Republican legislators came out swinging at Gov. Martin O?Malley?s tax plan and the “liberal leadership” of the Maryland Senate and House on Tuesday, throwing digs at O?Malley?s three-day trip to Ireland that begins tonight.
“I?d leave the country, too,” said House GOP Leader Tony O?Donnell, if he had proposed such a massive tax increase.
“I don?t think any of us here are going to Ireland when we have a budget crisis,” said Senate Minority Whip Allan Kittleman, Carroll-Howard.
O?Donnell also thanked O?Malley for the statewide tour promoting his plan to raise $1.5 billion in new revenues with a series of tax hikes to fill a looming deficit.
Marylanders have “gotten the message loud and clear, and they don?t like it,” O?Donnell said.
O?Malley offered a bit of an olive branch to the Republicans Monday as he ordered a special Oct. 29 session of the legislature. “I know that there are some things here that you won?t be able to support,” the governor said, but he hoped to have more conversations with them. At the same time, he rejected budget cuts House Republicans proposed in this year?s budget.
The Republicans said they can?t see much of anything in his plan they can support. They don?t like any of the taxes, they don?t like his slots plan ? especially if it includes a referendum ? they want more spending cuts and they are “united in opposition” to a special session.
“We have not been consulted on this. We are not part of the discussion,” O?Donnell said. “The governor has rejected our proposals out of hand.”
Kittleman said it was “sad” when the governor last week said they didn?t deserve their paychecks because they were “doing nothing” to resolve the budget crisis. He said the Republicans have been working for months to resolve the deficit without raising taxes.
O?Malley?s staff has said the House Republicans, who favor putting 15,000 slots at six locations, have refused to detail their budget cuts to make up the rest of the deficit. But O?Donnell said, “Our plan has at least as much detail as the governor?s plan.”
“If they?re willing to work with us in good faith, we?re willing to sit down with them,” O?Donnell said. But “we?re not going to provide political fodder” by revealing budget cuts so “they can turn around and whack us over the head” with unpopular cuts.
