Martin O'Malley for Governor

Background:

Named one of America's top 5 mayors by Time Magazine, I have worked to dedicate my administration to taking on Baltimore's toughest challenges and making city government work for the common good again by making it more efficient, effective and responsive.

By bringing neighbors together and instituting performance-based reform, we have reduced violent crime to historic levels, improved student achievement, and attracted billions in new investment, all while turning a deficit into a surplus.

Goals:

For the last four years, Maryland's governor has sided with George W. Bush and the narrow special interests instead of Maryland families.

Our goals are to make government work again in order to:

1) Strengthen and grow our middle-class;

2) Improve public safety and public education in every jurisdiction; and

3) Protect the health of our families and our environment.

Issues:

1) Education;
2) Health Care; and
3) Transportation

Grassroots Support:

The success of our grassroots efforts is vital to the success of our campaign. It is the conversations over the backyard fence, the kitchen table and the blogs that will get people excited about the prospect of getting the Governor's office working for our families again.

We believe that our message speaks directly to working families across the state, regardless of partisan lines. That is why we are dedicated to campaigning in every jurisdiction in our state and have invested substanital resources to grassroots outreach. While we have an extensive field, email, and internet effort, we are constantly looking for new approaches to expand our reach.

DFA Values:

I believe that government should have two primary goals:

1) Uplift the dignity of the individual; and

2) Advance the common good.

These goals are best accomplished through polices that are fiscally responsible and socially progressive.

As Mayor of Baltimore, we implemented the award-winning CitiStat program that allows for performance-driven decision making to find efficiencies and restore our fiscal footing through systematic reform. The program helped create a $38 million budget surplus - the largest in Baltimore's history - and a 5 year, $75 million tax cut which has reduced property taxes to a 30 year low.

At the same time these methods and savings were able to help us identify trends and allocate resources in the most effective way. As a result we were able to invest in public safety, education and attract new investment to the city.