Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley is now touting the state’s 1,200 job losses in 2012 as a strength in the face of a damning report tying tax increases to major job losses.
Change Maryland, an anti-tax group, estimates that the state has lost 40,000 jobs since 2007—the largest job losses on the eastern seaboard after Pennsylvania. Those job losses have occurred during a period in which Maryland has raised taxes and fees at least 24 times.
O’Malley, who is attempting to push through tax increases on the wealthy, defended the remarks by claiming just over a thousand people had lost their jobs.
Governor O'Malley responded that the state has lost only 1,200 jobs this year, and that Change Maryland’s numbers don’t include January, which showed strong job gains. The state had 25,000 more jobs in June compared to the same month in 2011, the governor said. …
In another blog post responding to this week's numbers, O'Malley's office said that while the state would like employment to be higher, its 6.9 percent unemployment rate is lower than the nation’s. He said the state's economic indicators show "positive trends."
Those positive trends have been absent this summer. The state lost 11,000 jobs in June.
As Maryland bleeds jobs, Gov. O’Malley has been named an Obama bundler, committing to raising $500,000 for the president’s reelection campaign.