Their cry was loud and unified: “No new taxes.” A series of demonstrations by taxpayer, conservative and Republican groups around the State House on Monday lead the way for Gov. Martin O’Malley’s call for a special session of the General Assembly where he was to give a short pep talk before legislators are to act on a series of taxes hikes.
“I?m going to stand up and oppose every stinking tax,” said Del. Donna Stifler, a freshman Republican from Harford County, typifying the comments of dozens of GOP lawmakers. Stifler said she was getting 80 to 100 e-mails and phone calls a day opposing any tax increases.
The late afternoon rally had been organized by the party and promoted on conservative talk shows for several days. “There aren?t enough people here,” Del. Don Dwyer, Anne Arundel, chided them. The crowd “ought to be lined up to the stadium.”
The Republican message was consistent: Maryland doesn?t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem, said a series of elected Republicans, who all reported being deluged with messages opposing the tax increases.
“What we?re witnessing today is the flight of common sense from Maryland,” said Del. Warren Miller, Howard County. “We don?t have a lot of time on the clock” to defeat these increases, the way public pressure had stopped in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants.
WHFS radio talk show host Ed Norris had organized his own impromptu anti-tax protest as he broadcast from Chick and Ruth?s deli on Main Street in Annapolis, while two dozen representatives of taxpayer and conservative groups had their own press conference on Lawyer?s Mall.
“The big taxers say we?re really a rich state,” said Dee Hodges, president of the Maryland Taxpayers Association, urging legislators to sign a “no new taxes” pledge.
Tax opponents weren?t the only demonstrators in the capital. Progressive Maryland, an organization of liberal social and labor groups, mounted its own quickly called rally to counter the Republican theme and support the governor?s tax package.
“We believe the governor?s package represents by far the best deal for working families,” said Sean Dobson, executive director of the Progressive Maryland. He said the group “will continue to lobby lawmakers to make this package even better, especially by adding more progressive revenue-raisers” and protecting Thornton school funding.
They plan on holding a bigger rally Nov. 6.
