In yet another instance of the Washington Post shielding the Maryland Democratic political establishment, including the party's nominee for governor, editors buried on page B4 of the Saturday, August 30 edition a stunning story about outgoing Gov. Martin O'Malley's refusal to cooperate with federal immigration officials to eventually deport illegal immigrants who have served time behind bars.

"Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has instructed a state-run jail in Baltimore to stop honoring federal requests to detain inmates beyond their scheduled release dates in order to explore potential immigration violations, unless there is probable cause that those who are being held have broken the law," staff writer John Wagner noted in the lead paragraph for his article headlined "O’Malley tells jail to curtail immigrant detentions."

The Washington Post's Jenna Johnson reported yet another black mark against Maryland's rollout of ObamaCare. It seems the "board that oversees Maryland's troubled health insurance marketplace repeatedly violated a state law that requires such groups to fully explain their reasons for meeting behind closed doors" according to a ruling issued Tuesday by the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board.

Although the Washington Post's endorsee for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, was tasked by Gov. Martin O'Malley as his personal point man for the ObamaCare rollout, Brown's name came up a grand total of, wait for it, ZERO times in Johnson's 21-paragraph story. What's more, Johnson's story, while given front-page space on page B1 of the May 22 edition, was slapped with a boring headline that all but discouraged readers to review the story, "Closed sessions broke Md. law." By contrast, on Sunday, staff writer John Wagner treated Brown to a puffy profile in a Metro section front-pager "The Value of Service."

"After an extraordinarily productive two years in which Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley muscled through legislation on several top priorities — including same-sex marriage,gun control, transportation funding and repealing the death penalty — the question is: What, if anything, is there left for him to do before leaving office?"

That's how Washington Post staffer John Wagner opened his Metro section front-page April 22 story "O'Malley plans for rest of term -- and beyond." Nowhere in his 24-paragraph story did Wagner -- no stranger to NewsBusters criticism by the way -- cite any conservative or Republican critics of the liberal Democratic governor, a prospective 2016 presidential contender.

On February 24, Washington Post reporter John Wagner sympathetically covered leading Maryland Democrats (and Catholics) for crossing their hierarchy to lobby for "gay marriage" -- without seeming to contact this hierarchy. So when Wagner sympathetically profiled House Speaker Michael Busch -- again -- at the top of the April 11 Style section, the primary question was: How was this "news," a full month after the gay lobby failed to pass it? The headline was "A matter of conscience: Speaker Mike Busch found a new perspective for Maryland's same-sex marriage bill." It was considered an awakening of conscience that Speaker Busch wept:

Busch, whose hunched 6-foot-1 frame still bears witness to the standout running back he was at Temple University, retreated to his office at the side of the House chamber. He apologized for the bill’s failure to a few of its leading supporters. They thanked him for his efforts. And then another unusual event happened: With them, he cried.

Liberal Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) is in trouble with the voters who elected nearly 15 months ago. In a state that is deep blue in presidential elections and has a 2:1 Democratic registration advantage, the former local Irish rocker is getting a chorus of boos from voters with poll numbers in the mid to high 30s. One major factor: the tax-hiking special legislative session he called in fall 2007.Not to worry, Governor, the Washington Post has got your back. Here's the headline for the top Metro section story in my January 23 Maryland Home Edition of the Post:"On O'Malley's To-Do List: Rebuild Public Image"It becomes apparent, however, that rebuilding O'Malley's positive press is high on the Post's agenda. Reporter John Wagner wrote of O'Malley's plan to take "modest steps" towards fulfilling what O'Malley insists is "protecting our priorities." Wagner takes care to focus on how a slowing economy could prove an obstacle to O'Malley's policy goals, but fails to address concerns that O'Malley's tax hikes could be part of compounding the problem by disincentivizing business from expanding or moving to the state: