Remarks by Governor Martin O'Malley to the
Maryland Municipal League
Ocean City, MD
June 28, 2011
As Delivered
Thank you. Mayor Bennett, thank you very, very much. And thank you to Scott Hancock and everybody with MML. This is a tremendous organization. You know, when you look at the diversity of our State you really see it exhibited, demonstrated, held up in the diversity of our towns and our cities. And it's really wonderful to be with all of you.
I've been on a great run,… about a week ago I was with the United States Conference of Mayors in Baltimore City, the original land of the free and home of the brave,… and now I'm in Ocean City with Maryland's Mayors and Municipal leaders. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mayors, as I hope you know.
I want to thank Anthony Brown for all of his good work with our Administration and the good work he's been doing in the course of this MML meeting.
I also want to congratulate Mike Busch and his family, Cindy and the girls, who are here with us. And also Don Bradley. And also all of the members of the Hall of Fame.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mayors. You go to work every day, you have a mountain of challenges, a tremendous amount of opportunity and always -- always, always -- a molehill of resources with which to do your jobs. You serve your neighbors, you offer yourself, you run for election -- oftentimes when nobody else was willing and could do the job, would do the job. People attack your character, tell you you're not working hard enough, impugn your motives. And that's all before you get out of the door in the morning.
But you do the most important job. One of the most important votes that people cast (I think there's two, really) one is President of the United States, the other is mayor. Everybody knows who the President of the United States is and everybody knows who their mayor is. The work that you do is where the rubber hits the road.
I want to share with you one of my favorite stories about the hunting dog, Mayor, on the Eastern Shore. Have you heard this one?
There was this great hunting dog on the Eastern Shore and this dog's name was Mayor. And Mayor was the fastest working, hardest working dog that this kennel ever produced. And when the hunters would come down, they'd rent Mayor for the weekend and Mayor would shoot out there, he'd be under the geese before they hit the water, bring them right back, quiet as could be. Hard-working, energetic, loyal dog, Mayor.
And soon neither love nor money could rent Mayor from his kennel. So these guys would call a month in advance, Sorry, Mayor's booked for the season. These guys would call a year in advance, Sorry, can't get Mayor, Mayor's booked a year in advance, two years in advance.
One year on a lark they decided, “well, maybe somebody cancelled.”
So they asked the kennel owner, “could we rent Mayor for the weekend, anybody cancelled, by any chance?”
Guy said, “yep, you can have that dog for five bucks for the whole weekend.”
They said, “what? Mayor, the hardest working, fastest hunting dog on the Eastern Shore? Just five bucks for the weekend? What happened to him?”
He said, “had a bunch of guys down here and some jerk called him Governor and he's been sitting on his ass ever since.” (Laughter and applause.)
Tough choices in Tough Times
Thank you very much. Look, none of us are sitting back on our duffs. These are difficult times and these are the times where we really do need leaders who understand that a modern economy requires modern investments. And that's what each of you understand. And that's what I think we understand better than most people, better than most people in our country.
Earlier today I was at the Bio International Convention. We have one of the biggest booths there. One-third of all of the new jobs created in Maryland over these last eight years have been in the life sciences and bio-tech. We boast some of the strongest sectors in the emerging new economy of any state in America.
And, yet, I cannot sugarcoat the latest numbers on jobs, they were very disappointing. May was a very bad month. But then again, April was a very good month. And all of you know who work in municipal government there are going to be good months and there are going to be bad months. And until we get to the other side of this recovery, that's the way it's going to be.
But we can't lose sight of the goal. We've got to keep moving forward. And that's what we're doing every day, in every way.
Look, I know the needs are great. I know these last few years have been some of the toughest that any of you will ever be asked to serve in. I am glad that by the end of the last session we were able to restore some of the HUR dollars. That's the first time, and you can confirm this, that things actually got better by the end of the session, rather than worse, right? I mean, it seems like for the last couple of years no sooner do we make a round of cuts than we had to go back and do another round of cuts.
I firmly believe in not only a better future for Maryland, I believe in a better future for America. And I know that you believe that as well. And one of the things that we have to be able to figure out how to do is to come together as a people to make the investments that we can only make together, that will help a modern economy to create jobs.
You know, recently I had the honor to travel with about 68 business people to China. And man, oh, man. The investments that are being made there from the Maglev train that you ride in from the airport to Shanghai, to the high speed rail that we took from Shanghai to Nanjing, to the amazing airport at Beijing. In China, they spend nine percent of their GDP -- they invest it back into the infrastructure of their country.
In the United States, we do two percent.
Back under Eisenhower, one of my favorite modern representatives of the party of Lincoln, under Eisenhower we were investing about 10 or 11 percent in infrastructure.
In order to create jobs, modern economies require modern investments.
Making it in America
I was off with my boys, fishing, and it rained, so I was able to catch up on some reading. And one of the books I read was this book by a guy named Andrew Liveris, who was the CEO of Dow Chemical, and it's called Make It In America. And he talks about the importance of the manufacturing sector and advanced manufacturing. And we're going to be rolling out something akin to what the President rolled out on Friday, emphasizing the importance of that sector.
Balance
I wanted to share with you this quote that kind of capsulizes, I think, where we are as a country and where we are as a State, really. And it's this:
"A look around the world reveals the countries that are succeeding economically are not passive believers in free market fate. Instead, they take their future into their own hands and strive for better balance,…Only through balance will we find economic strength, stability and growth over the long term."
I think the challenges that we face as a State and the challenges we face as a country, the challenges which maybe Maryland uniquely can show the rest of our neighbors and our country, we still have the ability to achieve and overcome, really, is that challenge of balance.
I think you all appreciate better than anyone the opportunities that can come from smarter, more sustainable growth. Driving growth back into our cities and our municipalities. But at the same time you also understand that in order for it to work, we also have to make the investments in infrastructure. They both go together. It's about the balance.
None of these challenges are easy, but they are connected. And while none of them is easy and while they are complex, as our problems are manmade and womanmade, so, too, are their solutions.
And I need your help. In fact, we need each other. Not just as elected officials, but really more importantly, as citizens of this State. I mean, there's no way to gloss over the fact that bridges are not like trees, right? They don't grow taller and stronger with age.
You can talk about innovation and public and private partnerships all you like and I'm very, very proud of what we've been able to do with the Port of Baltimore and other things. But, hey, you know that there is no way, no amount of innovation that's going to build $100 million bridge for $10 million. These investments do cost money and the only way that we have to pay for them is when we come together to do these things.
The Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation says that we are falling short by about $800 million a year on the transportation -- basic transportation needs of our State. Add to that the imperative growing in smarter ways and things like the purple line and the red line, it underscores the opportunity, the imperative, the reality that modern economies, in order to create jobs, require modern investments.
We can grow in smarter ways. We can create the Maryland that is smart, green and growing. We can create a more sustainable future for our kids. But we can't do it for free. And I'm looking forward to working with your organization especially. MML brings the truth home to its neighbors.
All of you as mayors have a tremendous amount of credibility to talk about the investments we make, to figure out ways that we can safeguard those transportation investments, to figure out ways that, yes, we can keep our roads and bridges safe. We can make the modern investments required to accommodate smart growth. We can do the things necessary in order to create jobs, protect our quality of life and lead to a better, stronger Maryland.
Conclusion
I'm looking forward to working with you as we figure this out together. One thing that remains the same, time and time again in Ocean City, here at MML, we remind each other that we are all in this together. Every town and every city counts, it's all part of a greater hope. And we are all in this together. Change is inevitable, whether we're able to harness it for good or whether we become victims of it is really our choice.
So I'm pumped for the greatness that our neighbors expect of us. There's not another state better positioned to take advantage of these changes in our new economy and make them ours. But we need to make the right choices. So I'm looking forward to working together with you.
