It seems Governor Martin O'Malley, the "Teflon Leprechaun" (I can't take credit for that phrase! ) got a little testy at a press conference because the extortion racket he's been running against Constellation Energy has been exposed for what it is - a cheap political stunt designed to deflect the voters' attention from his false promise during the 2006 campaign to do something about the Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E)  72% rate increase. Here's what he had to say:

"I don't work for the country club set that pats each other on the back and tells them what a great job they do when they stick it to consumers with 70 percent rate increases. ... I work for the consumers and the people of Maryland. I work for the people. Thanks a lot."

Let's set one thing straight right up front, Governor. I am not now nor have I ever been a member of a country club, and none of the people with whom I associate regularly are part of a "country club set." None of the county commissioners here in Calvert County who've come out strongly against your extortion attempts are country club members. Your critics at the Baltimore Sun are probably not country club members, either.

Conversely, most of the nation’s wealthiest people are represented in Congress by Democrats. Wall Street gives more money to Democrats than Republicans. Once you were elected, "the country club set" couldn't wait to get behind you and curry your favor with their campaign contributions while the Maryland Republican Party went broke. Your campaign war chest is bulging with dollars from "the country club set."

The stereotype of the fat cat Republican is one of the biggest lies in politics. Get off your high horse, Governor - no one believes your populist posturing.

Are you working for the 4,000 construction workers who won't be hired to build the third reactor at Calvert Cliffs?

Are you working for the 400 permanent employees that won't be working at the new facility?

Are you working for the BG&E customers who won't realize the more than $1.1 billion in energy cost savings over eight years because of the new energy source? The long-term savings to the consumers for whom you claim to work is over five times greater than the one-time $200 per customer credit you're attempting to extort from Constellation - it totals only $220 million. Coincidentally, the one-time credit would take effect during an election year - how convenient for you!

Are you working for the Maryland taxpayers whom you've soaked for $1.5 billion in new taxes, but whose money you continue to spend, increasing the overall budget every year despite the recession and the projections of lower tax revenues and increasing deficits? Regrettably, the $130 million in new tax revenue generated by the plant wouldn't begin to make up for the $2 billion and $2.7 billion in projected deficits for the next two fiscal years.

A lot of people have told me it's dangerous territory to take the side of a major corporation over "the people." I'm not taking the side of Constellation, however; I'm taking the side of free markets where all businesses are treated equitably, competition is encouraged, and growth benefits everyone.

I'm taking the side of businesses that play by the rules. If there was any evidence that Constellation or BG&E is "stick(ing) it to consumers," it would have been uncovered by now because you and your no-so-independent cronies on the Public Service Commission (PSC) were desperately looking. Nothing unethical or illegal has been found.

I'm taking the side of those who honor the contracts they sign, unlike you, who agreed not to require PSC review of the Constellation/Électricité de France merger since it fell below a previously agreed upon threshold, then reneged on the agreement for political expedience.

You're blaming "the country club set" for the BG&E rate increase while conveniently ignoring the fact it was the one-party monopoly in Annapolis, your party, that froze BG&E's rates for six years. Once the freeze lifted, BG&E simply charged the rates set by the energy market at that time. What did you expect?

This is why lawyers shouldn't be drafting business policy - they don't know how to manage profit and loss, make a payroll or produce and distribute goods and services in a competitive environment.

The bottom line is that you aren't working for the people - you're working the people over. If Constellation decides one day it's had enough of Maryland's hostility toward free markets and the prosperity they bring to everyone, and they take their 7,500 jobs and move them elsewhere, we can say to you, our gangster Governor, "Thanks a lot."