By Mark Uncapher, includes “One complaint we often hear when disaffected voters complain about politicians is that they “never keep their promises.” Indeed, elected officials manage frequently to evade past commitments, blaming others for their failures or riding on the fact that their promises were vague enough to escape objective measurement. Promise and delivery of public employee pensions, on the other hand, can be tracked with mathematical precision. Either enough money is being set aside for future benefits or is not. In Maryland and in many other states, promising future benefits has been much easier than providing for them. These liabilities are a ticking time bomb threatening to implode the finances of many states.  … Regrettably, Maryland is not the only state reneging on pension reform commitments in which public employees traded benefits for future state contributions. This year, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie used the exact same budget gimmick to close an unanticipated state budget gap by slashing its promised “catch-up” pension contribution. Maybe Iowa and New Hampshire voters need to begin asking questions of visiting governors about their home state pension contribution promises. …”