While Students Froze, Where Were the Democrats?

We documented earlier this week the extreme lengths to which Democrats are stretching themselves to blame Governor Larry Hogan in order to cover for the inept management of Baltimore City Public Schools.

No amount of torturing of the facts by Bill Ferguson, Rich Madaleno, or Ben Jealous can disguise Baltimore City Public Schools’ mismanagement of state school construction funds.

As Luke Broadwater noted in the Baltimore Sun:

Since 2009, city schools have lost out on roughly $66 million in state funding for much-needed repairs after approved projects ran afoul of state regulations meant to prevent waste, state records show. The money could have funded dozens of new heating systems at schools where the heat is now failing.

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David Lever, former director of the state’s Public School Construction Program, said his agency raised concerns in late 2015 about the large amount of rescinded funds coming back to the state from Baltimore…

“The net effect was both delay in improving the schools and an exceptionally high level of reverted funds (as much as $28 million at one point in 2015),” his agency wrote in the December 2015 report.

“Projects were funded because they were legitimate and needed,” Lever said Thursday. “But then either the project would be so delayed it would meet up against a rule that said that funds have to be encumbered within two years, or the school system would discover they hadn’t asked for enough money. This was particularly true of HVAC [heating and air conditioning] projects.”

A year prior to his letter to the legislature Lever stated his concerns to the IAC, which was then dominated by O’Malley appointees and representatives of Mike Miller and Mike Busch:

He noted that Between FY 2006 and FY 2009, Baltimore City forfeited $8.7 million in Aging Schools Program funding due to a failure to spend the money.  This money cannot be reverted to the system’s contingency to be recycled; they straight up lost it.

Lever also noted that Baltimore City Schools failed to incorporate maintenance concerns into their project design considerations. This meant Baltimore City School had no accountability for contractors and building systems installed with state funds not operating as intended.

So when all of this was going on, where was Mike Miller?

Where was Mike Busch?

Where was Bill Ferguson?

Where was Rich Madaleno?

Where was Maggie McIntosh?

Why was the mismanagement of state school construction funds by Baltimore City Public Schools not a concern at the time for these tribunes of the people?  Because Anthony Brown was running for Governor and Martin O’Malley was in the midst of his fever dream of becoming President of the United States.

The indifference of Maryland Democrats to Baltimore City Public School students for crass political considerations didn’t fit the narrative of the #Wellrunstate.  Just another example of how Democrats prioritize politics over the people.