The podcast returns with a look at breakfast — specifically, the morning meeting scheduled for Tuesday between Gov. Martin O’Malley, Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch.

Daily Record State House reporter Alex Pyles also assesses the posturing and statements made in the last week about the “doomsday budget” and gambling. He also gives his prediction about when legislators will be back in Annapolis for a special session.

Enjoy.

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During an interview last week with The Daily Record’s Nick Sohr, Maryland Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr. took a moment to reflect on his positions on capital punishment in the state — with clear opposition to Gov. Martin O’Malley’s stance.

“In effect the governor has, by executive fiat, made certain that no one gets executed during his eight years in public office by not looking for another drug, by not proposing rules and regulations by which the drug is administered,” Miller said. “It’s unfortunate in my opinion that the laws of the state aren’t being implemented.”

Miller went on to say that in such cases as John Allen Muhammad — executed in 2009 for the Beltway Sniper attacks that terrorized the Capitol region in the fall of 2002 — capital punishment is the appropriate response.

“People like that forfeit their right to existence,” he said. “We had to depend upon Virginia to do our job for us.”

Watch a video clip of Miller talking about his views on capital punishment in Maryland.

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Just look at the stock market over the last few weeks, jobless figures, unemployment insurance claims or really any metric you can think of and you won’t need much, if any, convincing the post-recession recovery has been anything but smooth sailing.

The state adds jobs one month and loses them the next. Big stock market gains are erased the next day. Governments in Europe and the United States seem to be taking turns doling out dire economic news.

The unevenness, doesn’t come just over days, weeks, months and years. It’s geographical, too. And that’s what you’ll find in the story today about Western Maryland, the first piece of The Daily Record’s “Help Wanted” series.

In Western Maryland, job losses in manufacturing and logistics have slowed the recovery. Washington County, with less than 3 percent of the state’s population, has accounted for 15 percent of the manufacturing jobs the state has lost since 2006. In raw numbers, that’s 3,500 jobs lost in Washington, a county of 147,000.

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The road on the left is Coastal Highway, bordered by the hotels and condos that, in good times, are full of the beach-going vacationers that drive Ocean City’s economy. The sign shows that even as tourists trickle back to Maryland’s beach town, Ocean City still has a long way to go to recovery.

This picture was taken outside the Long & Foster office at the corner of 118th Street and Coastal Highway after a drive through town last week. The south end of the main drag was full of “Vacancy” signs on the hotels closer to the Route 50 bridge. It was a weekday, of course, but the week of July 4 is primo vacation time.

Agents inside the office were good to the sign’s word, handing out packets with a dozen foreclosure listings. There’s a two bedroom, two-bath condo two blocks from the beach listed at $92,000. Two bedrooms, two baths and your own dock will run you $265,000. That one is two blocks from the beach, too, and a little larger and a little newer.

If you want waterfront, try two bedrooms and two baths in a bay-front condo for $309,900.

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Gov. Martin O’Malley earned kudos for the streamlined permitting program he unveiled Thursday from a source that rarely sees eye-to-eye with the Democratic chief executive — the conservative Maryland Business for Responsive Government.

“FastTrack” will allow developers to apply online for the streamlined state review, which will have agencies working concurrently to vet the project — rather than one at a time — and include oversight from the Department of Business and Economic Development and StateStat, the office O’Malley created to do data-driven analysis of government performance.

O’Malley signed an executive order Thursday morning to create the program.

“Governor O’Malley is taking a step in the right direction today by streamlining regulatory processes in Maryland departments and agencies,” MBRG President Kimberly M. Burns said in a written statement. “The executive order has potential to increase business productivity, investment and ultimately lead to job creation.”

The governor also announced the creation of the “Maryland Made Easy” website where DBED will build a consolidated, online permitting site.

“One of the ways in which we can create jobs, expand opportunity, and do it now, is by cutting the bureaucratic red tape,” said O’Malley said in a statement of his own. “We’re doing that with Maryland Made Easy, simplifying and streamlining the business licensing and permitting process — not just in specific agencies, but across our entire State government.”

“This is the FastTrack to expanding businesses in our state,” he said. “This is the FastTrack to jobs and opportunity, not in ‘a few years from now,’ but now.”

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Maryland slipped two spots in CNBC’s rankings of the best states to do business this year, finishing No. 29 out of 50 after placing 27th in both 2009 and 2010.

What may be worse for the Old Line State is that Virginia – Maryland’s most frequent foil when it comes to all things economic development and business friendliness – gained one place in the rankings and recaptured the top spot.

Maryland didn’t finish in the top five in any category the business news network used to determine the overall rankings. The state had its worst showing in cost of living, its 44th place ranking ahead of only New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Alaska and Hawaii.

Perhaps more surprising for Maryland, CNBC ranked the state 38th for work force and 30th for quality of life, two factors that state leaders talk up as some of the state’s best selling points. The workforce ranking was based on education (where Maryland should have done well), worker availability (where Maryland may have hurt been by its relatively low unemployment rate) and union membership. CNBC counts union membership against states and Maryland’s stance has been very pro-union. It is the southernmost of the non-right to work states, a factor some economists believe hurts Maryland in its competition with Virginia and North Carolina.

Quality of life rankings were determined by local attractions, crime rate, health care and air and water quality. Notice there’s no mention of schools in there, one of Maryland’s strong suits. Just try and talk to a Democratic politician for two minutes without him or her mentioning the top-ranked public school system. Just try it. I dare you.

Maryland also got crushed in the rankings on infrastructure and transportation, finishing 39th. The Baltimore and Washington regions are some of the most congested in the country, so that’s not a surprise. But the rankings also looked at the value of goods shipped through the state, road quality and the availability of air travel. Hampton Roads does more business than the Port of Baltimore and while BWI is bigger than Reagan and Dulles, the two northern Virginia airports are larger when combined and Dulles offers far more international travel.

Where was the good news for Maryland? Probably just where you expected it would be. The state’s highest grade (10th place) was in technology and innovation. This included state support for innovation, patents issued to state residents, broadband access, and health and science grants made in the state. Virginia finished 11th in this category, the only in which it scored lower than Maryland.

Maryland finished 11th in education, which examined K-12 and colleges and universities.

Maryland has the 12th-best economy of all the states according the CNBC rankings that not only looked at the diversity in the state, but the fiscal health of state governments and the number of large corporations headquartered there. And Maryland was 12th-best in terms of access to capital for businesses.

And as much as this state is derided for having a terrible business climate, Maryland finished 18th and tied with pro-business Texas in that category, according to CNBC. But all things are relative, of course. Texas is blessed with neighbors like Oklahoma (24th in business friendliness) and Louisiana (26th). Maryland is stuck between Virginia (2) and Delaware (1). Of course, there’s always Pennsylvania (33) and West Virginia (49). So we’ve got that going for us.

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Updated at 4 p.m.

Gov. Martin O’Malley released a statement on the May jobs report just a few minutes ago. In it, he acknowledges “May was a tough month for job creation in Maryland.”

But, he said, “other trends suggest that we continue to move in the right direction. On the year, Maryland has achieved the largest reduction in unemployment in nearly three decades.”

Labor Secretary Alexander M. Sanchez took a similar approach to the numbers earlier this morning.

“May was a soft month, there’s no getting around it,” he said in conference call with reporters. “But there are indications in today’s report that show Maryland is poised to recover faster than other states.”

Original post:

There was something missing in the Maryland employment report out Friday morning.

It wasn’t the 15,300 private sector jobs that evaporated in May. It wasn’t 3,600 retail jobs, or 1,900 leisure and hospitality positions.

It was Gov. Martin O’Malley.

The governor was silent on the monthly report that, in addition to the private sector losses, showed the unemployment rate in the state held steady at 6.8 percent during a month more when Marylanders found jobs. (More on this discrepancy later.)

The governor’s take on the jobs report is usually a staple of the press releases sent to reporters around 10 a.m. on a Friday late in the month. Well, as long as the numbers are good.

Last month, in fact, O’Malley’s office beat the jobs report to my inbox. His statement arrived at 10 a.m. on May 20 and the figures from the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation hit a minute later. They touted the 16,400 private sector jobs added to Maryland payrolls in April and the unemployment rate slipping from 6.9 percent to 6.8 percent.

There was no separate O’Malley statement on April 19, but the governor made the second paragraph of the DLLR announcement of an improving unemployment rate in March and the 15,000 jobs added since January.

“Maryland’s economy continues to grow as our state pulls out of this national recession. Thousands of Marylanders have entered the workforce since the start of the year and we recorded the largest monthly employment gain last month since the final month of President Clinton’s term,” O’Malley said then.

In March, DLLR beat the governor to the punch, but only by three minutes, as both talked up the 8,100 jobs added the month before.

The January report was similar to the one just released Friday. That month, the unemployment rate dropped from 7.4 percent to 7.2 percent and more Marylanders were working than in the month before, but the state also managed to lose 7,100 private sector jobs. Sound familiar?

Indeed, there was no statement from the governor on the jobs report that month, either.

The discrepancies in the January and May figures — fewer Maryland jobs, rising Maryland employment and a steady or improving unemployment rate — are due to where the figures are measured. The jobs number is based on residency, and the unemployment percentage is based on that figure. The employment or payroll number is based on place of employment. So, more Marylanders were finding work outside the state in January and May.

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As Gov. Martin O’Malley’s prepares to travel back to Maryland after 10 days spent drumming up business for the state in Asia, Republican lawmakers are asking for total price tag on the trade mission.

“As we are sure you will both agree, in this austere fiscal climate, we must be good stewards of the taxpayer dollar,” GOP leaders wrote to Gov. Martin O’Malley and Business and Economic Development Secretary Christian Johansson.

The letter was signed by House Minority Leader Anthony J. O’Donnell, R-Calvert and St.Mary’s, and the No. 2 Republican in the House, Minority Whip Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, of the Middle Shore.

The letter details 27 state employees on the trip, including O’Malley, Johansson, Secretary of State John P. McDonough, and three staffers from the Department of Business and Economic Development and the governor’s office. An O’Malley aide told The Washington Post the cost of the trip will likely be about $100,000, although that estimate doesn’t include the cost of sending educators from around the state, including University of Maryland, College Park President Wallace D. Loh and his counterpart at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Jay Perman.

Some government officials, including Del. Guy Guzzone, D-Howard, and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Edward Chow, paid their own way, and participated only in part of the trip.

The business leaders included in the 68-member delegation paid their own way,

“With plummeting business rankings and high tax environment, we know convincing corporations to locate here is not an easy task,” the GOP leaders wrote. “We hope this trip proves to be a fruitful one for the citizens of Maryland.”

O’Malley’s trip took the delegation through China, South Korea and Vietnam. On Friday, the trip’s final day, O’Malley met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and discussed strengthening trade and investment ties the state and that country. The two also signed an agreement to consider a sister state relationship between Maryland and Ninh Thuan Province.

“Vietnam is one of the world’s fastest growing markets and we see great potential to strengthen the trade and investment partnerships we have already established through Maryland’s trade offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City,” O’Malley said. “By signing the MOU to explore our first sister state relationship in Vietnam, we look forward to promoting all Maryland has to offer for Vietnamese firms looking to do business in the U.S., as well as increasing our more than $25 million in exports to the country.”

The Vietnam visit also led to business deals, according to the governor’s office:

• Rockville’s AmeriSure Pharmaceuticals, one of only a handful of U.S companies licensed to distribute pharmaceuticals products in Vietnam, agreed to collaborate with VIMEDIMEX, a Vietnamese, state-owned pharmaceutical firms.
• Marlin Steel Wire, of Baltimore, signed a collaboration agreement with Vietnam’s Inox Hoa Binh, a state-owned steel production and fabrication firm.
• The Vietnam Natural Resources and Environmental Corp. committed to promote the floating island products of Blue Wing Environmental Solutions and Technologies, of Ellicott City.

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Gov. Martin O’Malley is scheduled to jet off to Asia this morning with 68 Maryland business leaders in tow to drum up some export and investment deals for the state.

“We’re on our way to Asia for an economic development mission & I’m looking forward to representing MD!” the governor posted to his twitter feed just after 10 a.m.

The mission will spend 10 days total in three countries. China and South Korea are both major export markets for the state, and Vietnam is viewed as an up-and-comer in the region. But, some believe that governors would be better served by traveling to less exotic destinations.

Andrew J. Cassey, an assistant professor at Washington State University, said trade missions are a “pretty risk-free bet,” but said governors should stay closer to home, in places like Mexico, Canada or Germany.

“What does seem to work is going back to your best locations and drumming even more business,” Cassey said. “The best locations for governors to go on these missions are close places, and places that they have a lot of exports to anyways.”

Canada is Maryland’s No. 1 export market, with $1.6 billion in goods shipped to this country’s northern neighbor in 2010. That was good for 15 percent of the state’s exports. The Netherlands was the second-largest export market for Maryland last year and Mexico, the fifth-largest.

But current and former state officials argue strengthening ties to China, and the rest of Asia, is essential, especially now as the state slogs through a slow economic recovery.

“Yes, China is definitely an area that is growing in significance to us. So is Korea,” Business and Economic Development Secretary Christian Johansson said. “If you have the size of the markets, the number of people, the spending power they’ll have in a couple of years, we want Maryland businesses to be a part of that.”

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All three major credit rating agencies reaffirmed Maryland’s AAA bond rating, State Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp said Wednesday morning.

The top rating for Maryland’s debt comes as the state prepares to sell $485 million in bonds on March 9.

“Because of the tough choices we’ve made together to create and save jobs and to practice fiscal responsibility, we are able to remain one of only eight states to retain the highest possible Triple A bond rating,” Gov. Martin O’Malley said in a written statement.

The early March bond sale will include $378.5 million in tax-exempt bonds, and $6.5 million in Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds.

The state will also sell $100 million in debt with priority given to Maryland residents.

“Marylanders get first preference in buying highly desirable, conservative quality bonds while investing in their state — a win-win situation,” Kopp said.

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