Mike Miller

Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, the Calvert-Prince George's County politician who has been in elected office since the Baltimore Colts won the fifth Super Bowl 40 years ago, opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions. Why? He was quoted in this newspaper Tuesday, saying he believes the traditional definition of marriage — man and woman — "is blessed by God" and meant to further procreation. Blessed by God? That sounds distinctly like a religious belief expressed by some fundamentalist thumper; it's not exactly what you might expect from the Democratic leader of the Senate of perhaps the bluest state in the nation.

Shame on Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller for his stance on the proposed alcohol tax, stating that it is "nonsense" and "not going to happen" ("Miller says increase to alcohol tax is 'nonsense,'" Jan. 12). Maryland is facing a $1.6 billion deficit with huge cuts looming. Research demonstrates that the alcohol tax is not only a viable measure to increase revenues but also a means to improve public health. It has been almost 40 years (1972) since the beer and wine excise tax was raised, and 56 years (1955)

The Sun's Laura Vozzella reported this week that Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith is selling his house in Reisterstown and moving to an apartment in Cockeysville, with the thought of possibly running for state Senate in the 7th District (now represented by Sen. Andy Harris, who is probably going to run for Congress). Really? When Dutch Ruppersberger finished his two terms as Baltimore County executive, there was a strain of thought that saw Congress as a step down - much less the General Assembly.

It was real-life drama and not a movie, but something about it reminded me of a scene from The Godfather: The developer David Cordish shows up in the middle of the Maryland slot machine thing like Michael Corleone flying out to Vegas to make Moe Greene an offer he can't refuse. Mr. Cordish arrives in this recessionary winter with a billion-dollar casino plan for Arundel Mills - a mall, not a racetrack - and he meets the state's deadline to put up $28.5 million for nearly 5,000 slot machines, and he does it with a big smile, saying to the people of Maryland and their elected leaders: "I got the best deal on the table, and I'm ready to go."

Heart must be part of budget priorities State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller says of his strategy to balance Maryland's budget, "You manage it like a businessman manages a business" ("Tough choices," Jan. 11). Given the high failure rate for businesses, we want to propose a better way: Manage the budget with heart. When the heart dictates our priorities, essential needs are met first. But Maryland has lost its heart. It is the wealthiest state in the nation yet it ranks near the bottom in spending on essential services for citizens with severe disabilities.

What is the mood coming into the legislative session this year? We are very carefully optimistic. We've overcome much more severe crises in our state's history than what we consider a yearlong blip on our economic radar. ... I'm an historian, and I know what our country has gone through in the past, and this is nothing. It's a deep recession. We're not facing a world war, we're not facing a depression, we're not facing a plague. We can learn from it, and we can survive. How do you manage a projected revenue gap of $1.9 billion?

O'Malley open to changing campaign contribution rules Gov. Martin O'Malley indicated yesterday that he would be open to raising campaign contribution limits and possibly closing a campaign-finance loophole that allows big donors to avoid the limits. Under state law, an individual or business may give no more than $4,000 to a candidate during a four-year election cycle and no more than $10,000 total in that period. Some donors have gotten around those regulations by giving through separate but related limited-liability companies.

Today we look at a few problems - and offer a few solutions. It's only right. You can't just sit around and gripe about stuff, and groan that things will never change. You have to flick on your brain and come up with solutions. That's what Einstein did, and if Einstein could do it, trust me, anyone can. Problem: Blue crabs have been in decline in the Chesapeake Bay to such an extent that the governor of Maryland asked the U.S. commerce secretary to declare the bay fishery a federal disaster.

The Maryland State House is similar to a marble mausoleum: Not much changes over time but the residents. Politics and the creaking advancement of democracy are the session norm. This process involves piles of paper and a lot of pontification, both stuffed with procedural formality. What little evolves does so lazily, trickling along like a withdrawing glacier. From this photographs are to be made. Better yet, photographs with visual interest. The difficult part arises in trying to create stimulating pictures of people who, for the most part, do one or more of the following: Stand with microphone, sit listening, stare at laptop screens, read papers or quietly converse in person or by phone.

Here is how the average Maryland commuter spends his travel time: sitting alone in a car stuck in traffic. In an economy where time is money and gasoline is approaching $3 a gallon, all that inconvenience comes at a cost - about $3 billion per year. At least that's the finding of a new report by the Texas Transportation Institute for some leading Maryland business groups. The authors looked at a variety of economic factors, from wasted fuel to the more nebulous "lost economic opportunity" that results from all that unproductive time.