarcasm detectors are overheating!) When asked about it, Governor O'Malley said that if you look back at history, you will find that this is not unprecedented. Interpretation - 'because unethical actions have occurred before justifies unethical actions now. Hey - it's okay, this isn't the first time we've been unethical. Don't worry about it.'

Baltimore, as you can probably figure out, is a tax receiving municipality, meaning it does not generate enough tax revenue to cover its expenses. It's too busy spending money on school administrators and paying Sheila Dixon's family members. Therefore, the hard working tax-payers in the rest of the county have to pony up the money to the state's general fund, which is then dived up by the evil Sith Lord, Peter Franchot.

So it is a big deal that the city and state are agreeing to give away money to O'Malley's appointees. We are the ones paying for it!

Finally, not to be outdone by the former corrupt Governors of Maryland such as Spirow Agnew, Marvin Mandell, and Parris Glendening, Martin O'Malley has agreed to have the state purchase the farm of one of his transition team members for $5 million. There are 2 problems with this. The farm was appraised for $4 million. The other is that the state should not be in the business of buying farms. But then again, how can his transition team dip into the pockets of Maryland's taxpayers if this sale went through the normal public sales?

Riding the Mugger Mover

In an unrelated story, I went against my better judgement and rode the mugger mover (more commonly known as the Metro subway) downtown for an interview last week. I left my car in the Park & Rob (more commonly known as the Park & Ride). With much trepidation, I got on the train only to learn that the air conditioning was broken. It's only a 30 minute ride and it was the middle of the day so I figured it would not be crowded and the heat would be tolerable. Little did I know.

By the 4th stop, the train was already packed. Little old 65 year old ladies were getting on the train and boy were they complaining. Their rantings went something like this: "This mo fo'in train is so ga'-damn hot!!! What the fo' is their problem? This is a health hazard! I's can't fo'in stand this sheee-it!!"

It was all that I could do to restrain myself from laughing out loud at these little old pottie-mouths.