That doesn't mean there is never any palace intrigue under the big wooden dome. It just tends to get snuffed out so quickly that you might miss it. During the 2007 special legislative session in which the General Assembly considered tax increases and slot machine gambling, the Montgomery County contingent in the House of Delegates got together one morning and decided to derail the whole plan out of concern that an income tax increase on high-earners would stick it to their constituents.
By noon, House Speaker Michael E. Busch was in a meeting with the Democratic caucus offering up plan B: a subtle set of tax law changes that, when carefully analyzed, proved likely to bankrupt Montgomery County's government. A vague promise of extra school construction money for Montgomery, and the revolution was squashed within hours.
Maryland misses out on a lot of things by having its General Assembly so firmly in one party's control. Debates are often perfunctory, the outcomes of votes are rarely in doubt, and the "we're all on the same team" facade makes it much harder to discern what's really going on.
