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http://www.gazette.net/stories/05012009/polinew195921_32523.shtml
GOP senator sees budget bounty for 2010
Kittleman: Voters can be swayed by specter of taxman
by Sean R. Sedam | Staff Writer, The Gazette
Friday, May 1, 2009
Democrats celebrating President Obama's first 100 days in office this week see passage of the federal stimulus package as one of his greatest political accomplishments. Republicans see it as one of the Democrats' greatest political liabilities in 2010. Even with a $13.8 billion fiscal 2010 operating budget that relies on more than $860 million in spending reductions and $1.5 billion in federal stimulus aid, state budget analysts project that Maryland lawmakers might have to tackle a nearly $1 billion deficit next year. Senate Minority Leader Allan H. Kittleman this week called the budget outlook "Perfect Storm 2." The original perfect storm arrived in 2007, when Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) called a special session of the General Assembly to plug a $1.5 billion budget hole with tax increases, cuts and a plan for slot machine gambling. With the economy continuing to sputter and federal aid drying up in two years, Kittleman (R-Dist. 9) of West Friendship offered Republican candidates for state office in 2010 a bit of advice. "Remind people what happened in 2007 and how [Democrats] responded," he said. "How do you think they'll respond in 2011? There's a pattern here, and the pattern is not good." Speaking Tuesday before the Rock Creek Women's Republican Club in Chevy Chase, Kittleman compared the massive increase of spending at the federal level to the tax increases of the 2007 special session. "[Democrats] have no appetite for raising taxes before an election and plenty of an appetite for raising taxes after an election," he said, adding that Democrats worried about backlash from the 2007 session but hoped memories of the tax increases would fade. A series of "tea party" tax protests around the state last month, mirroring protests around the country, refreshed voters' memories, Kittleman said. "And the Democrats are afraid right now," he said. Not so, said Democrats, who defended O'Malley, his budget and its use of nearly $3.9 billion in federal stimulus money over three fiscal years. The federal money went toward worthwhile initiatives, said Senate Budget and Taxation Chairman Ulysses Currie. He cited increases in K-12 school funding, including a formula that gives more state aid to jurisdictions where it costs more to educate students, aid for special education and schools with a high population of low-income students, and funding of teacher pensions. Aid also went to keep transportation projects on schedule and to support Medicaid, Currie said. "Without the stimulus money, I don't know where Maryland would be," said Currie (D-Dist. 25) of District Heights. Legislators "tried to plug as many holes as we could using the stimulus money," said Sen. Robert A. Zirkin, a member of Currie's committee. That allowed the legislature to freeze tuition at state universities for a fourth year in a row. While some argued for more cuts, Zirkin (D-Dist. 11) of Owings Mills defended spending on education, the environment, health care and public safety. "Those are the governor's priorities, and I think they're good ones," he said. No state agency escaped spending cuts, he said. "So if somebody wants to suggest more [cuts], then they should, because we're going to have to next session," Zirkin said. Democrats said Republicans are not offering budget solutions, just criticism. "Often what you hear is rhetoric about cutting a budget, but when it comes time for it there are no specifics whatsoever about it from people who are grandstanding," Zirkin said. "They're failing to offer any positive or constructive ideas," said Maryland Democratic Party Chairwoman Susan W. Turnbull. "And it's just a statement of ‘no.'" Jan H. Gardner, Frederick County Commission president and a Democrat, defied Kittleman to find where jurisdictions are not using the stimulus money wisely. "I think the federal stimulus money is helpful to all of us across the state, and that's a very difficult argument for the Republican Party to make," she said. The money is being used "to provide [job] opportunities and spur the economy," Gardner said. Stimulus dollars are being used to "put families first" by investing in education and infrastructure in ways that could bring as many as 66,000 jobs to Maryland, Turnbull said. "Our tax revenues will go up accordingly," she said, echoing a sentiment of many Democrats in Annapolis this year that the stimulus would lead to Maryland righting its fiscal ship. The timing of that turnaround could be a key to 2010, said Herbert C. Smith, a professor of political science at McDaniel College in Westminster. "So much is dependent on the national economy," he said. "When does it become owned by the Democratic Party? That's the real question as far as public perception. And how long is the grace period?" In the meantime, it makes sense for Republicans to play the tax card and remind voters of 2007, Smith said. "That is the Republican foundation," he said. "Whether they can translate a 1 percent increase in the state sales tax to a winning political coalition — that's a pretty far reach."
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