20071015 News Clips

News Clips

Oct. 15, 2007

STATE NEWS

O'Malley to call special session over deficithttp://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20071013/METRO/110130028/1004
Gov. Martin O'Malley will announce Monday that he's calling lawmakers back to the capital to grapple with Maryland's projected budget deficit. Mr. O'Malley will make the formal call - a maneuver required before governors bring lawmakers to work out of regular session - on Monday afternoon. Spokesman Rick Abbruzzese would not say yesterday when exactly the special session would begin. In remarks across the state, Mr. O'Malley has argued that it would be wrong to wait until January to deal with the budget problem. That's because the state would lose a few months to collect new revenues if the higher taxes a ren't enacted by the start of next year. Republicans reacted to news of a special session by repeating their objections to higher taxes without a full budget under consideration.
"The Republican caucus certainly thinks it's a bad idea without a road map in terms of how it's going to be spent," House Republican Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell, Southern Maryland Republican, said of the new taxes.

O'Malley to Offer Revenue Proposal In Special Session
Md. Tax Increases, Slot Gambling On Table in Risky Hurry-Up Play
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101201609.html
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) on Monday plans to call a special session of the General Assembly with the hope of securing quick action on his plan to close a $1.7 billion budget shortf all by raising several taxes and legalizing slot-machine gambling, his office said yesterday.
Administration officials acknowledged that there is no guarantee that the session, scheduled to start as early as Oct. 29, will be a success. The governor has not secured consensus on several aspects of his plan, including a slots proposal projected to yield $550 million a year for the state.
But administration officials suggested the attention generated by a special session could spur lawmakers to reach deals on several issues that have divided them for years.
There will be no time limit on the special session, but administration officials said they hope Thanksgiving will serve as a deadline for action. To balance the budget in coming years, O'Malley is counting on increased collections from income, sales, corporate and tobacco taxes starting in January. If the legislature waits until next year to raise those taxes, O'Malley will be forced to propose more than $500 m illion in additional spending cuts or tax increases.

Slots a budget hurdle
Proposed referendum on machines may end stalemate
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.slots14oct14,0,4359021.story
As Gov. Martin O'Malley struggles to win support for his plan to erase a projected $1.7 billion shortfall in the state budget next year, the stalemate over legalizing slot machine gambling remains one of the biggest obstacles. Legislators who favor slots face off against various factions that don't.
"You've got one contingent that believes that no tax increases are needed, and they have put through spending cuts," said Sen. E.J. Pipkin, an Eastern Shore Republican. "Then you have another contingent that says it should be done with tax increases, no budget cuts and no slots. And it's tough to build a consensus when you have those two extremes tugging at you every day."
"The General Assembly has not been able to move forward on this issue for the last five years. Maybe the best way to put it behind us is to let the people decide," said O'Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese.
O'Malley has scheduled a news conference tomorrow in Annapolis to announce the start date of a special session.

Tax cuts or hike coming? It depends
http://www.examiner.com/a-989701~Tax_cuts_or_hike_coming___It_depends.html
Gov. Martin O'Malley continues to insist that the vast majority of Marylanders will see their taxes cut in the revenue "reforms" he will ask the legislature to embrace in the special session being announced today. Skeptical conservatives and business lobbyists scoff that most residents will actually get wha t real estate people like to call a "haircut" - a slice of your money off the top, leaving a little less in your wallet.
It's hard to say which is correct. We are still relying on the governor's PowerPoint slides for the details, using budget department estimates; we're not relying on legislation printed in black and white. But somehow the governor raises $1.5 billion in new revenue - $2 billion four years from now - yet he promised four out of five people will pay less.
Whether that's true depends on your age, income, marital status, housing choices, lifestyle, spending habits and transportation options.
So if Marylanders want to be sure to pay lower taxes, they should stop smoking, stop driving, stop spending so much on luxuries, cancel their fitness club membership, walk to work and stop making so much money.

Same-sex marriage on state's agenda
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/10_14-41/TOP
When the Court of Appeals overturned a gay marriage ruling last month, it made sure to say the General Assembly could still take up the issue. And two Anne Arundel County legislators will be seizing that chance for different sides of the debate.
Del. Ben Barnes, D-College Park, will sponsor a bill to allow gay couples to have civil marriages. But on the other side, Del. Don Dwyer, R-Glen Burnie, plans to file a bill to create a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages and civil unions. Such legislation, if passed, would have to be approved by voters. But on the other side, Del. Don Dwyer, R-Glen Burnie, plans to file a bill to create a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages and civil unions.
Such legislation, if passed, would have to be approved by voters. "This issue is so important, the people of the state ha ve to be able to vote on it," said Mr. Dwyer, a vociferous opponent of same-sex marriage.Mr. Dwyer put a similar bill in during the last General Assembly session. Although it received an unfavorable report from the House Judiciary Committee, it was supported by every other Republican delegate in Anne Arundel County: Bob Costa, Ron George, James King, Nic Kipke, Tony McConkey and Steve Schuh. But the delegate doubts any marriage bill on either side of the debate will come out of committee because many politicians do not want to deal with such a controversial issue. "As long as we don't act one way or the other, politicians aren't put at risk," he said. "I'm willing to lay my service on the line."

O'Malley's gay-union view set by audience
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2007 1015/METRO/110150096/1004
Gov. Martin O"Malley has struggled to find a consistent position on homosexual "marriage" in the weeks since Maryland"s highest court upheld a ban on the unions and left further action on the issue to the General Assembly.
Mr. O"Malley, a Democrat, seemed to support civil unions last week, although his stance has shifted depending on who he is talking to.
A spokesman for Mr. O"Malley on Friday said the governor"s comments have not been conflicting, but activists on both sides of the issue have been frustrated with what they see as a lack of consistency.
"He's clearly conflicted because now he recognizes that his previous position that same-sex marriage was suitable for the state may in fact turn out to be a detriment to his re-election bid," said Delegate Donald H. Dwyer Jr., Anne Arundel Republican, who for three years has introduced bills that would amend the state's constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. "Even O'Malley, as left-leaning as he is, recognizes that the issue is not going to sell with the public," he said. And even if the subject does come up, disagreement among leaders in the House and Senate means a bill would likely not make it to Mr. O'Malley's desk next session

MARYLAND: O'Malley proposals for school funding criticized
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/NEWS01/71015002
Educators are criticizing a proposal by Gov. Martin O'Malley to make changes in funding required by the Thornton education reform plan. The Thornton plan calls for increasing state spending by $2 billion over five years with inflation increases each year after this current school year. Officials with the Maryland State Teachers Association and the Maryland Assoc iation of Boards of Education said they understand the state's budget problems but note schools are facing pressure to raise standards.

Schools revamp ahead of BRAC
Two area community colleges modernize cramped facilities
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/brac/bal-md.ha.college15oct15,0,2852767.story
A task as routine as scheduling lab time for science classes is not so simple as it used to be at Harford Community College.
As part of an effort to beef up the math and science curriculum to meet the demands of the influx coming to Aberdeen Proving Ground because of the base realignment and closure process, the college is undertaking a renovation that will double the size of Aberdeen Hall and modernize the laboratories and classrooms. The changes come in anticipation of about 5,100 high-tec h jobs relocating from Fort Monmouth, N.J. About one-third of the workers coming to APG are scientists and engineers who build radar, battlefield radios and equipment to jam roadside bombs.Another BRAC-affected jurisdiction, Anne Arundel County, also is taking steps to prepare its community college for the changes that the military influx will bring.

Candidates stick to the issues
Personal attacks rare during Aberdeen forum; hopefuls address water shortages, budget, taxes
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-ha.forum14oct14,0,5684630.story
A little more than three weeks before Election Day, candidates for Aberdeen mayor and the four council seats are campaigning on the city's water shortage, budgetary woes and property taxes.

Gilchrest, Harris are close in battle for fundr aising
http://www.examiner.com/a-989709~Gilchrest__Harris_are_close_in_battle_for_fundraising.html
In the heated Republican primary for the 1st Congressional District seat, U.S. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest holds a narrow edge in his campaign chest over his challenger, State Sen. Andy Harris, R-Harford-Baltimore counties. But since entering the race in May, Harris has raised nearly twice as much as the nine-term incumbent, according to figures released by the campaigns.

First Lady Raising Her Profile Without Changing Her Image
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/washington/15bush.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
T his Saturday, a military jet with the code name "Bright Star" will take off from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, bound for a diplomatic mission in the Middle East. It will carry an increasingly outspoken and quietly powerful White House emissary: Laura Bush, the first lady of the United States.The official purpose of the trip is to promote breast cancer awareness; nobody expects the president's wife to engage in bare-knuckle negotiations over war and peace. Yet in the twilight of her husband's presidency, the woman who once made George W. Bush promise she would never have to give a speech is stepping out in a new and unusually substantive way.
At home, she is inserting herself more forcefully into the issues she cares about. Most people know Mrs. Bush as a vocal supporter of her husband's signature education bill, No Child Left Behind. What they do not know is that she has been waging a quiet lobbying campaign to persuade Congress to reauthorize the b ill by inviting key lawmakers to the White House for coffee - with her, not the president.
At home, Mrs. Bush's approval ratings have consistently been double that of her husband; during last year's midterm elections, Republicans who did not want to be seen with their unpopular president asked his wife to campaign for them instead. That same dynamic is at work overseas; Stephen J. Hadley, Mr. Bush's national security adviser, calls the first lady "a foreign policy asset to the president."


EDITORIALS/OP-EDS

Thornton sleight of hand
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bal-ed.thornton15oct15,0,5001791.story
It's easy to sympathize with Gov. Martin O'Malley's dilemma. He has to close a $1.7 billion budget gap and is looking for savings in a sector - education - that accounts for a hefty share of state spending. He also promised during last year's gubernatorial campaign to help school districts with higher costs of living by adding funding called for as a supplement to the Thornton law.
But he's adding with one hand while taking away with another.
Now Mr. O'Malley wants to phase in the high-cost index over three years, adding $38 million in fiscal year 2009 and topping out at $129 million by 2011. That money would be shared by about half of the state's 24 school districts, but some needy districts that don't qualify on the basis of costs, such as Allegany, Somerset and Worcester counties, would be left out.
Granted, that's the way the high-cost index is designed to work, but the harmful effects on less-affluent, rural districts at a time of painful belt-tightening might argue for deferring this phase-in even longer.
Be that as it may, the governor's proposal to cut across-the-board inflationary increases would hurt more districts than the special adjustment would help. It's a trade-off that needs to be reconsidered.

Leopold's approach to stormwater fee is too narrow
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/10_14-09/OPN
Recent polls have shown public support for fees and taxes that go toward cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. So, it is not surprising that both county and state government have proposed ways to tap that generosity. The county executive wants to assess a fee on new construction, arguing that current landowners already pay for environmental cleanup through taxes. He wants to replace the present stormwater drainage fee with a Stormwater Management and Restoration of Tributaries fund generated from excise fees for grading and building permits. Only construction adding to existing impervious s urface would be taxed. This fund is expected to raise $5.1 million a year in the county.
We give credit to the county executive for tackling this huge issue, but it would be unwise for the County Council to support his approach. And Mr. Leopold's approach would produce only $5.1 million a year - a drop in the stormwater bucket. At that rate, it would take a thousand years to raise the estimated $5 billion needed to fix this county's stormwater management problem.As the legislature will already be considering a dizzying array of proposed taxes and fees, it will not be easy for it to enact an environmental fee as well. But taxpayers would accept a green-fund fee - about $15 a year for a 3,000-square-foot home - if there were written guarantees that the revenue would go exclusively to clean up the bay. Legislators, as they have done with open space and transportation funds, would have to include language barring governors from raiding the fund to balance budgets.

The value of saying no
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/10_14-08/COL
The rap against guys like Herb McMillan - the kind of politicians who seem to always be on the short end of votes that go something like 136-5 - is that they don't get anything done. But even after his loss in a state Senate race last year, Mr. McMillan, a 49-year-old Annapolis Republican, doesn't regret a thing. He's proud of the stands he took in his single terms as city alderman and delegate. And he's itching to get back in the game, as evidenced by his recent newspaper opinion pieces blasting Gov. Martin O'Malley's budget as a fraud. It seems inevitable he'll run for something again, perhaps mayor in 2009, though he said he's in no rush to decide.
"I obviously miss it," he said last week over lunch, adding later with a smile, "I'm not very patient. But I have to be right now, so I'm being patient."Mr. McMillan has conservative views on topics like gay marriage and immigration, but said he's more concerned about the plight of the middle class and small businesses. Mayor of Annapolis still seems to be the job that intrigues him most. "It's tempting," he said of being an executive. "When you're just one member of the legislature, especially when you're in the minority, it can be frustrating."