Martin O'Malley, the Progressive Executive?

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

26 April 15

 

artin O’Malley: “Well I think that Secretary Clinton and I bring different backgrounds and different experience to the task of getting things done. I have been a big city mayor and I have been a governor. In other words, I’ve been an executive and a progressive executive with a record of accomplishments.”

While I don’t remember O’Malley ever being referred to as a progressive before this presidential run, a close look at his record reveals a politician who has usually come down on the progressive side of the issues. As mayor of Baltimore and governor of Maryland, he didn’t often have a chance to put himself in the middle of the debate on progressive issues, but when the opportunity presented itself, O’Malley was on the right side. He is no Bernie Sanders – I don’t see O’Malley leading the fight against the billionaire class – but I do see him representing working people’s interests.

While O’Malley is right on the issues, he is a savvy politician who will adjust to the political climate. In 2007 he didn’t support Barack Obama or even John Edwards. My guess is O’Malley was positioning himself to be Hillary Clinton’s running mate. He penned an op-ed in the Washington Post with Harold Ford Jr., then the chairman of of the Democratic Leadership Council:

With President Bush and the Republican Party on the rocks, many Democrats think the 2008 election will be, to borrow a favorite GOP phrase, a cakewalk. Some liberals are so confident about Democratic prospects that they contend the centrism that vaulted Democrats to victory in the 1990s no longer matters.

The temptation to ignore the vital center is nothing new. Every four years, in the heat of the nominating process, liberals and conservatives alike dream of a world in which swing voters don’t exist. Some on the left would love to pretend that groups such as the Democratic Leadership Council, the party’s leading centrist voice, aren’t needed anymore.

But for Democrats, taking the center for granted next year would be a greater mistake than ever before. George W. Bush is handing us Democrats our Hoover moment. Independents, swing voters and even some Republicans who haven’t voted our way in more than a decade are willing to hear us out. With an ambitious common-sense agenda, the progressive center has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win back the White House, expand its margins in Congress and build a political and governing majority that could last a generation.”

Usually any involvement with the DLC would be a deal breaker for me, but O’Malley’s record puts him to the left of the DLC. Although he is the kind of politician who tries to be all things to all people, Martin O’Malley is clearly more progressive than he appeared in that column, and since the column didn’t advocate any specific centrist positions, I am willing believe that O’Malley is closer to an Elizabeth Warren than a Harold Ford. But make no mistake, he is still somewhere between Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren – he is not as progressive as Bernie Sanders. Sanders is the true progressive in this race, but if he doesn’t decide to run or his campaign does not gain traction, O’Malley might be the best option for progressives.

Why? Let’s start with his record, then look at his stump speech this year.

Living Wage

After a speech on Tax Day at Harvard University, O’Malley responded to a question from the audience, saying he supports raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He reminded those in attendance that Maryland was one of the first states to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. “It is not fair, it is not right, it is not just that people should play by the rules, work 16-hour days and still be raising their children in poverty,” he said when he signed the bill last April. It was the last piece of a very progressive legislative agenda that O’Malley achieved in his two terms as governor of Maryland. At Harvard last week, O’Malley said that $10.10 an hour was as much as he could get support for in Maryland but that he expects other places, including the District of Columbia, to go to $15 dollars an hour. He said the raise would be “good for the economy and fuel economic growth.”

Death Penalty

In one of his final acts as governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley commuted the sentences of four death row inmates to life without parole. O’Malley helped end the death penalty in his state in 2013, arguing that it wasn’t a deterrent for criminals. He also argued it could end up being applied to innocent people, and was far more costly to the state than other punishments. When commuting the sentences, O’Malley said: “In the final analysis, there is one truth that stands between and before all of us. That truth is this – few of us would ever wish for our children or grandchildren to kill another human being or to take part in the killing of another human being. The legislature has expressed this truth by abolishing the death penalty in Maryland.”

Immigration

Martin O’Malley was out front on immigration when he was governor of Maryland. Representative Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), a congressional leader on immigration reform, said this when introducing O’Malley: “There’s another wonderful, wonderful champion of our community, and he’s with us. And I have the distinct honor and pleasure of introducing him. It’s Governor O’Malley. He wasn’t afraid to challenge the president to implement a more humane approach to the refugee crisis. He doesn’t just talk, he walks the walk. His state of Maryland has cared for more unaccompanied children per capita than any other state in the United States of America.”

O’Malley was critical of Obama for deportation of children who illegally crossed the border to escape violence in their own countries, saying they would meet “certain death.” O’Malley also got legislation passed in Maryland to allow tuition assistance for children of undocumented immigrants, and access to driver’s licenses.

Marriage Equality

In response to the rise of the same-sex marriage movement in the 70s, Maryland established the first law in the United States that expressly defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. In 2012, Democrats led by O’Malley began a movement for marriage equality. In February 2012, the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill allowing same-sex marriage. It went into effect in January of 2013 after a state referendum ratified the law. O’Malley supported same sex marriage before it was popular. Hillary Clinton was still not prepared to go that far in 2012, and even Obama was still acting like he was opposed. Remember, it was an election year for Obama, who was talked into not supporting same-sex marriage by his handlers so he could get elected.

Environment

According to an op-ed in Grist: “Environmental protection has been one of O’Malley’s main focuses, from Chesapeake Bay restoration to combating climate change.... O’Malley is the rare elected official who seems genuinely motivated to address climate change. ‘I deal with a lot of politicians in my work as a climate advocate,’ says Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. ‘Martin O’Malley, more than any politician I know, really loses sleep over climate change. He is deeply concerned about climate change and his actions over the last eight years reveal that. He’s pushed the envelope more than anyone I’ve seen.’”

Education

One of O’Malley’s first acts as governor was to freeze public university tuition. He also dramatically increased funding for school construction. Maryland was ranked #1 in public school education 5 years in a row. While most states were cutting budgets, Maryland increased spending on education during O’Malley’s tenure.

Gun Control

This can be a very telling issue. Many progressives who are as politically savvy as O’Malley calculate that being pro-gun makes them more electable. Governor Martin O’Malley, however, pushed for and signed one of the toughest gun control measures in the country. Under the legislation, anyone buying a handgun will have to submit fingerprints to obtain a license. The bill also bans 45 types of assault weapons.

Jobs

Not only did O’Malley spend on education, his spending on the environment and infrastructure allowed Maryland to create jobs at a much higher rate than the national average. O’Malley became governor during the economic crisis in 2007, and because of his spending priorities, Maryland recovered jobs quickly. His opposition to the TPP and support for a $15 minimum wage indicates he will be a pro-labor candidate.

Electability

While those were the progressive accomplishments, some of his other accomplishments make him a candidate who could appeal to centrists and make him a viable, electable alternative. O’Malley, often called a technocrat, used technology to fight crime and govern both in Baltimore and the governor’s mansion. He expanded that use of technology to other departments in his government. O’Malley’s staff meetings were stat driven, and the result was an efficient, competent government. His CitiStat system helped lower crime in Baltimore by making the police force more efficient. He increased the scope to other city agencies, holding managers publicly accountable for their department’s performance. The result has been a more efficient city government that is a model spreading throughout the country. While statistics are not exciting, I think Americans could appreciate a more efficient government.

O’Malley has a strong record to run on, and that record would make him an attractive candidate in the general election. I’m not sure how many Independents will gravitate to Hillary Clinton. O’Malley could attract more interest from that all-important voting block.

2016 Campaign

O’Malley is clearly staking out the space to the left of Clinton. He would reinstitute Taft Hartley to break up banks he considers to big to succeed. He opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, supports raising the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour, and rails against student debt and economic inequality. Among the candidates considering a run, I see him as the 2nd most progressive, with Bernie Sanders the most progressive. The question: Is O’Malley more electable than Sanders? Sanders has to overcome the Socialist label, not an easy thing to do in American politics.

O’Malley has yet to talk much about foreign policy. Like all of the other Democratic Party candidates, he is pro-Israel. Even Green Party candidate Jill Stein has a very nuanced position on Israel, so it would be a mistake to eliminate O’Malley based on his pro-Israel stance. The O’Malley campaign has plans for foreign policy speeches in the near future.

Martin O’Malley, better known as a technocrat than a progressive, does have a record that indicates he can govern as a progressive.

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Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

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