Ehrlich, O'Malley Likely to Set Different Tones in Annapolis

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) vetoed 86 measures that came out of the General Assembly. Legislators overrode about a quarter of the vetoes. (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)

Some of the ideas Ehrlich has floated, however, are certain to run into resistance in the Democratic legislature, including adding a merit-pay component to teachers' salaries. Other ideas, such as promoting transit-oriented development and affordable housing, could lend themselves to bipartisan support.

"Just think what this governor could do with a little cooperation," said House Minority Whip Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert), calling the legislative leadership "a very hostile Democratic monopoly that doesn't like to share power."

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said relationships between the Ehrlich administration and Democratic lawmakers are so sour that he sees little chance for improvement. Both Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch said they would expect a different dynamic with O'Malley, one reminiscent of Ehrlich's Democratic predecessor, Parris N. Glendening.

"O'Malley will go through the traditional growing pains that any executive does," said Busch (D-Anne Arundel). "But people are looking for and expecting a higher level of cooperation."

After being elected mayor in 1999, O'Malley said, he sought to foster that kind of relationship with his former colleagues on the City Council. Although all of the then-18 members of the council were Democrats, they hardly had a reputation for marching in lock step with one another or with the previous mayor, Kurt L. Schmoke (D).

"There had been a lot of tension," recalled Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., a council member since 1995. "The council would try to rebel, and the Schmoke administration would say, 'It's my way or the highway.' "

Mitchell recalled one instance in which running afoul of Schmoke cost him Opening Day tickets to the Baltimore Orioles, which the mayor distributed to other council members. O'Malley, by contrast, has made a practice of acknowledging members' birthdays with books on Baltimore, umbrellas emblazoned with the city seal and other gifts.

The outreach is more than symbolic. Upon taking office, O'Malley sought to make the new council president, Sheila Dixon, an ally in tackling crime and other urban ills. The mayor sought her counsel on initiatives before making them public.

Dixon became one of O'Malley's greatest lobbyists with the council. "When we disagree, I don't go out and have a press conference," Dixon said. "We sit down and talk."

O'Malley's leadership style was on full display last year in deliberations over a downtown convention center hotel.

In a bid to bolster convention traffic, O'Malley pushed a plan to finance the construction of a 752-room hotel with $305 million in city-issued revenue bonds. The administration was sharply questioned about why a private investor wasn't borrowing the money -- and whether the city was equally committed to fixing Baltimore's blighted neighborhoods.

With the measure's fate hanging in the balance, O'Malley agreed to several sweeteners.