Maryland Voters

The two sides in Maryland's fight over same-sex marriage agree on this: It won't be over until November. With the state Senate's approval Thursday night of the governor's bill to legalize civil marriage for same-sex couples, opponents are expected to mobilize quickly to gather the signatures to petition the legislation to referendum. State elections officials say they are already getting calls seeking information on how to start the process. Even the bill's staunchest supporters expect its opponents to easily gather the 55,736 signatures necessary to put the question on the November ballot.

Your recent poll, although unscientific, indicates that a majority of Marylanders are not satisfied with the outcome of this special legislative session ("What Maryland thinks," May 18). If they are not satisfied with the way that their elected officials have voted, then why did they re-elect them? They should know that liberals vote to increase taxes and spending. For them, government is the answer to everything. Maryland voters do this every election - they re-elect the same people and then complain.

Maryland's governor won't be on the ballot, and the state is highly unlikely to play much of a role in the presidential election. But 2012 is nonetheless shaping up to be a riveting year in Maryland politics. Here are four major stories to watch in the year to come. A bill to legalize gay marriage cleared the Maryland Senate relatively quickly in 2011, only to stall in the House of Delegates. Advocates will have some formidable advantages this time around. Building on the experience of lawmakers in New York, which legalized gay marriage a few months after the legislation failed here, advocates have developed a smart, coordinated campaign to win over a few more supporters.

Following yet another tax increase shoved down our throats by the spend-then-tax trio of the Gov.Martin O'Malley, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House SpeakerMichael E. Busch("General Assembly raises income tax on top 14 percent," May 17), there is one positive aspect: At least they didn't scurry about in the middle of the night like cockroaches as they did when passing a record tax hike in 2007. When will Maryland voters learn? Gary Sulin, Forest Hill

Maryland has endured a bruising recession better than many other states, but voters here are still wary over the economy and personal finances, and could punish incumbent politicians at the ballot box next month, a Baltimore Sun survey shows. The Sun survey of 798 likely Maryland voters showed that nearly two-thirds worry about their finances — and one in four say they fret about money every day. More than half of voters say the performance of the economy will influence their voting decisions.

A headline in your paper reported that "2012 called year gas tax must go up" (Sept. 20). Yet the article accompanying it failed to explain why. Has everyone forgotten that Gov. Martin O'Malley cleaned out the Transportation Trust Fund to balance his budget? Not only did he raid the transportation fund, he raided several others as well. The year 2012 needs to be the year that Maryland government lives within its means and that its trust funds are used as intended. These are not slush funds for politicians to hand out as perks.

In 2010, Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker and his fellow conservative Republicans campaigned with a clear message that if elected, they would confront the public unions right to collective bargaining, cut salaries and benefits instead of using public worker layoffs to correct budget shortfalls. The public unions threw everything they could at Mr. Walker and the Republicans candidates but the voters found the conservative message the right one to correct the budget deficit and voted them in. The Sun's recent editorial ("Union Badgering," Feb. 22)

Is this a great country or what? Where else would voters be given just two short weeks (actually nine days from today) to become intimately familiar with the nation's presidential candidates and make an informed selection for filling the most powerful post on earth?That's the situation Maryland voters are in. Political dunderheads in Annapolis moved the presidential primary to a frigid winter date when only the most dedicated voters will go to the polls. It is so early in the campaign season that virtually no one has an inkling about the candidates' specific stands on issues.

Call it a Maryland miracle: While voters had to slog through snow to reach the polls in Wyoming and endure heavy rain in New England, clear skies and spring-like temperatures made the quadrennial exercise in citizenship feel like a picnic here."

Paul Tsongas is a popular guy these days. So is Ross Perot. Virtually every Maryland candidate contemplating a run for governor next year has embraced one of these iconoclasts.And no wonder. Mr. Tsongas coasted to victory over Bill Clinton in Maryland's 1992 Democratic presidential primary with a suburban strategy that could set new standards for future statewide elections. Then in November, Mr. Perot highlighted the discontent among a strong minority of voters -- 271,000 strong -- who could provide the winning margin in next year's state races.

The approach to National Harbor, where three highways meet on the Maryland side of the Potomac River, is pretty much a wow, with the arched 18-story atrium of a massive convention hotel its centerpiece. National Harbor is a still-new resort town on a slope overlooking the big river, with six hotels, upscale shops, restaurants, condominiums, marinas and a busy schedule of events that attract healthy crowds on weekends. David Cordish must look at Nat Harbor and wish he'd thought of it. Or maybe he wishes the place had been available as a location for gambling four years ago, when Maryland voters approved the return of slot machines to the state.

ON THE SITE... Terrell Stoglin suspended by Terps, will enter NBA draft:  Maryland guard Terrell Stoglin, the Atlantic Coast Conference's leading scorer this season, won't return to the Terrapin men's basketball team after being suspended one year for a rules violation of the Student-Athlete Code of Conduct. BGE rates fall, decreasing bills by $54 : Baltimore Gas and Electric customers can expect to pay at a lower rate starting in June. 13 startups to present at TechCocktail Baltimore on Wednesday : Young local technology companies will be pitching to potential investors and partners.

After reading The Sun's coverage of the General Assembly session's last day ("Time runs out in capital," April 10), I wonder what it will take for the Maryland voters to throw these over-spending and taxing-to-death politicians out of office. According to The Sun, the last-minute budget agreement would have increased taxes for everyone earning over $100,000 and couples earning over $150,000 if the clock had not run out. Lawmakers also agreed to double the flush tax. Not one comment was made on spending cuts.

A wealthy Potomac businessman whose very candidacy challenged state Democratic leaders won a hotly contested congressional primary in Western Maryland on Tuesday, setting up a battle for the seat in November that will help decide control of the House of Representatives. John Delaney, a banker and first-time candidate, managed to topple state Sen. Rob Garagiola in the race, even though leading Democrats in Annapolis such as Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller had the legislator in mind when they redrew the 6th Congressional District last year to make it more competitive.

For all the difficult problems the nation faces, from high unemployment to mounting national debt to the vexing war in Afghanistan, the contest for the Republican presidential nomination process has produced far more distractions than solutions. Primary voters and caucus-goers have elevated and rejected a string of front-runners, each seemingly more improbable than the last. And fueling it all has been the corrosive influence of millions in unlimited and unregulated campaign spending through super PACs that has propped some candidates up past their shelf lives and allowed for barrages of negative advertising the likes of which voters have rarely seen.

The drive to throw out Maryland's new congressional district maps by petitioning them to referendum is, in all likelihood, something of a futile gesture. Even if the opponents can muster the necessary signatures - battling in the process referendum fatigue from parallel efforts on same-sex marriage - the new, convoluted maps will still be in effect this November. And if the critics of the maps prevail at the ballot box, all they will succeed in doing is getting the same people who brought us the current mess to draw the maps all over again.

Maryland voters came out to the polls last year in greater numbers than they did during the 2000 election, according to new figures released today from the U.S. census. Nearly 66 percent of U.S. citizens in Maryland voted in the 2004 presidential election, an increase from 61 percent in 2000, the study revealed. The increase in voter turnout was similar to national figures, which showed an increase from 60 percent in 2000 to 64 percent in 2004. Statewide, 56 percent of blacks voted, which matched national figures.

The approach to National Harbor, where three highways meet on the Maryland side of the Potomac River, is pretty much a wow, with the arched 18-story atrium of a massive convention hotel its centerpiece. National Harbor is a still-new resort town on a slope overlooking the big river, with six hotels, upscale shops, restaurants, condominiums, marinas and a busy schedule of events that attract healthy crowds on weekends. David Cordish must look at Nat Harbor and wish he'd thought of it. Or maybe he wishes the place had been available as a location for gambling four years ago, when Maryland voters approved the return of slot machines to the state.

Maryland's primary is now just two weeks away (with early voting starting this Saturday) and - surprise - ballots cast here might even be relevant to the presidential selection process. On Wednesday, Mitt Romney is scheduled to be the first of the Republican candidates to traipse into the Old Line State to state his case for taking home 37 delegates in the winner-take-all event with appearances at theU.S. Naval Academy and in Arbutus and Frederick. For a state dominated by Democrats, this is a rarity that GOP voters should savor.

The two sides in Maryland's fight over same-sex marriage agree on this: It won't be over until November. With the state Senate's approval Thursday night of the governor's bill to legalize civil marriage for same-sex couples, opponents are expected to mobilize quickly to gather the signatures to petition the legislation to referendum. State elections officials say they are already getting calls seeking information on how to start the process. Even the bill's staunchest supporters expect its opponents to easily gather the 55,736 signatures necessary to put the question on the November ballot.