Allow me to join the round of boos…I mean, editorial boards in calling out Governor Martin O’Malley (D) for not doing anything about the death penalty. First in The Washington Times, whose editorial board states, “Unlike his Virginia counterpart [Gov. Tim Kaine (D)] who has decided to uphold the law, Mr. O’Malley has chosen to snooker it. We understand that an untold number of Americans and politicians wrestle with the morality of the death penalty. But Mr. O'Malley must understand, too, that the law is the law, and he has sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution and Maryland state law.”

The Capital editorial board who clearly states that they are for what the people want, if they want to repeal the death penalty, but “[they] do have a problem with endless procrastination, legalistic nitpicking and waiting on the outcome of jury rigged studies.” It should be noted that they started off by saying that Maryland is on its way to being a symbolic state. I thought we were already there with all of the official state “stuff” we have on the symbol list.

In any event, O’Malley is showing the same lackadaisical attitude that was on display when it came to the budget last year. We were facing a budget deficit that ranged from $1.3-1.7 billion dollars. Instead of jumping into looking at what he could do budget wise to lessen the blow for the following year, he took a wait and see approach while attempting to fire the alleged incompetent and consumer hating Public Service Commission to bring on his own alleged professional, competent and consumer friendly PSC in hopes of rolling back the BGE rate hikes. By the way, how did that go and how much more money did he give Steve Larsen?

Now the same logic of doing nothing in hopes of it going away, is being applied to addressing the de-facto death penalty moratorium that was put in place in 2006 by the Court of Appeals, before O’Malley stepped into Government House. O’Malley is showing once again why his job approval is close to Glendening territory. The death penalty repeal has failed for two years in a row. State Sen. Alex Mooney (R-Dist. 3) was the deciding factor each year. In 2007, Mooney ultimately decided that the death penalty was a necessary evil. The Capital News Service quoted Mooney as saying, “Regrettably, the only way to stop some people from continuing to kill is to resort to the death penalty.” His stance did not change in 2008.

It should be noted that Mooney and Gov. Kaine in Virginia are devout Catholics. Kaine’s personal stance against the death penalty was a big concern during his election in 2005, but he vowed to uphold the law if elected, and he has. Four executions occurred under his watch, and within hours of the Supreme Court ruling, Kaine said that executions would resume with clemency being looked at on a case-by-case basis. Kaine has been an honorable man in holding to his promises and upholding the law.

O’Malley is nowhere near the honor of Kaine or the piety that he emits. His procrastination is costing more time and now more money as the state is about to waste tens of millions of dollars in another study of the death penalty through a 19-member panel in which he will have great influence over. This much is clear; O’Malley has thrown aside his duty to impartially uphold the law to enact his own agenda.

It does not matter if you are a liberal or a conservative, democrat or republican, O’Malley swore not to show prejudice while upholding state law or the U.S. Constitution. If this were a two-party state, politicians on both sides of the aisle would have raised an uproar. Not only Maryland operates on one party rule, the Governor has free reign to procrastinate because House Speaker Michael Busch (D-Dist. 30) and Senate President Thomas Mike Miller (D-Dist. 27). These two men have been more concerned about making sure that the O’Malley PR machine continues to make the Governor looks good.

So I join The Capital in Annapolis, The Washington Times and the Maryland Republican Party (and I should note that I am a registered Republican) by asking Governor Martin J. O’Malley to stop procrastinating and come up with new procedures for the death penalty. This is not the budget, this is not slots and this is not Constellation Energy. This is law and justice, an area in which you have been holding Maryland back on since you stepped into office.

Governor, you have a job to do and so far, you have been doing a poor job of it, to the point that you are now slowly becoming a man who does not keep his word, which is found in Article I, Section 9 of the Maryland Constitution. “I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland, and support the Constitution and Laws thereof.” The death penalty is the law of Maryland, which you have sworn to support.

P. Kenneth Burns is the editor/writer of Maryland Politics Today and a columnist for PolitickerMD.com. He also contributes to Red Maryland and Salisbury News. He lives in Laurel, Prince George’s County. His email is kennyburns@marylandpolitics.us.