Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley joined Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Tom Wolf yesterday at a fundraiser for the Allegheny County Democrats and their chair Nancy Patton Mills.
O’Malley’s presence alongside Wolf should be a welcomed sign for Pennsylvania Democrats as O’Malley is a popular two-term Governor with a nationally recognized name.
However, not everyone in Pennsylvania politics is pleased to see O’Malley in their state. PA Republican Party Chairman Rob Gleason released a statement condemning the policies of Governor O’Malley and expressing his concern that similar policies could be enacted in Pennsylvania if Wolf is elected.
“Tonight, Tom Wolf is hosting a campaign fundraiser with a man who is taxing the rain,” a reference to Governor O’Malley’s “rain tax” that taxes property owners on the basis of “the square footage of impervious surfaces on a property.” (The rationale being that these surfaces prevent rainwater from seeping into the earth thereby causing stormwater run off).
“Martin O’Malley and Tom Wolf share a love of raising taxes. While Tom Wolf wants to raise our income taxes, Martin O’Malley has instituted more than 80 new taxes, including a tax on rainfall. Does Tom Wolf support a ‘rain tax’ as well?”
Chairman Gleason also took aim at O’Malley’s handling of Obamacare in Maryland and his fear of a repeat event in Pennsylvania.
“As if that was bad enough, Maryland’s state-run Obamacare exchange is an expensive disaster, but that example hasn’t stopped Tom Wolf from pledging to bring a similar exchange to Pennsylvania,” said Gleason. “Tom Wolf believes Obamacare is ‘a step in the right direction,’ even after it raised taxes, killed jobs, and caused premiums to skyrocket.”
Some are speculating that O’Malley’s arrival in Pennsylvania is more than just a show of support for Wolf. O’Malley, who will be ineligible to run for Governor of Maryland in 2014, has shown signs that he will launch a campaign for the 2016 Democratic Presidential nomination. In August of 2013, O’Malley stated that he was putting together the “framework of a candidacy for 2016.” O’Malley has had a notable tenure as Governor of Maryland and is already a well established name in the Democratic party, having spoken at both the 2004 and 2012 Democratic National Conventions and served as the chair of the Democratic Governors Association from 2011 to 2013.
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3 Responses
These are two individuals whose extreme agendas will hurt small business owners and taxpayers. Only difference is “owe malley” has already wrecked the state of maryland, tom wolf’s damage CAN be prevented. Wolf gets in and people will be crying for him to leave not soon after
Isaac, the only thing the GOP has on Wolf is dumbed-down sound bites. Policy doesn’t interest them unless it involves gerrymandering, slashing services, or giving the gas industry free reign to pillage the state. Corbett might fall harder than Rick Santorum did in ’06.
The impervious surfaces tax actually makes a lot of sense – storm water systems are old, decaying, and were built with much smaller volume in mind. With all of these suburbs being subsidized by tax dollars (it would cost tens of thousands of dollars more for each house if they actually paid to run municipal water/sewer to the houses instead of freeloading off of taxpayers), it only makes sense to recapture some of that to pay for critical upgrades. Of course, it’s not surprising that Republicans will take deliberately dumbed down potshots instead of actually, you know, offering solutions.