Check out the cartoons on the special session in the Annapolis Capital.
The House of Delegates is still in the middle of slots-a-palooza according to the Washington Post. Frederick County is now being floated as a potential slots site despite the opposition of many politicians from that county. Since virtually all are Republicans who vote against just about everything anyway, I'm not sure that anyone cares about their opposition to the idea. The current thinking, to use the term loosely, is that Frederick is on the way to Charles Town Races and Slots from Montgomery and would grab that business without having to put a slots parlor in Poolesville. Of course, it's also on the way to Allegany County so why put one there too? The editorial board of the Washington Post continues to oppose slots:
[P]ro-gambling interests have already spent almost $4 million in the last few years in a so-far-fruitless effort to have the legislature authorize thousands of slot machines at racetracks and gambling parlors. That spending comprised $1.25 million funneled directly to candidates and political parties since 2003 -- including donations to the former and current governor -- plus an additional $2.6 million in lobbying expenditures in the last two years alone. It's a good bet that those outlays would look like a modest down payment compared to the sums the gambling lobby is prepared to dump in a referendum. It's an equally good bet that many voters would look askance at such an obviously self-interested crusade for self-enrichment.
A referendum is not yet a done deal. Because it involves a constitutional amendment, it will need 85 votes to clear the 141-seat House. We hope the votes aren't there. Still, slots have tied the General Assembly in knots in recent years, and Mr. Miller has given every indication that he is willing to paralyze the current effort to close a budget deficit of at least $1.5 billion if he does not get at least a referendum. Battle-weary lawmakers may simply throw up their hands. If they do, it should be to fight another day and defeat at the polls a slots proposal that will foster corruption and gambling addiction while primarily hurting the poor.
The House of Delegates is also proposing to cut $498 million from the state budget (see also the AP story replicated in the Delmarva Daily Times). Education appears to be the primary victim with $150 million of the cuts coming from limits in inflation increases to the Thornton plan. The Baltimore Sun also reports that the both the House and the Senate budget plans will force "working families" to pay more in taxes, contrary to Gov. O'Malley's promises and the budget he submitted to the General Assembly. Jean Marbella of the Sun chalks up the placing of slots in Ocean Downs as another broken promise.
The Examiner's Maryland Politics page is just tired at this point. A commentary by Tom Schaller titled "It's Time for Maryland's Comptroller Schaefer to retire" still appears on the page.
