He pledged to pursue legislative, regulatory "and legal if need be" efforts to curb rates and ensure adequate supply - indicating more clashes looming with Constellation Energy Group Inc. and other utilities and businesses over undoing the 1999 energy deregulation law.
"Deregulation has failed us in Maryland," O'Malley said, "And we cannot allow our future to be determined by that mistake."
O'Malley delivered the speech in an unemotional tone, reading frequently from a text on a lectern and deviating little from the script. It lacked the oratorical flourishes the governor often uses in major speeches, though O'Malley did incorporate a lengthy quote from Robert F. Kennedy, whom the governor has frequently mentioned as an inspiration, about society's collective responsibility to eliminate violence.
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
"It was a good speech," said Comptroller Peter Franchot. "The governor always gives a good speech."
But Franchot, who has publicly sparred with O'Malley over the wisdom of pushing through major tax cuts during a special session, said Maryland "is not immune" from a weakening national economic outlook, and said he believes that O'Malley's tax cuts have further weakened Maryland's economy.
tim.wheeler@baltsun.com
laura.smitherman@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Gadi Dechter contributed to this article.
Excerpts from Gov. Martin O'Malley's address:
The future of our state is very much determined by the strength and the security of the families of Maryland - the hard-working and loving families that we have the honor and responsibility to represent. And today, the vast majority of Maryland's families, like families throughout our country, are finding it harder and harder just to pay their bills and maintain the quality of life that they have worked so hard to achieve....
Our families are struggling to get ahead, our parents working harder and harder as national economic forces and policy trends keep pulling us back. Our dollar is being devalued by huge national debt; unemployment nationally is up; and home foreclosures are at levels unprecedented in modern times....
No wonder many of us are frustrated when - in the midst of this national economic downturn - we were also forced to confront a long neglected and huge structural deficit....
The budget now before you comes in under spending affordability limits for the second year in a row.
