Montgomery Legislators Struggle to Serve Two Masters

"I have to represent all of my constituents, not just the millionaires," Del. Tom Hucker said.

Montgomery's 32-member delegation is the largest in the General Assembly. When united, the legislators have shown they can be a powerful voting bloc in Annapolis. In the House, the 24 Democratic lawmakers make up one-third of the votes needed for a majority.

Leggett has talked privately with legislators to try to set the tone for the delegation. He has met with the governor to convey the message that the dynamics in the Washington suburbs are different from those in Baltimore, where fewer people commute from out of state.

"It's been a long time since the governor lived in Montgomery County, and that's not a criticism of him," said Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D). "While I grew up here, I learned a lot as an adult that I didn't realize as a teenager."

Among the Montgomery lawmakers who back O'Malley's tax plan is Del. Sheila E. Hixson (D), chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who has introduced legislation in past years to raise the tax rate for high-end earners.

Hixson acknowledged the awkward situation for lawmakers in trying to represent their constituents and support the Democratic governor. She said that the governor's plan might have to be tweaked to make it more palatable and suggested that the higher rates could be limited to a two- or three-year period.

"It's going to be a problem politically and every other way," she said.

But she said that if the $163 million is not raised at the state level, it will have to be raised locally to continue to offer services residents expect. "We value services," Hixson said, "and we've always been willing to pay for them in the past."

The topic is so sensitive that when Madaleno suggested to a reporter that the majority of the delegation would support the governor, he quickly received a half-dozen phone calls from lawmakers distressed by his comments.

Of all the budget fixes O'Malley has proposed, his plan to raise as much as $550 million a year from slot-machine gambling would have perhaps the least direct impact on Montgomery. O'Malley is seeking slots at racetracks and other locations beyond the county's borders. A report produced by the administration, however, says that Montgomery residents are among those most willing to travel to neighboring states to gamble.

In the past, the issue has generated some of the most vigorous opposition from Montgomery's lawmakers. All but four members of the House delegation voted against the only slots bill to clear the House, in 2005.

The change in leadership after the November election at the county level has tempered Montgomery's approach. Leggett -- unlike his predecessor, Douglas M. Duncan (D), who often led the anti-slots sentiment -- has counseled lawmakers to hold their fire. Although he is personally opposed to slots, Leggett says he wants to position the county to negotiate with the governor for continued state payments for teacher pensions and a larger boost in funding for schools.

Reaction to that strategy has been mixed, and not everyone is taking Leggett's advice. Comptroller Peter Franchot, a former Montgomery delegate, has held news conferences to drum up opposition to O'Malley's plan. Simmons and county Del. Heather R. Mizeur (D) joined Franchot at an appearance last week in Silver Spring.

O'Malley is considering trying to bring more opponents on board by putting the issue to a public vote. That would "finally let the people decide in a way that their representatives have been incapable of," O'Malley said at a town hall meeting yesterday in Salisbury.

Montgomery leaders have also said that O'Malley's proposal to spend almost $400 million on transportation is not nearly enough to jump-start projects needed to ease congestion in the Washington suburbs. Montgomery could suck up every penny, with hundreds of millions of dollars on its wish list for additional HOV lanes north of Shady Grove on Interstate 270, a new interchange at Georgia Avenue and Randolph Road, and the Corridor Cities Transitway.

House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve (D-Montgomery) is sympathetic and blames the shortcomings in transportation funding on budget realities, not the governor.

"It's unfair to hang that on Governor O'Malley's door," he said. "I think Martin understands Montgomery's needs. I just want to make sure that understanding is written into the budget."