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Progressively worse off

Originally Published in the Frederick News-Post

Government Transparency

by Marta Hummel Mossburg

OP-EDS

Maryland's elected leaders pride themselves on being "progressive."

Maryland is one of the worst places to live -- and die -- wealthy, thanks to an onerous estate tax and one of the top tax burdens in the country. Elected officials heavily tax cigarettes, just upped the alcohol tax and routinely increase the power of unions. This year the legislature codified collective bargaining rights for home health care workers as other states around the nation tried to curtail union rights.

And Gov. Martin O'Malley recently launched with Alaska Sen. Mark Begich the NewDEAL, "committed to highlighting and connecting pro-growth progressive state and local elected leaders from across the country."

But it is run by people who share a lot more in common with Donald Trump than Mother Teresa.

Trump, the follicle-challenged, sometimes hundred-times-over millionaire, sometimes bankrupt developer who may run for president, puts his name on everything and creates his own rules.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D) is still alive and already has a building named after himself.

And then there is House Speaker Michael Busch (D), who flouts the legislative process he oversees to dole out millions to Annapolis. Usually pet projects are allegedly "vetted" through the bond bill process. But that must have been too, what's the word, legal?

Instead, he shoveled $600,000 to the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, on whose board his wife sits, $1 million to Bates Middle School and $400,000 for Annapolis High School, among other projects, by adding them to a joint House-Senate conference committee on the capital budget.

He told The Capital in Annapolis that "Being the presiding officer gives me a little more input in the capital budget."

He added, "I'm proud to support these projects. You can write that with a capital 'P.'" Three of the recipients of his largess are within a mile of his home, according to the paper.

Maybe next year he can add a line item in the budget for walking-around money for his constituents. The only difference would be that he could not control how it was used.

In the scheme of things, a few million dollars is pennies in light of the size of the state budget. But the fact that the leader of the House would brag about circumventing the legislative process speaks to his leadership. The fact that he would do so when the only way to balance the budget is to raise taxes, fees, steal from funds devoted to fixing roads and underfund the retirement accounts of state workers makes it even worse. Maybe he doesn't care that the outlook from Standard & Poor's on the United States' AAA debt went from stable to negative because of massive deficits. That could never happen to Maryland. Besides, he wouldn't care.

When the rest of the state is crumbling around him, the 1-mile radius around his house will stay plowed in winter, leafy green in summer, and artistically fulfilling.

He should realize it's not charitable to give other people's money. In the private sector it is called theft. For him and for us, unfortunately, it is business as usual.