Facing the edge of voters’ anger

Politicians get an earful from their constituents in person

Friday, June 2, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo David S. Spence⁄The Gazette Michael E. Busch, speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, goes door-to-door in his home district of Annapolis on Wednesday. Traveling officeholders have reported a range of reaction from fury to concern; the constant is an expectation that government help solve some of the public's problems, from development to slot machines to a huge impending rate hike.

Busch walked the streets, knocked on doors and talked to voters in East Port, the eclectic former fishing village near downtown Annapolis.

Going door-to-door in Baltimore city and its suburban counties — like Anne Arundel County where Busch represents the Annapolis area — is a risky proposition for incumbents these days. There have been widespread reports of friendly faced politicians greeted with slammed doors, cold shoulders and sharp tongues as incumbents canvass neighborhoods in their bids for re-election. All because of the impending electric rate hike.

The General Assembly left town in April with no resolution to the spike that will hit approximately 1 million BGE customers in a month. The weeks following the session have done little to produce consensus or relief for angry ratepayers.

‘‘There is a significant ‘throw-the-bums-out’ sentiment,” said Del. Samuel I. ‘‘Sandy” Rosenberg (D-Dist. 41) of Baltimore, who has written to Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach urging them to call a special session to deal with the increase. ‘‘There is a sense that we all failed them.”

The East Port neighborhood is racially diverse, with homes selling in the $700,000 to $900,000 range next to places in need of renovations. Along the street curbs, a rusty Ford pickup can be seen parked next to a Lexus.

Over the course of knocking on more than 50 doors and stopping by a local bar, voter reaction was mixed Wednesday.

The electricity hike was not the first thing that voters asked Busch about, but it was on their minds.

Some talked about overdevelopment in Annapolis while others mentioned Medicaid Part D and a local park. One person sitting outside Davis’ Bar wanted to talk about slot machines and horseracing.

The rate hike didn’t come up until Busch knocked on the door of a home on Chester Street and an African-American woman told the speaker that something had to be done. The conversation lasted about 30 seconds, but her message was clear.

‘‘We’re going to help you out,” Busch said after dropping off some campaign literature.

At another house, Jackie Wells, general counsel at the Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University, said she was fearful that ratepayers who live paycheck to paycheck could be hurt the worst.

Ted Morgan, who took a break from yard work to talk with Busch, exchanged stories about St. Mary’s High School where Busch used to teach and coach basketball.

An economist who works in Washington, Morgan said the electricity hike — like gasoline and real estate prices — will be worked out by market forces.

Busch said he has been getting calls and e-mails from constituents and will continue to go through neighborhoods to take the voters’ temperature.

‘‘You learn a lot about yourself when you do this,” Busch said. ‘‘This is where you get your best feedback — some of it may be good and some of it may be bad.”

Del. Maggie L. McIntosh and Rosenberg said they are getting grilled more at community meetings than when they knock on doors. Rosenberg, a trailblazer on the issue of embryonic stem cell research, said that issue is secondary to the electricity hike.

Oz Bengur, a Democrat running for Congress in the Baltimore area, sent out a news release this week showing his online poll pointing to deep dissatisfaction among voters with BGE.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s plan to stretch out the increase has been panned by Democrats and challenged in court, while legislative leaders continue to squabble among themselves as temperatures rise and the July 1 increase draws closer.

The dysfunction among the political leaders — and anger toward BGE, its parent company Constellation Energy and the five-member Public Service Commission — is on voters’ minds.

McIntosh (D-Dist. 43) of Baltimore said she has been surprised with the amount of knowledge voters have about electricity deregulation. She said they understand that the legislature passed a bill seven years ago that deregulated the industry, and that the current members of the PSC have been under intense scrutiny for their ties to the utility industry.

‘‘It is a very intense dialogue with a very well-informed group of citizens,” said McIntosh, chairwoman of the House Environmental Matters Committee. ‘‘Most people are thinking that the legislature needs to go back to work and help them out.”

Holding a special session still remains a hot topic in Annapolis.

Miller said this week that he expects a special session to be held before July 1. Next week’s meeting of the Legislative Policy Committee — made up of key General Assembly leaders — will most likely be dominated by discussions about a special session, he said. But he offered no specifics and would not say if he and Busch are any closer to offering an alternative to Ehrlich’s plan.

Miller’s confidence about a special session came after a Baltimore Circuit Court judge ruled that the PSC must hold new hearings on Ehrlich’s rate deferral plan. The ruling was a victory for Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley (D), a candidate for governor who brought the suit.

Ehrlich (R) said that the judge’s ruling only causes confusion among ratepayers and could lead to customers paying the full 72 percent increase without deferring the increase over three years. If ratepayers opted into Ehrlich’s plan, they would pay an increase of 19 percent this summer and return to market rates 18 months later. A monthly charge would be applied if ratepayers chose to join Ehrlich’s plan.

‘‘If someone has a better plan, I want to see it,” Ehrlich said.