Soccer Dad

Bi-what?

Curtain rises on '07 session
Despite overwhelming majority, Democrats vow bipartisanship

Democratic leaders gaveled into order the 423rd session of the Maryland General Assembly yesterday in Annapolis with a call for bipartisanship, despite the party's overwhelming advantage in both chambers and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's elevation next week to governor.

But as I noted a few weeks ago - actually the article's from Nov 26, 2006. (The Sun unlike the New York Times or Washington Post doesn't give bloggers the option of a Permalink or even a redirection to the paid archive. I did cut and paste the following from an article in the Sun, but since it's more than 2 weeks old you'll just have to take my word for it.)

Over the past four years, every move in Annapolis was viewed through the lens of this year's governor's race and the Democrats' attempts to make sure Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s first term would be his last. But with no obvious successor to the Senate presidency, that sport has been replaced by a new intrigue, and even if it doesn't capture the public's attention like a governor's race, it could become just as heated.

Bi-partisanship as defined by the Democrats in Maryland is when they no longer have to stymie the governor at every turn.

And of course this bi-partisanship will be marked by - hold on to your pocketbooks - lots of new spending as Monoblogue astutely catalogues.

“Adequately fund” the Department of Disabilities.
Use “state resources” to better promote community oriented support and services.
Create a statewide affordable housing fund to support development projects that ensure affordable housing.
“Fully fund” the state’s paratransit system.
Fund the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation.
“Fully fund” Program Open Space.
“Dedicate funds” based on recommendations of the Kopp Commission study on school construction.
“Fully fund” the Thornton Education Plan.
Increase teacher pensions and incentive programs.
Increase funding to the community college system.
Increase weatherization funds for insulation and windows for low-income Marylanders.
“Double funding” to the Community Energy Loan Program.
“Fully fund” lead paint prevention programs.
“Increase funding” to programs to reward farmers for planting cover crops and creating buffer zones.
“Invest” in transit to provide “livable, workable downtowns.”
“Increase funding” for community health centers.
“Dedicate more state resources” to increasing access to care in rural communities.
“Adequate support” to assisted living facilities in Maryland.
“Double assistance” to counties for violent crime prevention.
“Invest” in mass transportation options to allow Marylanders to use alternatives to cars.

No wonder there was such glee at the One Party Party

But talk of policy was overshadowed by politics now that the Ehlrich era has ended.

" I said I would declare Nov.6, 2006 Independence Day,'' Miller said. "You folks made it that way." In a nod to his planned retirement at the end of this term, he said he would be back at the luncheon in four years "as a lay person... We're gonna be singing, "Happy Days are here again!'"

Happy days when we can spend like drunken sailors. Yippee!

And what of the aforementioned outgoing Governor Ehrlich? Well he has swallowed the bitter medicine and acknowledged that he was "fired" by the people of Maryland.

Yesterday's was, instead, a mostly upbeat Ehrlich, who said he has asked his advisers to refrain from blaming his defeat on the national tide that swept Democrats into office around the country this year.

"We've been very careful not to blame this or that," Ehrlich said. "The bottom line here is ..... we did take on the monopoly. In Maryland today, it appears that people prefer single-party government. It's someone counter-intuitive to what the polls usually reflect."

(That should be "somewhat" not "someone;" why the Post's blogger didn't correct that is beyond me.) How counter-intuitive? Well despite that fact that Ehrlich consistently had approval ratings in excess of 50%, more voters wanted him to leave than to stay. (During the same time that Baltimore City lost 20000 residents Maryland gained population. Unfortunately voting with one's feet is not the same as casting a ballot.) As Ehrlich observed to Brendan Miniter

But every so often, the governor told me on Friday, he comes across a letter of a different sort. These come from residents who say that they're "sorry" that they couldn't support him "this time," but that if he runs again they'll likely vote for him then. Here the governor, the first Republican chief executive the state has seen in more than three decades, pauses. We're sitting in a private study in the governor's mansion, and over some 90 minutes a half dozen of his top staff members will trickle in and take a seat. None possess an answer to the question he now asks: "How do you respond to that?"

The people of Maryland have spoken and they've turned out a capable manager in favor of an "ideas" guy whose accomplishments are rather mixed. Now there will be no brakes on whatever harebrained schemes the General Assembly comes up with.

I remember watching a ride in King's Dominion a few years back. It was a ride that turned the riders upside down. When the ride reached the top of its arc all of a sudden there was a metallic rain. Yes, the loose change in people's pockets made for sparkling shower. That's what Marylander's have to look forward to. For four years. And like the folks in the amusement park, we asked for this result.

Blogdigger tags: Democrats, Maryland General Assembly, Robert Ehrlich.