Gov. Martin O'Malley used his first State of the State address to strike a cooperative tone with Maryland lawmakers, calling for more corrections officers for a beleaguered prison system and for a program to help small businesses find more affordable health coverage, while reiterating his pledge to push for $400 million in school construction funds.
The former Baltimore mayor also used sharp language to call for "an end to the cruel and antiquated practice of using ground rents to evict families from their homes." The issue has leapt to the top of legislators' agendas in the current 90-day General Assembly session after a series of articles in The Sun.
But he urged legislators to hold off on potentially divisive debates over the fiscal challenges facing the state, saying he wants a chance to seek efficiencies in state government before considering tax increases or legalizing slot machines.
O'Malley, a Democrat elected in November, stressed the need for a return to civility in Annapolis after four years of clashes between former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, and the Democratic-controlled legislature.
"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 said. "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."
Democrats said yesterday that O'Malley hit all the right notes, emphasizing popular initiatives such as expanding mass transit, requiring higher emissions standards for cars, spending $400 million on school construction this year and freezing tuition at Maryland's colleges and universities.
"There was a feeling that there's not going to be confrontation," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. "We're not going to be disagreeable. People are going to work together on both sides to get things done. It's the happiest I've seen it in 20 years."
Republicans said they support a number of the initiatives that O'Malley proposed, such as increasing funding for cover crops to reduce runoff from farmers' fields and using advanced technology to track sex offenders. But they said that in his promise to cooperate, O'Malley went too far in his implicit criticism of Ehrlich.
"I wish he wouldn't have done as much on some of the negatives he campaigned on," said Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus, an Eastern Shore Republican.
