BALTIMORE (Map, News) - It must be raining.

Take a look outside. You should hear it pounding on your roof and see the floods sweeping through the streets.

New Gov. Martin O’Malley certainly seems to think that’s the case. He’s tapping the “rainy day” fund for almost $1 billion to help pay for his $30 billion budget plan. With one splash, O’Malley is draining the fund of almost 60 percent of its total.

The “rainy day” fund, although so many in Annapolis have forgotten, is there in case of emergencies or in times of recession. It’s not there because politicians are too spineless to make a budget that works. According to reports, O’Malley characterizes his budget as “conservative,” because in a time of fiscal crisis, he only increased it by 2.5 percent. I’ll grant him one use of the word. Based on how so-called conservatives in Washington have handled the federal budget, he certainly is doing his best to keep up.

Budget analyst David Romans says that O’Malley’s number is deceptive and unexpected surpluses hide the fact that the budget is growing by 5.7 percent, or $1.6 billion. The state’s chief budget analyst Warren Deschenaux said our politicians are digging us into a deep hole, according to a report by The Examiner’s Len Lazarick.

Maybe O’Malley thinks rain will fill up that hole somehow.

There’s only one way Maryland legislators know how to do that — raise taxes. I’ll give O’Malley credit because he isn’t doing it — this year — despite urging from Senate President Thomas Mike Miller. O’Malley is just trying to avoid drowning us in taxes a few days into his new job.

But the governor also is avoiding the obvious revenue Maryland could gain from slots. Maryland’s failure to get a handle on slots lets nearby states rake in up to $800 million that could go to the state treasury.

Of course, it’s not all the new governor’s fault. The General Assembly deserves a fair share of the blame. O’Malley had to commit $680 million to fund education reforms the legislature OK’d a couple years ago but didn’t fund.

Though the state is strapped for cash, Del. Victor Ramirez, D-Prince George’s, thinks we have enough money to help illegal immigrants get in-state tuition at a cost of $8,000 each. You read that right — “illegal” immigrants. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame anyone anywhere for wanting to come to the United States. But I think it’s reasonable to expect them to do so legally. And I think it’s somewhere between insane and criminal to give them benefits for breaking the law.

Somehow, O’Malley expects it all to work out and said there needs to be “a leap of faith that we’re going to get our fiscal house in order in the years ahead.” When that leap fails, taxpayers will be the ones who get soaked.

Columnist Dan Gainor is The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow at the Media Research Center’s Business & Media Institute, a career journalist and media commentator. He can be reached at gainorcolumn@gmail.com .