House Republican leaders oppose Gov. Martin O?Malley?s call for a special session to pass tax increases, spending cuts and slot machine gambling, saying the governor?s assertion that most Marylanders will pay lower taxes was “at worst deceitful.”
“We think it?s a horrible idea to have a special session,” House GOP leader Tony O?Donnell, R-Calvert, said Monday. “We think it?s very ill-advised, very ill-timed.
“The math does not add up,” he added.
“I wouldn?t think that anyone should presume broad Republican support” for slots, O?Donnell said. Along with steeper budget cuts, it would cure next year?s deficit of at least $1.5 billion without raising taxes.
O?Donnell and Minority Whip Chris Shank listed several reasons why they opposed a special session:
» A special session could cost up to $34,000 a day.
» Two or three weeks is not enough time for a full airing of the proposals.
» O?Malley? budget and slot proposal should be taken up simultaneously.
Asked to respond, O?Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said, “Gov. O?Malley has put forward a comprehensive, long-term plan to address the structural deficit that reduces spending growth by more than a billion overtwo years, and makes our tax structure fairer for working families.”
