From a loyal reader:
Several Maryland Governors, most recently Parris Glendenning, have said “No” when retrocession of the District to Maryland was proposed.
There are a number of reasons, first and foremost is the cost of government which is much higher in D.C. than in Maryland. The District of Columbia and the People’s Republic of Montgomery County pay their government employees better than the Federal Government. Maryland pays its government employees less than any of those.
District government employee productivity is historically low as compared to other local jurisdictions or the Federal Government.
Part of the last Federal bailout of D.C. included a Federal takeover of the D.C. Prison at Lorton — so D.C. can convict and sentence a murderer to life without parole and the cost for his confinement is spread onto all American taxpayers, not just those in D.C. Maryland would have to considerably expand its prison system to accommodate all those convicts.
The Federal Government maintains the parks in the City through the National Park Service — the State of Maryland would not want to spend the money.
The State of Maryland does not want to have to be responsible for D.C.’s welfare population — many D.C. poor have already moved into P.G. and the P.G. County Government is doing everything it can to prevent any more from moving in. Maryland pays lower benefits than D.C.
Maryland does not want to assume responsibility for any roads in D.C. At present, the Federal Government picks up the tab.
While I like the suggestion of moving PG and Montgomery Counties into DC, why stop there? The Constitution places Alexandria and Arlington in the District as well (they were retroceded in the 19th Century, but that was an Act of Congress which could be repealed), they are both very leftie, why not put them back in the District where they belong? That would be a strict construction of the Constitution.
While Senator Byrd has tried for years, Homeland Security should lend impetus to moving Federal Government offices out of the District, and not just into surrounding jurisdictions (i.e., Montgomery, PG, Arlington, Alexandria), but into safer places like West Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma . . . .
Leave only the top most levels of the Federal Government in the District and move the rest out into the country.