Recently we have seen instances of misinformed criticism aimed at the state's efforts to prepare for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure process, which has brought thousands of jobs and given a real economic boost to our state.

The criticism I refer to is not from average Marylanders in affected regions, many of whom are appropriately concerned about the impact to their commutes.

Rather, it comes from commentators and other self-styled “opinion makers” who perhaps have their own agendas but are not accurately reflecting the work being done in support of BRAC.

For example, Barry Rascovar’s recent column (“Governor slack on BRAC,” Sept. 23) casually dismisses the state’s commitment to BRAC and complains at length about transportation issues without acknowledging any of the substantial efforts that have been made in this area.

The truth is that, even in the midst of the worst economic downturn that our country and state have experienced in a generation, the O’Malley-Brown administration made BRAC a priority, investing $3.5 billion in transportation, higher education, school construction and other infrastructure projects in BRAC-impacted counties.

For transportation projects, we took a balanced approach to tackling BRAC’s impact on our infrastructure network and implemented short-term, lower-cost projects while continuing to work on long-term capital projects. Coined the “high-low” approach, this was recognized as an innovative best practice by the National Governors Association and is carefully guiding the Maryland Department of Transportation’s work.

When MDOT was forced to cut $2 billion from its capital program, we protected $135 million for the most critical road intersections surrounding our BRAC-growth installations at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Ft. Meade and the National Military Medical Center in Bethesda. In fact, these projects were the only new Maryland road projects to receive state funding since 2007.

Moreover, we advanced transit options by providing additional peak-hour MARC rail service at APG and Ft. Meade and introducing the new ICC Bus service to Ft. Meade, which includes stops at the Shady Grove Metro Station and Savage MARC Station.

The administration also championed and helped develop new comprehensive Transportation Demand Management programs in support of BRAC. These efforts help take cars off the road now, and include the expansion of Maryland’s Guaranteed Ride Home program, which encourages ride-sharing and carpooling, and working with military installations to grow ride-sharing programs and encourage telecommuting where possible.

Beyond transportation, the O’Malley-Brown administration took meaningful steps to improve higher education opportunities in the APG region and throughout the state to provide Marylanders with the training and advanced degree programs needed for BRAC-related jobs with the military and in the private sector.

Our administration has invested heavily in BRAC-related higher education projects. This included funding 39 BRAC higher education grants totaling $3.7 million to colleges and universities. These grants successfully trained more than 2,100 Marylanders for BRAC jobs in just the first two years of the program. Additionally, I am pleased to say that this spring seven new degree programs will be offered in the APG region by Maryland’s public and private higher-education institutions.

Furthermore, in December the Task Force to Study the Creation of a Regional Higher Education Center in Northeastern Maryland will present its recommendations on the best way to expand higher-education options throughout the APG region.

What Mr. Rascovar and others have done is turn a symptom — BRAC funding — of a larger issue into the problem itself without addressing the cause. And all that is offered as a solution is an outdated report that made assumptions based on the pre-recession economy.

The true problem we face is a funding crisis impacting all aspects of government — BRAC-related or otherwise — which is a critical concern for both the state of Maryland and the entire country.

That’s why we need to work together to find solutions to this crisis. For example in transportation, we need to find innovative ways to advance such projects. This might include exploring new sources of revenue to fully fund pressing needs. Another option is to encourage more public-private partnerships, currently under consideration by the State’s Joint Legislative and Executive Commission on Oversight of Public-Private Partnerships, where I serve as chair.

And despite Mr. Rascovar’s dismissal of assistance from the federal government, we do need our national leaders to step up and take action to address transportation in the states, because building our national infrastructure has always required a partnership between the states and the federal government.

To their credit, Maryland’s congressional delegation has fought time and again to secure funding for transportation projects, including its recent success in securing $300 million for BRAC-related roadwork at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda.

With the American Jobs Act, President Obama has put forward a plan that will not only create and save an estimated 19,000 jobs in Maryland, but will allow us to move forward aggressively to address transportation needs like road construction, transit and other priority projects. If we want to improve transportation in Maryland, then we need those in Washington to put aside their ideologies and pass this bill.

No one — not me and certainly not Gov. O’Malley — believes our work to support BRAC is finished. We must continue our efforts to improve our infrastructure and ensure that there are educational opportunities to create a work-force pipeline to maximize and sustain the benefits of BRAC.

But criticizing without providing all the facts or offering real solutions won’t move us forward. Instead, let’s acknowledge our fiscal crisis and come together as a state and as a nation to build the infrastructure that will create jobs, drive our economy and ensure a bright future for generations to come.

— Anthony G. Brown

Anthony G. Brown, a Democrat, is Maryland’s lieutenant governor. He also is chairman of the Governor’s Subcabinet on Base Realignment and Closure.