Someone Should Have Tried to Stop Me From Spending So Much

On his radio show Saturday, Ehrlich tried to deflect blame for his big-spending, fiscally reckless governorship by peddling revisionist history, claiming that, during his administration, “I was congratulated at the time for spending taxpayer dollars wisely on core functions of government.

In reality, nobody “congratulated” Ehrlich for exceeding the Spending Affordability guidelines three years in a row, for saying spending affordability no longer mattered, and for steering the state into a fiscal mess.  In fact:

• The Baltimore Sun called out Ehrlich for his reckless spending, arguing that his budget, which contained the largest spending increase in state history, “doesn't look beyond 2006 - or take into account the possibility that the economy might eventually sour.”

• The nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services warned that Ehrlich’s budgets would leave his successor with deficits exceeding $1.5 billion.

• The Washington Post chided Ehrlich for “fiscal irresponsibility,” writing that, under Ehrlich’s budget, “it wouldn’t take a recession to spur serious budgetary problems.”

• The Baltimore Sun reported in 2006 that “[Legislators] say Ehrlich’s proposed budget would establish spending benchmarks that could be unsustainable.”

Ehrlich may not want you to remember, but the record is clear.  Ehrlich spent money like a drunken sailor, increasing state spending by $3 billion -- over 30 percent -- more than any governor in state history.  No amount of after-the-fact blame-shifting can put a glossy shine on his record of fiscal irresponsibility.