20071031 News Clips

News Clips

Oct. 31, 2007

STATE NEWS

Ehrlich keeps profile high, options open
Some infer preparation for a political comeback
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.ehrlich31oct31,0,793656.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout

Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. seems to be everywhere. He and his wife, Kendel, take calls on a weekly radio show. He's exhorting Marylanders to oppose his successor's tax and slots plan - an "insulting, phony piece of junk," he says. He has written a newspaper op-ed piece chastising the new administration. He's talking to college students at Towson University and fills in later this week behind the counter of an Annapolis-area coffee shop. What, exactly, is Bob Ehrlich up to?

"It looks very much to me that he really wants to make a political comeback," said Matthew Crenson, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University. "He has done everything he can to keep himself in the public eye."

"Any former governor, especially one at Bob Ehrlich's young age, can be a public policy player, and I think any good politician would proceed at a manner that leaves their options open," said Kevin Igoe, a Republican strategist.

Still, some Democratic lawmakers believe that Ehrlich is playing a behind-the-scenes role in Annapolis, pushing legislators to defeat a plan that O'Malley says is needed to close a projected $1.7 billion gap.

But Del. Christopher B. Shank, the House minority whip from Western Maryland, who has appeared on Ehrlich's radio program, rejected that view.
Shank and other Republican leaders said they welcome the forum that Ehrlich has provided on his radio program to foster debate on state issues.

"He certainly is reminding his listeners and the public of these issues," said Sen. David R. Brinkley, the minority leader from Frederick County. "Anytime you have an individual who can get the public interested and activated, how is society harmed by that?"

Brown ties BRAC economic promise to tax plan

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-md.brac31oct31,0,2674086.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout
The economic promise for Maryland of military base realignment could falter if lawmakers fail to approve tax increases the O'Malley administration is seeking to upgrade highways and transit systems, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown warned yesterday.

Brown, who is overseeing the administration's base-growth planning, said the state's ability to absorb up to 60,000 new jobs around its military installations may depend on finding the money needed to widen highway s and expand transit serving Aberdeen Proving Ground, Fort Meade and other facilities over the next few years.

Minority business owners have complained of being ignored or shut out of lucrative federal contracts, particularly a $477 million job recently awarded to build offices at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin said in a telephone interview from Washington yesterday that he is pressing the Department of Defense, the Small Business Administration and other federal agencies to report to him on what steps they are taking to ensure that minority businesses get a shot at base-related contracts in Maryland.

City's eye on slots site
Favored location is warehouse area south of stadiums
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.ci.gateway31o c t31,0,3597868.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout
An 11-acre warehouse district south of Baltimore's sports stadiums would become the home of a new slots facility under a proposal by Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration that officials said could cut city property taxes, The Sun has learned.
If the statewide proposal to legalize slot machines is approved, Dixon would push the site - which is owned almost entirely by the city - as the best option to keep gambling out of residential neighborhoods and give Baltimore greater control over the facility's operation.
As part of the proposal, the city would rent the land to a private company and use the proceeds to reduce Baltimore's property tax rate and help build 10 schools.
"Even if this measure passes, there will be a year of advocacy groups on both sides of the issue lobbying for voter support," Polakoff said. "Come November 2008, voters will vote on this, and not until then will we know that any of this is even a reality." Some noted that, during Orioles and Ravens games, surrounding neighborhoods become swamped with traffic and parking headaches. They questioned the impact that a year-round slots facility might have. Others object to the proposal for broader, anti-gambling reasons.

O'Malley ties plan to fund tax break, voters' OK of slots
Expansion of Medicaid benefits, more for school construction, also linked
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-te.md.taxes31oct31,0,3300896.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout
Gov. Martin O'Malley has tied voter approval of legalizing slot machine gambling to funding of his plans for a property tax cut for homeowners, expansion of the Medicaid program for childless adults, and a boost in spending for school construction.
If the General Assembly places a slots referendum on the November ballot next year and voters approve it, the state would get enough revenue to offset a proposed 3-cent property tax cut for homeowners from fiscal year 2010 through 2012 - and also hundreds of millions more for health care and higher education, Joseph C. Bryce, O'Malley's legislative director, told lawmakers yesterday. But if voters reject the slots constitutional amendment, then the state won't be able to reduce its property tax rate, Bryce said at a joint session of three legislative committees reviewing O'Malley's budget plan.

Senate Minority Leader David R. Brinkley, a Republican who represents Carroll and Frederick counties, asked Bryce about Comptroller Peter Franchot's recent statement that the state does not face an "immediate fiscal crisis" because the current budget is balanced.

Brinkley said O'Malley's projections of state revenue from legalizing slot-machine gambling - $59 million in fiscal year 2010, $459 million in 2011, and $724 million in 2012 - show that the legislature does not have to take action during the special session.

Majority favor slots
County residents favor some tax rises, not others, poll finds
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-ar.survey31oct31,0,7948652.story
Anne Arundel County residents' opinions are decidedly mixed on Gov. Martin O'Malley's tax proposals to balance the state budget, with strong majorities favoring raising taxes on businesses and high-income earners but opposing increases in the sales and car-titling taxes, according to a new survey. The Anne Arundel Community College poll, released yesterday as state lawmakers returned to Annapolis for a special session to weigh O'Malley's tax package, found that 6 1 percent of respondents support bringing slots to Maryland.

Nearly half (47 percent) said a greater focus should be placed on cutting state programs than raising taxes. Nearly three in 10 (27 percent) said the emphasis should be on raising taxes.

Republicans have opposed the suggested tax increases. Some lawmakers in both major parties have expressed unease about O'Malley's proposed referendum on slots that would allow up to 15,000 machines in five Maryland locations, including 4,250 in Anne Arundel County, presumably at Laurel Park.

State legislature begins debate on O'Malley plan
http://www.capitalonline.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/10_30-30/GOV
Against a divisive background of protest and partisan dissent, Gov. Martin O'Malley opened the General Assembly's special session yesterday preaching the need to find consensus. From increasing the sa l es tax from five to six cents on the dollar to reforming the income tax and hiking the corporate tax from 7 to 8 percent, Mr. O'Malley's sweeping plan will affect the pocketbooks of every Marylander. Before the legislature went into session, nearly 200 people gathered at Lawyers Mall to protest Mr. O'Malley's tax proposals. Holding signs that read "Stop O'Malley's Massive Tax Hikes" and "Welcome to O'Malley-fornia," people chanted, "No more taxes."
"The people are already out of money," Sen. Janet Greenip, R-Crofton, said at the rally. "All we need (to solve the deficit) is for government to live within its means."
At the moment, Republican senators and many Republican delegates have withdrawn their support for legalizing slot machines. This endangers Mr. O'Malley's slots plan, which would establish 15,000 machines at five locations, with 4,250 of them in Laurel.

The license fees would be much more expensive, raising $850 million next year versus t he $50 million in the governor's plan, said Mr. Schuh, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. "It accomplishes everything (the governor) is trying to accomplish, plus it helps solve the deficit," he said. "It will enable him to rely less on taxes."

O'Malley links tax cuts, health coverage to slots
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071031/METRO/110310078/1004
Gov. Martin O'Malley yesterday warned that if his plan to legalize slot machines is rejected, he will not cut property taxes, freeze college tuition, increase spending on school construction or expand health care coverage. "Because of the necessity of sending slots to referendum to forge that consensus, we needed to adjust some of the startups and some of the enhancements within this plan to accommodate for its success or its failure." However, Democrats and Republicans who returned to Annapolis on Monday for a special assembly session to resolve the budget issue were apprehensive of his new strategy.
"I think holding things hostage is not necessarily a good plan," said Sen. John C. Astle, Anne Arundel Democrat.
House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell, Southern Maryland Republican, said, "I wish he would stop threatening people. It's very unbecoming of him." The O'Malley administration also would scrap devoting 50 percent of corporate income tax revenue as a steady source of money for higher education, if slots are not approved.
And Mr. O'Malley would limit his plans to expand health care coverage to 100,000 of 800,000 uninsured Maryland residents.
Lawmakers began hearings on the governor's plan to cut education funding yesterday and heard from budget analysts who said they estimated that the shortfall is now $1.5 billion.

County targets income tax plan
Delegation says Montgomery will bear too heavy a burden
http://www.gazette.net/stories/103107/montnew90613_32356.shtml
Montgomery lawmakers are crafting an alternative to Gov. Martin O'Malley's income tax plan that would shift collections away from the county, which they say is unjustly burdened by the plan.

''The majority of the delegation is opposing the governor's plan," said Sen. Rona E. Kramer (D-Dist. 14) of Olney. ''They feel Montgomery County contributes a very, very large portion of the tax rate and it gets very little back." O'Malley's plan is designed to make the tax brackets more progressive - that is, have lower-income families pay a smaller portion of their wages in taxes and have we a lthier filers pay more. Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville has introduced legislation to repeal a 1997 tax cut that reduced the top rate from 5 percent to 4.75 percent and doubled the personal exemption to $2,400.
Lawmakers say this benefits Montgomery. O'Malley's plan draws 83 percent of its income from the county; eliminating the tax cut means 25 percent of the income comes from Montgomery.

Today: Gas, Corporate Tax Hearing; Calls For Cuts In County Aid
http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=65048

Hearings resume today in Annapolis as the special session of the Maryland General Assembly enters its third day.

Members of four legislative committees hold a joint hearing this morning on Governor Martin O'Malley's transportation funding plan which the governor says is needed to pay for overdue road and bridge construction projects.

That package includes a plan to boost the gasoline tax from 23.5 to 24-cents per gallon in January. Future annual increases would be tied to construction costs.The governor also repeated his warning today of dramatic cuts in state services, including the closings of State Police barracks, and state parks, if lawmakers do not approve his tax and slots plan that he says is needed to eliminate a structural budget deficit of up to $1.7-billion.

O'Malley told WBAL News that the cuts could take effect before July 1, when the new fiscal year for the state begins.

Aides to Governor O'Malley have told lawmakers voters must approve a slots referendum next year, if they want to see cuts in the state's property tax, or expand health insurance for the uninsured.

Governor O'Malley says that's because the state won't realize the $500-million slots will generate annually, unless the referendum is approved. O'Malley says he's advocating the referendum to try to end the heated debate over a slots law that he says may not pass.

EDITORIALS-OP-EDS

Halloween goes all tasteful
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.vozzella31oct31,0,4963624.column
Martin O'Malley's critics say he's a spender. Can't prove it by the Halloween decorations at the governor's mansion. The hundreds of tax protesters who rallied on Lawyers Mall this week might have taken heart if they'd glanced at Government House next door: Two ghosts and a scarecrow. Hay bales. Cornstalks. A pair of leaf wreaths. Some mums. Call it classic Annapolis. Understated. Dignified. I say, skimpy. Under the top. A little, well, Montgomery County.

In raising Maryland's vehicle titling tax, take trade-ins into account
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.titletax31oct31,0,884498.story
A proposal to raise the vehicle titling tax by 20 percent is scheduled for a hearing in the Maryland General Assembly today. Legislators have an opportunity to align Maryland's vehicle taxation process with the 44 states that deduct the value of a trade-in when calculating sales tax on a vehicle purchase.

Maryland automobile dealers recognize the need for increased transportation funding. But when a customer trades in a used vehicle with value and is still taxed as if the old vehicle is worthless, that represents double taxation. Therefore, state automobile dealers have made a proposal to Gov. Martin O'Malley and the General Assembly: Increase the titling tax from 5 percent to 6 percent, but tax consumers only on the difference between the new vehicle price and the value of a use d car trade-in.

These are not happy days for Maryland dealers. The climate for automobile sales is the worst we've seen in a decade, and economists predict the worst is yet to come. If Maryland consumers are not purchasing vehicles now, why will they purchase when the titling tax is increased 20 percent? Maryland is not making any money unless a car dealer sells a vehicle.

Increasing the titling tax by 20 percent and assessing tax on the used car trade difference is a reasonable solution that would benefit the state and Maryland consumers alike.

High stakes in the special session
http://www.gazette.net/stories/103107/montedi45529_32355.shtml
When running for the highest office in the state, Gov. Martin O'Malley deftly sidestepped the difficult question of how he would manage the growing deficit in Maryland's budget. In his first ye a r, the governor sidestepped the difficult question again. He told state agencies to tighten their belts - not exactly the kind of efficiency miracle he promised. And then he tapped the state's reserve account, pulling some $900 million from the so-called rainy day fund.
So, here we are headed into year two and the governor is out of time and soon, out of money.
His answer: Create perhaps the most widespread, far-ranging tax increases in the history of Maryland dribbled out bit-by-bit to the public and then pushed in a special session of the legislature in an atmosphere of panic and dire warning that we are in for ''a very, very bad time" if we don't adopt his program.
In short, the special session that kicked off this week is a fabricated, unnecessary crisis.
The fear is that Governor O'Malley will push through a package of ill-conceived policies that will encumber Marylanders long after he has moved on in pursuit of grander political ambitions.
So, governor, let's slow this train down. Let's examine our options thoughtfully and reach a consensus that can stand the test of time for Marylanders.