State Senate President Thomas Mike Miller told his Democratic caucus Wednesday that he was naming state Sen. Ed Kasemeyer as the new majority leader for the body and increasing the responsibility of the job.
“There will be an increased role for the majority leader,” Miller told The Examiner. “He will be the spokesman for the administration on the floor of the Senate,” helping to win passage of the initiatives of the new O?Malley team.
“He?s a moderate,” Miller said, and “a consensus-builder.” Kasemeyer will also have a new role in leading the Democratic caucus, helping to recruit Democratic candidates for the Senate and raising money to keep the majority in power.
Both are tasks that Miller himself had vigorously pursued.
The new appointment gives Kasemeyer a high visibility position in the race among Senate leaders to succeed Miller as president, who has said he will not seek re-election in four years. Kasemeyer, a 20-year Senate veteran, represents parts of both Baltimore and Howard counties in a district that stretches from blue-collar Lansdowne to liberal West Columbia. He was born in Baltimore, and raised in Howard County, where he now lives.
Kasemeyer has been the floor leader on a number of key legislative packages, such as the increase in the pensions for teachers and state employees in the last session.
“It?s exciting,” Kasemeyer said. “It?s a job that going to be very different.” Current Majority Leader Nathaniel McFadden, of Baltimore City, will become the Senate president pro-tem, who presides in the absence of Miller.
Kasemeyer said he?s trying not to focus on any impact the new post may have in the competition to succeed Miller, a race that may include all four Senate chairmen.
Kasemeyer currently serves on the Budget and Taxation Committee, where he chairs the Capital Budget Subcommittee.
He is the only senator from Baltimore County on the key committee that oversees state funding.
“There is no resident senator,” noted Sen. Delores Kelley of Randallstown. The third-largest jurisdiction in Maryland does not get its due “when there?s nobody in the room when the budget is being worked on.”
Kelley said she made her concerns known to Miller and Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith.
Sen.-elect Robert Zirkin, who represents northwest Baltimore County, said, “We do get our share. … Ed Kasemeyer has made sure that happens.”
