McCain has chosen his running mate: Exxon Mobil, says Gov. O'Malley

Gov. Martin O'Malley kicked off his new campaign at press conference in the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters. His campaign, called "Exxon-McCain '08," mockingly refers to big oil companies as Senator John McCain's (R-Az.) running mate in the 2008 presidential election, and O'Malley plans to take the campaign through cities across America.

"All of this is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek way of underscoring a very, very serious problem that is facing all of us as Americans," O'Malley said.

At the front of the room sat an oversized check made out to McCain. The amount of money on the check, $2 million, symbolized how much money McCain has received from oil companies during the election season. According to a DNC document from the conference, McCain has received almost $55,000 in contributions from Exxon employees and Exxon's political action committee.

Outside of the DNC headquarters, two members of the Republican National Committee held up their own mock-check made out to Barack Obama for $2.8 billion, which is an attack on Obama's 2005 vote on an energy bill that gave tax breaks to oil companies.

O'Malley said Barack Obama is going to use oil company funds to give people emergency energy rebates at $1000 per family and $500 per individual. McCain cannot do this because of his interest in oil companies, O'Malley said.

When the floor opened up for questions, one man asked O'Malley if the Democratic Party has received any money from oil companies. Brad Woodhouse, Communications Director for the DNC, said he did not know the answer, but would get back to the man about it.

A word of advice: Apply Maryland's plan to the whole country

An effective model of performance measurement used in Baltimore, Md. that reduced violent crimes and murders, increased revenue, and revived citizens' faith in the city could be applied to other cities and states nationwide. Gov. Martin O'Malley testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about this model, which he championed in the city.

The model, known as "CitiStat" when O'Malley was mayor of Baltimore and "StateStat" when he became governor and raised it to the state level, has had a positive outcome. During implementation of CitiStat, violent crime dropped 40 percent, population reversed steadily from loss to growth, and added $350 million to the City's budget.

CitiStat was based off a plan designed by Jack Maple, a designer of city crime fighting strategies, during former Mayor Rudy Guilliani's tenure in New York City.
What works about this type of performance evaluation is the measurements are taken daily instead of annually, O'Malley said. But measurement is not enough.

"You're not going to improve the weight of the pig just by weighing it," said O'Malley.

Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.) put the plan into perspective: With many governors up for re-election this November, performance measurement like StateStat should be taught in governor training to help the new administrations. O'Malley noted that new governors tend to implement the plan rather than incumbents.

Executives who have also used similar plans include Democrats Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington State and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.