Wes Moore's Plan from Hell
Wes Moore’s State Plan is an expensive boondoggle that Maryland can’t afford
Last week, Maryland Governor Wes Moore unveiled his “plan” for the State of Maryland before an adoring room of state employees on taxpayer time:
Nearly 13 months into his administration, Gov. Wes Moore (D) unveiled a white paper Thursday that he said will serve as a guiding set of principles for his administration and a way to judge how he is measuring up to his own goals.
The 40-page document known as the State Plan — sometimes shorthanded as “the plan” by Moore and his aides — is a bureaucratic set of matryoshka dolls with measurements nested within objectives within 10 overarching priorities.
“This is going to guide us,” said Moore. “It’s going to show exactly how we need to move and is going to make sure that we have core benchmarks as to what success looks like and what things do we need to adjust in order to make sure we’re accomplishing our larger goal, which is making sure that we’re fulfilling the promise of the state of Maryland, because we’re going to get there and we’re going to have data that backs up our process.”
Since taking office Moore has committed to several lofty — some say hard to achieve — goals. Topping those is the elimination of childhood poverty.
“This is the reason that I ran for governor personally,” the governor said Thursday.
The actual plan topics are:
Ending Childhood Poverty
Setting students up for success
Creating an equitable, robust, and competitive economy
Connecting Marylanders to jobs
Creating safer communities
Making Maryland a desirable an affordable home for all residents
Advancing infrastructure to better connect Marylanders to better opportunities and each other
Ensuring world-class health systems for Marylanders
Making Maryland a leader in clean energy and the greenest state in the country
Making Maryland a state that serves
You’re probably wondering why Wes Moore needs the state to focus on “setting students up for success” with all the time and money poured into the Thornton and Kirwin Commission bills, but I’m guessing nobody wants to talk about that.
If the plan sounds expensive in total, well, it is. Just look at some of these specific objectives that Moore’s plan includes:
Expanding state government welfare programs;
Taxpayer funded full-day Pre-K
Increasing teacher pay and ensuring the “diversifying” of teachers;
Make businesses easier to start “ by promoting equitable access to capital “
State grants to “Create safe and thriving communities”
Focus on Glendenning-era smartgrowth policies that create unsustainable urban centers;
Expanding state handouts for home ownership;
Prioritize mass transit over much-needed highway improvements
“Decarbonize Maryland’s transportation sector “
Expand free healthcare
This one: “Further Maryland’s mission to advance environmental justice by developing regulations, community-level outreach, and educational programs that prioritize justice and equity while collecting and sharing data with health partners to quantify health outcomes.”
Pay for volunteer programs through Moore’s signature “Service Year Option” scheme.
You won’t be surprised to learn that there is not a damn word in Wes Moore’s fancy plan that explains how Maryland taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for this massive expansion of the size and scope of state government.
Nor you will be surprised that there is no real concrete discussion of what the “benchmarks” are and what defines success here.
These are two very important points for very similar reasons.
The structural deficit is real and it’s spectacular. Moore’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget was no help in trying to close this deficit, notwithstanding his claims about a balanced budget that didn’t raise taxes. With the state facing billions of dollars in shortfalls, the idea of greatly expanding the state government and the need for taxpayer dollars is grossly irresponsible at best and misfeasance in office at worst.
Wes Moore’s grandiose plan would mean middle and working class Marylanders hit up for even more ridiculous tax hikes and financial pain. And Moore wants to do that in this economy?And that structural deficit feeds back into the lack of accountability of what the “benchmarks” are actually supposed to achieve. What are the benchmarks? Who is keeping track of them? And what is Moore’s plan to make sure that accountability actually happens?
We’ve heard plenty of songs and dances about accountability before. The Thornton Commission Plan had benchmarks that were ignored. The Kirwin Commission Plan has benchmarks that are beingignored. Martin O’Malley’s CitiState begat StateStat, and neither one of them created government efficiency or brought accountability to state government. All previous benchmarks have done has created the myth, perpetuated by O’Malley and other Democrats, that Democratic leadership means a #WellRunState.
Wes Moore’s State Plan is an expensive boondoggle that Maryland can’t afford. It will mean an even more bloated government, more regulations, fewer consumer choices, and higher taxes for working people. It is a plan that is neither warranted, welcomed, nor sustainable. It is truly a plan from hell.