In an opinion piece for the Baltimore Sun, George Liebmann, volunteer executive director for the Calvert Institute for Policy Research, shares his views on the investment strategies and management of the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System.

Maryland’s pension problems are a legacy of the Glendening administration’s mishandling of investments and deferral of contributions, the Ehrlich administration’s capitulation to the teachers’ unions, and the O’Malley administration’s failure to face facts, capitulation to various rent-seekers, and efforts to use risky investments to reach unattainable targets. They are a cumulating drag on the state’s ability to provide essential public services and will reach crisis stage when the GASB’s new accounting rules become effective and bond rating agencies take note of the magnitude of the Maryland pension deficit.