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January 12, 2011

From MarylandReporter.com

ARLINGTON, Va. — While Maryland lawmakers seemingly balanced the state budget last year, it’s actually teetering atop unstable revenues, some experts say.

Speaking at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center on Tuesday, researcher Eileen Norcross said that Maryland and other states are using budget-balancing tactics that amount to no more than “gimmickry” and will leave them worse off in the long run.

These kinds of tactics surface in a number of different forms, Norcross said. These include using money for general purposes that have been earmarked for specific programs. Or relying on one-time federal grants or inconsistent dollars from state lotteries or cigarette taxes. Or even putting off payments into the pension fund.

Whenever a state uses these types of tactics because it doesn’t have enough ongoing revenues to cover ongoing expenses, it’s running a “structural” deficit  — even if its balance sheets add up in a given year, Norcross pointed out.

“For how long can you sustain state spending on lotteries, dumping funds, bonding, all of these tactics,” Norcross said. “Eventually you’re going to run out of steam.”

Read more: http://marylandreporter.com/2011/01/12/researcher-says-maryland-used-gimmickry-to-balance-budget/#ixzz1Aq1uLxPk

Dem campaign chief: Goal is making Pelosi Speaker again

The Hill
Michael O'Brien
Jan 6, 2011

House Democrats' goal is to make Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) the Speaker of the House again, their campaign chairman said Wednesday evening.

Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), set his goal as nothing short of winning back control of the House in the 2012 elections.

"We're all trying to win it back," Israel said on MSNBC when asked if it was Democrats' goal of winning back enough seats to make Pelosi, the former Speaker and new minority leader, the next Speaker.

Democrats lost 63 seats in the 2010 congressional elections, which delivered Republicans control of the House. Democrats would need to win 25 seats now held by Republicans to flip control of the House back in their favor.

Republicans, going into the 2010 contests, had been coy about naming a number of seats they thought they would gain, or, until the end of the campaign, outright predicting that they would win back the majority.

Israel's confidence could well shift over the next two years -- in an optimistic or pessimistic way -- as political events unfold between now and 2012.

"Look, I'm focused on gaining 25 seats back so that we can regain the majority and continue to protect the middle class -- not vote against the middle class, which is what the Republicans did just 20 minutes ago on the floor of the House," Israel said, referencing one of the first House votes on Wednesday afternoon.
Click here to read the full story.

Mary Shaffery of US News and World Report writes about O'Malley's lack of substance in Thursday's Washington Post debate:

Diana is a middle school teacher in her 30s living in Maryland. She is passionate about two things: her students and her Baltimore Ravens.

After Martin O'Malley was elected governor, Diana moved back home because costs were escalating to a point where she could no longer afford to live independently. She hasn't moved out because her surviving parent is worried about job security and paying household expenses.

Diana can't wait for Election Day. She is voting for O'Malley's opponent, former Gov. Robert Ehrlich.

Mike and Maria, parents of two small children, bought their first home in Baltimore in 1992. It's not big enough for a family, so when their two children came along, they moved to the suburbs. They kept the home with hopes of using it to help fund their daughters' education. But as a result of O'Malley's taxes, first as mayor and then as governor, the house has become an expense they can't afford, especially with Maria out of work.

Like Diana, come Nov. 2, they will be voting for Ehrlich.

Read the full article here