Reporting on his January 29 State of the State Address in which Maryland's liberal Democratic governor promised new government spending programs and the continuance of a costly state college tuition freeze, the Baltimore Sun headlined the story "O'Malley Sets a Leaner Course for Maryland."
Yet as Sun reporters Laura Smitherman and Gadi Dechter made clear, O'Malley has made clear he hopes to avoid axing 700 state worker jobs after getting an infusion of cash from Washington:
In his address, the governor repeated his hope that a federal stimulus package moving through Congress would enable the state to avoid many painful cuts. He told lawmakers that he expects the final budget they consider in April to be better than the one he submitted to them. "Why?" O'Malley said. "Two reasons. Barack ... Obama."
So O'Malley's "leaner course" really depends on just how much pork a Democratic Congress and president shovel the reliably blue state's way.
What's more, as Smitherman and Dechter noted deeper in their article, O'Malley has postponed previously planned budget cuts, much to the chagrin of the state's Democratic comptroller, no right-winger he:
Although O'Malley postponed this week the latest round of cuts to the current year's budget before the Board of Public Works, citing the anticipated federal stimulus, Comptroller Peter Franchot predicted that more cuts would be needed before the fiscal year ends in June as the economy declines further.
"We're going to be right back in the soup at the end of the year if we don't cut back," said Franchot, the state's chief tax collector, who sits on the board.
The Sun reporters made certain to reprint one of O'Malley's liberal applause lines, without noting that O'Malley has been receptive to granting in-state tuition for illegal immigrants:
He defended his proposal for a fourth year of no tuition increases at state universities as not being motivated by poll-driven electoral politics.
"Is the fight for affordable college about politics?" he asked. "You're darn right it's about politics. ... It's about the politics of opportunity. It's about the politics of posterity."
