Did he just lose the election?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!! Come on Bob!!!!!!! What were you thinking?

Below is an article from the Baltimore Sun.com dated 10/6/10 by Annie Linskey

“Ehrlich would cut school funding to offset tax rollback”

“Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. says he would chop $126 million in education funding that goes primarily to Baltimore and Montgomery and Prince George's counties and use the savings to offset a penny rollback to the state's sales tax.

“Ehrlich, who is campaigning to win back his old job, said Wednesday that he views spending the money as "discretionary" — a position similar to the one he held when in office. He would prefer to lower the state's sales tax to make it more competitive with Washington and Delaware and encourage consumer spending.

“But Democrats have seized on the issue, first reported last week by the Associated Press, as a key distinction between Ehrlich and Gov. Martin O'Malley on education funding, seen as important to the Democrats that O'Malley hopes to energize.

“Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, whose city received $21.9 million in funding, said the reduction Ehrlich proposes would have a "dramatic impact" on the city schools system, which announced Wednesday that its dropout rate has plummeted.

“"There was a notion in Annapolis that putting money in the school system was like putting water in a bucket with a hole in it," Rawlings-Blake said. "We are not in that place right now."

“Democrats organized a news conference Wednesday in the Washington suburbs, where Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett and Rushern Baker, who is expected to be elected Prince George's County executive next month, criticized Ehrlich's plan. Montgomery County received $31.4 million this year from the formula, known as the Geographic Cost of Education Index; Prince George's County rececived $38.6 million.

“Ehrlich questioned O'Malley's commitment to the index, pointing out that the governor did not fund it in his first year, and only funded it fully in the last two years, when federal funds became available.

“"Martin O'Malley wants to use stimulus dollars and say he funded it," Ehrlich said.

“O'Malley called the money "a critically important part of full funding of education in our state."

“The reason we chose to fund it is the same reason it was enacted by the legislature," he said Wednesday. "It recognizes that in some jurisdictions the cost of education is greater, sometimes because of the cost of living, sometimes because of the impact of poverty."

“The index was created as a part of the landmark Thornton education law, which mandated billions in additional state education funding. Ehrlich called it a costly carrot that legislative leaders used to persuade the Montgomery County delegation to vote for the Thornton law.

“The index is one of the few state funding mechanisms that benefits Montgomery County because it is intended to add to teacher salaries in parts of the state where the costs of living are high or where working conditions are undesirable. Baltimore and 12 counties received some money from the formula.”

Look, I make no bones about it, I do not like the politics of Gov. Martin O’Malley. I wanted him to lose in 2006 when he ran for Governor and I want him to lose badly now. There are many reason why I want him to lose, but I can boil this anti O’Malley down to the 1% increase in the sales tax. I loved the fact that Bob Ehrlich proposed rolling back and removing that. How often do you see a politician putting money back in you wallet (stimulus package excluded)?

I have no idea what he was thinking. I hope he has a plan because I officially have doubt that he is going to be able to beat Martin O’Malley.

This is really depressing me and I feel like the only hope to "save" Maryland has been lost.