Enough With the Commissions!

By Marc Korman.

“Blue-ribbon commissions,” usually bipartisan groups studying a specific problem outside of the normal legislative system, have taken on mythic status in government. Although they have existed at least since the Roberts Commission that investigated Pearl Harbor, their reputation and demand has soared in more recent decades. The premiere examples are the Greenspan Commission on Social Security Reform and the 9/11 Commission.

Undeniably, these commissions can have value in coming up with bipartisan solutions that focus the public, the press, and politicians. But the appointment of a commission can also be a crutch for inaction. The reports these commissions issue usually just gather dust and do nothing to fight chronic inaction on intractable issues. Remember the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform? How about the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission? The National War Powers Commission?

Recently, John McCain called for a bipartisan commission to investigate the current economic crisis. I cannot go online or open a newspaper without reading about the causes of the economic crisis: too much credit and too little oversight. Are there complexities? There sure are, but the Secretary of the Treasury, Council of Economic Advisors, Federal Reserve, Congress and other elected and appointed government officials can perform the investigation needed to figure out legislative solutions. John McCain, should he be elected president, may also want to study up on economics a bit. But the job does not need to be outsourced to a “blue-ribbon commission.”

Maryland is not immune to the trend of over reliance on these commissions. A prominent example is the Thornton Commission on education reform. Task forces are common in the General Assembly as a starting off point for legislative reforms. Now, Comptroller Peter Franchot has hopped on the bandwagon and called for a “blue-ribbon panel” to determine where the state can cut spending. But isn’t that exactly what our state legislators and other elected officials should be doing?

Article VI of the Maryland Constitution defines some of the Comptroller’s duties:

The Comptroller shall have the general superintendence of the fiscal affairs of the State; he shall digest and prepare plans for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of the public credit; prepare and report estimates of the revenue and expenditures of the State;

Since that is the Comptroller’s responsibility, perhaps he could start making a few recommendations instead of calling for another panel or commission. If the Comptroller needs some commission provided suggestions, he can take a look at the Commission on Maryland’s Fiscal Structure from 2002 for ideas. But the last thing the situation needs is a new bipartisan panel to kick the can further down the road.

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The Post on O'Malley's Budget

The Washington Post gave Gov. O'Malley a backhanded compliment when it lauded his relatively low increase in spending even as it noted his pulling back from campaign initiatives:

MARYLAND GOV. Martin O'Malley (D) didn't waste any time stashing his lofty talk about bold initiatives and great programmatic leaps. That's all right, because the fat years have ended; the governor inherited a $400 million shortfall for the coming fiscal year and is staring at a projected budget gap of $1.3 billion for the following year. Until Mr. O'Malley comes up with a serious revenue plan -- and that seems to be in his bulging wait-till-next-year file for the legislature -- there's trouble ahead.

After then dissing his drawing on funds in the state's reserves, the Post then applauds O'Malley's failure to fully fund the Geographic Cost of Education Index in the Thornton Plan:

Mr. O'Malley proposes a record amount of money for school construction. In providing funds to meet the separate demands of the 2002 Thornton education plan, the governor wisely held back $94.7 million from the Geographic Cost of Education Index, which would have steered additional money to Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Mr. Ehrlich never funded it. A reasonable case can be made that Montgomery could absorb the cost and that Prince George's should drop its TRIM -- Tax Reform Initiative by Marylanders -- tax cap before passing the hat for help from Annapolis. The governor's proposal to freeze tuition at public universities will draw cheers, but, again, how long can a freeze stay in place?

Of course, O'Malley is trying to fund the GCEI and partially funding it even if he can't do it all this year. I'm sure the Post won many new friends in its suburban Washington readership by suggesting that we should all pay more taxes and virtually inviting the General Assembly to renege on the part of the Thornton Plan, a complex negotiated package, that benefits the region adjoining DC. The Post concluded its editorial with a call for more aggressive leadership, especially in reforming Maryland's tax system:

In his budget submission letter, Mr. O'Malley raved that his initial budget "begins to rise to our perils and possibilities.'' But if he doesn't get cracking on the revenue front, those "perils" will dominate. The governor must produce a full-fledged revision of Maryland's tax system, which hasn't undergone significant repair in about 50 years. Corporate income tax shelters ought to be eliminated. The gas tax, not raised in 15 years, must be increased, and a tax on services is long overdue.

The Democratic legislature won't roll over and endorse all that the new governor seeks, but he should seize the honeymoon moment to take on some of the big issues with proposals for this session.

I'm not sure that the General Assembly or Democrats around the state would disagree that O'Malley needs to use more of his political capital before it dissipates. Tax reform and getting the state budget on a sound long-term footing would not be a bad place to start.

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