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O'Malley May Set Modest Agenda
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O'Malley, who took office Jan. 17, is closing out his first year with overall high marks from leading members of his party for his work with the legislature.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), who had been critical of the governor's caution during his first months in office, said O'Malley wound up accomplishing more in his first year than any governor since Marvin Mandel (D), who took office in 1969. Moreover, Mandel faced neither the budget challenges nor the fierce Republican resistance that O'Malley encountered, Miller said.
Republicans have been far less charitable in their assessments.
"If you want higher taxes across the board, and you want your legislature to rubber stamp anything you ask for, I suppose he's had some level of success," said House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert). "But in reality, I think he's done tremendous damage to Maryland."
O'Donnell suggested that the tax increases pushed by O'Malley -- including higher income taxes on upper-end earners and increases in the corporate, sales, tobacco and vehicle titling taxes -- could push the state's economy into a recession.
Besides addressing the "structural deficit" that was several years in the making, O'Malley chalked up several other legislative wins over the past year, including securing a record $400 million for public school construction and passage of the nation's first so-called living wage law, which mandates that employees of state contractors be paid significantly higher than the state's minimum wage.
O'Malley also backed a "clean cars" law that mandates tighter emissions standards for automobiles, pegged to California standards. That initiative has been derailed, at least for now, by the Bush administration.
O'Malley's highest-profile loss in the legislature last year came on the death penalty, which he unsuccessfully sought to repeal. Though the governor continues to voice opposition to capital punishment, aides have signaled that O'Malley may be less visible during debate on that issue this session.
"I'm very proud of this first year," O'Malley said. "It was grueling, it was difficult and we had to do some unpopular things. . . . While it was a tough year, it was a year that allowed us to accomplish a very important transition. Restoring fiscal responsibility allows us to continue to make progress on a number of fronts."
