Md. Lawmakers Convene

Democrats Welcome One-Party Rule

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler with Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, center, and incoming Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon in Annapolis. (Photos By Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)

The Maryland General Assembly returned to Annapolis yesterday with Democratic leaders tightening their control over state politics and pledging to advance an agenda stalled by four years of clashes with an outgoing Republican administration.

High-spirited Democrats took their oath of office at noon amid talk of a new era of harmony with Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley, a fellow Democrat, and bipartisanship with Republicans, whose numbers shrank after November's election.

"Many of us wore our political affiliation on our sleeve" during campaign season, Del. Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) told his chamber of 141 lawmakers after they elected him to a second term as House speaker. "But as we move forward, the most important thing any of us can carry is that we are Marylanders."

O'Malley, in brief comments to the House moments later, joked that lawmakers shouldn't "get too far ahead of me before Anthony and I get settled in."

The governor-elect and his lieutenant governor, Anthony G. Brown, will be sworn in Wednesday, succeeding Republicans Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Michael S. Steele, who feuded with the General Assembly over a slew of partisan-edged issues.

Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) the longest-serving Senate president in Maryland history, used his reelection to a fifth and final term in leadership to elevate African American lawmakers to several leadership positions.

"We did make some history here today," Miller said, noting the appointment of the first black senator to serve as president pro tem and the first black woman to lead one of the Senate's standing committees.

His comments seemed designed to mollify tensions with black leaders who criticized the party for fielding a slate consisting largely of white men in last fall's campaign.

The legislature welcomed an unusually large freshman class of 34 delegates and 11 senators -- the largest group of Senate newcomers in half a century. Among the newcomers are the first Muslim delegate and the first openly gay senator, two constitutional lawyers, a former county executive and an advocate-turned-politician. Lawmakers also paid tribute to party elders: new U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) and the Democrat he succeeds, Paul S. Sarbanes; both got their start in the House of Delegates.

Only a handful of bills were filed by day's end. But House and Senate leaders predicted action on increased access to health care, stricter limits on car emissions, new funding to replace crumbling schools and an aggressive cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay.

"It's a whole new day in Maryland," Sean Dobson of Progressive Maryland said as he mingled with lobbyists and lawmakers in the halls of the country's oldest operating statehouse. Dobson, whose Montgomery County-based group supports fair wages and campaign finance changes, reflected the hopes of many advocates for liberal causes.

Lawmakers were less upbeat about what may be their biggest challenge over the next four years, a projected budget shortfall that is prompting talk of spending cuts and tax increases. The death penalty could become another vexing issue after a ruling by the state's highest court halting executions until the state develops a new lethal injection protocol.