Governor, under your second term, taxes were raised and dozens of fees were, in some cases, doubled, all within eighteen months, during the worst recession this country has ever seen. Gambling was approved and then expanded by voters with your encouragement, with the money promised for schools. However, as far as I know, schools have not seen an increase in funding. Why are taxes and fees going up when it was promised that legalized gambling would prevent this? And why is that money not going where it was twice promised to go?
First of all, we now have the #1 rated schools in the country, have done more than any other state to hold down the cost of college, and we continue to exercise the fiscal discipline necessary to sustain these investments while also keeping a triple A bond rating.
My administration inherited a 1.7 billion dollar deficit. So the vast majority of tough fiscal decisions -- a combination of cuts and revenue measures -- were actually made before the recession hit. each decision was unpopular singularly, but together they were the tough choices necessary to give our children a future with more opportunity rather than less. We have achieved the second best rate of new job growth in our region since the recessionary low, the highest median income of any state in the country, and we pay the third lowest taxes as percentage of income of any state in the union.
And yes, we legalized gaming, saved horse racing and made record increased investments in education every year of our Administration.
And why is that money not going where it was twice promised to go?
You seem to have avoided answering the most important part of the question. We were promised that gambling revenues would go to the schools, yet you seemed to have pulled existing funding to offset it. We approved it because all of the money was supposed to go to the schools in ADDITION to what they already received. Why has this not happened?
As required specifically by statute, the vast majority of state revenues from gaming go to fund education. This is a part, but only a part, of the increased investment we have made as a people to improve public education in Maryland--we have increased funding roughly from $4 billion annually to $6 billion annually. Check out this link (http://www.governor.maryland.gov/blog/?p=9788) for all authoritative sources and citations.
Governor, under your second term, taxes were raised and dozens of fees were, in some cases, doubled, all within eighteen months, during the worst recession this country has ever seen. Gambling was approved and then expanded by voters with your encouragement, with the money promised for schools. However, as far as I know, schools have not seen an increase in funding. Why are taxes and fees going up when it was promised that legalized gambling would prevent this? And why is that money not going where it was twice promised to go?
I answered this below -- I'm pasting my answer again. Also, here's a blog post I wrote about some of the work we've done on education: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gov-martin-omalley/investing-in-education-cr_b_4732755.html
First of all, we now have the #1 rated schools in the country, have done more than any other state to hold down the cost of college, and we continue to exercise the fiscal discipline necessary to sustain these investments while also keeping a triple A bond rating.
My administration inherited a 1.7 billion dollar deficit. So the vast majority of tough fiscal decisions -- a combination of cuts and revenue measures -- were actually made before the recession hit. each decision was unpopular singularly, but together they were the tough choices necessary to give our children a future with more opportunity rather than less. We have achieved the second best rate of new job growth in our region since the recessionary low, the highest median income of any state in the country, and we pay the third lowest taxes as percentage of income of any state in the union.
And yes, we legalized gaming, saved horse racing and made record increased investments in education every year of our Administration.
Mr O'Malley,
Is it true that President Obama had a big hand in guiding the new gun law in Maryland, which is why you decided to pass it, even though it received more opposition than any other bill in at least 20 years?
We decided to pass comprehensive gun safety legislation, including an assault weapons ban and universal background checks, in order to save lives. Together with law enforcement, we have driven violent crime in Maryland down to 30 year lows and on a year-to-date basis, we have driven homicides down by 18%. We are not done. In our state there is no such thing as a spare American.
Why are you against marijuana legalization?
I signed decriminalization for small amounts of possession this year, signed medical marijuana last year, and another medical marijuana bill this year. I believe it's best for Maryland to learn from experiments underway in Colorado and Washington and to be guided according to whether more good than harm is done.
Why are you against marijuana legalization?
I answered this one below. Here it is again:
I signed decriminalization for small amounts of possession this year, signed medical marijuana last year, and another medical marijuana bill this year. I believe it's best for Maryland to learn from experiments underway in Colorado and Washington and to be guided according to whether more good than harm is done.
My boyfriend, my little brother (14) and I are coming to visit Baltimore for the first time this summer. What is the #1 thing the governor reccommends we do while there?
Visit Fort McHenry, birthplace of the Star-Spangled Banner. This is the bicentennial of the Defense of Baltimore. It's easy to get to from 95 and 895 tunnels. Truly a spiritual experience. Learn more, visit starspangled200.org
Thanks for doing this AMA.
I am concerned about the gerrymandered districts in Maryland. The map look terrible. Would you support a non partisan commission redrafting the districts? Or are you ok with the map as it stands now?
Yes, I am okay with the map. Yes, I could support non-partisan redistricting if every other state does it.
Do you like lacrosse?
Yes, my 11-year-old son plays lacrosse. Lacrosse is the official team sport of Maryland! It's easier for kids to get into than jousting.
How many crab cakes have you devoured as a record?
I don't eat competitively.
Why did you choose to do a AMA at 0900 on a Monday morning when most people are at work and unable to get on reddit?
We're signing a bill today at 10:30 am to raise Maryland's minimum wage to $10.10. We hope Congress follows suit.
Why did you raid the transportation trust fund and then raise gas taxes?
We did not raid the transportation trust fund. The flat tax on gas had not been raised since 1992. We couldn't let our bridges crumble and fall. We chose to rebuild our infrastructure and thereby create 57,000 jobs in the next 6 years.
How can you justify letting taxpayers and contract farmers foot the bill for the 1.5 billion pounds of manure Perdue and other large chicken companies produce every year? Residents and farmers are stretched thin already and Perdue continues to profit while the Chesapeake Bay is dying. And these large chicken companies make up less than 0.02% of Maryland's GDP. How can you possibly justify this?
Of the four main causes of Bay pollution--waste water treatment plants, agriculture, stormwater runoff, and septic systems, no sector has reduced nitrogen and phosphorus flows more significantly than agriculture over the last 20 years. Agriculture is a hugely important part of Maryland's economy. Scapegoating farmers, or putting an entire agriculture sector out of business won't clean up the Bay. Real actions will. To learn more about our new GIS/performance-measured approach to Bay restoration, check out baystat.maryland.gov.
How can you justify letting taxpayers and contract farmers foot the bill for the 1.5 billion pounds of manure Perdue and other large chicken companies produce every year? Residents and farmers are stretched thin already and Perdue continues to profit while the Chesapeake Bay is dying. And these large chicken companies make up less than 0.02% of Maryland's GDP. How can you possibly justify this?
I answered this one below. Our agriculture industry is very important in Maryland -- we can protect the Bay and have a strong ag industry at the same time.
We set 16 strategic goals, around opportunity, sustainability, health, and public safety. One of those 16 goals deals specifically with making our Bay healthier. You can track our progress on that goal here: https://data.maryland.gov/goals/chesapeake-bay
So, as a middle class earner in MD, what exactly am I getting for all the taxes I pay?
are more people moving to your state or moving out of your state?
More people are moving to Maryland.
Hi Gov. O'Malley. When I first moved to Baltimore, I met you at a gay bar while you were still the Mayor. Were you ever worried that your interest in the well being of the gay community would damage your political career?
I believe in the dignity of every individual. In Maryland, we passed marriage equality. And this month, we will sign a transgender anti-discrimination bill.
Hey Gov! I was a MD Student page back in high school a few years back, and I just wanted to ask what was your most memorable experience with pages during your terms in Annapolis? My time as a page was awesome, especially during sine die!
I always enjoy talking with every group of new Pages I meet. Makes me feel optimistic for our State and our country's future.
I'm passionate about the corruption that comes as a result of money's influence on politics. Lawrence Lessig is an academic leading the charge to make to reform our campaign finance system.
Would you support a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision and support small dollar donations?
Yes.
Drive down any major street in Maryland, and you'll see every telephone pole and signpost is plastered with distracting, ugly "We buy houses" and "improve your bed credit" scam signs. It really makes our fine state look like a crappy third world country. Can you do anything about them?
Some of them are state roads, some are county roads. Send me the location and we'll look into it.
Baltimore city is a place where you really got your start as politician. First as a city councilman, then as mayor and now as governor. What do you say to that fact that the city has the highest property taxes, the worst schools, deteriorating infrastructure and no presence of a corporate headquarters after 20+ years of your leadership? Why is Baltimore not doing far better than it should be?
When I was elected mayor of Baltimore in 1999, our city had become the most violent and addicted city in America. Over the following ten years, Baltimore achieved the biggest reduction in part 1 crime of any major city in America. Baltimore city school students are achieving and graduating at higher levels than they have in forty years. The progress continues. Under Armour...defend this house: "land of the free, home of the brave."
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We've increased mental health services by 68%. In 2013, over 153,000 Marylanders received mental health services.
We've increased mental health services by 68%. In 2013, over 153,000 Marylanders received mental health services.
We did a little more digging on this. Not only are we serving more people, but we've increased funding too -- we've increased funding for the Maryland Mental Health Administration by 33% since 2007.
Did he answer anything?
I tried to answer as much as I could this morning before I went in to sign some bills -- including an increase in Maryland's minimum wage. I think I answered about 20 this morning, I'm going to try to answer some more now.
Well this didn't go well
I don't know, I'm having fun! This is my first AMA. I had to step away to sign a bunch of bills, and I'm glad to be back.
Hi Governor O'Malley—
Thanks for doing an AMA. Just one question: How does the Maryland healthcare exchange, which cost taxpayers $90 million to implement before your administration found that it would be cheaper (at an additional $40-50 million) to just replace it than to fix it, show that your Administration has been effectively using taxpayer dollars to better the lives of individual citizens?
No one was more frustrated than I was about the fact that our health exchange website didn't work properly when we launched. But our health exchange is more than a web site, and we worked hard to overcome the technical problems. We have enrolled about 329,000 people thus far, exceeding the goal we set of 260,000. I often say that we haven't always succeeded at first, but we have never given up. We learn from both success and failure.
TIL that Reddit Love for Arnold Schwarzenegger does not automatically extend to other governors with Presidential aspirations. Nice try, Mr. O'Malley.
Gov. Schwarzenegger is awesome. We did a panel together in Nevada last year about energy. He did not offer me a ride in his tank.
How do you feel about enacting "tougher gun laws" and the people who were against the Firearms Safety Act of 2013? The opposition set records in attendance, speaking time, and even shut down the State Capitol for the first time ever due to overcrowding - yet the law was passed essentially unchanged. Does this represent a state government interested in its citizenry?
There was a strong response on both sides of this.
I understand that there are plenty of people who were opposed to the bill, but it was an important thing to do to protect Maryland families.
And we worked hard to balance the need to protect families, with the need to safeguard the rights of law-abiding gun owners. The law does not prohibit lawful citizens from obtaining or owning a handgun; does not require additional licensing procedures for hunting rifles and shotguns; does not force citizens who lawfully possessed an assault weapon prior to the bill’s passage to surrender their weapon or to register it; does not require companies who manufacture assault weapons in Maryland to stop production; and does not require current lawful gun owners to retroactively obtain a license.
I get that people were upset. But we tried to enact commonsense reforms, and I'm proud of the bill we passed.
Governor,
Also why are you removing answers, the gerrymandering response in particular? Also the SB281 response is gone too... Is this truly an "ask me anything"? Or is it just like your political reign where you only answer the questions that aren't tough and that you see fit to answer. What a joke.
We didn't remove any answers. Some may have gotten lost in the comments...but we didn't remove any.
Hi Mr. O'Malley! I'm a resident of Frederick County here in Maryland. I wanted to hear your opinion on the spreading heroin epidemic in Maryland. Thanks for doing this AMA!
When I was mayor, we had good success in combating this problem. There were 312 heroin overdose deaths in 1999. We drove that number down to 106 in 2008.
But heroin use is still a big problem in Maryland, as it is in lots of states across the country. We set 16 strategic goals...around the areas of opportunity, sustainability, health, and public safety. One of those goals is to reduce overdose deaths in Maryland by 20% by the end of 2015. You can track our progress on that goal here: https://data.maryland.gov/goals/substance-abuse
Morning, Governor. Western MD isn't doing too hot these days. The Queen City is looking more and more like Maryland's Detroit, and there's little hope of improvement. Are there any plans the westernmost three countries need to know about?
We're working hard to improve the economy throughout the state. In the short term, we're always trying to attract more companies to invest and create jobs here. Over the long term, out biggest focus is on investing in education.
In October, we announced that Volvo expanded its powertrain facility in Hagerstown. http://www.governor.maryland.gov/blog/?p=9353 That brought 140 new jobs, and retained 1,300. No question there's a lot more work to do.
Also, the transportation infrastructure investment bill we passed last year will enable us to hire people building roads and bridges. One of the projects that's already been announced is construction of US 15/Monocacy Boulevard Interchange in western Maryland.
bet you 10lbs. of BBQ vs 10lbs of (crabs?oysters?) my flyover state basketball team beats the mighty Terps next time we play. no need to worry that you'll lose... i'm from little insignificant state of Kansas.
Go Terps! We'll get a little closer to Kansas now that we're in the Big 10.
What do you feel about robotics being added as a subsidized extracurricular activity for high school students?
I think high school students getting involved in robotics is a great idea. Frankly, anything we can do to get young people focused on the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and math) is smart.
We have 16 strategic goals, around opportunity, sustainability, health and public safety. One of those goals is to improve student achievement and school, college, and career readiness in Maryland by 25% by the end of 2015. We track STEM degrees as part of this goal. You can check out our progress here: https://data.maryland.gov/goals/education
What do you plan on doing, if anything, about the drastic decline in the Bay's crab population? More than a quarter of Maryland Blue Crabs in the Chesapeake died this winter, and the current crab population will not be able to sustain itself for another few years.
A key part of our heritage as Marylanders is tied to the blue crab.
Restoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay is a huge challenge -- and one we've focused a lot of attention on. Part of that effort is devoted to increasing our blue crab and oyster populations. We passed a bill in 2011 to increase penalties for over-harvesting striped bass, blue crabs, and oysters. We have also used new technology to crack down on oyster poachers.
I wish there was an easy answer...but we're going to keep working to make our Bay healthier. One of the key things we focus on is lowering the nitrogen and phosphorous that enters the Bay. You can track our progress here: https://data.maryland.gov/goals/chesapeake-bay
A variant of this question has already been asked, but I can't find the answer, so I will ask my own version.
Mr. Governor,
After the casino expansion went through, other forms of school spending were cut as the new money came in. What was that money then spent on? Maryland has a lot of taxes and fees, yet the schools are not better than in states with lower taxes, and the roads are not better than in lower taxing states. As a Maryland business owner (to be clear: no one with-holds my taxes. I have to get out a check-book and a pen when April roles around), I would be much more comfortable writing that check if I knew what the money was being spent on.
In short: could you please give us a summary break-down of the state budget.
Thanks!
I don't think people appreciate the fact that $0.84 of every dollar (General Fund) goes to education, health, and public safety.
We have increased funding for schools to record levels while I was governor. You can read more about what we've done for schools here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gov-martin-omalley/investing-in-education-cr_b_4732755.html
As for a summary of the budget, here is a PowerPoint we put together when I released by my budget proposal in January: http://www.governor.maryland.gov/budget.html
Does anyone else find it irritating that all of his responses were downvoted so much? It makes it very hard to find any responses because they are all downvoted away...
I find it kind of irritating!
If you want to read all the answers I've written, go here: http://www.reddit.com/user/GovMartinOMalley
Is it true that you have a treadmill in your office?
That is not true. I do like to exercise, but no treadmill in the office. I do have an acoustic guitar, though.
So is no one going to point out how many of the top questions, and many questions on the top 200 comments, is by accounts that are 7 hours old? And that the few questions he did answer are downvoted into oblivion? Seems pretty shady.
Is that what's going on here? I appreciate you pointing it out...
Governor, I understand you are term limited. What do you believe are the top issues facing the state that the next Governor of Maryland will have to confront?
Wow. This is an important question. I think the top issue facing our state will continue to be jobs.
People are working harder and harder, and yet falling father behind. We have to continue to strengthen and grow our middle class. That's been our focus for 7+ years. That's why I signed a bill today to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. That's why we invest record amounts in our public schools. And that's why we have tried to make college more affordable for more families.
These are really important challenges, and the work is never done.
Hi Governor,
Looking over this thread, it seems like you've been getting a lot of negative feedback. Removing my own opinion from the discussion for a moment, I'd like to give you an opportunity to address those critiques. Please explain to Reddit what your goals were with this AMA, and why you feel that this AMA went well.
Thanks for this opportunity. I wanted to do this AMA for two main reasons.
First, I signed a law today to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 hour. This was the centerpiece of our legislative agenda this year, and I wanted to highlight it, in hopes that others states and Congress will take similar action.
I also wanted to do this because I wanted to engage directly with the Reddit community about what we're doing in Maryland. As I've said before, we have tried to govern in a new and better way. You can go online right now, and see the 16 strategic goals we have set for our State’s progress, in the areas of job creation, education, security, sustainability, and health. https://data.maryland.gov/goals
On some of these, we’ve already exceeded our initial goals. On others, we’re making progress. And on a few, we still have a longer way to go. Progress requires accountability. But accountability means putting your commitment out there, for all of us to know and see, and hopefully to help drive. I wanted a chance to talk about this a little bit with the Reddit community, who I thought would appreciate what we're trying to do.