Gov. Martin O’Malley’s tax increases have eroded his popularity statewide and are having a significant political effect in Montgomery County, officials said Sunday.
Democrats in the county, which bears the heaviest burden under the new revenue-raising measures, say they will push for savings and cuts as a way to offset the impression that the state is trying to tax itself out of a budget hole.
Recommended Stories
“We’re not going to be able to just raise taxes and solve our problems,” County Council President Mike Knapp, a Democrat, told The Examiner.
A county budget shortfall and new local tax proposals further complicate the issue in Montgomery County. The council will meet Tuesday to discuss Executive Ike Leggett’s proposed cuts in overtime and other programs, Knapp said. For county Republicans, O’Malley’s tax package passed during the special legislative session late last year is seen as a chance to make inroads in their two-to-one disadvantage among county voters.
“It’s a major miscalculation by the governor about the citizenry,” said Dan Willard, first chairman of the Montgomery County GOP. “There’s of course concern about the unstable real estate market, the high cost of gasoline, and here’s one more tax.”
Willard and his party are already organizing a door-to-door campaign in the county to talk to residents about taxes. O’Malley’s approval rating has plummeted to 35 percent in the wake of the taxes passed during November’s special session, according to a statewide Baltimore Sun poll released Sunday.
The governor took office one year ago with 53 percent of the vote. He now ranks just slightly ahead of President Bush in popularity in strongly Democratic Maryland, according to the poll. “He’s given away all of his political capital on this special session,” pollster Steven L. Raabe told The Sun.
Republicans are hoping they can expand their base camp, and Democrats are rethinking their approach to public spending.
Local Republican Rachael Gingrich said, “I think there are some more liberal-leaning policies here. But people want good government, too.”
