20070517 News Clips

News Clips

May 17^th, 2007

State News

O'Malley curbs use of state cars

Ehrlich's staff abused fleet, some taking vehicles home, governor says http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.fleet17may17,0,7070976.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Gov. Martin O'Malley criticized his Republican predecessor yesterday, saying he abused the Maryland fleet system by giving his staff access to too many state cars and permitting several employees to take vehicles home.

Faced with a projected budget shortfall of as much as $1.5 billion starting next year, O'Malley said his office will "lead by example" in cutting costs, promising to cut his office's fleet in half. He also said he would halt take-home privileges for his staff. The governor ordered all state agencies to conduct similar fleet audits.

Jim Pelura, chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, said O'Malley is going to have to do more to address the state's budget problems than auction off a few cars.

"In light of the huge fiscal problems that we have, if this is what he thinks is the way to go, this really shows a lack of understanding of the true nature of the structural deficit," Pelura said. "This is pocket change. If this is the approach to the structural deficit, then he's clueless."

O'Malley wheels, deals to cut deficit

http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20070516-110409-2931r.htm

Gov. Martin O'Malley yesterday made the front of the State House look like a used-car lot, trying to sell half of his office's fleet of vehicles, a small gesture to address Maryland's coming budget deficit.

With 10 cars festooned with signs such as "Priced to Move," "Inventory Reduction Sale" and "Almost New," Mr. O'Malley said his administration was doing "a little spring cleaning" by getting rid of the vehicles and ending take-home car privileges for staffers.

Gov. O’Malley to veto drug parole bill

http://www.examiner.com/a-732719~Gov__O_Malley_to_veto_drug_parole_bill.html

Gov. Martin O’Malley today plans to veto a measure the Legislative Black Caucus backed that would permit parole for drug dealers convicted a second time, rather than make them serve the mandatory 10-year sentence.

“I don’t believe this is moving in the right direction,” O’Malley said Wednesday.

O'Malley Vetoes Bills on Handgun Sales, Parole Rules http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602667.html

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley vetoed two crime bills yesterday, one that would have made twice-convicted drug dealers eligible for parole and another that would have allowed police to sell used handguns back to manufacturers.

Calling drug dealing "a violent crime," O'Malley (D) said he disagreed with supporters of the narrowly passed bill who argued that current law unfairly punishes low-level dealers by imposing the same sentences on them as on larger-scale distributors.

O'Malley rejects parole, gun bills

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.sbriefs17may17,0,6116773.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Gov. Martin O'Malley vetoed yesterday bills that would have allowed early parole for second-time drug offenders and permitted law enforcement officers to resell their firearms to the manufacturers.

O'Malley said the parole bill, which had the support of the Legislative Black Caucus, was "unnecessary and contrary to the interests of public safety." Supporters say it would have provided nonviolent offenders with an opportunity for treatment and rehabilitation.

Maryland law requires a minimum 10-year sentence for offenders convicted of distributing, manufacturing or dispensing drugs. The proposal would have allowed some offenders to apply earlier for parole.

Smoking Ban Could Become Law Today

http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=57931

A statewide smoking ban in Maryland could become official today, when Governor Martin O'Malley plans to sign the ban into law.

The new law will snuff out smoking in bars and restaurants starting in February. The final version does NOT exclude private social clubs such as the American Legion.

Governor O'Malley Talking Slots Ahead Of Preakness http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=57920

With the 132nd Preakness Stakes days away, Governor O'Malley reiterated Wednesday that he believes the state will eventually lose the storied Triple Crown race if slot machines are not legalized in Maryland.

O'Malley, who has supported bringing a limited number of slot machines to save the horse-racing industry in Maryland since he was mayor of Baltimore, said the state stands to lose 17,000 racing jobs and horse-related open space if it doesn't legalize slot machines.

O'Malley links slots to keeping Preakness

http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20070516-110411-8696r.htm

Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday -- just days before the 132nd Preakness Stakes -- that the state will eventually lose the storied Triple Crown race if slot machines are not legalized in Maryland.

Since he was Baltimore mayor, Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, has supported bringing a limited number of slot machines to Maryland to save the horse-racing industry. He says the state stands to lose 17, 000 racing jobs and horse-related open space if it doesn't legalize slot machines.

O’Malley says slots may be necessary

http://www.wcbcradio.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7387&Itemid=35

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, although not a strong advocate for slot machines, concedes that legalizing that form of gaming might be necessary for the state to address its projected $1.5 billion structural deficit. Slots legislation, a top priority of former Governor Robert Ehrlich, gained momentum each of his four years actually gaining approval in the house and senate- but never reaching a conference committee. Governor O’Malley, appearing on WCBC Dave Norman Show; said he would support limited slot machines, located at tracks.

State halts take-home police car program Ehrlich made offer, asking MdTA officers to drop bargaining

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.authority17may17,0,2184788.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said yesterday that he plans to scuttle an agreement under which the Ehrlich administration promised take-home police vehicles for each of the 448 uniformed members of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.

Porcari said he had only recently learned about the agreement, which calls for the state to provide cars to the officers in exchange for their union's dropping its efforts to achieve collective bargaining rights.

Trent M. Kittleman, the former Maryland Transportation Authority executive secretary who approved the agreement, said it would be "wrong" for Porcari to cancel the deal. "He's the boss now. He can do what he wants," she said. "It's unfortunate to renege on a commitment that was made in good faith."

O'Malley Visits

O'Malley: Center is 'crossroads of a new frontier'

http://www.times-news.com/local/local_story_136090746.html

It was several years ago that Sen. George Edwards joined government officials for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the access road to the Allegany Business Center at Frostburg State University.

For years he drove by that same road as it sat quietly next to vacant land, without a tenant or even a building to launch what officials hoped would bring a collaborative agreement between FSU and technology companies.

All that changed Tuesday when Gov. Martin O'Malley joined state and local officials for a fiber optic wiring-cutting for ABC@FSU's first building, FSU Research Properties.

"This is a magnet," Edwards said during an hour-long ceremony at the site off Midlothian Road Tuesday morning. "FSU is an economic engine for this part of the state. This is another piece of the puzzle. This is the first piece of the puzzle for ABC. It will have a tremendous impact on development in this area of all sorts, not just high-tech."

Residents must determine their futures, committee members told

http://www.times-news.com/local/local_story_136090855.html

Nostalgia, for people in places like Cumberland and Baltimore City, is a great thing, according to former Baltimore mayor and current Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Unfortunately, it can't feed a family. It can't create jobs, and it doesn't bring a region closer to jumping on the information superhighway.

"Our challenge ... is to remember the lesson that all that nostalgia is trying to teach us, which is that we have to make our own future," O'Malley said to members of the The Greater Cumberland Committee at Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort Tuesday afternoon.

Editorial: Transparency key to overtime

http://www.examiner.com/a-732688~Editorial__Transparency_key_to_overtime.html

The Baltimore City Fire Department budgeted $6.1 million for overtime in 2006. Officers spent about $8.3 million or 36 percent more than budgeted, according to city salary and overtime records analyzed by The Examiner.

That’s a lot, but not anywhere near the more than 500 percent underestimate budgeted by the Baltimore City Police Department. The police administration claimed it would need $7 million in overtime in 2006, but used nearly $37 million, up from $18 million in 2005.

Sheriff’s Office logged $1.4M in OT

http://www.examiner.com/a-732720~Sheriff_s_Office_logged__1_4M_in_OT.html

Baltimore City Sheriff’s Deputy Lt. Michael James earns a base salary of $53,900. But last fiscal year, James nearly doubled that to $94,140, thanks to more than 1,500 hours of overtime.

James and 168 fellow Office of the Sheriff employees ran up nearly $1.4 million in overtime, nearly tripling the $520,350 the city budgeted for fiscal 2006.

A Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said the agency needs the overtime pay because it is understaffed and has to keep up with the blistering pace of criminal justice in Baltimore.

State prisons chief to step down

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.prisons17may17,0,4399066.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Less than a year after taking over as Maryland's prisons chief, John A. Rowley says he plans to step down to become warden of a maximum-security prison near Cumberland.

Rowley said yesterday that he sought the change for "quality of life" reasons. Overseeing the state's 26 prisons and staff of 7,400, he said, was a time-consuming job that had became too disruptive to his family life.

State police use biweekly reports to monitor time

http://www.examiner.com/a-732722~State_police_use_biweekly_reports_to_monitor_time.html

Every two weeks, State Police Superintendent Thomas Tim Hutchins gets a detailed report on use of overtime by troopers, including names, dates and an explanation of why it was used.

Hutchins said he goes over the report individual by individual and case by case and sometimes follows up with suggestions to his bureau chiefs for ways to reduce the overtime. The departments overtime costs amounted to $4.7 million last year.

Ruling alters idea of mother

Md. high court finds paternity laws must apply equally to men and women http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.appeals17may17,0,3975997.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

A baby conceived from an egg donated by one woman and implanted in another may have no mother at all under Maryland law, the state's highest court ruled yesterday.

Issued more than four years after the matter was brought to the Court of Appeals, the 4-3 opinion creates blank spaces under "mother" in the birth certificates of twins born in 2001 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring.

The man who arranged for the children to be born from his sperm and donated eggs, and the woman with whom he arranged to carry them, brought the case. The two wanted it made clear that she had no legal claims or responsibility for the children.

'Desperate' plan to slow crime

Council bill would put areas of city under enforcement some liken to martial law http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-te.md.ci.emergency17may17,0,620067.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

Large swaths of Baltimore could be declared emergency areas subject to heightened police enforcement - including a lockdown of streets - under a city councilman's proposal that aims to slow the city's climbing homicide count.

The legislation - which met with a lukewarm response from Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration yesterday, and which others likened to martial law - would allow police to close liquor stores and bars, limit the number of people on city sidewalks and halt traffic in areas declared "public safety act zones." It comes as the number of homicides in Baltimore reached 108, up from 98 at the same time last year.

National News

O'Malley to fill in for Sen. Clinton in N.H.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.sbriefs17may17,0,6116773.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Gov. Martin O'Malley will fill in for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton next month at a key New Hampshire Democratic Party event, an early sign that the governor's role in Clinton's presidential campaign could extend beyond Maryland.

O'Malley, who endorsed Clinton last week in Annapolis and is her Maryland chairman, will speak June 2 at the party's state convention in Concord, N.H.

O'Malley Tapped For Clinton Speech

http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=57943

Maryland Governor O'Malley will hit the road on behalf of his choice for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton.

O'Malley has been named to stand in for Clinton at the New Hampshire Democratic Party's state convention June 2nd in Concord, New Hampshire. He will address the convention on Clinton's behalf.

The governor's spokesman says Clinton plans to be in Iowa that day.

Senate halts Iraq pullout, cash cutoff

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070517-120844-4427r.htm

The Senate yesterday overwhelmingly rejected a bid to pull out troops from Iraq and cut off funds for combat, a bruising defeat for Majority Leader Harry Reid that highlights the Democratic split over how far to go in opposing the war.

The amendment, which was co-sponsored by Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, died in a 67-29 procedural vote, with 47 Republicans, 19 Democrats and one independent blocking the plan to start a troop withdrawal in 120 days and cut off funds March 31 to most military operations in Iraq.

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