The Governor meets MoCo Activists; it's a draw

You gotta to love MoCo town meetings, if we think an officeholder can be influenced with mass political pressure we can rally the proletariat at the drop of a hat. It need not matter why that public official is there. It is our time to let them know about a range of issues. And that is exactly what happened last night when Governor O'Malley came to Takoma Park MS. He wanted to talk budget and he got more, much more than that.

What made this event stand out was just a mere 16 months ago, candidate O'Malley -- then locked in a close battle with MoCo Executive Doug Duncan for the Democratic nomination for Governor -- came to the very same site and Takoma Park embraced him in large part because he was not "Developer Doug". Fast forward to October 24, 2007, and the same crowd disagreed with a key component of his budget fix: slots (he's in favor and the audience was not) and with the key highway initiative for MoCo: the ICC (he's in favor and the audience was not). As a group, we eagerly hissed the Governor at the mere mention of slots as part of any budget proposal; we were genuinely disappointed with his position on the ICC. Heck the question was what makes he so much more different than Duncan or Ehrlich on roads.

Tame by Comparison
Still hissing was far tamer than what he has faced in the past. Back in 2000, as newly elected Mayor of Baltimore, Martin O'Malley encountered a hostile group of Baltimoreans who questioned the wisdom of replacing a local African American Police Chief with a white one from NYC, "New York City!?! get me a rope".

Back then O'Malley stood through six hours of having to prove he was not anti-black, last night the Governor need only sift through ninety minutes of questions on the evils of the ICC, housing atop the Takoma Metro, a push for paper ballots along with several other local issues. The only issue to not come up was about the Western Maryland Bear Hunt who had a dozen activists in the audience. Still to those who wanted to have a serious discussion of the structural deficit that will have to wait until the lawmakers reconvene on Monday in Annapolis; though a quarter of our MoCo delegation was in the audience taking this all in.

Prospects for the special session
I have queried about a dozen of our MoCo lawmakers and I have yet to find one who is for slots as part of the budget solution. And yet if slots are not part of the solution something else needs to give. I sure don't have the answer but the expectation game is so low for the Governor that any kind of a solution could be hailed as a victory.

Still why call a special session if you no deal in place. I guess we will now see if the Governor's Irish charm works outside of the Charm City.

So it is on to the next town meeting and another group of community activists and maybe a step closer to solving a budget mess that dates from the 1997 tax cuts and the passage of the Thornton Bill in 2002.

More Budget Talk
The Upcounty folks get a chance to talk about the budget this Sunday. Ok you don't get the Governor but you do get two Delegates and a former Sate Senator to outline some of the budget options.

The District 15, 17 and 39 Democratic Clubs are sponsoring a town meeting about the state budget options. Here are details:

Where
Casey Community Center, 810 S. Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg 20877

When
Sunday, October 28, 2:30-4:00 pm (Doors open at 2 pm, program starts at 2:30 pm)

Who
Delegates Luiz Simmons (D-17) and Brian Feldman (D-15) will be joined by former Senator P.J. Hogan (D-39) to discuss the challenging issue of the forthcoming state budget.

More Information
Questions are invited and refreshments will be served. For more information contact Walt Sonneville at 301-869-4460 waltsonnevile@earthlink.net