20071106 New Clips

News Clips

Nov. 6, 2007

STATE NEWS

Senate Panel To Vote On Tax And Slots Plan Today
http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=65286
It is day nine of the Maryland General Assembly's special session in Annapolis. The full House of Delegates held a brief session this morning, though no votes were taken on any of the governor's proposals to reduce the deficit. Aides to the speaker tell WBAL News, the House is likely to wait until the Senate votes on its version of the governor's tax and slots plan. Senate President Mike Miller says the Senate won't likely send any legislation to the House before Thursday.
The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee is set to vote on O'Malley's proposal to restructure Maryland's income tax structure. Senators have been pondering changes to the governor's plan, after compl aints from Montgomery County officials who say more of their constituents would be likely to pay higher income taxes under the governor's plan. That income tax proposal is generating money to reduce the structural deficit, which was the reason for the special session.
An Eastern Shore Republican on Monday sharply criticized Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to legalize slot machines in Maryland, saying a slots venue near Ocean City would "cannibalize" local businesses and jeopardize a "goose that lays a golden egg" for the state. Nevertheless, Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus said he didn't think the plan could be stopped. "It's well-greased," Stoltzfus said in an interview after a Senate Budget and Taxation Committee work session on the proposal. "It's going to go."
The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing this afternoon, on a plan to change eligibility requirements for the state's children's health insurance pro g ram. Republican Alex Mooney wants to lower those requirements, and require certain families to enroll in HMO's to get their health care.

Democrat Brochin to stand with GOP on taxes
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.brochin06nov06,0,6630976.story
Democratic leaders in the General Assembly remain confident they will pass Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed tax increases, but at least one member of their party says he will stand up with Republicans to stop them.
Sen. James Brochin, a conservative Democrat from Towson, said he will participate in any filibuster that Republicans attempt to derail the tax plan. "I'm a Democrat because we stand up for working families and small businesses, and this isn't helping either," he said. "It's raising their taxes. When was the last time a state taxed its way to prosperity?"
Brochin, who has long had a rocky relationship with the Democratic leadership in Annapolis, said he would rather see the end of annual inflation adjustments to education spending, cuts in aid to local governments, elimination of state support for private colleges and other cuts.

Brochin backs taxes filibuster
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20071106/METRO/111060071/1004
Sen. James Brochin, Baltimore County Democrat, officially said yesterday he would support a Republican effort to filibuster tax increases. Mr. Brochin said he has received thousands of calls and e-mails from constituents about a slate of tax increases proposed by Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat. He also said his constituents are "60 to 1" opposed to Mr. O'Malley's plans.& n bsp; "If there's a filibuster vote, it will be the tax vote that people are going to look at," said Senate Minority Leader David R. Brinkley, Frederick Republican. Republicans have not officially said they will attempt to block the proposed tax increases through unlimited debate, known as a filibuster, but they have considered such a move. The 14-member Senate Republican caucus would need to find four additional Democrats to join them in a filibuster. Democrats would have to find 29 votes to end such a debate and vote on tax increases.
House Speaker Michael E. Busch, Anne Arundel Democrat, began meeting with delegations from Baltimore and Montgomery and Prince George's counties yesterday to find votes to pass taxes and to put a measure to legalize slot machines on the 2008 ballot.

Miller gives slots a boost
Senate president says he won't block proposal for referendum
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.slots06nov06,0,7897980.story
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said yesterday that he won't block a proposed referendum on legalizing slot machines, putting the measure closer to approval in the General Assembly than it has been in years. "It's not the best answer, but the governor feels that he needs to go to a referendum to get through the House," Miller said. "If a bill passes the Senate, it will probably contain a referendum." Senate leaders said they expect the framework of O'Malley's bill to clear the Budget and Taxation Committee and make it to the full Senate by the end of the week.
In the Senate, that wil l likely mean O'Malley will need votes from Republicans, who have not taken a unified stand on the governor's slots bill. "The jury is still out," said Sen. David R. Brinkley, the minority leader, from Frederick County.

Currie: Slots will pass
http://www.examiner.com/a-1031193~Currie__Slots_will_pass.html
Several senators raised problems they had with Gov. Martin O'Malley's slot machine proposal during a Budget and Taxation Committee work session Monday. But its chairman, Sen. Ulysses Currie, predicted that once changes are made in the plan, "I think the votes are probably there to pass this."
Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus, a Lower Shore Republican who opposed slots even under Gov. Robert Ehrlich, made clear his disdain for the plan to put slot machines at Ocean D owns racetrack near Ocean City. Stoltzfus wanted to know why slots would be placed near the resort, whose merchants don't want the competition, but not at Rosecroft Raceway in Prince George's County.
Stoltzfus said the hotels of Ocean City already were full in summer, and he suggested that it was large contributions to O'Malley's campaign by the owner of Ocean Downs track that influenced the decision.
Two Western Maryland Republicans, Sens. George Edwards and Donald Munson, peppered Bryce with questions, but told The Examiner they might be willing to support slots with changes in the bill. Edwards was particularly concerned that a separate facility be built for the slots located at the state-financed Rocky Gap Resort in his district, a money-loosing project. He also wanted his low-income district to get some of the Geographic Cost of Education Aid promised to other counties in the slots bill.
To put the constitutional amendment designating slot site s on the 2008 ballot, 29 senators must vote for the bill, a number difficult to achieve without some Republicans.

Montgomery Tax Anxiety Makes Mark In the Senate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/05/AR2007110501672.html
The Maryland Senate is angling to pass a budget package that includes fewer tax increases and more spending reductions than Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has proposed to close a potential shortfall of at least $1.5 billion, the chamber's leader said yesterday. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) told reporters that Democrats who control his chamber are interested in accommodating Montgomery County leaders who have said O'Malley's proposed new top income tax bracket could be too onerous. Legislators from Montgomery, home to more high-income earners than any oth e r county, raised concerns about O'Malley's proposed overhaul of the state's income tax brackets. The governor's plan, aimed at making the brackets more progressive, would provide a modest tax break to most households but require the state's top income earners to pay several thousand dollars a year more. Many members of the Montgomery delegation told Busch that they would not support the governor's proposal unless a compromise is reached to reduce O'Malley's proposed 6.5 percent rate for the top bracket, said Del. Brian J. Feldman (D), chairman of the Montgomery House delegation, the state's largest. House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve (D-Montgomery) said the county's lawmakers will use their clout in both chambers to protect Montgomery's interests. "We're willing to work towards a sensible common ground," he said.
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) unveiled an alternative plan last week that would tax high-end earners at 5.5 percent. At a hearing last week, th e Maryland Chamber of Commerce said some business owners have said they might relocate their businesses to Northern Virginia from Montgomery if the governor's tax plan becomes law.


EDITORIALS/OP-EDS

Let voters have their say on slots
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/11_05-14/OPN
Just when we thought a consensus on slot machines was taking shape in the legislature, the lawmakers have returned to their old divisive ways. The tide seemed to be turning when Gov. Martin O'Malley, trying to get the legislature to pass the rest of his program to erase an enormous $1.7 billion deficit, agreed to a referendum on the issue. In other words, if the legislators can't make up their minds - particularly on short notice, during a special session - let the voters decide.
N o w, however, many legislators are saying they will oppose a referendum because they don't think the issue belongs in the state constitution.
We disagree. If the state constitution can contain, as it does, sections on Baltimore's off-street parking and residential loans, the legalization of gambling - a serious step that we still oppose - should be there as well.
Otherwise, at the whim of the politicians, the number of slot machines will multiply, new gambling locations will be added without voter consent, and casinos will eventually be approved.
There may be ways to improve this bill and ensure that taxpayers won't be chiseled. But it would be a mistake to miss the opportunity to give voters a chance to determine the fate of slots. We will continue to oppose slots, but we won't oppose giving voters the right to choose.

Foes exercised over sales tax
O'Malley plan to add health clubs, other services is resisted
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.salestax06nov06,0,941972.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout
enthusiast, has proposed taxing health clubs, tanning salons, saunas, massage parlors and property management. He wants to raise the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent. The added revenue would help close a projected $1.7 billion budget shortfall for the fiscal year that will begin in July. The across-the-board increase would cost residents far more overall, but extending the sales tax to additional services has drawn the most energetic resistance. Some lawmakers say the proposed taxation of health clubs and property management is among the ideas that might not survive the special session called by O'Malley, a Democrat, to address the budget shortfall.
The businesses that would be affected vigorously oppose being subje c ted to sales taxes and argue that the proposals would be unfair to small companies.
The Maryland Association of Realtors has launched a wide-ranging lobbying fight against the property management tax that includes rallies, an advertising campaign and e-mail. The group says Maryland has the nation's seventh-most-expensive rental market and that real estate is already subject to property taxes.Some legislators say the proposals aren't being subjected to enough public scrutiny. "The majority party is ramming this through without public input," said Sen. E.J. Pipkin, an Eastern Shore Republican. "Millions of Marylanders face the potential of paying 6 percent sales tax on goods and services that they don't even know about."

Low turnout, no surprises expected in city elections
http://www.balti m oresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.ci.voters06nov06,0,5862973.story
There have been no television commercials, no debates and only a smattering of yard signs, but Baltimore voters will come out to the polls for today's general election nonetheless - likely to affirm an outcome everyone expects.
In a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 8 to 1, the 11 candidates - seven Republicans, two Greens and two write-ins - who have lined up to take on the party in power face an especially daunting task.Lack of interest is expected to keep voter turnout low today and explains why the city's top polling official used one word to describe his office on the eve of the election: "Quiet." "A lot of people don't know there's an election," said Armstead B. Crawley Jones Sr., director of the city's Board of Elections.

Bel Air and Aberdeen voters heading to the polls today
Municipal candida t es make their final push
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-md.ha.elections06nov06,0,6305552.story
With the opening of the polls only hours away, candidates for office in Bel Air and Aberdeen fanned out yesterday in a final effort to win votes. Today, Bel Air will elect three of the five town commissioners, and Aberdeen voters will choose a mayor and the four members of the council. The Aberdeen race has included negative campaigns, and the election was nearly postponed after a rejected candidate sued the city to get on the ballot. Aberdeen's city manager, Douglas Miller, predicted high voter turnout.Twelve miles away, Aberdeen wrestles with growth issues related to military base realignment and questions of development after a failed annexation attempt last year. The city of 15,000 faces financial questions surround i ng Ripken Stadium, property taxes and its water supply.