Live From Boston: Martin O’Malley’s Budget Bluster

ANNAPOLIS – The Bob Ehrlich for Maryland campaign today called on Governor Martin O’Malley to retract false statements he made this weekend in Boston at a National Governors Association meeting. During a panel discussion broadcast live on C-SPAN, Governor O’Malley denied ever “dipping into capital funds” or “borrowing from the future” in order to resolve his budget deficits as Governor. Video of Governor O’Malley’s comments is linked here.

Yet Governor O’Malley’s last three budgets indicate approximately $2 billion in fund transfers, according to analyses published by the nonpartisan Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute. Fund transfers include the Highway User Fund, PAYGO, and the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund, among others. Further, Governor O’Malley has indeed “borrowed from the future” by an additional $1 billion just since June 2009, according to Maryland’s Commission on State Debt.

“The chasm between Governor O’Malley’s rhetoric and reality is almost as big as Maryland’s fiscal crisis,” said Ehrlich Communications Director Henry Fawell. “The question is not whether Governor O’Malley raided special funds or borrowed from the future in hopes of papering over his budget deficit; the question is why he would repeatedly deny it when asked by a journalist. Governor O’Malley’s denials continue a troubling trend of making statements that simply aren’t true. As Governor, Bob Ehrlich will be honest with Marylanders about the state’s budget deficit, beginning with the need to lower taxes so that job creators can lift Maryland out of our four year economic downturn.”