"He hit the right buttons from the farmers to the returning veterans from overseas to the police, education, health care, the environment," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said. In O'Malley's vow to do something about electricity costs, Miller saw a "major battle" brewing between the governor and utilities.
Del. Christopher B. Shank, a Western Maryland Republican and the minority whip, said O'Malley was right to say Marylanders are hurting.
"But what he failed to do is recognize that one of the reasons for the hurt is that he pushed one of the largest tax increases in Maryland's history through the General Assembly," Shank said.
FOR THE RECORD - An article in yesterday's Maryland section about Gov. Martin O'Malley's State of the State address incorrectly reported Comptroller Peter Franchot's criticism of the governor's legislative package from last fall's special session of the General Assembly. Franchot said the governor should not have pushed for tax increases in that forum.
THE SUN REGRETS THE ERROR
O'Malley used most of his speech to urge legislators to support his policy agenda, which he unveiled over the past two weeks.
In response to the state's "unprecedented" rise in foreclosures, he promoted his proposal to reform the mortgage industry. He also reiterated his vow to freeze state university tuition for another year and to strengthen enforcement of the Critical Area Law, which limits development along the Chesapeake Bay.
The governor touched on a variety of themes, from building new schools and transit to promoting technology and making health care more affordable. But a major portion of his remarks returned to a theme that had launched his political career in Baltimore - fighting crime.
Calling public safety "the most fundamental priority and responsibility of any government," he said state officials have the opportunity to make Maryland one of the safest states in the country, rather than the one with the fifth-highest violent crime rate.
"This problem of ours, this problem of Maryland's, is not the concern of one race or one city or one county," O'Malley said. "It is everyone's problem."
In addition to the expanded DNA testing of criminal suspects that he has previously proposed, O'Malley called for adding 50 more parole and probation officers, building "a minimal number" of juvenile justice facilities to replace the ones recently closed and expanding electronic tracking, drug treatment and intervention programs for troubled youths.
The governor also vowed to press on with developing a "long-term plan" for energy generation, distribution and conservation, while continuing to work to reduce electricity rates - another issue for which voters have faulted him.
