O’Malley calls for larger investment in education, infrastructure

CEDAR RAPIDS - A strong middle class is not a luxury American can afford only when the economy is flush, but the cause of economic growth, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said at a Democratic fundraiser at a Cedar Rapids union hall Saturday.

O'Malley, who is exploring a bid for the 2016 Democratic nomination for president, is spending the weekend in Iowa where he received enthusiastic welcomes in Davenport where about 300 Democrats gave him multiple standing ovations as he lamented income inequality and the reckless disregard for the nation's economy exhibited by big Wall Street banks. He drew about 30 people at the Cedar County Democratic off-year caucus Saturday morning before speaking to about 40 people the fundraiser for the Iowa House Truman Fund. The midday gathering attracted 1st district candidates and potential candidates Monica Vernon, Ravi Patel, Swati Dandekar and Gary Kroeger as well as several local Democratic legislators and House Minority Leader Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown, who introduced O'Malley.

Smith who had met with O'Malley when he was campaigning for Iowa Democrats during the midterm election, said he was impressed with his ability to articulate Democratic messages on a broad array of issues.

In his 13-minute stumps speech to about 40 people, O'Malley focused primarily on economic issues.

Despite the tough economic decisions President Barack Obama has made, O'Malley said the country's economy 'is hanging by a thread.”

He blamed the 'reckless gambling with our money, with our economy in Wall Street by a very few (that) wiped out the jobs of millions, wiped out the homes of millions and we're still struggling to recover.”

Despite good news, such as 60 months of month-over-month positive job growth, O'Malley said 'the bad news is that people seem more pessimistic about their children's future now than they did even four years ago.”

However, O'Malley, in a blue blazer, jeans and open neck shirt, also delivered a hopeful message.

'In American, there is always a yet, another day,” he said.

Americans can change the direction of the economy and country by making better choices. As governor of Maryland, O'Malley said, he chose to invest in the state and its people rather than 'join the ranks of right-wing ideologues in some other states who tried to cut their way to prosperity.”

'Instead we did more to educate our children” by increasing school funding and not raising college tuition for four years.

'We made our public schools the best in country 'not by doing less, but buy doing more” and invested in infrastructure - 'not only water and wastewater, but in roads and transit, school construction.”

He concluded with a moral imperative to 'make the dream true again.”

O'Malley called for raising the minimum wage, expanding Social Security and collective bargaining rights. Making it easier for people to vote and doing more to educate future generations.

'It means we should invest more in our country so our country can give more back more to us and to our children and to our grandchildren,” he said. 'And yes, it means we should stand up to powerful wealth special interests who nearly wrecked out country in the Great Recession and will wreck it again if we don't put in place the rules, the regulations and the enforcement that will keep other people from gambling with our children's future, with our nation's economy and with our money.”