O'Malley takes his time in new role

The Baltimore Sun

In his inaugural address, his budget and his first State of the State speech, Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley showed a desire to proceed deliberatively and build consensus on how to tackle problems such as the budget, education and the environment.

But Democrats in the legislature -- used to acting on their own during Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s term -- are not waiting for O'Malley to take the lead.

Legislators are the ones pushing efforts to ban smoking in bars, abolish the death penalty and establish strict pollution limits for cars -- initiatives that have been adopted in more liberal states. In the cases of the car legislation and the death penalty, the governor has signed on to the legislature's initiatives, not the other way around.

And lawmakers are also working to tackle some of the most complicated issues the state faces. Rather than following O'Malley's lead, the powerful heads of standing committees in the state Senate and House of Delegates are developing long-range plans to cut by half the number of Marylanders without health insurance, revamp the state's tax structure and reconsider electricity deregulation.

"I think what has happened over the last four years is that because there were not specific, well-thought-out policies from the executive branch, the legislature stepped into the vacuum," said former Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat.

Republicans also say the legislature became more activist under Ehrlich -- though they believe that some measures, such as an increase in the minimum wage and a requirement that Wal-Mart pay more for health care, were wedge issues tailored to the election, not leadership.

Many in Annapolis expect O'Malley to take more of a role in setting the agenda once he acclimates himself. Aides say he is intent on devoting this session to ideas that have the support of a broad consensus to demonstrate to voters his ability to get things done. More divisive policies will come later, after he has had time to sell them to the public, his aides say.

For now, though, legislators are driving the agenda.

It was House Speaker Michael E. Busch, not the governor, who set the goal for reducing the number of uninsured. Del. Peter A. Hammen, the Baltimore Democrat who is chairman of the Health and Government Operations Committee, said he "assembled a number of policy wonks" last summer to start working on a comprehensive bill to improve health care access.

That bill will be introduced Tuesday, he said. His approach focuses on expanding eligibility for Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for low-income families, along with other measures, including plans to allow employers to obtain health insurance on a pre-tax basis and a requirement that insurers offer coverage for children on their parents' polices up to the age of 25. O'Malley has adopted some of those provisions in his own legislative agenda.

Hammen said O'Malley's chief legislative aide, Joseph Bryce, attended some of the task force meetings, as did Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown. But, he said, it is a legislative initiative.

"I am pretty excited about it," he said.

Del. Dereck E. Davis, the chairman of the Economic Matters Committee from Prince George's County, held a briefing last week on electric industry restructuring, a dry and complex topic but one that became the hottest issue of last year's General Assembly session because of sharply rising BGE rates.

He said he is not ready to introduce comprehensive reform legislation but is working to find consensus with Sen. Thomas M. Middleton, the Finance Committee chairman, on renewable energy programs and other initiatives. But so far, Davis said, that conversation does not involve the executive branch.

"I am hoping at some point in time to sit down, if not with the governor, then [with] Joe Bryce, to discuss this issue and have the same conversation I am having with Chairman Middleton," Davis said. "Hopefully, we can get to that, but we are not there yet."

In the House Ways and Means Committee, Del. Sheila E. Hixson, the chairwoman from Montgomery County, held a briefing two weeks ago on Maryland's tax structure. The briefing was a preliminary step toward a comprehensive tax reform plan, likely to be a major focus of next year's session.

"In some ways it is good, in some ways it is bad," Hixson told her committee members about the tax structure. "But you may get a chance to change it sometime soon."

Del. Kumar P. Barve, the House majority leader who is chairman of the Ways and Means subcommittee dealing with taxes, said he is familiarizing himself with the system, looking for loopholes and considering options. He said he sees no need to wait for the governor or the legislature to establish a commission to examine the issue.

"Oh my God, no," he said. "We have a commission. It is called the Ways and Means Committee."

The administration has not been involved, but he said that makes sense, given that O'Malley is still trying to fill his Cabinet.

It usually takes time for a new governor to find his way in Annapolis, and O'Malley, a former Baltimore mayor who steps into the job without state government experience, has been pleading for patience.

Ehrlich stumbled in his first year when he was unable to pass legislation legalizing slot machines, and though he later had notable successes, he never fully recovered. Glendening and his predecessor, William Donald Schaefer, both had difficulty adjusting in their first years in office, too.

O'Malley appears determined not to repeat that pattern.

In his State of the State speech Wednesday, the governor noted that it was just "14 days into the four years the people have given to us to make progress," and he cautioned that "we cannot resolve every unsettled issue in just 90 days." And he turned to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller at one point in his speech and told him that he was "grateful for your patience ... as we assemble a professional Cabinet."

The reference to Miller was, on one level, because his chamber has the task of confirming O'Malley's appointees. But it was also because Miller, more than other leaders in Annapolis, has publicly chafed at the slow pace of the O'Malley administration, saying it should be farther along in its appointments and should work to resolve the state's long-term budget problems this year.

Ultimately, legislators and other Annapolis watchers say, the dynamics between the legislature and the governor will probably return to their old patterns.

Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, the House minority leader from Southern Maryland, said the relationship between the two branches has changed since Ehrlich took office, but he added that he thinks the carryover into the O'Malley administration is just a function of the honeymoon period in Annapolis. When the legislature starts doing things O'Malley disagrees with, he will probably put a stop to it, O'Donnell said.

"That model may not last very long when ideas and ideologies start clashing," O'Donnell said. "We'll see."

Middleton said the legislature will try to find solutions to the budget troubles the state faces in the next few years. But he said the hardest part of the job is something only O'Malley can do: convincing the public that there is a problem and getting people to buy into the solution. Middleton said he was delighted to see O'Malley use his speech Wednesday to do just that.

"We don't have it," Middleton said, referring to the ability to communicate with voters statewide. "He does, and he is using it very wisely."

Glendening said he expects Annapolis to return to the pre-Ehrlich dynamics just as soon as O'Malley gets situated.

"You will see a lot of specific and aggressive policies come from him, and we will go back to the normal order," Glendening said. "The old joke is, the normal order is the governor proposes and the legislature disposes [of legislation]. Hopefully, the governor proposes and the legislature refines, and I think we will get back to that."

andy.green@baltsun.com

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