If Hillary does not run, Martin O’Malley will be the next Democratic nominee
Despite some wishful thinking (“she’s sick/she doesn’t want to run”) from my fellow conservatives, every credible source indicates that Hillary
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Martin O’Malley
President Martin O’Malley? It will never happen
Maryland Governor Martin OMalley speaking at the Chesapeake Executive Council Meeting in 2010. (Wikimedia) “He’s Handsome, He’s Progressive, He’s a
Read moreGOP poll shows tight race for governor: Brown 45, Hogan 42
The Maryland Republican Party released a poll Friday on the race for governor showing Democrat Anthony Brown at 45% and Republican Larry Hogan at 42%. There’s been a lot of chatter recently about internal polls showing the race tightening to single digits. But this is the first publicly released poll that includes breakdowns and methodology. Admittedly it is a partisan poll done by Republican pollster Wes Anderson, a national pollster who happens to live in Anne Arundel County. Political science professor Todd Eberly also analyzes the poll.
Read moreMd. awards $16 billion, 10-year contract for health insurance
Top state officials on Wednesday approved spending $16 billion over the next 10 years on health insurance for over 200,000 state employees, retirees and their dependents. One of the largest contracts ever granted, the three-member Board of Public Works approved it at a meeting dominated by discussion of the positives and negatives of health care delivery in Maryland, including serious patient care problems at a state hospital in Hagerstown.
Read moreRascovar column: Election politics trumped budget realities
The $77 million in budget cuts approved last week by the Maryland Board of Public Works mark the first recognition there’s a price to be paid for placing election-year politics ahead of fiscal realities. It won’t be the last spending pullback, either.
Maryland has a serious, ongoing imbalance between its high spending habits and its lower than expected revenue receipts. Everyone knew this was coming
Read moreDeJuliis accused of tearing down Brochin signs in Senate race
UPDATED The state Senate Democratic primary in Baltimore County District 42 pitting Sen. Jim Brochin against former Del. Connie DeJuliis turned nasty over the weekend as Brochin campaign signs were removed by three men including Ron DeJuliis, the candidate’s husband and the Maryland commissioner of labor. MarylandReporter.com obtained photos and video of the incident
Read moreMinority contractor loses bid to build center honoring minority hero
A Dorchester County tourist attraction dedicated to preserving the legacy of Harriet Tubman on the Eastern Shore has drawn ire from a minority group contractor whose bid for the project was turned down. Contractor Gilford Corporation, which is owned by an African-American, found its bid rejected because it failed to meet standards of a federal program designed to assist minority businesses.
Read moreUnion protesters arrested at State House
Fourteen people had themselves intentionally arrested on the stone steps of the Maryland State House Thursday — part of a larger group who were protesting the low wages of restaurant and retail workers at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Read moreRascovar column: Maryland’s Obamacare fiasco continues
How high will it go? How much more will it cost the O’Malley-Brown administration to fix or totally replace the dysfunctional online health insurance system that it bragged about until the software crashed on Day One?
It already is the most costly debacle in state history.
Read moreTreasurer, comptroller urge senators to restore $100M cut in pension funding
In unusual joint testimony, Maryland State Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot, chair and vice-chair of the state pension board, pleaded with Senate budgeters not to permanently cut $100 million in state payments to the retirement system. They said the cut proposed by Gov. Martin O’Malley had high long-term repercussions and undermined the state’s credibility with bond rating agencies by reneging on promises made in 2011 pension reforms.
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