Stop by the office of almost any Maryland lawmaker this week, and you’ll probably find the lights off and nobody home. Leave a message for any lobbyist registered in the state, but don’t expect a reply anytime soon.
But if your job is running Maryland government — or trying to influence it — you’ll be in Ocean City, along with about 2,000 other elected leaders, lobbyists and corporate sponsors for four days of sand, seafood, sunrise yoga and meetings sprinkled in between.
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The gathering’s annual crab fest and long nights at beach-side bars with lobbyists picking up the tabs are derided perennially for the way they let special interests pay to cozy up to Maryland’s elected leaders.
Arguably, however, the most powerful lobbyist again this year won’t be anyone forced to wear a badge saying so, but the group of county officials that puts on the state’s summertime political juggernaut.
The Maryland Association of Counties, or MACo, as it’s known in state power circles, holds one of the best track records in Annapolis for killing proposals it dislikes and greasing the wheels to pass legislation it wants. And the group’s not-to-be-missed August gathering doubles as its not-so-subtle launch for a yearly blitzkrieg of lobbying.
The organization focuses almost exclusively on one goal: keeping money and power flowing from the state to monied and powerful Maryland counties.
And with Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) again tiptoeing toward recommending cuts to the group’s coveted sources of revenue and influence, the focus of MACo — pronounced “may-co” — is again laser-like as lawmakers head to the beach.
“Maryland counties are some of the most powerful nationwide. They have single-handedly killed legislation that some people think would have benefited the state,” said Donald F. Norris, chairman of the public policy department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
With a membership that includes all 23 Maryland counties and Baltimore, MACo derives part of its power from having state lawmakers from its liberal urban areas and rural conservative ones seek to do its bidding in Annapolis. Part of the group’s largess also comes from the size of some counties. Montgomery alone has a budget larger than those of almost a dozen U.S. states.
“They’re big, and this year they will have another fight: O’Malley is trying to get the camel’s nose a little further into the tent,” Norris said. “But it won’t be easy. Power in Maryland tips very, very much in favor of MACo.”
Thanks to decades of effective lobbying, MACo is largely the reason counties set teachers’ pay even as the state is responsible for paying most rising pension costs, calculated on high salaries it doesn’t control. It’s why Maryland counties are among the only ones in the country with the power to set their own income tax and leave the mess of collecting the money to the state. And it’s why, despite decades of attempts by Maryland governors to pass statewide guidelines for smart growth, counties have kept the state’s hands off lucrative development and land-use decisions, which has also led to corruption in some counties.
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