Life on State Circle comes to a close quite literally this week ? not just for this column, but for the occupants of the 230-year-old building. Everybody from the governor and his staff to the lowly scribes in the press pit are being dispersed to other buildings around Annapolis.
It?s not clear exactly where Gov. Martin O?Malley will spend his working hours. He already has an office suite at 6 St. Paul St. in Baltimore, he?ll have an office in the Jeffrey Building in Annapolis, and of course he has the governor?s mansion. Bob Ehrlich seemed to spend more time working in the study there than in the elegant State House office with the fireplace.
“Quite honestly, we roll around the state so much that our cars are probably where we spend most of our time,” O?Malley told reporters Tuesday.
The road ahead
Traveling around the state looks pretty good to the gov, who heads to Western Maryland on Saturday.
“With the conclusion of this session, there is the sense that some of the dark clouds have parted a little bit and that the road ahead is a little clearer,” O?Malley said. “These last 14 months have really been grueling.”
The traveler?s forecast is only “partly sunny.” O?Malley and legislative leaders frequently talk about how they “addressed” the structural deficit ? the whole justification for November?s special session. It was addressed the way you might nudge a lingering houseguest who has overstayed his welcome ? almost out the door, but not quite.
There is a lingering structural deficit of more than $200 million ? made slightly worse by new programs for the Bay ? but it won?t be permanently cured until slot machine gambling is approved by voters in the fall. “That?s a big question mark on the horizon,” O?Malley said. “We?re in the position of being more dependent on that than I think any of us would like.”
In an act reminiscent of Ehrlich?s fund raiding, $50 million was also siphoned from the $400 million a year that the special session added to the transportation trust fund. Inevitably, some road projects will be delayed.
Winners and losers
Pundits and bloggers like to compile lists of winners and losers in politics. By what right do we get to referee the plays and then set the goalposts where we want?
On such lists, how can the beleaguered Republican minority be anything but losers? Generally, they lose honorably, doing the best with what they?ve got. They stand up and offer arguments and amendments, making the best case for their conservative, limited-government positions. Most times, there are just not enough Democratic lawmakers who come close to sharing their views ? or who are willing to buck a partisan Democratic governor and leaders who control the levers of power.
There are the occasional victories, such as Sen. Rich Colburn?s last Saturday. The Eastern Shore Republican was able to push back the proposed Critical Areas building buffer zone on waterways from 300 to 200 feet. It is now just 100 feet. Sen. Bryan Simonaire, an Anne Arundel Republican, got another amendment passed on this measure ? one stating that decks with gaps for water to flow would not be counted as impermeable surfaces. (Yes, the legislature does indeed care about your deck if you live near the Bay or its tributaries.)
Conquering governor
Even if you don?t like O?Malley?s political philosophy, you have to concede that he?s in the winner?s circle after this session ? though perhaps the loser?s circle in the polls.
On Jan. 21, he released his 14-point legislative agenda. It was a green agenda, heavy on energy conservation and the environment, but also included crime (DNA database), veterans? health, BRAC and information technology. He compromised some to get legislation passed, but overall, with the exception of speed cameras, he won on 13 of his 14 proposals. That doesn?t include the repeal of the computer services sales tax, which was not initially on his agenda. Yet in repealing a tax he hadn?t proposed, he was able to get the higher income taxes on the wealthy that he had asked for in September.
He was also able to fund other initiatives he had promised, including a third year of tuition freezes at universities, a sharp contrast to Ehrlich?s university cuts that led to sharp tuition increases. We?ll have to see whether the pundits give O?Malley as much political credit as Ehrlich got blame.
