Stormy Session Ahead After Veto Of Insurance Bill

"Nothing would have compared to having a signing ceremony here," Gov. Ehrlich said. (Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)

Democratic leaders and several of the interest groups that have traditionally supported them also held a series of rallies yesterday painting the governor with sharp rhetoric.

At one event, organized by a coalition of advocates for health-care consumers, Bishop Douglas I. Miles of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance called Ehrlich "Governor Stumbling Block."

The discord could prove to be an obstacle for both the governor and legislative leaders as the 2005 session progresses over the next 90 days. To date, neither the governor nor leading lawmakers have showcased their legislative agendas nor provided much detail about the state's nearly $25 billion budget. Fights loom on education spending as well as on such incendiary issues as stem cell research and the minimum wage.

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D), who has designs on the governor's mansion in 2006, said at one gathering that Ehrlich has brought "Capitol Hill-style politics" to Annapolis.

Comparisons to the gridlock in Congress were coming from both sides of the dispute. Former governor Marvin Mandel, a Democrat who has become a close ally of Ehrlich's, said the atmosphere has changed dramatically in three decades.

When he served as House speaker under the state's last Republican governor, Spiro T. Agnew, Mandel said, the two branches sparred over politics but came together to shape policy.

"In those days, you could just sit down and work things out," Mandel said. "That's gone."

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), a former Senate president, said he, too, has noticed the change in tone in Annapolis. But unlike Mandel, Hoyer pointed the finger at Ehrlich.

In part, the slide toward partisanship was inevitable. Until Ehrlich's election, Democrats had a solid grip on state government. Republicans, by their own admission, lacked the stature in the legislature to do much more than cast stones from the back row.

Hoyer said the new dynamic has made it more important than ever that Democrats unify, but that goal has remained elusive. For two years, Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) have sparred over the governor's slot machine gambling proposals, leaving an impression that division in Annapolis was largely a legislative problem.

But during the special session, Democrats showed the potency of tackling a problem as a united force, Hoyer said. Party Chairman Terry Lierman said he believes that legislative leaders will build on that. "This was the classic example," Lierman said, "of what can get done when we stick together."

In recent days, Ehrlich has signaled that he recognizes the need to work with Democrats to get things done.

At a news conference last week announcing new transportation projects, Ehrlich repeatedly thanked Democrats who supported his call last year to raise vehicle registration fees, which made the projects possible. "This had nothing to do with partisanship," he said.

When he arrived in Annapolis in 2003, Ehrlich confronted a legislature in which Democrats hold not only majorities in both chambers, but majorities large enough to override his vetoes. Democrats hold 98 of 141 House seats and 33 of 47 Senate seats.

Republicans point to several issues where Ehrlich has brought enough Democrats on board to push legislation through the General Assembly, most notably the passage of a Chesapeake Bay cleanup initiative that pays for upgrades to treatment plants through a surcharge on sewer fees.

But some argue that Ehrlich has failed to used the powers of his office to their full effect.

Busch pointed to Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) as a model for this, recalling the audacious effort Warner led last year to revamp the tax code and pass a hefty tax increase despite almost-certain objections from the Republican-controlled legislature. During a recent public meeting, Comptroller William Donald Schaefer (D) argued that Ehrlich should compromise less and flex the muscle of his office more. Schaefer, a former governor and frequent Ehrlich ally, told the governor he needs to use the "raw power" that comes with the office, such as threatening to withhold money for new schools or roads in lawmakers' districts. "Three men run the state," Schaefer also said, referring to Ehrlich, Busch and Miller. "I'm tired of it."

At yesterday's news conference, Ehrlich seemed to be pointedly aware of the sentiment that the veto represents not a victory but a failure.

As he moved to sign the giant leg cast -- which was already decorated with 753 signatures of his supporters on the issue -- he had trouble finding an opening for his own name. "Maybe I should sign it on the Achilles' heel," he joked. Then, recognizing that it would be a fitting symbol, he asked a doctor to point him to the anatomically correct spot, leaned in and signed his name.

Staff writer David Snyder contributed to this report.