Change Maryland on O'Malley's Trip to South Carolina

Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan released the following statement as Gov. Martin O'Malley attends yet another political event out of state tomorrow.
"There are two events going on in South Carolina just days apart that illustrate vast differences of the priorities of two governors.   One is a partisan political cheerleader event intended to help politicians.  The other is an economic development forum to increase jobs and employment.

"Governor O'Malley is attending the political event.  Governor Nikki Haley is attending the economic development forum.

"The event with Gov. Haley is the event that includes representatives from companies like Boeing, which set up facilities that create thousands of jobs.  Unfortunately, companies like Boeing consider Maryland fly-over country when it comes to locating anything from a corporate headquarters to a warehouse to our state.  That is because O'Malley has raised taxes and fees 32 times, removing an additional $2.3 billion out of the economy each year.  This includes raising corporate, individual income and sales taxes all of which affect a business of any size.  
"Maryland has just three Fortune 500 companies, while neighboring states Pennsylvania and Virginia each have eight times that many.  We have lost 6500 small businesses since 2007 - the second worst decline in our region.

"Struggling Marylanders looking for work would much prefer that O'Malley attend the event where he can learn about economic development, because as the most partisan governor in America, he has partisan politics pretty well covered at this point.  While he is in the southeast, he should also tour the BMW plant in Spartanburg, the KIA and Caterpillar plants in Georgia, the Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama, and make stops in Virginia and North Carolina on the way back to see why our tax base is fleeing to those two states more than any other." 
####

Change Maryland is a non-partisan, grassroots organization with 33,000 members.  

changemaryland.org

facebook.com/changemaryland

Background: Baltimore Sunhttp://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-03-08/news/bal-omalley-to-visit-sc-later-this-month-20130308_1_o-malley-aide-governor-o-malley-martin-o-malley

Post and Courier (South Carolina)http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130317/PC05/130319386/1011/mcdermott-column-south-carolina-wooing-fortune-500-real-estate-execs-in-charleston