Even liberal blue-state Marylanders are tired of having their wealth redistributed. Which is why Gov. Martin O'Malley's signature legislation granting in-state tuition to children of illegal immigrants is in trouble. O'Malley's campaign has asked his top supporters for donations to Casa de Maryland's $10 million effort to defeat a statewide referendum on the 2011 Dream Act in November, in case ongoing attempts to block the referendum fail in court.
Brad Botwin, director of Help Save Maryland, isn't worried. He says recent polls indicate a majority of Maryland voters, struggling to educate their own children, do not want to pay $44,000 for each illegal immigrant to attend college at in-state rates.
"We checked the long list of supporters on Casa's Educating Maryland Kids website, and every one is a recipient of either state or county funding," Botwin said. "I've talked to a lot of angry Democrats and angry Republicans, and we're definitely going to win."
Marylanders have a lot to be angry about. O'Malley has just called a special session of the legislature for the sole purpose of raising their taxes again. It only adds insult to injury that the tax hikes are partly necessary to make room for the state's generosity toward those who are here illegally.
Paulette Faulkner, a former child support specialist with the Montgomery County Child Support Enforcement Program, knows all about that generosity. In 2009, she wrote O'Malley a letter complaining of rampant fraud in Maryland's Medicaid, food stamp and welfare programs.
Faulkner's job was to verify applicants' eligibility for these federally funded benefits. "If they did not have a Social Security card, birth certificate, voter registration card, or photo ID, I would have to deny them," she said.
But Faulkner's supervisor soon ordered her to approve them anyway, even though she would be putting herself in legal jeopardy by doing so.
"The whole situation was discriminatory," she told me in an interview. "People were not being treated the same way. I was in my right to turn them down. That was never disputed. They told me, 'You're a person of color. You should be more sympathetic.' Did they think that just because I was black, I'm not supposed to do the right thing? I was insulted."
Faulkner turned to O'Malley's office for help: "Am I aiding and abetting illegal activity? Shouldn't I be reporting these people to ICE or immigration? I am really concerned because I am a candidate for the Central Democratic Committee ... and I want to make sure that I am following the law."
The FBI was soon sent in -- to investigate Faulkner, who was fired in 2010 for posting her office phone number on her private campaign website. "It was really about my going to the governor's office to complain about the fraud," said the Laurel resident. "My co-workers were livid, and tried to speak up on my behalf, but they were afraid. Nobody from the state ever interviewed them. And all I ever got was a response that they had my complaint and would look into it." A call to O'Malley's office was not returned.
After facing foreclosure twice, Faulkner recently found a full-time job at the new casino at Arundel Mills. But she doesn't regret speaking out. "I sleep good at night," she told me.
And the Dream Act supporters, who have been trying to deny Marylanders a voice at the ballot box? Probably not so much.'
and theyll always have someone crazy to interview as if they where the best source even when they sound like a crackhead and theres a bunch of people like this who are the real reason DA hasn't passed, they cant get their life in order so theyd rather not help out others who could be better than them so that they don't feel like such losers the usual me me me
