Martin O'Malley - the Duplicitous Two-Headed Union Champion

Kudos to my college roommate Squirrel for pointing this out to me. Extra kudos because he lives in North Carolina.

Does anyone find it ironic \ funny \ embarrassing \ etc that Maryland Governor, the liberal extremist humanitarian champion of the people Martin O'Mally criticized Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for his approach to trimming his state's massive budget problem, only to present similar offerings to the Maryland General Assembly, drawing thousands of union protesters to Annapolis to picket? I know. You liberals will say, "Oh, this is different." Whatever. You know I'm right.

As you may know, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker proposed limiting the states' union collective bargaining abilities. Like most states, Wisconsin currently has a structural deficit of several billion dollars. If you attended a Baltimore City public school, a structural deficit is when you have obligations to fund certain programs, but do not have the revenue stream to fund them. So, for example, let's say the economy goes to the crapper and hundreds of thousands of people are unemployed in your state (though most likely not state employees). With less people working there is less income tax revenue. And with more people unemployed, they're obviously spending less money, thus resulting in less tax revenue. This is the money that the state relies on to function.

Now, where is the money going? The unions across the country have successfully signed lucrative contracts with the different state agencies to give their union paying dues members huge pensions, high salaries, and healthcare plans that are funded mostly by the state, not the employees - unlike the rest of us who work in the for-profit world. Now the states can't afford to pay them.

There are options. The state could implement massive tax increases. But that's not popular. And most people would probably agree that the unions are abusing the system. So taking away some of their kitty is probably more popular.

So as you can see, Governor Walker of Wisconsin is in a precarious position. But that didn't stop Maryland Governor Marty O'Malley from attacking him. The future pretty-boy Presidential hopeful said that Walker's actions, "...represents a recipe for failure and ill will..."

Then on Monday, Annapolis was choked full of union members protesting O'Malley's proposals for dealing with Maryland's own structural deficit. According to the Washington Post, Maryland has $19 billion (BILLION) in unfunded pension liabilities and $16 BILLION in retiree health benefits. That's a lot of cussin' money!

After stripping the state education budget of $94 million, O'Malley is now attacking unions with his proposals of cutting said pensions and retiree health benefits.

So while O'Malley is busy nationally painting his personal Dorian Gray picture for his Presidential run, he's locally screwing Marylanders with the exact same tactics that he criticizes Republicans for doing. That, my friends, is the definition of a hypocrite.