When Gov. Martin O'Malley took his oath in January, he spoke of "One Maryland," celebrating an end to the partisan feuding that had beset Annapolis under his Republican predecessor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. With O'Malley at the helm and strong Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, state business would be less contentious, lawmakers said, even pleasantly efficient.
Those were the days.
Last week, the governor heard the first rumblings of discontent over his proposal for solving the state's $1.7 billion budget crisis and his call for a November special legislative session to consider his plan.
The criticisms aren't coming from Republicans alone. House Speaker Michael E. Busch bucked the governor by questioning the wisdom of a special session, and the Anne Arundel Democrat has also said that legalized slot machine gambling, a core component of O'Malley's proposal, is not the way to go.
The episode marks the first true political test of O'Malley's young administration. Lawmakers are giving the governor relatively solid marks for his ambitious budget proposal but poor reviews for outreach. As a result, O'Malley's special session, and maybe even his budget plan, could be in peril.
O'Malley's quick-fix mentality reveals the pluck that made him appealing to voters during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, but it is an attitude, some say, that requires that everyone get in lock step behind him.
"The first rule of any governor is:,You have to count votes. And if you can't count votes or you don't have enough votes, you look silly by bringing up an issue and it gets killed," said Del. Curtis S. Anderson, a Baltimore Democrat who joined Comptroller Peter Franchot at an anti-slots news conference Thursday morning at Harborplace. "Maybe this is a lesson that O'Malley had to learn."
Stephen J. Kearney, O'Malley's communications director, said the governor's record this year with the legislature shows that he can count votes. The governor briefed the Senate Democratic caucus last week and has met with lawmakers every day for the past week and a half, Kearney said. Last week, O'Malley spoke with 25 lawmakers and plans to talk with another 30 in the coming week.
"We are full speed ahead. We certainly anticipated that the Republicans would pull this kind of thing," Kearney said. "We knew we would have some convincing to do in the House. And that is what the governor is spending a lot of time doing."
