O'Malley Touts Economic Future of State

n one of his first major post-election appearances, Gov. Martin O'Malley spoke to a crowd of more than 100 students, faculty and area residents at Towson University on Wednesday evening.

The governor, energized following his Nov. 2 re-election, gave what might best be described as a preview of what's to come in his second administration. His talk was entitled "Moving Maryland Forward: Making the New Economy Ours." O'Malley told the crowd he believes Maryland is well-positioned to emerge stronger from the current economic turmoil.

"The thing I love about the people of our state is that in times of adversity, we don't make excuses; we make progress," he said.

O'Malley didn't use his prepared remarks and instead used his sometimes offbeat Powerpoint slides and showed off state websites as he bounced from one side of a small stage in the University Union to the other. He was one part pitchman and one part professor in running down his goals, which he boiled down to four key categories: workforce skills, homeland security, sustainability and health.

Many of his goals—such as moving to electronic medical records, adding 250,000 engineering jobs and lowering rates of violent crime and infant mortality—are set to be reached in 2010.

"Two-year goals are very very scary, especially for people that have to run every four years because then you can actually detect as to whether or not you accomplished what you said you'd accomplished," he said. "I choose to look at it in this way. If as a people we don't know what it is that we're setting out to accomplish, whether it's over a two-year period or a 20-year period, we're never going to get there."

He stressed the importance of technology, aerospace and green jobs powered by federal programs and emerging industries as the key to that progress.

"There are very few states that have the edge we have right now in innovation," he said. "This innovation economy is the thing that's going to allow us to be leaders."

Richard Vatz, a communications professor and conservative political observer, took a diplomatic stance on O'Malley's lecture, saying the governor "appeared confident in his ability to handle the issues."

O'Malley has not visited Towson University quite as often as his erstwhile opponent, former Gov. Bob Ehrlich, who gives semesterly speeches to Vatz's persuasion class and donated papers from his administration to the university's library.

The current governor's unique ties to TU include Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, O'Malley 's father in law and a distinguished scholar at the university. O'Malley's wife, Catherine, is a Towson graduate.

After his presentation, the governor fielded questions on taxes and higher education. O'Malley also gave a long answer to a question on bay restoration and expressed hope that newer governors in watershed states find the "political alchemy" to continue earlier efforts on that front.

One faculty member submitted a question on state employee furloughs, to which O'Malley responded by saying he hopes to "ratchet those back a bit."

He also supports gradual, three percent rises in University System of Maryland tuition, which would still place Maryland on the inexpensive end compared to other states but would be "cold comfort compared to other nations."

He also reiterated a campaign-trail pledge that he would try to keep new taxes out of his upcoming budget.

Though he still has some differences with the governor on issues such as tuition policy, Vatz said, "O'Malley doesn't make any promises that he knows he can't keep."