Dan Gainor: Time off for bad behavior

I propose a weeklong vacation for our governor. He’s earned it. What with all that raising taxes, leading a failed primary election for Hillary Clinton, raising taxes again and more. He gets a few days off and we get a week in which he can’t do anything else so wrongheaded. (“Wrongheaded” is one of those columnist words we use instead of hitting the thesaurus for new versions of “stupid.” Even the Web Thesaurus I use is getting worn thin since O’Malley slid into Annapolis.)

I thought we could all take a break. The General Assembly session was over. Despite the best efforts of our legislators, the Formerly Free State still exists. The horrendous computer services tax was killed. Then it was replaced with a nearly-as-bad tax on successful people. The climate-change craziness got stalled a tiny bit. Everything looked to be calming down until the next time the legislature gathers to ruin our lives.

Not content with that, the governor struck again.

This time he banned building commercial wind power on state forest land. Although opponents raised   legitimate concerns about how that might impact local property values, we need the energy. We are running out — fast.

Maryland risks rolling blackouts by 2011 without added power, according to the folks who run the transmission grid for 13 states. Picture Marylanders powerless in some area other than our political lives. Imagine homes, not legislators, in the dark. Summer heat without air conditioning. Or a frosty winter’s night without heat.

To O’Malley’s skewed way of thinking, this is a good idea. One of his major legislative issues was to set as a goal a 15 percent reduction in per capita electricity consumption. Who knew that he would accomplish that simply by preventing companies from giving us more power?

Here I thought the governor was a typical child of the ’60s. Apparently, not. He doesn’t embrace the slogan “power to the people.” He is opposed to the very concept. He doesn’t want people power.

The governor had the audacity to say this wasn’t meant to discourage wind power development on other land. But it did the very thing. He had the power to push through new electricity generation. Instead, he stood in the way. That’s leadership.

Maryland is one of several states that have no wind power. We are the same state where some oppose a new nuclear plant, a liquid natural gas terminal and just about every other viable form of energy. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens know we need more energy to keep prices from getting even more insane. Come winter 2011, what are we supposed to burn? Our tiny BGE rebate receipts?

Given all that, a week isn’t much to ask for. To paraphrase an ’80s hit: “Vacation’s all I ever wanted. Vacation, how can we get him away?”