Gov. Parris N. Glendening warned yesterday that money for a range of hometown projects precious to legislators -- including renovating Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre -- won't be available unless the General Assembly approves his call for a $1 increase in the per package price of cigarettes.
Equally important in his funding decisions, Glendening said, is the fate of his broader legislative initiatives. Delegates and senators who don't back his programs, he said, won't be pleased with his decisions on theirs.
"It's common sense," he said, "No one should expect to say I need these two projects in my community, and by the way I'm voting against your entire program."
Though the governor said he is optimistic about the fate of his legislative package, he said he's looking for help with several initiatives: putting into law his executive order granting limited collective bargaining rights to state employees; providing scholarships for students with at least a B-average who want to teach; extending civil rights protections to gay Marylanders; and increasing the tobacco tax.
Recent studies in Alaska and Oregon, Glendening said, prove that a substantial increase in the cost of cigarettes deters teen-agers from becoming addicted. "People understand how it works," he said. "Even many smokers are for it."
If the tobacco levy passes, he said, he will send the General Assembly a supplemental budget in the range of $50 million to $100 million -- but said it would be far less or even nonexistent if the tax is defeated.
"The size of the supplemental will depend in part on how well our programs do," he said. Making that overtly political linkage, he said, is important and appropriate: "We have a mandate" from the voters, he said. "These were the things we ran on in [last year's] election."
Asked what would happen if legislators decided he was bluffing, Glendening said he has an alternative strategy: "Prudent fiscal policy might suggest we put any additional surpluses into the reserve fund."
The House Ways and Means Committee approved the tobacco tax bill yesterday, sending it to the House floor. Its prospects there are uncertain, and it faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
The governor began this Assembly session by linking $27 million in construction on university campuses and various other projects to the tobacco tax increase -- and yesterday's comments made local projects part of that chain.
Glendening chose to restate his point during a tour of downtown Baltimore's Hippodrome Theater, whose renewal is designed to revive both the romance of the city and its economic vitality. The playhouse that welcomed Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner and other stars would get $1.8 million in additional state funds this year if the tobacco tax passes.
The governor told a gathering of project supporters that he was enthusiastically committed to the project and would provide money in his supplemental budget -- if he decides to submit one. But a new life for the still majestic but crumbling old theater depends on the outcome of what he called the "dynamics" of support for his bills in the General Assembly.
In an interview later, Glendening said he has $270 million in public works requests on his desk -- not all of which can be approved under any circumstance.
Glendening said he was making legislators aware of the connection he sees between their votes and support for his program. "These are things I am personally committed to," he said. "I'm fighting, fighting hard for them."
Now in limbo, along with the Hippodrome, are projects in many parts of the state, including a $3.6 million bond bill for a science cen- ter at Salisbury State University; a $5 million bond bill for the Cal Ripken stadium in Aberdeen; and the $10 million One Maryland economic development program proposed by House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr.
In Baltimore yesterday, Glendening learned again that public works projects can generate concern as well as hope.
Carrying signs that read "Save Our Businesses," merchants stood inside the blighted Hippodrome urging Glendening and Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to include them in the $53 million renovation plan. Joined by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, Glendening and Townsend tried to reassure the merchants who fear losing their businesses as a result of the renewal plan.
The west side project involves condemning 127 downtown properties, including the block surrounding the Hippodrome.
The 1914 theater would become the city's performing arts center and the focal point of a $350 million, 18-block rehabilitation of downtown.
Glendening's visit lent more momentum to the project, which received a boost earlier in the week from a NationsBank pledge to offer $100 million in loans and investment.
City officials view this area as the last piece of a renewal needed to link Charles Center with the Inner Harbor to the east and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, to the west. Glendening said he wants city leaders to assure him that the surrounding neighborhood will be enhanced.
"I believe the lights of the Hippodrome can shine bright again," he said. "But this is not just about one project. The facility will not survive unless we take care of the surrounding community."
Pub Date: 3/20/99