A Frenzied Start Upends Usual Opening Calm

Md. Lawmakers Hurry to Overcome Vetoes

The launch of Maryland's General Assembly session yesterday was marked less by pomp than by frenetic lobbying, as both chambers were poised to vote as early as today on Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s vetoes of several highly contentious bills.

"Normally this is a ceremonial day," House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said. "But this year, with elections coming up and these tough votes coming so fast, it's taken on a different tone."

Busch described it as a day of jarring contrasts.

Just minutes after Ehrlich (R) and Busch exchanged warm greetings on the House floor, both were hammering key lawmakers for their votes on a high-profile measure aimed at forcing Wal-Mart to pay more on employee health care.

"This is brass knuckle politics," Ehrlich said, acknowledging that he might not have enough votes to keep the bill from becoming law.

Lawmakers will also consider reviving measures that would raise the minimum wage, change the mechanics of running elections and heighten scrutiny of the state's troubled juvenile justice system. A vetoed bill that would have given same-sex couples certain benefits will not resurface this week, lawmakers and advocates said.

For generations, the legislature's opening day has been a festive occasion. Crowds mingle in the marble lobby of the nation's oldest continuously operating statehouse to renew old ties, rekindle friendships and celebrate before embarking on 90 days of partisan jockeying.

Yesterday seemed more like the end of the session, with jockeying and lobbying at full tilt.

The Wal-Mart bill, with its national implications, is proving to be a dramatic first battle in what could be a contentious election-year session pitting the Democrats who control the legislature against the state's first Republican governor in a generation.

The legislation would require private companies with more than 10,000 employees in Maryland to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on employee health benefits or make a contribution to the state's insurance program for the poor. Wal-Mart is the only known employer that does not meet that spending requirement.

Supporters, including health care advocates and some of the nation's largest labor unions, think a win in Maryland could give momentum to similar efforts in more than 30 other states. Consequently, they have launched a lobbying barrage on a scale unlike those typically seen in the quaint state capital.

Del. Clarence Davis (D-Baltimore), who has publicly pledged to side with Ehrlich, arrived at his office to find stacks of mail and scores of phone messages urging him to switch. "I've been bombarded," Davis said.