Oh, man, oh, man, O'Malley

Governor O’Malley never ceases to amaze me. I have to admit, many moons ago when he was elected major of Baltimore I was a bit surprised but then again, what did I know? I didn’t live in Baltimore and hence didn’t have a first hand perspective of his campaign or his tactics, so who was I to judge. I watched from 30 miles away in the State capital as he cut school funding, cut the police force’s ability to work overtime and lined his own pockets. Then it happened: he ran for Governor…and won. Naturally, the blame can not solely fall on Mr. O’Malley’s shoulders though, as it took the majority of my fellow Marylanders to guide him into office and a good man out.

Without missing a beat he gave his personally appointed new cabinet members, and himself mind you, an average of a 30% pay raise. Then the kicker came late last year: in a closed door, unannounced, special session O’Malley passed the Tech Tax bill. This choice piece of legislation made fixing a computer a “luxury” in the State of Maryland, susceptible to taxation of the newly raised 6% State tax. (This bill lumped fixing computers, computer consulting, snow removal and landscaping into the definition of “luxury” items.)

So for the next several months angry professionals, including myself of course, rallied against his office until it was finally withdrawn as of late. The catch? (You didn’t think there wasn’t going to be one, did you?) O’Malley stated that to make up for cutting the Tech Tax which was estimated to raise $2M per year, he was forced to cut $400,000 in the road pavement allotment budget and $500,000 in education to help cover the loss.

Call me crazy, but wouldn’t a better place to cut the budget might possibly be in the newly raised salaries of Mr. O’Malley and his cabinet? Or perhaps our Governor could cut back on the plethora of trips he takes back and forth to Ireland every other month on the taxpayers’ dime that no one can seem to get him to explain? Just a thought to ponder as you lazily hit those potholes on the way home tonight…

Hibernation

I find myself wondering about the change of seasons more and more lately as Spring rolls in on Maryland’s capital. Maybe it’s just this town of 36,000, but it seems as if hibernation settles in at the first sign of frost and doesn’t dissipate until the first robin returns to work. Such a peculiar occurrence, if you ask me, seeing how this “small town” welcomes over 6 million visitors a year with little slowing during the frostier months. Does this happen elsewhere? If so, why such disregard for social interaction during colder climate? Do geographically colder cities experience year round hibernation sequences?