By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley pledged yesterday to bring a heightened professionalism to state government and called upon lawmakers to make immediate progress on a "shared agenda" after four years of "drift" and division under his Republican predecessor.
Appearing before a joint session of the General Assembly for his first State of the State address, O'Malley (D) listed his priorities for the legislative session, including record spending on school construction, a freeze on college tuition and adoption of tighter emission standards for automobiles. And he added a new agenda item: a "living wage" bill that would require a minimum level of pay for employees of state contractors.
In a 33-minute speech that was interrupted more than two dozen times by applause, O'Malley also acknowledged longer-term challenges confronting the state, including a $1.3 billion projected budget shortfall that is expected to spark fierce debate next year over tax increases, spending cuts and the legalization of slot-machine gambling. But O'Malley urged lawmakers to stay focused during the 90-day session on issues for which consensus is achievable.
"We cannot resolve every unsettled issue in just 90 days, nor can we heal in 90 days divisions that were four years in the making," O'Malley told a packed House chamber that included three former governors. "But we must do all that we can to maximize the effectiveness of this session -- and these four years -- for the people of our state. For success breeds success. Mutual respect builds mutual trust. And important things done well make even greater things possible."
O'Malley's pledge to work with lawmakers to "get things done again" -- an implicit rhetorical slap at former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. -- was enthusiastically received by fellow Democrats, including some who have urged him not to delay in addressing the state's budget problems.
"We have less money to spend than we have had at any time in recent history, yet people are enthusiastic because of the messenger," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert). "It's as happy as I've seen things in 20 years."
Although they rose to applaud at times, Republicans, the minority party in both chambers, offered more lukewarm assessments of the address, suggesting that O'Malley's call for consensus was undermined by his criticism of Ehrlich.
O'Malley did not mention Ehrlich by name, but he referred early in his remarks to "the drift of recent years" and later criticized Ehrlich's diversion of land-preservation funding early in his term as "stealing from our children's future."
"He was taking potshots at Republicans," said Sen. Nancy Jacobs (R-Harford). "That's not someone who appears to me to be trying to build consensus."
State GOP Chairman James Pelura criticized O'Malley for putting off difficult budget decisions for a year, saying in a statement that O'Malley "has purposefully set our state on a fiscally irresponsible path that will result in more taxes on the hard-working families of Maryland."
The closest O'Malley came in his speech to acknowledging the prospect of tax increases was during his discussion of the state's transportation needs.
"All of us must recognize that however efficiently and effectively we stretch our state's current investment in transportation solutions, we will never be able to multiply bread and fishes to cover the multitude of needs without new dollars," O'Malley said.
Several Washington area leaders have called for an increase in the gas tax to fund transportation projects, an initiative O'Malley declined to embrace in the budget he submitted to lawmakers last month.
O'Malley devoted his remarks yesterday to a promised effort in the coming year "to make our government work with greater efficiency and effectiveness."
The governor touted his plans for StateStat, a statistics-driven accountability program that will be modeled after an initiative he launched as mayor of Baltimore. Savings generated from that effort, aides have said, will lessen any need for new revenue in the budget O'Malley submits next year.
O'Malley also thanked lawmakers for their patience as he assembles "a professional Cabinet." He is expected to announce today the latest of those picks, Worcester County farmer Roger Richardson, as his nominee for secretary of agriculture, aides said. O'Malley also used his speech to announce the creation of a Cabinet-level secretary responsible for information technology in state government.
He promised to sign living-wage legislation. A similar bill, which establishes the minimum pay for employees of state contractors, was passed by the General Assembly in 2004 but was vetoed by Ehrlich, who argued that it would significantly increase the cost of contracts.
Del. Thomas Hucker (D-Montgomery), who plans to sponsor the legislation, said the minimum pay under a current formula would be $11.95 an hour.
Most other initiatives cited by O'Malley had been included in his budget proposal or a legislative agenda outlined last month.
O'Malley urged spending $400 million on school construction "to start to get our children out of the temporary learning shacks that have been popping up behind every school in our state."
He asked lawmakers to support a freeze on in-state tuition at public universities next year and pledged to work with a commission to find longer-term solutions to high college costs.
O'Malley touted a few relatively modest initiatives on health care, including one that would require insurers to cover young adults up to age 25 on their parents' policies. O'Malley said he was willing to work with lawmakers on other measures in fighting "a battle of a thousand partial victories."
And the new governor said passage of legislation tightening auto emissions standards would help children who have asthma and reduce pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay.
O'Malley also reiterated his support for legislation enabling oyster restoration projects in the bay, recognizing it as a priority of House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel).
In voicing support of another environmental initiative, the return of a state Office of Smart Growth, O'Malley nodded in the direction of Parris N. Glendening, who sat as a guest on the House floor along with fellow former governors Harry Hughes and Marvin Mandel.
Staff writers Ovetta Wiggins and Lisa Rein contributed to this report.
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