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Great Expectations

Now it’s O’Malley’s spotlight

Friday, Nov. 24, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Greg Dohler⁄The Gazette

Some say the Baltimore mayor will take Annapolis by storm and leave an indelible imprint on state government.

‘‘I look for him to be sort of an activist visionary governor,” said former Howard County Council chairman C. Vernon Gray (D). ‘‘One who really is looking toward making his mark on the state in terms of how he addresses the many challenges of the state.”

Others say O’Malley will bring high taxes and big government to meet an aggressive agenda laid out on the campaign trail.

‘‘He set a bold [vision] ... without the checkbook to finance [it],” said Del. Richard B. Weldon Jr. (R-Dist. 3B) of Brunswick, referring to O’Malley’s education, health care and environmental initiatives. ‘‘... All of them are very expensive and all of them are very disruptive in terms of the political discourse to try and solve them.”

As O’Malley (D) arrives in Annapolis, the state’s coffers are drying up, and fulfilling promises to direct $400 million to school construction and hold the line on college tuition will require new revenue streams — likely tax increases or slot machine gambling.

Those are burdensome proposals that could threaten O’Malley’s legislative agenda and make his relationship with the General Assembly turbulent.

Still, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said O’Malley will get ‘‘an extended honeymoon period” once he is sworn into office on Jan. 17.

‘‘I not only want him to do well this year, but I want him to do well all four years and I want him to be re-elected,” said Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach.

One GOP lawmaker said O’Malley’s biggest test will be inclusiveness.

‘‘He has to look at it now as a whole state, which is a whole lot different [than being mayor of Baltimore],” said House Minority Leader George C. Edwards (R-Dist. 1A) of Grantsville, who will move to the Senate next year after serving across the hall since 1983. ‘‘Maryland is really America in miniature.”

But O’Malley’s touch-and-go relationship with the Baltimore City Council shows he is battle-tested, said Stanton J. Gildenhorn, a former chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee.

‘‘This is a mayor who has dealt with a very prickly Baltimore City Council with a lot of different personalities and a lot of different views,” he said. ‘‘He’s been able to get along with them ... and that speaks well to his ability to get along with the legislature.”

And if O’Malley does encounter choppy seas with the legislature, St. Mary’s College of Maryland political science professor Zach P. Messitte said he can lean on Lt. Gov.-elect Anthony G. Brown, the House majority whip who has been a trusted lieutenant of House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis.

‘‘If anyone knows the trenches, it’s him,” Messitte said, ‘‘and if O’Malley employs him to be his liaison to the legislature, the sailing may be a lot smoother than his relationship was with the City Council.”

That makes O’Malley’s selection of a running mate ‘‘seem very shrewd, because O’Malley doesn’t know the legislature, but Brown does,” he added.

Some of O’Malley’s biggest detractors are cautiously optimistic that he will be a better governor than mayor.

‘‘I felt he could have done a lot more for Baltimore city schools as the mayor, and I have concerns of what he will do for the state,” said Del. Jill P. Carter, who has frequently clashed with O’Malley and is gauging support for a mayoral run of her own next year.

But Carter (D-Dist. 41) of Baltimore said the slate cannot be wiped clean because city schools and public safety ‘‘are still at crisis level.”

‘‘My concern is that he was never really held accountable in Baltimore for many of the areas where he fell short, like he was given a free pass,” she added. ‘‘I just hope that people will hold him accountable as governor.”

Former state senator Donald C. Fry (D) predicts O’Malley will have a smooth transition to the governorship because the Baltimore mayor wields significant power, as does the governor of Maryland.

For James M. Purtilo, editor and publisher of Tripwire, a gun rights newsletter, O’Malley is better prepared for the governorship than past executives, including Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), because he has administrative experience in managing multibillion-dollar budgets.

‘‘It’s a big leap to go from legislating to administrating,” Purtilo said. ‘‘O’Malley has far more experience coming into the job of governor than did Bob Ehrlich, so in terms of knowing how to hit the ground running, I think he’s going to be able to do that.”

Comptroller-elect Peter V.R. Franchot (D) acknowledged O’Malley faces rough sledding with a cloudy financial picture looming, but said he will weather the storm.

‘‘I think he’s got a lot of green grass in front of him,” said Franchot, who will serve with O’Malley on the powerful Board of Public Works.

Still, O’Malley will face some tough fiscal choices beyond his first year, Messitte said. ‘‘How he deals with what appears to be a structural shortfall in years two, three and four will define his first term as governor.”

That’s where Weldon says O’Malley could stumble. He will find much more resistance to tax increases in the legislature than in the City Council.

‘‘He really is a big-vision guy walking into a tight out-year budget, and that’s a tough environment because what you want to do as a big-vision guy is pay back all the promises you made, make as many friends as you can,” Weldon said. ‘‘And the way you do that is funding, and he doesn’t have much funding beyond 2008.”

O’Malley is thought to have national political aspirations, which will distinguish him from past governors, Messitte said.

‘‘I think he’ll bring sort of a star power and presence to the governorship that hasn’t been there in a long time, if ever,” he said. ‘‘He’s not the dour professor like Glendening. He’s not the Baltimore city pothole filler like Schaefer. He’s not the Arbutus frat guy like Ehrlich. This guy has some Kennedy in him. He’s got a je ne sais quoi ... about him.”

Staff Writer Douglas Tallman contributed to this report.