20071016 News Clips

News Clips

Oct 16, 2007

STATE NEWS

O'Malley calls special session
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071016/METRO/110160042/1001
Gov. Martin O'Malley ordered lawmakers yesterday to return to Annapolis on Oct. 29 to consider his plan to increase the sales tax and legalize slot machines to help close the state's $1.7 billion budget shortfall. Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, asked state lawmakers to pass the budget package he says would reduce taxes for 83.5 percent of Marylanders and said failing to reach an agreement at a special General Assembly session would cost taxpayers an additional $600 million.
Skepticism about Mr. O'Malley's budget plan and about his chances of success has increased since he ended his statewide tax tour last month. "The governor has put together a tax plan which he believes benefits 85 percent of voters," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., Southern Maryland Democrat. "I think the public is very dubious about that."
Mr. Miller said yesterday Mr. O'Malley does not have the support of lawmakers to get the proposal passed and counseled him against calling a special session. "There is not consensus," he said. "The governor does not have the votes."
The governor has said he talks "routinely" with the "Party of Lincoln" and that he has better relations with Republicans than his predecessor, former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican.
But party leaders in the House and Senate have said Mr. O'Malley kept them out of the budget-making process and excluded them from a breakfast for freshman delegates at the governor's mansion. Mr. O'Malley "has not consulted with the minority party whatsoever," said Hou se Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell, Southern Maryland Republican. "Very obviously, they don't like our plan, so now they're attacking us."

O'Malley confident on session
Miller doubts governor has votes for tax-and-slots plan
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.session16oct16,0,7889915.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout
Gov. Martin O'Malley, in ordering a special session later this month, expressed confidence yesterday that the gathering will produce a plan for closing Maryland's $1.7 billion budget gap. But calling lawmakers back to Annapolis also has the potential for handing him a significant defeat in a legislature controlled by his party. O'Malley signed an executive order yesterday for a special session to start Oct. 29 to conside r his tax-and-slots plan, despite vows from Republicans to fight any tax increases and warnings from the Senate president that votes to pass the controversial proposal are not in place. Though Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller had been pushing for a special session, he told reporters before O'Malley's news conference that he had recommended holding off on calling one.
"I asked him if he had the votes, and he doesn't as of this day," said Miller, a Southern Maryland Democrat who strongly supports legalizing slot machines. "I counseled him not to call a special session until he had the votes. He is determined to go forward."
Senate Minority Leader David R. Brinkley, a Frederick County Republican, said he didn't know whether O'Malley has the votes.
"If he gets anything, he might get a sales tax [increase] out of it. He should not have called the special session. He is putting all of his chips on the line," Brinkley said.
Businesses differ on governor's tax pitch
http://www.examiner.com/a-991702~Businesses_differ_on_governor_s_tax_pitch.html
Arundel business groups differ on Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to fix a mounting deficit, but they agree the consumer likely will feel the pinch. "Revenue raised by a sales tax increase ends up in the general fund, which is a dark hole," said Bob Burdon, president of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce. "That money will go in, but nothing will come out to benefit the citizens." Business leaders fear jobs could be lost because of tax increases, in particular a proposed tax on services and a 1-cent sales tax increase.
Eliminating the proposed tax on services, such as fitness clubs and cleaning servi ces, might help the small-business community digest other tax burdens, said Fran Schmidt, executive director of the Northern Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce.

Howard Unveiling Its Health Program
County Hopes To Be Model in Easing Access
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101501524.html
Howard County, the third-richest large county in the nation, is embarking today on an ambitious plan to ensure that its 274,000 residents have access to health care. The plan, which will be detailed at a news conference, will bring together public and private resources in a network designed to offer affordable health care to an estimated 20,000 uninsured children and adults in Howard. Rather than remake the health-care system, Howard officials are trying to draw the uninsured into existing government-funded programs they already qualify for, particularly Medicaid and the Maryland Children's Health Insurance Program. The plan would fill the gap for those not eligible for the government-funded programs through a mix of private providers and the county's hospital and community health centers. Ulman, the Howard executive, acknowledged that the county and its partners in the network will have to monitor costs as the program is phased in over the next year.
"Much of this is new," he said. "To a certain extent, this is all a leap of faith."

Bears are fair game, governor's aide says
Humane Society had renewed effort to stop W.Md. hunt
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.bear16xoct16,0,2149170.story
With a new a dministration in Annapolis and bear season starting next week, the Humane Society of the United States has stepped up its campaign to stop the hunting of black bears in Maryland.
"This trophy hunt was demanded by the NRA," the animal-rights group proclaimed in a full-page ad in The Sun yesterday. "But now it's time for Gov. Martin O'Malley to turn the situation around and restore Maryland's half-century tradition of protecting black bears."
In 2004, then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, allowed the resumption of bear hunting in Maryland for the first time in 51 years amid reports that growing numbers of the animals were venturing onto residential property in Garrett and Allegany counties.Garrett County Administrator Monty Pagenhardt said he'd like to see the bear hunt continue. The event doesn't bring a lot of money to Western Maryland because most of the hunters are local. But residents feel the bear populations need to be kept in check, he said.

Top GOP lawmakers in Maryland join Thompson team
http://www.examiner.com/a-985795~Top_GOP_lawmakers_in_Maryland_join_Thompson_team.html
The Maryland's legislature's top Republicans will back Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, the campaign announced Friday. Senate Republican Leader David Brinkley and House Republican Leader Anthony O'Donnell will be co-chairmen of the Thompson campaign in Maryland. Chris Cavey of Baltimore County, a longtime GOP activist, will be state coordinator for the campaign, the Thompson camp announced.


EDITORIALS/OP-EDS

Miller's lament was wrong about Republicans
http://www.hometownglenburnie.com/vault/cgi-bin/gazette/view/2007G/10/13-03.HTM
With his partisan sound-bite guns blazing, Senate President Thomas "Mike" V. Miller, Jr. strolled into District 31 as if he was heading for the OK Corral.
He was promoting the leadership's plan for solving the state's financial problems and publicly chiding our local Republicans.
A recent article stated, "Mr. Miller doesn't expect any elected representative from District 31 - Sen. Bryan Simonaire, R-Pasadena; Del. Don Dwyer, R-Glen Burnie; Del. Nic Kipke, R-Pasadena; and Del. Steve Schuh, R-Gibson Island - or any other Republicans in the General Assembly to help fix the deficit" (Maryland Gazette, Oct. 6).
He went on to say, "Good Democrats are going to solve the problem, I'm not counting on one (Republican) vote . to help solve the problem."
If the leadership in Annapolis has their way, you can expect t he largest tax increase in the history of Maryland. When Mr. Miller says that he can not count on our local Republicans to vote for these taxes, he is absolutely correct. Representatives serve at the will of the people and I can tell you that my constituents are against these massive tax increases. Democrats and Republicans differ on how to resolve this problem, but the debate and solution should not be addressed in a one-party vacuum.Districts represented by Republicans account for over 1.5 million people in the state. To shut one party out of the discussions is detrimental to the well-being of all citizens. I would encourage the leadership to fulfill their campaign promises to work in a non-partisan collaborative way that advances our great state of Maryland.
State Sen. Bryan Simonaire, a Republican from Pasadena, represents the District 31.

Back to work
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-ed.special16oct16,0,1975428.story
Gov. Martin O'Malley has put much on the line with his decision to call the General Assembly into special session on Oct. 29.
We opposed a special session. Our preference would have been for such a complex proposal to undergo the fullest possible review and for public involvement to be maximized during a 90-day regular session with a budget in hand instead of a shorter-term whirlwind without one.But the governor's argument that waiting until January would put the state $500 million deeper in the hole has some merit as well. He is taking a big gamble; success is not guaranteed. If lawmakers come to Annapolis early but fail to approve a deficit plan, they'll still have to return in January to the same problem - with weakened leadership and little reason to expect a more favorable outcome.
To ensure support for his ambitious a genda in the General Assembly, the governor has adopted an all-or-nothing strategy.
All of it could sink under the weight of legalizing slots, however. It would be far better to decouple slots from the deficit reduction plan. Even with talk of a statewide slots referendum, the issue appears intractable. Let the slots proposal rise or fall on its own merits. It would be expected to contribute only $27 million to next year's budget anyway.

A responsible approach to the expansion of gambling in Maryland
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.slots16oct16,0,1872057.story
There are two major reasons to expand state gaming. One is the irrefutable evidence that Maryland is bleeding more than $400 million annually as our residents travel across state lines to gamble. The other is that most Marylanders simply want it.
Maryland's gambling policy should focus on recapturing lost money, bringing in new money, controlling state profits, minimizing social ills, keeping tight oversight of all in-state gaming and capitalizing on small business development. Only then will expanded gaming be a responsible piece of the solution to our budget woes.

The other party
http://www.gazette.net/stories/101207/policol43904_32361.shtml
What are the chances that the Maryland Republican Party can be a viable and credible opposition party in the state, perhaps even a party that has a shot at winning important elections? The prospects don't look particularly good right now.
The longer view may provide a less gloomy outlook for the party. There are indications that there is room for differences of opinion on major policy issues in the state, from how to d eal with the structural budget crisis to a range of important and substantive challenges that face Marylanders now and into the future.
If there is a future for the Republican Party in Maryland, it needs to start with policy ideas. The Republican Party needs to move from being a one-note group, whose only tune is being opposed to taxes, and needs to find some things to be in favor of. The short-term advocacy, which has certainly turned into a slippery slope, for slot machines as the painless panacea for the state's fiscal problems, didn't work out so well.
Being part of the solution to the ills of the Chesapeake Bay and other environmental problems would position the Republican Party in a way that it has steadfastly avoided to its peril. And, by the way, there's growing evidence that there will be lots of money to be made in the future in ''green technologies."

Between a rock and a hard place
http://www.gazette.net/stories/101207/poliras43905_32362.shtml
Dear Governor O'Malley: Now that you have climbed far out on a creaky limb, I thought this would be a good time to write you about what's happening. You surprised us in your first legislative session as governor by taking a cautious and generally low-key approach. That was made possible by the generosity of your 2006 opponent, Gov. Bob Ehrlich, who kindly left a surplus of several billion dollars when he turned the keys to the governor's mansion over to you and Katie.
But now it's time to face reality. Maryland is broke.
But now it's time to face reality. Maryland is broke. Legislators passed a $1 billion-plus school aid plan without a clue how to pay for it. They also went along with an income-tax tax cut to help one of your predecessors, Parris Glendening, get re-elected. This sucked hundreds of millions mor e out of the state's bank accounts. House Speaker Mike Busch is becoming a real obstructionist on this issue just as he was for former Governor Ehrlich.
Comptroller Peter Franchot takes every PR opportunity to add strong words of opposition, too, though no one in the legislature cares. Franchot doesn't have a vote any more. Still, delegates aren't rushing to endorse your plan.Your misfortune is being governor when those proverbial chickens - in this case turkeys - come home to roost.

NATIONAL NEWS

Ehrlich official crowds Gilchrest primary
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/ehrlich-official-crowds-gilchrest-primary-2007-10-15.html
Robert Banks, a member of former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich's (R) administration, entered the primary in Rep. Wayne Gilchrest's (R-Md.) district on Monday night, creating a crowded race that could aid the endangered centrist incumbent.
"I believe voters are looking for a change," Banks said. "Right now this race is dominated by candidates who have a combined three decades in elected office, but I believe voters are looking for a return to a real citizen legislature with people who have real life and real business experience." Banks currently serves as an executive at a technology company. He has also been an aide to former Rep. Helen Bentley (R-Md.).

Cardin stumps for override of Bush's health care veto in Hagerstown
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=176990&format=html
he did not mention U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett by name, Se n. Benjamin L. Cardin's focus was clear during a 30-minute speech Monday at the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown. "I urge all Americans to contact their members of Congress and urge them to override this veto," Cardin said, referring to President Bush's veto of a $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. As the only member of the Maryland congressional delegation to side with Bush on the issue, Bartlett, R-6th, has come under pressure from state and federal officials to change his position before Thursday, when the House is scheduled to vote on whether to override Bush's veto of the bill.