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ICC dominates first stop on O’Malley’s listening tour

900 people turn out to hear the governor-elect respond to questions, but he was reserved in his answers

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007

Click here to enlarge this photo Laurie DeWitt⁄The Gazette Karen Lee of SEEC Montgomery County, an organization that supports independent living for adults with developmental disabilities, asks Martin O'Malley for help in paying the electric bills at some of her organzation's facilities during a town hall meeting at Einstein High School.

The Intercounty Connector was the chief subject Montgomery County residents wanted to talk to Gov.-elect Martin O’Malley about on Tuesday night in Kensington.

Among residents’ concerns was that the $2.4 billion, 18-mile toll road would destroy neighborhoods, be detrimental to the environment and simply costs too much.

Asked by a Spencerville resident if he wanted to be known as the governor ‘‘who built the big ditch,” O’Malley (D) said he would not reverse his support for the project, but vowed to keep an open mind.

The incoming governor, on a statewide listening tour a week before his inauguration, was at Einstein High School with, Lt. Gov.-elect Anthony G. Brown and his pick for state transportation secretary, John D. Porcari. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) hosted the event, which drew more than 900 residents and county leaders.

Along with ICC comments, O’Malley fielded questions about health care, day labor and police sensitivity training.

‘‘I would hope that he would consider more money for the people who protect us on a daily basis,” said Jennifer, 23, a Gaithersburg resident who did not give her last name. She came to the two-and-a-half hour meeting asking O’Malley to increase the budget and salaries for state troopers. ‘‘You can’t put a price on someone’s life, but I would hope he’d try.”

Definitive answers from O’Malley were few and far between. Many of his responses about budget items were noncommittal, but included promises for further review.

What O’Malley did not receive were questions on school funding and the construction budget, which have dominated conversations in Annapolis and among county leaders.

With the state facing a $413 million shortfall, support for costly programs such as the Geographic Cost of Education Index, a controversial component of the Thornton Commission education aid reform, have fallen by the wayside. The GCEI is expected to cost about $96 million in fiscal 2008, which begins July1.

Under GCEI, counties like Montgomery and Prince George’s, where the cost of living is higher, receive additional state aid. Montgomery’s cut of the money would be about $20 million.

‘‘This first budget is one that up until November has been one that [Gov. Robert L.] Ehrlich was formulating,” O’Malley said at the town hall meeting. ‘‘We’ve had a brief opportunity to put our mark on it and try to adjust it to address the priorities that we talked to the voters about.”

On Wednesday in Annapolis as the General Assembly opened its 423rd legislative session, O’Malley said he would not include the GCEI in his budget, which is due Jan. 19.

The night before, O’Malley called the budget a work in progress, but say he is intent on increasing state construction aid — which is not part of the GCEI.

‘‘We diverted school construction dollars over the last four years in order to make ends meet and balance the operating budget, and we’ve fallen behind on a lot of school projects all around the state, including Montgomery County,” he said. ‘‘We hope we’ll be able to knock out a lot of that backlog by working with the legislature to come up with a few hundred million dollars to address that problem.”