O’Malley stresses frugality in State of State

Friday, Jan. 25, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by NAOMI BROOKNER Gov. Martin O’Malley delivers the State of the State address at the State House in Annapolis on Wednesday. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

In a 29-minute speech that aimed to bolster his support among Democrats and heal lingering wounds from the 22-day special session, O’Malley (D) outlined a feel-good agenda that seeks to address transportation needs, get tough on violent criminals, keep tuition affordable, stem the rate of foreclosures in Maryland and more.

The General Assembly in November passed $890 million in tax increases, recommended $550 million in budget cuts and agreed to put a referendum on slot machine gambling on this fall’s general election ballot — all to resolve the state’s $1.5 billion structural deficit.

Legislators ‘‘had the courage to protect our priorities especially when faced with great adversity,” O’Malley said in a House of Delegates chamber filled with cabinet members, former governors and other dignitaries. ‘‘For these reasons, Maryland has been a strong state. And in many respects, we are stronger today than we were at this same time last year.”

But O’Malley, who has seen his approval ratings tumble below 40 percent in two recent polls, spent little time reflecting on the past, choosing instead to illustrate how Maryland can weather a looming economic crisis. With residents paying more for groceries, gas and electricity, he called on lawmakers to ‘‘come together to protect the priorities that make us strong.”

Public safety initiatives topped his wish list.

O’Malley asked for support to add 50 officers to supervise criminals on parole or probation, to modernize juvenile treatment facilities, to expand the use of Global Positioning Satellite technology to track juvenile offenders, to increase drug treatment program availability and to expand DNA-fingerprinting efforts.

Better health care information technology and dental care for children is needed ‘‘so that no child in any county ever dies again because of the inability to treat a toothache,” O’Malley said, referring to Deamonte Driver, a 12-year-old from Prince George’s County who died last year from a brain infection that started as an abscessed tooth.

O’Malley also detailed a bevy of other initiatives: developing a statewide system of interoperable communications for emergency first responders; revamping the state’s Critical Area Law to limit development along the Chesapeake Bay and tidal shorelines; and promoting transit-oriented development.

‘‘To come through these tough economic times as quickly as possible, we must protect the priorities of our families; for we have tremendous challenges ahead,” O’Malley said.

Maryland must also develop a long-term plan for energy generation and conservation to ward off the possibility of blackouts as soon as 2011.

‘‘The days of cheap and abundant energy are past, but that does not mean our only options are crippling energy bills and rolling brownouts ...” O’Malley said. ‘‘Deregulation has failed us in Maryland and we cannot allow our future to be determined by that mistake.”

Democratic legislative leaders said O’Malley struck the right notes in his address.

It ‘‘reflected core values that every Marylander wants to see,” including safe communities, quality K-12 education, affordable college and transportation, said House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel).

The address also gave an honest assessment of the state’s future challenges, said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Prince George’s).

‘‘I think the good news is now because of the special session, unlike California and some of our sister states, we’ve got the state better prepared to deal with a recession because we raised revenues, but more importantly we cut the budget extensively,” Miller said.

Republicans, meanwhile, said O’Malley’s speech missed the mark and was filled with talk of new and expensive programs.

‘‘I would have liked to have heard more about the need to restrain,” said House Minority Leader Anthony J. O’Donnell (R-Calvert, St. Mary’s). ‘‘The speech seemed to be filled with ‘We want to be popular, therefore we’re going to spend a lot of new money on a lot of new programs.’ Real leadership at this time would have said Maryland has to catch its breath, get its fiscal house truly in order, not start a lot of new programs, but rein in the rate of growth of some of our current expenditures until the current economy looks better.”