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Fiscally delusional

Originally published in the Frederick News-Post

Economic & Fiscal Policy

by Marta Hummel Mossburg

OP-EDS

Politicians routinely abuse their power to promote themselves at taxpayer expense. For example, I am reminded of disgraced former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon each time I throw recycling into a bright yellow bin with her name on it, and of current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake whenever trapped behind a city bus with her name plastered across it.

And then there are constituent mailings meant to "inform" residents of recent legislation or a politician's accomplishments. They are usually thinly disguised campaign literature, but Delegate Roger Manno, D-Montgomery, takes spinning residents to a new art form in his recent missive to his constituents.

If some of the claims in his eight-page "Report on the 2010 Legislative Session" are not outright lies, then they are the musings of a man who either does not understand basic math or thinks his readers are too lazy to check his facts.

He writes the fiscal 2011 budget cuts spending by $525 million and that overall spending "decreases almost 2 percent from last year." His assertions are only possible if more than $1 billion of federal stimulus funds in the state budget don't count as spending. It's like a family claiming to balance their budget, except for their credit card bill.

Worse, the statement makes it seem as if the state were fiscally responsible when no plan exists to plug the $1.5 billion hole in next year's state budget created by the removal of those federal funds and ultimately, by legislators' decision not to align the budget with state revenue.

Second, he claims that the state cut 4,000 positions over the past four years, "including 600 positions from this year's budget." According to the most recent figures from the Department of Budget and Management, the state actually gained 286 employees from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009. The only positions cut, except for a handful, were vacant. What if someone could claim they lost 25 pounds when they actually packed on a few? It's the same logic.

Manno also claims "leadership on teacher and employee pension reform." His solution to fix the $30 billion unfunded liability for state employee pensions and health care benefits was not to address the cause of the problem: overly generous promises to state employees plaguing states across the country. It was to spend more by taxing income over $1 million. Aside from the fact that his legislation does not fit with his narrative of cutting spending, it also maintains the illusions that the state can afford to promise benefits without a revenue stream to pay for them.

If passed, it would have made Maryland even less attractive a place for business only two years after massive tax increases took effect and as Maryland is losing tens of thousands of people to lower-taxed states, according to census and IRS data.

These are just three examples from eight pages of his taxpayer-funded public relations piece. How many people took the time to read his report instead of tossing it in the recycling bin with some other politician's name on it is anyone's guess. But for those who did read it, they could be forgiven for thinking Maryland's economy is booming, especially with green and biotech jobs, its budget balanced and outlook stress-free. I can't wait to see what Manno writes after legislators raise taxes next year to fill the $1.5 billion budget hole he pretends does not exist.

Marta Mossburg is a senior fellow at the Maryland Public Policy Institute. mmossburg@mdpolicy.org