Lawmakers warned on 2007 spending levels

Friday, Jan. 27, 2006

ANNAPOLIS — Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s spending in the coming budget outstrips revenues by as much as $700 million, leading to a deficit of nearly $1 million in two years, the legislature’s chief budget analyst told lawmakers Monday.

Warren G. Deschenaux, director of the Office of Policy Analysis for the nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services, warned budget committee members about the spending levels that Ehrlich (R) is calling for in the fiscal 2007 budget. Fiscal 2007 begins July 1.

‘‘We are spending more than we are taking in,” he said.

Democrats say Ehrlich, who ran for election three years ago as a fiscal conservative, is spending too much money. Ehrlich and his aides counter that Democrats have no room to talk after his predecessor, Parris N. Glendening (D), left the state with ballooning deficits when he left office in 2002.

James C. ‘‘Chip” DiPaula Jr., Ehrlich’s chief of staff and former budget secretary, said Tuesday that deficits are always assumed in the out years of state budgets. Ehrlich, unlike previous governors, set aside $670 million in a reserve account to cushion any dropoff in revenue next year, he said.

‘‘When [Democrats] were there, they weren’t socking away as much as the governor has for future operations,” DiPaula said. The projected deficits, he said, are for the fiscal 2009 budget.

‘‘It’s a testament to the governor’s leadership that we have shifted the debate to three calendar years down the road,” DiPaula said.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis have criticized the governor as going on a spending spree. Miller called him ‘‘Budget Busting Bob.”

Much of what Deschenaux told lawmakers can be found in Ehrlich’s budget books. Republicans, meanwhile, who were frequent critics of Glendening’s spending, are standing by the governor and his budget plan.

— Thomas Dennison

Dems lead in new polls

A recent poll by The Wall Street Journal and Zogby International shows that Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley and Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, would both defeat Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R).

O’Malley is the frontrunner, leading Ehrlich 53 percent to 40 percent. Duncan leads Ehrlich 49 percent to 42 percent. The poll has an error margin of 3.7 percentage points.

A Rasmussen Reports poll released Jan. 13 showed Ehrlich leading O’Malley 47 percent to 40 percent. It also showed him leading Duncan 50 percent to 41 percent.

— Thomas Dennison