Free Republic

Attention national media: You know Martin O'Malley, defender of the underdog. It's time to get to know Martin O'Malley, thug. The Maryland governor, widely rumored to harbor presidential aspirations, canonized himself in the progressive movement... during his many appearances on national cable TV news during election season as President Barack Obama's surrogate. But the man who says that we should celebrate diversity cannot tolerate those who oppose his political viewpoints. Here are three examples from the past year...

Gov. Martin O'Malley signed an executive order Friday to increase Maryland's long-term resiliency to storm-related flooding and sea level rise. **SNIP** "As storms such as Hurricane Sandy have shown, it is vital that we commit our resources and expertise to create a ready and resilient Maryland by taking the necessary steps to adapt to the rising sea and unpredictable weather," O'Malley said. "In studying and planning for storms and climate change, we can ensure that our land, infrastructure, and most importantly our citizens are safe and prepared."

Maryland lawmakers likely will consider several bills aimed at tightening restrictions on gun sales and ownership as a result of Friday's school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Gov. Martin O'Malley told reporters Tuesday. "And the likelihood is that there will be a bill from this administration," he added, though he said he was not sure what the specifics will be. Among the measures legislators probably will consider are bans on the sale of assault weapons and accompanying large magazines, ways to make sure that people suffering from mental illnesses do not have access to firearms, and improvements to safety policies at...

Maryland is one of the most corrupt states in our nation. Nowhere is this fact more evident than with the state’s treatment of illegal aliens. Maryland politicians have literally become lawless in their efforts to cultivate illegals, and this lawlessness flows downhill from the very top. I will focus on a few of the more egregious examples. In 2011, we published a report on CASA de Maryland, a Silver Spring-based illegal immigrant advocacy group that parrots ACORN in both its methods and associates—which include the Communist Party USA, FMLN, (a former Salvadoran communist guerilla group, now a political party), ACORN...

While behavior after losing a competition may be a great yardstick for the measurement of one’s character, equally important is one’s conduct after a victory. We have all experienced an ill-tempered reaction to a thumping – be it one who pitches the board game across the room, takes the proverbial ball and goes home or blames the drubbing on everything except their own incompetence (see: Maryland Republican Party). Yet the smug, gloating boo-yah type of winner is equally infuriating; sometimes more so, only because the vanquished already suffered the indignity of defeat, and now has to stomach the additional humiliation...

Gay marriage advocates cheered victories in voter initiatives in Maryland and Maine on Tuesday night and seemed poised to win in two other states. The votes were first setbacks at the ballot box for opponents of same-sex marriage after more than 30 victories. With 93 percent of the vote counted in Maryland, Ballot Question 6, which legalizes gay marriage in the state, was leading by 52 percent to 48 percent, and supporters were already claiming victory in the heated and expensive battle. “Today the marriage equality map expands to Maryland, giving thousands more loving couples the opportunity to make lifelong...

Maryland Republicans are driving efforts to overturn the state’s newly drawn congressional map in a referendum next month, but they are joined by a number of Democrats who say their own party has gone too far in crafting districts for political gain. Numerous Montgomery County Democrats are scheduled to hold a news conference Monday in Rockville during which they are expected to urge a “no” vote on ballot Question 5, which would reject the district map drawn last year by Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and approved by the General Assembly. Critics have accused the map’s makers of lumping disparate communities...

As Maryland voters prepare for a November referendum to decide the fate of the state’s new congressional map, Montgomery Gazette columnist Blair Lee chronicles the quandary faced by Democratic Party leaders in strongly Democratic, earnestly liberal and good government-oriented Montgomery County. On one hand, the newly drawn map — one of the most ridiculously gerrymandered in the nation — maximizes Democratic opportunities across the state. On the other, the new congressional lines are an indefensible affront to good government — an issue of concern in the affluent suburb of Washington, D.C., one the nation’s top goo-goo outposts.

How utter was Mitt Romney's rout of Barack Obama tonight? In the post-debate spin room, a hopelessly muddled Martin O'Malley, Dem guv from Maryland and supposedly an Obama surrogate, wound up referring to "President Romney"! For good measure, pressed by MSNBC's Larry O'Donnell—clearly dismayed by Obama's dismal performance—to suggest what he'd recommend the prez do differently next time, a demoralized O'Malley could only mutter "uh, I don't know." View the video here.

Throughout Maryland, county governments have begun to push back against the reckless fiscal policies of Governor Martin O’Malley. During Maryland’s first special session, this past summer, Marylanders saw their taxes once again increased and witnessed the state government passing the buck on teacher pension liabilities to the county governments. In addition, Gov. O’Malley has put into action a whole slew of new regulations on vehicles, rainwater run-off, and septic systems. With continuously diminishing authority over local government specific issues and even higher taxes, county officials are hoping to posture themselves in order to curb not only the authority of the...

The Republican Governors Association is trying to turn Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's record on raising taxes into a political albatross for North Carolina Democrat and gubernatorial candidate Walter Dalton. The RGA, which is headed by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, released a Web video linking the two Democrats' records on taxes Thursday while O'Malley was in North Carolina campaigning with Dalton. "No one is better qualified to amplify Walter Dalton's legacy of tax increases than Gov. O'Malley," said RGA spokesman Mike Schrimpf. "Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is in North Carolina to campaign for Walter Dalton because Dalton supports tax hikes, just...

CHARLOTTE, NC - Day one of the Democratic National Convention was a tale of two events.  Throughout the early evening session -- prior to the major primetime hour -- the proceedings featured angry attacks on Mitt Romney and Republicans, an unshakeable fixation on trivial, minor issues (other than jobs and the economy), and a disquieting, heavy emphasis on abortion and divisive social issues.  Especially unpleasant were the patriotism-questioning shout-fest from former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland ("If Mitt Romney were Santa, he'd fire the Reindeer and outsource the elves!") and the pro-abortion screed from the president of NARAL, a hardcore pro-abortion...

Evidently a spending increase just shy of $1 billion is not enough for Governor Martin O’Malley and the Democrat leadership in Maryland’s General Assembly. Today, May 14, lawmakers will return to Annapolis to pass the Governor’s tax hike proposal, allowing Gov. O’Malley to increase spending by over $1 billion from last year’s budget. Under Gov. O’Malley’s proposal, about one in five Marylanders will see their taxes rise. WBAL is reporting that the proposal will set new income tax rates on Marylanders making over $100,000 a year. However, there is a potential House-Senate compromise that could lower the threshold to just...

The Maryland General Assembly passed a $260 million tax increase Wednesday as it adjourned from a three-day special session that ended with Gov. Martin O'Malley saying he will bring lawmakers back for another session this summer. The House gave final approval to two bills that will raise income taxes and shift a portion of teacher pension costs to counties to balance the state’s $35.5 billion budget, which is nearly $1 billion larger than last year’s spending plan.

A new report says wealthy Maryland residents may be moving out due to recent tax hikes – a finding that is sure to escalate the battle over taxing the American rich. The study, by the anti-tax group Change Maryland, says that a net 31,000 residents left the state between 2007 and 2010, the tenure of a "millionaire's tax" pushed through by Gov. Martin O'Malley. The tax, which expired in 2010, in imposed a rate of 6.25 percent on incomes of more than $1 million a year. The Change Maryland study found that the tax cost Maryland $1.7 billion in lost...

Is there any calumny that Barack Obama and his minions have not tried to use against Mitt Romney? They have accused him of being: •A murderer. Remember the Joe Soptic ad? •A felon. Remember Stephanie Cutter calling Romney a felon? •A man who tolerates those who are soft on rape. But those slanders weren’t enough. Now the Democratic governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, who has ambitions for 2016, has called Romney a racist, and you’ll never guess which site gave him a megaphone to use. That’s correct: Politico. Here’s the Maryland party hack’s attack: "When you have a party that...

What's the fiercest rivalry in American politics today? There's Obama-Romney, of course, but try O'Malley-McDonnell—neighboring governors battling across the Potomac River over how best to resuscitate a moribund economy. Martin O'Malley, Maryland's liberal Democratic governor, is competing for jobs, businesses and tax dollars with Bob McDonnell, Virginia's conservative Republican chief executive. Both are rising stars considered potential presidential hopefuls in 2016. Both are Irish Catholics—Mr. McDonnell playfully calls Mr. O'Malley "the big Irishman to our north"—and each leads his party's association of governors. The two regularly spar on the Sunday talk shows, on the pages of Washington-area newspapers, and over...

Local governments in Maryland are growing thanks to higher taxes banking their payrolls, a trend that bucks the rest of the nation and stands starkly in contrast with downsizing in Virginia, new U.S. census survey data show. The number of people on local government payrolls in Maryland grew by nearly 3 percent -- or about 6,000 people -- to 220,314 during the year that ended in March 2012, the data released Thursday show . . The two states took vastly different approaches to closing budget gaps this year, with the Old Dominion relying almost entirely on spending cuts and Maryland...

A day after saying, no, the country was not better off than it was four years ago, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley reversed course on Monday and said, yes, indeed it was. “We are clearly better of as a country because we’re now creating jobs rathare than losing them,” O’Malley, a Democrat, said on CNN’s Starting Point. “But we have not recovered all that we lost in the Bush recession. That’s why we need to continue to move forward.”

Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley said Sunday that Americans are not better off under President Obama than they were four years ago, a somewhat startling admission that Republicans and Mitt Romney immediately pounced on. On CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday morning, host Bob Schieffer asked O'Malley if he can "honestly say that people are better off today than they were four years ago." "No," O'Malley said, "but that's not the question of this election." "The question," he continued, "without a doubt, we are not as well off as we were before George Bush brought us the Bush job losses, the...