Our new governor spoke reassuringly of working together at his inauguration but reverted to campaign mode while addressing the General Assembly ("Hogan misses the difference between campaigning and governing," Feb. 4). Who can blame him? Republicans swept the nation. That's heady stuff, but it's time to stop erecting barriers and throwing stones. It's time to govern.
Still, Gov. Larry Hogan couldn't resist an opportunity to tell us that we can't "continue on the same path of more spending, more borrowing," although he's surely aware that the revenue Maryland collects has remained at the same level as a percentage of our growing economy (within 1 percent) since 1970.
He went on to suggest exempting some (but not all) retirees from paying income taxes on their pensions at a time when retirees have lower poverty rates than the general population and cutting funding to schools suited to vocational training when he wants more manufacturing and expressing concern about Marylanders fleeing when our population is growing at an above-average rate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
State Sen. Addie Eckardt of the Eastern Shore's District 37, possibly swept up in the moment, added that it's time we created jobs in the private sector instead of in government, although she's surely aware that the O'Malley administration eliminated thousands of state jobs and the federal government has been cutting, too.
Somehow, we weren't reminded that Maryland's unemployment rate (5.5 percent) is below our nation's average (5.7 percent), which may be just one more reason House Speaker Michael Busch reminded us that we must govern with facts.
Carol Voyles, Sherwood