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MARYLAND BRIEFING
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O'Malley (D) is planning to present cuts to the Board of Public Works on Oct. 15 to help offset a recent $432 million downward revision in expected revenue in the state's general fund for the current fiscal year.
" There are no painless options available to us any longer," O'Malley said.
The governor suggested the cuts could amount to $400 million, a figure that aides later said is not firm.
O'Malley is not required to cut the full $432 million to balance this year's budget because of the availability of some unallocated funds. But the governor has suggested he will cut more than necessary to get a head start on balancing the fiscal 2010 budget. Analysts project a shortfall approaching $1 billion that year, due largely to the sour economy.
-- John Wagner
SLOTS REFERENDUM
Franchot Asks O'Malley to Stop 'Swift-Boat Style' Attacks
Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot said yesterday that he was the victim of a "Swift-boat style" attack carried about by pro-slots forces and called on Gov. Martin O'Malley to "call off the attack dogs, stop the negative campaigning and return the foreign gambling money."
Franchot's comments came during an anti-slots rally in Baltimore, in which he appeared with ministers opposed to a November referendum that asks voters to authorize as many as 15,000 slot machines at five locations.
The "foreign gambling money" was a reference to $2 million in pledged donation to the pro-slots campaign by Magna Entertainment, a Canadian-based corporation that owns two Maryland racetracks, Laurel Park in Anne Arundel and Pimlico in Baltimore.
The attacks that Franchot (D) was protesting came Friday in a statement by For Maryland For Our Future, the leading pro-slots organization. The group, which has the blessing of O'Malley (D), said it was starting to air television ads in Baltimore to counter false information being spread by Franchot. The ads do not mention him.
