Comptroller Peter Franchot continued to take swipes at Gov. Martin O'Malley's revenue proposal this morning, saying the governor is more concerned with legalizing slot machine gambling than fixing the state's projected budget deficit.

"It seems as if everything under the sun right now is beginning to be linked to slots," said Franchot, speaking to reporters after this morning's Board of Public Works meeting. "Looks like we are more interested in lining the pockets of the gambling industry than fixing the structural deficit."

Franchot, a Democrat and former delegate, has been an outspoken critic of slots. He also hasn't been shy about blasting the governor's decision to call the General Assembly into a special session with a mantra that the state is not in a fiscal crisis.

"I'm not even sure if there is consensus on what the problem is," he said referring to differing opinions on the state's projected deficit. The legislature's chief fiscal analyst told lawmakers yesterday that the projected shortfall is $1.5 billion, while O'Malley aides continued to refer to the figure as $1.7 billion.

Franchot's comments come a day after the administration made it clear that without a voter-approved slots plan, the governor would hold off on increased funding for health care and higher education.

"What benefit does it give the state to have a referendum on slot machines tied to higher education and health care?" he said. "To my former colleagues, I just say my goodness…. You're getting possibly nothing."

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
                    

It did not take long for legislators to hear their first budget analogy.

And no surprise it came from the dry wit of Warren Deschenaux, director of policy analysis of the Department of Legislative Services.

"You have a rather extensive menu in front of you,'' Deschenaux yesterday told a joint session of the House Appropriations, House Ways and Means, and Senate Budget and Taxation committees.

"I'm honored to be an hors d'oeuvre,'' he added.

Posted by Jim Drew at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Here's more from today's story:

Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. isn't just opposing Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to close the so-called "structural deficit" in Maryland's finances. Taking a position that puts him at odds with Maryland's business establishment, he also contends there's no need to replenish the state's Transportation Trust Fund.

Ehrlich, who pushed through a more than $200 million-a-year transportation revenue package in 2004, said that action provided sufficient money for the state's current transportation needs. The former governor discussed his views on transportation spending during and after an appearance at Professor Richard E. Vatz's advanced persuasion class at Towson University on Saturday.

The O'Malley administration, contending the state's transportation trust fund needs an infusion of more than $400 million a year to meet a backlog of unmet needs, has proposed an increase in the vehicle titling tax, indexing the gasoline tax to inflation  and other revenue measures to raise that money.

Some business groups have criticized O'Malley's initiative as insufficient. The Greater Baltimore Committee has been running ads contending the state needs $600 million a year for transportation.

A combative Ehrlich said he's dead-set against any revenue increases -- whether through the gasoline tax, the titling tax, etc. And he dismissed the GBC's call for additional transportation spending.

"The GBC has no credibility with me on anything and never has," he said. For the GBC to support a tax package is embarrassing. I have never looked to the GBC for any particular guidance on policy."

Update, as of 4:45 p.m.:   

GBC President Donald C. Fry, who was in Annapolis today to testify in favor of efforts to raise $600 million for transportation, said that position also enjoys the support on the Washington Board of Trade and the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. He noted that the state's three largest business groups supported Ehrlich's 2004 effort to raise transportation revenue.

Fry said the state has about 90 transportation projects -- with a cumulative cost of about $40 billion -- in the pipeline but without funding. He would not comment on Ehrlich's criticism, saying "we're not looking backward but are looking forward at this point."         



(Reported by Michael Dresser)

Posted by Mary Hartney at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Christopher Assaf, a Sun photographer, writes about covering the Special Session on his blog, Photo Edge.

He's intent on capturing light within darkness -- an apt metaphor? 

(Update: Here's another post, with a somewhat spooky picture of O'Malley on Halloween week.) 

Posted by Mary Hartney at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

At my gym last night, I noticed a flier on the check-in counter.

"To Arms! To Arms! Taxes are Coming!" it read, with some fancy-for-a-gym clip art of a Revolutionary War soldier. "Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is considering an expansion of the sales tax to include health club dues as part of a tax package to make up for the current $1.5 billion shortfall in the state budget."

It offered info on how to contact a representative, and the gym's Web site even links you out to a forum to do so.

I suppose a little negative reinforcement never hurt anyone, especially at the gym.

Here's a related story and video from WMAR-TV.

(Oh, and it's actually a $1.7 billion shortfall, but you already knew that.) 

Posted by Mary Hartney at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
                    

Two groups have begun voicing their discontent with Gov. Martin O'Malley’s plan to raise new tax revenue by legalizing slot machine gambling.

The Baltimore Board of Rabbis ran an advertisement in Friday's Jewish Times highlighting religious arguments against slot-machine gambling, a key component of O'Malley’s plan to eliminate a $1.7 billion projected budget shortfall. The ad appeared on the same day that O'Malley unveiled his proposal for a November 2008 referendum on allowing up to 15,000 slot machines at five locations.

The ad states that the "addictive nature of gambling" violates the Torah’s teachings.

"Judaism teaches us that social responsibility involves the constructive development of the world, and the support of civil institutions maintained by funds raised in appropriate ways," the ad says.

"Gambling, in contrast with this principle principal brings well-attested and deeply troubling social problems in its wake."

Meanwhile, at the Maryland NAACP’s 67th state convention in Ocean City over the weekend, civil rights leaders passed resolutions opposing the governor’s plan for slots as well as his proposal to increase the sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been a longtime foe of bringing slots to Maryland, warning that gambling dens would hurt low-income communities. But NAACP leaders also said that if slots are approved, they fear African-American firms would not be assured to receive the lucrative contracts that come with gaming.

"Around the country it’s the same," said Marvin "Doc" Cheatham, president of the Baltimore NAACP. "The money from slots do not go to black firms."

(Reported by Kelly Brewington)

Posted by Mary Hartney at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

A coalition of environmental groups plan to launch a weeklong radio ad starting tomorrow in the Baltimore and Washington regions, urging the Maryland General Assembly to support the latest version of the Green Fund.

The proposed fund would assess a fee on commercial and industrial properties to raise an estimated $85 million a year to clean up the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Groups including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the League of Conservation Voters had hoped that O’Malley would include the proposal in his plan to eliminate the projected $1.7 billion budget shortfall in next years budget, but he didn't. Nonetheless, the House Environmental Committee has a hearing scheduled Friday on the matter.

(Reported by Laura Smitherman)

Posted by Mary Hartney at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

In a sparsely-attended warm-up to a larger opposition rally scheduled at 4 p.m., a motley crew of speakers gathered for reporters just a few steps from the State House to denounce Gov. Martin O'Malley's tax proposals.

"Why can't our governor and his gang of spenders cut taxes instead of raising them?" said Dee Hughes, president of the Maryland Taxpayers Association. "The only thing I can think of is the grab for power. They think they are in a gold rush, but the gold isn't in the ground, it is in our wallets."

O'Malley has proposed overhauling the income tax structure to lessen the burden on lower- and middle-income Marylanders and to tax top earners much more; raising the corporate income tax rate from 7 percent to 8 percent; and increasing the sales tax rate from 5 percent to 6 percent. He would also cut the property tax by 3 cents per $100 in assessed value and double the cigarette tax to $2 a pack.

Flanked by a handful of supporters holding anti-tax signs, including one bearing a picture of a baby named Elijah begging that legislators not "TAX ME OUT" of the state, pastors, small business owners, anti-tax and anti-slots advocates railed against the slate of tax increases that were introduced to close a projected $1.7 billion budget deficit.

"Many of these legislators, and I've talked to them, don't want this," said Ray Kenney, owner of Pasadena Furniture, who said the proposed increase would hurt retail businesses already under siege from internet giants like Amazon.com.

Pastor Rick Bowers, who serves on the board of the Community Action Council of Howard County, accused O'Malley of setting voters up for a massive surplus that could give way to an election-year tax cut, an idea he attributed to Maryland's last democratic governor, Paris Glendening.

"That's exactly what he did, and it worked," Bowers said. "They've done it once, and they were successful. I believe they want to do it again."

The press conference was organized by the Maryland Taxpayers Association and SmartGov.net, a state PAC.

A spokeswoman for O'Malley declined to respond directly to the statements.

"The governor respects everyone's opinion," said Christine Hansen. "He's proposed a fair and comprehensive solution to the state's structural deficit and most Marylanders will pay less under his plan."

Posted by Brad Olson at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)