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Dems threaten to withhold ICC money if other roads not funded

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006

ANNAPOLIS — Two influential Democrats have threatened to stall the $2.4 billion Intercounty Connector highway if the Maryland Department of Transportation continues to withhold nearly $26 million for local road projects.

Del. Peter V.R. Franchot and Sen. James E. DeGrange Sr., who chair the transportation subcommittees in the House and Senate, respectively, said they are growing impatient with MDOT’s refusal to release the local road dollars.

Franchot and DeGrange contend that the money was part of a deal struck last year when the legislature signed off on the funding mechanism for the ICC — Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s top road priority. Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan said the local road money was eliminated by the legislature last year when $48 million was shifted out of the transportation trust fund to plug a hole in the general fund.

‘‘We feel as strongly about our local mayors and our local governments getting the $25.8 million that was promised as the Ehrlich administration feels about the ICC,” Franchot (D-Dist. 20) of Takoma Park said after a hearing Monday with Flanagan.

The General Assembly will ‘‘exercise its leverage” to pressure the administration, he said.

DeGrange (D-Dist. 32) of Glen Burnie had a similar assessment.

‘‘Maybe we have to leverage projects that are near and dear to their hearts, like the ICC, to get their attention,” said DeGrange, who did not attend Monday’s hearing said. ‘‘The ICC is part of the equation.”

Flanagan has been squabbling with Democrats about the local highway user funds since January.

‘‘It’s too bad that $48 million was cut last year,” Flanagan said during another confrontational hearing before Franchot’s transportation subcommittee Monday afternoon.

Flanagan and Franchot have been battling for three years over MDOT’s budget, the Port of Baltimore, the department’s personnel practices and other items.

Flanagan said that he is open to finding a way to come up with the $26 million, but that the money is not in the budget.

Flanagan’s assessment did not sit well with Democrats or with the leading Republican in the House — Minority Leader George C. Edwards (R-Dist. 1C) of Grantsville.

Edwards said he disagreed that the money was not in the budget and that there was no deal struck with the legislature last year.

MDOT should find the money, Edwards said, because local governments are depending on those dollars.

‘‘If there’s a lack of communication, it’s coming from both sides of the aisle,” said Edwards, a member of the transportation subcommittee.

It is unclear how the legislature could stop the ICC, which would link Laurel and Gaithersburg. Restricting language could be inserted into the budget to stall the project, but Flanagan said the project is too important to the General Assembly for that to happen.

‘‘Quite frankly, I think there is a clear consensus in the legislature on the ICC,” Flanagan said after Monday’s hearing.

Democrats have ‘‘demonstrated their willingness to put the public at risk in order to score political points,” he said. ‘‘That has to be a concern for me as secretary of transportation. They will stoop to anything for political gain.”

David Bliden, executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties, said local governments need the $26 million.

‘‘It’s frustrating that critical road projects are being held hostage to an esoteric debate about government authority and whether the money actually exists or not,” Bliden said. ‘‘It’s difficult to comprehend suggestions that the funding isn’t available.”