Gunpowder Chronicle posted on January 17, 2008 10:44 PM | Rating:
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Who knew the Irish were so good with street shell games?
O'Guvnah's newest plan to "reform" the state juvenile justice bureaucracy which he will announce today is just the latest attempt by state Democrats to continually fail without being held accountable. Remember that the state juvenile justice program was a complete disaster under Kennedy diva Kathleen Kennedy Townsend when she was the Lieutenant Governor under State Sexual Harasser Paris Glendenning.
According to the Calvert Street Communisty Party Newlsetter, the centerpiece of O'Malley's plan is to raze the Hickey School in Cub Hill and replace it with a brand new facility to hold "no more" than 48 youths at a time... in 2012. That's confidence. Proposing reform of a major (dysfunctional) state agency that would not occur until a second term.
According to the CSCPN, Jim Smith, Baltimore County Executive, has no problems with the idea, because O'Guvnah promised him that city youths won't be housed there. (That is liberal code for "black kids", by the way.) How are we doing on those O'Guvnah promises? How are your electricity rates there, Jimmy Boy?
It's so nice for Jim Smith -- who will not be around either -- jump on board and endorse this plan, over the objections of Cub Hill residents. Is this part of the deal for the governor backing Jimmy's play for the Comptroller office in 2010?
To make it even better, O'Guvnah is saying that a large part of the 200-acre complex might be turned over to the Department of Natural Resources so that it can be parkland. Wonderful. We can all stand around our make-believe campfire (real ones cause global warming, after all) and sing Kum-Ba-Yah and commune with nature.
O'Guvnah also wants to design a new facility at Cheltenham in PG County, throwing a bone to his loyal Lieutenant Governor, "Dowtown" Tony Brown.
But the shell game continues, because in 2013, O'Guvnah wants to construct a brand new, $57 million facility "somewhere in the Baltimore Region". Something tells me that northern Anne Arundel County and Howard County are safe. But who knows, with State Agencies growing like a fat guy at an all-you-can eat buffet, maybe we can gobble up some more land in Baltimore County for this little gem.
But my point is this: O'Guvnah is trying to look like this forward-thinking leader in state government. What he is really doing is pushing out these controversial proposals to his "hoped for" next term, when he thinks that citizens of Maryland will have forgotten about this little shell game-- and well after Baltimore County voters will have gone to the polls for his second (and last) term.
It's political subterfuge, plain and simple. And Jimmy Smith is not just an accomplice, he is right in the mix. Jimmy Smith is screwing his current constituents in order to gain his job as Comptroller with a newer set.
Bend over, Baltimore County. We are about to get frakked again.