By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 22, 2010

OCEAN CITY, MD. — Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley warned county leaders Saturday against political candidates who “tell people we can eat cake and lose weight,” a jab directed at the campaign promises of his leading Republican challenger.

O’Malley’s comments came a day after former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) pledged to restore 25 percent of the road aid to local governments that O’Malley (D) is diverting to help balance the state budget. Restoration of that funding is a top priority for county leaders.

“We all know it’s an election year,” O’Malley told the Maryland Association of Counties, a nonpartisan group of county officials, at its annual meeting in Ocean City. “And we all know there will be other candidates making all sorts of promises over the next few months, the same promises they couldn’t keep in easier times.”

Ehrlich said at a news conference here Friday that his road plan would cost about $60 million and that he has been keeping close tabs on the budget impact of other promises. Those include a pledge to cut the state’s sales tax, which could cost the state treasury $600 million a year. Ehrlich has not said how he would pay for all of his proposals.

“We live in the land of the doable,” Ehrlich said at the news conference.

The bulk of O’Malley’s speech Saturday — in which he did not mention Ehrlich by name — was devoted to his efforts to create jobs and improve the state’s economy. Job creation is the leading theme of both campaigns.

O’Malley said the state has had five months of job growth and added about 40,000 jobs between January and July, the best stretch since 1999.

“Doesn’t that feel good to say?” he asked the crowd.

Maryland Senate Minority Leader Allan H. Kittleman (R-Howard), whom the Ehrlich campaign designated as its spokesman Saturday, criticized O’Malley for giving a speech that did not give a fuller picture of his record.

“He doesn’t want to talk about the past, because the past is historic tax increases and higher unemployment,” Kittleman said, referring to a 2007 special session in which lawmakers raised taxes by about $1.4 billion.

Jockeying over jobs has been commonplace in the campaign, but O’Malley’s questioning of Ehrlich’s ability to keep promises is a new development.

In his speech, O’Malley acknowledged that slashing local road funding — known as “highway user revenues” — was “one of the more painful cuts we had to make in recent times.”

Counties and municipalities have used the funding for a variety of projects, including road resurfacing and snow removal. Several rounds of cuts have left counties with a small fraction of the funding they once received, putting them on a “starvation diet,” said Michael Sanderson, executive director of the county group.

O’Malley said that once the economy and state budget outlook improve, restoring the state aid will be a priority.

“I wish I could tell you when those dollars will be there to allow us to do that,” O’Malley said. “I can’t.”

At another point in the speech, O’Malley stressed the need to be “honest with one another about the challenges and choices we face.”

He noted that the state faces a projected $1.5 billion budget shortfall in its next fiscal year, even though tax revenue has picked up in recent months.

Some of O’Malley’s most pointed jabs at Ehrlich were left undelivered.

An advance copy of his speech distributed by aides criticized an unnamed governor for promising lower taxes while raising property taxes and pushing for passage of a surcharge on sewer and septic bills that “charged the same rate to millionaires as it did to working families and senior citizens on fixed incomes.”

The undelivered portion of the speech also criticized Ehrlich for allowing public university tuition to rise by 40 percent during his tenure and diverting funds from a land-preservation program to help balance the state budget.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/21/AR2010082102400.html?referrer=emailarticle

OCEAN CITY – Gov. Martin O’Malley offered an upbeat but guarded outlook for the state’s economic future Saturday morning in a speech laden with election year jabs directed at his predecessor and likely opponent, former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

O’Malley touted a recent economic report that showed Maryland adding a net gain of 40,000 positions from March through July.

“We’re not out of the woods yet. We still need to keep creating new jobs,” he said during his address to local elected leaders and government officials on the final day of the Maryland Association of Counties conference.

O’Malley, a Democrat, criticized Ehrlich for spending increases during the Republican’s term, an increase to the property tax and the creation of the “flush tax” used to pay for Chesapeake Bay restoration projects.

“Most of us remember that eight years ago, in easier times, we were promised savings to taxpayers, and then the state spending was increased by more than ever before in Maryland,” O’Malley said.

As he has throughout his campaign for reelection, O’Malley urged people to look forward, rather than back, a reference to Ehrlich’s time in office.

Senate Minority Leader Allan H. Kittleman, R-Howard and Carroll, said after the speech the governor’s focus on the future was not surprising.

“If I were Martin O’Malley, I wouldn’t want to talk about the past, either,” Kittleman said. “I wouldn’t want to talk about the largest tax increase in the history of the state. I wouldn’t want to talk about unemployment being double what it was when he took office.”

Kittleman, who was one of the few Republican legislators at the conference, said after four years, O’Malley can no longer get away with blaming those who held the office before him.

“He’s driven us to the edge of the cliff and now he wants us all to close our eyes as he drives us over the cliff,” Kittleman said.

In the speech, O’Malley said there are still tough times ahead, but pointed out a few bright spots, including the job creation, which slowed in July. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment remained unchanged that month, at 7.1 percent.

O’Malley pointed to state revenues that came in $170 million over what budget officials had anticipated. He acknowledged the burden borne by local governments as state aid, particularly for road maintenance, has dried up during the recession.

Ehrlich visited Ocean City one day earlier – he stopped only briefly at the conference – to announce his plan to boost road funding to counties and Baltimore City by $60 million.

O’Malley did not offer hard numbers, but said “as we come out of this recession, I hope those are some of the first cuts we restore, along with the furlough days for state employees.”

He also touted the jobs the state stands to gain as part of the military’s Base Realignment and Closure program and the creation of a high-tech command at Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County. BRAC will bring some 60,000 jobs to Maryland and the location of the recently formed joint Cyber Command at Fort Meade will bring another 21,000.

O’Malley said higher rates of high school students taking math and science advanced placement tests for college credit is evidence the state will churn out workers prepared to step into high-tech military and cyber jobs, as well as others in fields like biotechnology and green energy.

“This is a transformational time. And part of the pain we’re feeling is because of this transformation,” he said. “In that pain is tremendous opportunity… There’s not another state that’s better equipped to make this transformation than your state.”

http://mddailyrecord.com/2010/08/21/omalley-touts-transformational-time-for-md-economy-to-county-leaders/

By Lindsey McPherson, lmcpherson@patuxent.com, Howard County Times, 6/10/10

The Howard County Education Association last week announced the local candidates it is endorsing in the 2010 election, including 14 incumbents and six challengers.

“We look at it from an education perspective and the union perspective,” union president Ann DeLacy said. “We endorse the candidates that are for public education.”

The endorsements are based on personal interviews and candidates’ responses to union questionnaires. The deadline for candidates to file to run for office is July 6, but DeLacy said the education association makes its endorsements before the end of the school year to accommodate its members’ schedules.

The union’s endorsements were awarded to all Democratic candidates, and some members of the Republican party this week said they didn’t have a shot at the union’s consideration since they didn’t receive interview requests or questionnaires.

“It’s hard to respond to a questionnaire you never received,” said state Sen. Allan Kittleman, a District 9 Republican. He added that District 9 Republican incumbent Dels. Gail Bates and Warren Miller also did not receive questionnaires, nor did Republican candidates Kyle Lorton, in the District 13 Senate race, and Jeff Robinson, in the District 13 House of Delegates race.

DeLacy said the association didn’t send questionnaires to incumbents Kittleman, Bates and Miller “because they have a very low percent voting record for educational issues.” She called their support of education “abysmal.”

Howard County Republican Party Chairwoman Joan Becker said she is disappointed the education association endorsed all Democratic candidates, but she is not surprised.

“There is a misperception that Republicans are not pro-education,” she said.

Changing the perception, she said, is “something that we need to work on as a party” and educating people about the Republican interest in education will be something they focus on this election season.

Schools a ‘crown jewel’

At the county level, the union endorsed incumbent County Executive Kenneth Ulman and incumbent County Council members Calvin Ball, Mary Kay Sigaty, Jennifer Terrasa and Courtney Watson.

“They understand the importance of having a strong public education system,” DeLacy said. “I like to think that our school and our library systems are probably the crown jewel of our county.”

The union’s 14-member Government Relations Committee, in its recommendations to the Board of Directors and the Representative Assembly, decided not to endorse a candidate for the County Council in District 5 because incumbent Gregory Fox, a Republican, “is running unopposed at this time and has not been particularly supportive of education, having proposed cuts to the education budget in the past.”

Fox, however, said he proposed only one cut to the education budget in the past four years, which was in the amount of $184,000 for the removal of three school system positions in 2007.

“I’ve actually proposed more increases to the Board of Education budget than any other council member,” in those four years, he said.

In the Maryland General Assembly contests, the union endorsed all the incumbents from Districts 12 and 13. They include state Sen. Edward Kasemeyer and state Dels. Steven DeBoy, James Malone and Elizabeth Bobo for District 12 and state Sen. James Robey and state Dels. Frank Turner, Shane Pendergrass and Guy Guzzone for District 13.

“They were very friendly incumbents,” DeLacy said. “They had good voting records.”

In District 9, the union endorsed all of the challengers: Jim Adams for the state Senate and Jon Weinstein and Maryann Maher for the House of Delegates. All are Democrats challenging Republican incumbents.

In the race for the four open Howard County Board of Education seats, the association endorsed incumbent Frank Aquino and challengers Marcelino Bedolla, David Proudfoot and Brian Meshkin.

“We need out-of-the-box thinkers,” DeLacy said. “I’m hoping that maybe they can all work together and somehow get the best team out there to win.”

The county education association, which will have members passing out its “apple ballots” at the polls on election day, only issues endorsements for local candidates. The Maryland State Education Association voted in October 2009 to endorse incumbent Gov. Martin O’Malley.

http://www.explorehoward.com/education/72413/union-endorsements-draw-gop-criticism/

James Pelura may be staying put as chairman of the Maryland GOP, but the infighting has hardly subsided among the state’s Republican leaders.

The latest spat centers on Pelura’s plans to develop a “Contract with Maryland” heading into the 2010 elections — an effort to replicate the Republican success nationally with 1994′s Contract with America.

Well, two important people aren’t quite on board with the process: House Minority Leader Anthony J. O’Donnell (R-Calvert) and House Minority Whip Christopher B. Shank (R-Washington).

In an e-mail last week, Pelura informed O’Donnell and Senate Minority Leader Allan H. Kittleman (R-Howard) that he had asked Mykel Harris, chairman of the Prince George’s GOP Central Committee, to head a commission to develop the contract. The commission, Pelura wrote, would include state and local Republican party officials, members of GOP clubs and other Republican activists.

“Of course, to fully round out this commission, and to present to all Marylanders that we (Republicans) mean business, we must have the cooperation and input from the Republicans in the Maryland General Assembly,” Pelura told O’Donnell and Kittleman. “I ask both of you to give this serious thought and forward me the names of a Republican senator and delegate that you would prefer be a part of this group. You both are more than welcome to be part of this or appoint someone. Your choice.”

O’Donnell and Shank responded this week with some choice words. The bottom line: Legislators, and not the party chairman, should take the lead in developing any contract, they said in an e-mail back to Pelura.

“The Contract with America, in 1994, was developed by experienced policymakers in the Congress under the leadership of the House Minority Whip at the time, Newt Gingrich, with assistance from many other members like Dick Armey of Texas,” O’Donnell and Shank wrote. “The policymaking experience and political expertise for such an endeavor similarly exists within our joint caucus membership. … We know the policy, and we know how such policy relates to winning elections.”

The letter also repeats, at some length, previous complaints aired about Pelura’s leadership. We leave you with a choice excerpt:

“We continue to have a lack of confidence in this chairman to prepare the party for statewide quadrennial elections just 15 months away. He seems to want to focus efforts into the policy arena while falling down on core fundamentals of party building activities. It is our political opinion that the state party chairman should excel at some very fundamental items before he delves into the realm of policy making. In our opinion, the chairman should be focused on improving the fundraising performance of our state party. He is still paying off debt that he has incurred years later, and we are less than five months away from being in a quadrennial statewide election year. … Maybe he hopes someone in Washington will magically send us a bailout for the Maryland GOP. How does the MDGOP criticize the Dem’s for out of control spending, a bailout mentality, or spending beyond their means, with this situation hanging out there?”

– John Wagner

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/annapolis/2009/08/gop_legislators_reject_peluras.html

by Sean R. Sedam and Alan Brody | Staff Writers, The Gazette, August 28, 2009

ANNAPOLIS — Balancing the fiscal 2010 budget is turning into a heavyweight prize fight with no one sure how many rounds it will go.

When the bell rang to end Round Two on Wednesday, the Board of Public Works had cut $454 million, approving layoffs of 202 state workers, up to 10 furlough days for others, $211 million in cuts in aid to counties and major reductions in health care and higher education.

The cuts drew criticism from Republicans and a moderate Democrat who said Gov. Martin O’Malley did not act fast enough or go far enough in attempting to bridge the budget gap. Analysts predict the gap could total more than $1 billion when legislators return to Annapolis in January to begin work on the fiscal 2011 budget.

“I think they could be more aggressive in how they make their cuts, because I just hate to see us furlough employees, and I hate layoffs because that doesn’t help the economy and that doesn’t help families,” said Del. Galen R. Clagett (D-Dist. 3A) of Frederick.

Of the 202 layoffs and elimination of 162 vacant positions, Clagett said: “If these jobs didn’t need to be around, why weren’t they eliminated in the first place a long time ago?”

Senate Minority Leader Allan H. Kittleman blasted O’Malley (D) for what he called “poor budget planning and waiting too long to make tough decisions” that has led to a deficit of the governor’s own making.

“O’Malley has been in charge of our state budget for over three years now,” said Kittleman (R-Dist. 9) of West Friendship. “So you can’t be blaming everything on the prior administration.”

Others defended the scope and timing of the cuts.

“I think [O'Malley] is trying to be slow and deliberate and trying to minimize the pain as much as possible,” said Del. Steven J. DeBoy Sr. (D-Dist. 12A) of Arbutus.

Cuts have long-term ramifications, DeBoy said. The Landsdowne Library in his district was closed during budget cuts in 1992 and did not reopen until 2005, he said.

The multiple rounds of cuts draw comparisons to a boxing match — sometimes called “the sweet science.”

Said DeBoy: “It’s not an exact science. I’m not sure we’re done, I think we might have to go another round or two. The worst is yet to come, really.”

Del. Theodore J. Sophocleus (Dist. 32) of Linthicum likened the process of budget-cutting to a demolition derby.

“If you’re driving in that, you try and avoid the major accident and still protect the integrity of the driver,” said the self-described moderate-conservative Democrat.

Recent governors, including Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), Parris N. Glendening (D) and William Donald Schaefer (D) made cuts closer to the end of the calendar year — the middle of the fiscal year, said Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute.

“I think [O'Malley] has acted more promptly and more transparently than his last three predecessors,” Bergsman said.

But O’Malley’s failure to cut more deeply in the fiscal 2010 budget he proposed in January — and in prior budgets — has meant that counties must now bear the brunt and that the state has yet to find a permanent fix, Republicans and some Democrats said.

O’Malley needs to be willing to sacrifice certain “sacred cows” such as K-12 education, which went untouched in the two rounds of cuts and to redefine the state’s relationship with counties, Clagett said.

“Those are things we’re going to have to look at temporarily to get through the box [we're in],” said Clagett, adding that the state needs to “look at our relationships with counties and make their expectations realistic.”

Because less than one-quarter of the cuts approved on Wednesday are permanent — Budget Secretary T. Eloise Foster noted that about $100 million in cuts will carry over beyond the current fiscal year — Kittleman is frustrated that they did little to address the long-term imbalance between state revenues and expenditures.

“This is just a quick out for today and we’re going to be in the same problem tomorrow,” he said.

“We need to have structural changes,” Kittleman said.

Making such changes necessitates having what Sen. E.J. Pipkin has called “the talk.”

That means discussing priorities in major spending programs “so that we didn’t micromanage like this,” said Pipkin (R-Dist. 36) of Elkton. “Instead we’ve gone in a different direction.”

Pipkin said he would like to see a discussion of how the state picks up $800 million to $1 billion in teacher’s pension costs while counties set teacher’s salaries. He’d also like to look for ways to deliver health care more efficiently.

“It’s a significant part of the budget,” he said. “All we’re hearing about are things on the margin.”

In all, the board, which comprises the governor, treasurer and comptroller and has the authority to slash the budget when the General Assembly is not in session, has cut $736 million. When passed by the legislature, the spending plan totaled $13.8 billion.

With the state’s property, sales and personal and corporate income taxes failing to yield expected revenues and a Sept. 17 meeting of the Board of Revenue Estimates expected to bring more writedowns, more cuts could be on the way.

“There will be considerable work that remains to be done in the preparation of that budget,” O’Malley said during a briefing on the cuts this week.

Legislators expect to have their work cut out for them when they return to Annapolis in January to begin work on the fiscal 2011 budget.

Del. A. Wade Kach said he would like to see O’Malley appoint a bipartisan work group to look at long-term budget solutions.

It is unlikely that Democrats and Republicans would have any such in-depth bipartisan discussion of the budget without prodding from the governor or the presiding officers, said Kach (R-Dist. 5B) of Cockeysville.

“It’s obvious that over the last couple of years that hasn’t happened,” he said. “There hasn’t been a coalition that’s been put together and the votes have been very polarized.”

Clagett rejected the idea of a bipartisan coalition that would involve a battle with the administration.

“That’s not the thing to do in a crisis time,” he said.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/08282009/polinew204005_32523.shtml

Residents protest cuts
to disability programs

Residents outline concerns for
legislators at packed meeting

By Janene Holzberg

Howard County Times, October 29, 2009

Nearly 300 people crammed
into Ellicott City Assembly of God Church last week to protest state budget
cuts to developmental disabilities programs and a burgeoning waiting list for
services before a cluster of invited elected officials.

The Howard County Town Hall Meeting, held
Oct. 22, was the second of eight forums planned across the state and was
sponsored locally by The Arc of Howard County, eMerge, Howard County Autism
Society and Humanim.

Seventeen speakers, some of them
individuals with developmental disabilities, offered emotion-filled testimony
about losing or not having desperately needed programs.

There are 19,000 people on a statewide
waiting list that is managed by the Developmental Disabilities Administration,
said Laura Howell, executive director of the Columbia-based Maryland
Association of Community Services. About 800 adults and children from Howard County
are among that number, she said later.

The 22,000 people who receive services
have had their programs slashed since the start of fiscal year 2010 (July 1,
2009), said Howell, adding that a third round of budget cuts is expected in
early November.

A year-long effort by DDA workers to weed
out names that may no longer belong on the list — due to changes in status,
moving out of state, or death of applicant — will culminate in January and
should lower that figure, Howell said after the meeting.

“Cleaning up the list is a pretty big
undertaking so it doesn’t happen routinely,” she noted.

Over a 10-year period, just keeping pace
with inflation, DDA has been underfunded by $100 million,” Howell told the
audience, which included Maryland Department of Disabilities Secretary Cathy
Raggio and Renata Henry, deputy secretary of behavioral health and disabilities
for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

“Support staff workers earn an
average of $10 an hour here in the wealthiest county in the wealthiest state,
forcing them to work two or three jobs” to make ends meet, or to seek employment
elsewhere, she said. “But community service providers are only reimbursed
at a rate of $9 an hour, so already we have a shortfall.”

Howell said money for service
coordinators, who provide an important oversight service, was cut by 15
percent; $1 million was cut from the rolling-access fund that grants
waiting-list families up to $3,000 year; and $1 million was cut from the
respite care program, which provides breaks for caregivers.

“We are all gravely concerned,”
she said.

Dorothy Plantz, co-chairperson of The
Arc’s governmental affairs committee, told the crowd that despite its wealth,
Maryland is ranked 43rd for spending on developmental disabilities issues and
devotes 21 percent less funding to that category than the average state.

Plantz, whose 27-year-old son, Matthew,
has been on the waiting list for eight years, said, “It’s time for our
‘One Maryland’ slogan to include all citizens.”

Pat and Dan Sullivan held up a photograph
of their 21-year-old son Ryan, telling the audience that he has Down’s
syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism.

Dan Sullivan said he’s blind in his left
eye and losing his vision in his right, yet he might have to retire from his
job and attempt to be Ryan’s caregiver since his son has lost vital support
services.

As citizen testimony drew to a close,
moderator Ed Wilson of The Arc opened the floor to legislators.

“I would be angry and frustrated if I
were in your position,” Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, an Ellicott City Democrat,
told the crowd. “We will make an effort to correct cuts that were
inappropriately directed at you.”

Sen. James Robey, an Elkridge Democrat,
said he “was not prepared to make any more cuts” to developmental
disabilities services. “And I promise to vote for the (5-cent-per-drink)
alcohol tax if the proceeds benefit DDA, and if it ever gets out of
committee.”

Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, a West Friendship
Republican, said he wanted to apologize “because our government doesn’t
place a priority on you.”

“I’m not sure the alcohol tax is the
answer, because they could give that money to you and then take it away again
somewhere else,” he said.

More information on the DDA waiting list
is available at www.endthewaitnow.com.

One mother’s plea: Protect ‘our most
vulnerable citizens’

With his upturned nose, thick fringe of
dark eyelashes, and closely knit eyebrows, Matthew, 39, has all the telling
facial characteristics of Cornelia de Lange syndrome. Both of his arms end at
the elbow, a limb abnormality that often accompanies the syndrome. He weighs a
mere 53 pounds.

His mother, Pam Matheson, testified at last week’s town hall meeting about the
impact of state budget cuts from her wheelchair, her son at her side in his
wheelchair.

“Matt has wanted all his life to be a regular guy,” Matheson told state
legislators. “His services make the difference between being shut away and
being part of the fabric of the community.”

When the Ellicott City woman first laid eyes on him, he was 6 years old and
lying passively in a crib at Rosewood
Center, a now-closed
state institution for the developmentally disabled in Owings Mills. She was a
26-year-old special education teacher in Howard County,
learning about stimulating children with special needs.

“Here was this little guy who didn’t respond (to stimulation). … There could
be cymbals crashing and it wouldn’t matter.”  She was told he was deaf and
blind, though later testing proved he his hearing and his vision were impaired.

“He vomited 30 times a day, was self-abusive and just an awful mess — but he
had a spark in his eye,” she recalled.

Leaning into his crib, “I said ‘ma-ma’ and he repeated it after me six times in
a row and I thought, ‘Well, he’s got some smarts,’ ” Matheson said. She became
Matt’s foster parent soon after that.

“I always wanted kids and I fell in love with him… you just do what you need to
do,” she said.

After taking him home, Matheson was told Matt wouldn’t have lived much longer
if she hadn’t, because he repeatedly aspirated food into his lungs — a chronic
problem she says occurred because he was fed pureed foods while lying on his
back.

She soon decided she didn’t want to be Matt’s foster parent any longer;
instead, she adopted him in 1980.

Since then, Matheson has married, had a car accident in 1988 that put her in a
wheelchair, and, in 2000, retired as an itinerant teacher of visually impaired
students after 27 years with the Howard
County public schools
system.

The loving effort she puts into caring for Matt, some might say, is Herculean
since both mother and son use wheelchairs. But Matheson doesn’t see it that way
at all.

“I believe you do what you can for your fellow man,” she said. “It’s every
person’s duty.”

The only recognition she wants is from elected officials that people such as
Matt thrive on the opportunities provided by state funding and families depend
on assistance. When support workers’ visits are cut from his weekly routine, he
is deprived of community outings and all she can manage is changing his diaper
and hooking up his stomach tube for meals.

“These are our weakest, most vulnerable citizens,” Matheson said. “We are
begging the state not to reduce funding for these vital community services.”

Ehrlich mum on gubernatorial run during
Howard appearance

Former governor rallies enthusiastic
supporters at Ellicott City event

By Larry Carson

Baltimore Sun reporter, October 28, 2009

In April, former governor Robert L.
Ehrlich Jr.’s message to fellow Republicans in Howard
County, delivered by his wife Kendel,
was a plea for guidance and support as he pondered another run for the Maryland state house.

"This is all about you," Kendel Ehrlich told a packed Lincoln Day
party dinner six months ago. "You need to tell Bob Ehrlich what you want
him to do."

Now those Republicans in this key political barometer county are cajoling,
chanting, almost demanding that Ehlrich run for governor again against
Democratic incumbent Gov. Martin O’Malley, but he’s still not willing to
commit, or even set a deadline.

"There are major obstacles," Ehrlich said after an enthusiastic GOP
rally at an Ellicott City Veterans of Foreign Wars hall Tuesday night. "If
I conclude I can win, I’ll run. There’s no time frame (for a decision). There
are a lot of people I have to talk to," he said, and he won’t be pushed.
"I’ve got a hard head," he said.

The event was a combined Republican effort that drew 200 people to a "Common
Sense Town Rally," a colonial-themed event replete with costumes to
emphasize the conservative message of "taking back" the county, state
and nation. Party leaders dressed as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Paul
Revere and Abigail Adams, among others.

Republican elected officials chanted "Run Ehrlich Run," and Kathleen
Newberry, 50, of Ellicott City implored
Ehrlich to run during a question and answer period following his speech.

"I’m dying to work for somebody we can believe in," she said.
"These people need somebody," she continued, as State Sen. Allan H.
Kittleman, Del. Warren E. Miller and county councilman Greg Fox all began the
"Run Ehrlich Run" chant, which quickly spread.

Before Ehrlich’s arrival from an appearance in Baltimore City,
a costumed Karen Winterling, president of the co-sponsoring Howard County
Republican Women’s Club, warmed up the crowd.

"Many of our rights are now being challenged by an administration
unchecked," she said. "Our Constitution is in jeopardy. If you own a
gun, go to church and oppose federal taxes, the Department of Homeland Security
considers you the enemy. … Please get involved. This is the most radical
transformation our country has ever been challenged with."

Ehrlich was greeted by a fully costumed Paul Revere and by a standing ovation
after Chick Chickanis — dressed as Revere
— said "we enthusiastically hope he will again seek elected office."

Ehrlich reminded the crowd that Howard
County has become a bellwether
subdivision in Maryland
— a swing county that mirrors statewide results, which makes Howard an
important political battleground. He also described recent history as a
progression of events that initially hurt Republicans, like the
"prosecution of the Iraq War," the credit freeze, the "stimulus
bill not meant to stimulate anything" growing federal spending, and the
2008 national election.

"This was the downward spiral," Ehrlich said, when voters became
angry at Republican administration spending and GOP congressional scandals and
decided "we’re going to take the keys to their (GOP) car."

But now there are strong signs of new life, Ehrlich said, noting united
Republican votes against more stimulus spending, protest "tea"
parties, and the "summer of discontent" over health care, with likely
off-year Republican victories expected in elections next for governorships in
Virginia and New Jersey.

Now, with Maryland‘s 2010 election just one
year off, the future beckons, he said, with Republicans aiming to elect
conservative State Sen. Andy Harris to Congress in place of Democrat Frank
Kratovil, and nationally to defeat prominent Democratic senators in Nevada, Connecticut and California.

"There’s revulsion of the quadrupled federal debt," he said,
mentioning House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate leader Harry Reid, to a round
of hisses and boos.

In Maryland, heavy daily commuter traffic on Interstate 83 funneling workers
from southern Pennsylvania to jobs in the Free State "are a living,
tangible indictment of Maryland (tax) policy," and there’s a
"visceral feeling that our culture and values are under attack,"
Ehrlich said.

But the only way a Republican can win in Maryland
is with support from crossover Democrats, who will bring victory in places like
Howard County while narrowing the margin of
loss in heavily Democratic Baltimore City. There, Ehrlich said, "I’ve got
two strikes against me" when he merely walks into an African-American
church.

But Roderick Young, 32, of Columbia, the only African-American in the crowd,
later rose and told Ehrlich that the Republican message closely resembles the
conservative values held by many black churchgoers, but the party’s
"packaging" is questionable.

"The Revolutionary theme is great if you love history," Young said,
looking around at the people dressed in tri-cornered hats and wearing swords,
"but the 1700s weren’t too good for us. I love the substance, but who’s
helping you with your packaging?" he said.

Ehrlich agreed that Roderick, who said he moved to Howard a year ago, had a
point. That’s when Newberry stepped up to the microphone and asked Ehrlich if
he’d agree to run for governor if Roderick agreed to be his Lieutenant
Governor.

Still Ehrlich made no promises, and later said he’s still wary, because he lost
to O’Malley in 2006 even with what he claims was a "60 percent approval
rating" among voters.

Although Howard Republicans mention former Ehrlich appointments secretary Larry
Hogan as an acceptable gubernatorial candidate if Ehrlich doesn’t run, they
"are optimistic that he’ll run," said Howard County GOP chairwoman
Joan Becker. "That’s a personal decision he has to make," she said,
but if he decides to sit the race out, it will have an effect. "People
would be disappointed," she said.

Trent Kittleman, Ehrlich’s former Transportation Authority CEO and President
who is considering a run for Howard
County executive, put it
more succinctly. "He better not," she said.

3 ex-Ehrlich administration aides may run for office

By Larry Carson | Baltimore Sun

October 27, 2009

Republican Trent Kittleman mulls run for
Howard executive

By Larry Carson

Baltimore Sun reporter; October 26, 2009

Trent Kittleman, a former Ehrlich
administration transportation official and member of a prominent Howard County
Republican political family, said she’s seriously considering running for
county executive next year.

Kittleman, 64, of West Friendship, is a lawyer and former congressional staffer
who served as both deputy transportation secretary under Governor Robert L.
Ehrlich Jr, a Republican, and later as president and CEO of the Maryland
Transportation Authority, leaving office after Ehrlich’s 2006 defeat.

She is also the widow of the late State Sen. Robert H. Kittleman, and
stepmother to State Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, the senate minority leader.

"I’m forming an exploratory committee to see if I can raise an adequate
amount of money," she said. She’ll likely make a final decision early next
year.

County executive Ken Ulman, a Democrat, said he expects to report having over
$500,000 on hand in January, when the next state campaign finance reports are
due. He reported $303,609 on hand in the last report. He said it’s too early
now to talk about next year’s elections, though he sees no sign in voter
registrations of a voter revolt.

"If anybody’s getting a bump, it’s independents," he said.
"Folks in Howard
County appreciate the quality
of life here," he said, mentioning public safety, the county’s highly
rated schools and libraries. "We’re going to keep focusing on those things
every day," he said.

Ulman has pushed a progressive agenda since taking office, starting his Healthy
Howard health access plan for the county’s uninsured and distributing large,
wheeled recycling bins to most homes to boost recycling. He’s also had the
county buy hybrid vehicles for county inspectors and the local transit system
and expanded the police force by 54 sworn officers, though the health and
environmental moves drew criticism for their cost as the recession deepened.

Democrats currently control all of Howard’s political institutions, with four
of five council members, two of the three county state senators and six of
eight state delegates, though the county has supported Republicans in the past.
Ehrlich won the county in 2002, but lost it four years later.

Trent Kittleman revealed her plans at a picnic fundraiser Sen. Kittleman held
Sunday on the family farm — an event that drew a number for former Ehrlich
cabinet officers, two of whom said they may run for Howard County Council seats
currently held by Democrats.

Robert L. Flanagan, a former Howard state delegate and Ehrlich’s transportation
secretary, and Dennis R. Schrader, a former county councilman and Ehrlich’s
homeland security chief, both indicated they may run for County Council seats
after seeming to discount the idea one month ago.

"I’m talking to people," Flanagan said when asked about reports that
he’s already door-knocking.

"I’ve moved into taking a more serious look at it," said Schrader,
who served as a county councilman from 1994-98 when he ran for county executive
but lost.

If incumbent Republican councilman Greg Fox is re-elected, and Flanagan and
Schrader could win the seats now held by Democrats councilwomen Courtney Watson
and Jen Terrasa, they would control the five-member council. Terrasa said
Monday she’s not in campaign mode.

"I’m keeping focused on what I’m doing," as a council member, she
said.

Watson said it’s "way too early" to talk about next year’s campaign.

Also at the annual picnic were former Howard state senators and Ehrlich
appointees Martin G. Madden and Christopher J. McCabe.

The Republicans said they increasingly feel 2010 may be a big comeback year
because voters are upset and angry over issues like high unemployment and the
health care debate.

"I sense there’s a very strong feeling — almost a fear out there,"
over government spending, Trent Kittleman said. "You can only spend into
the future for so long," she said about government borrowing and growing
deficits.

Now self employed as a consultant, Trent Kittleman said she has the feeling the
political winds are changing, both nationally and locally.

Potential Republican victories in Virginia and
New Jersey
gubernatorial races, and locally a growing Howard County Republican Club
deliver those messages, she said. She ran once before for public office, losing
a 1978 campaign for Howard County Council. In 1982, her late husband won a seat
in the House of Delegates.

Allan Kittleman and others shared her optimism Sunday, and said they are
encouraging her to run.

"2010 is going to be a different year, folks. I can smell it,"
Kittleman told his roughly 150 supporters. Later, he said Trent Kittleman
brings years of private business and government experience to a potential race.
"I think it’s a great idea," he said. "She would be a contrast
to Ulman."

Howard Del. Warren E. Miller said he too feels Republicans will benefit from
public discontent nationally.

"We had two bad cycles under President Bush," he said. "But you
can’t blame Republicans for anything now and things aren’t working," he
said, referring to high unemployment. "It’s going to be an up year for us."

Key to GOP hopes are whether Ehrlich himself runs for governor against
O’Malley, something many Republicans think he’s already doing, if not
announcing.

"If Bob Ehrlich does, run, it makes a big difference," Trent
Kittleman said, because it would boost Republican fundraising, energy, and
excitement throughout the state.

As if in counterpoint, Democratic Party leader Michael C. A. McPherson issued a
statement Saturday praising the county for having "one of the lowest
unemployment rates in the state," and one of the best school systems and
libraries.

"Do you want to continue this way of life or do you want to revert to
something less and more ancient. Twenty-ten is a watershed for validating our
quality of life by retaining all of our current office holders and electing
some new ones."

Advocates for disabled protest

$29 million in state cuts is too much,
they contend, as they press O’Malley for a reversal

By Larry Carson | Baltimore Sun

October 24, 2009

Advocates for people with severe
disabilities have launched a campaign to reverse $29 million in recent state
budget cuts that they contend are hurting an already underfunded, vulnerable
community.

Supporters are organizing a series of nine public meetings around Maryland and are taking
their case to top officials.

Gov. Martin O’Malley, who met with advocates for the developmentally disabled
this week, has repeatedly pared spending for state agencies and services to
keep the budget balanced, and he must close another $2 billion shortfall next
year. The process has spurred criticism from affected groups.

A round of budget-cutting in August reduced funding for emergency care for
disabled children when a parent is hospitalized and wages for workers who help
homebound disabled people feed, dress and clean themselves. The advocates say
more than 20,000 Maryland
residents and their families are affected. They hope O’Malley will restore some
funding in next year’s budget.

"In good times, we don’t get our share. In bad times, we shouldn’t have to
give back," said Carol Beatty, executive director of the ARC of Howard
County.

The state spends about $425 million yearly on community services for the
developmentally disabled.

The group organized a meeting at an Ellicott City
church Thursday night that featured personal hardship stories and drew more
than 200 people, including state Senate Majority Leader Edward J. Kasemeyer, a
Howard County Democrat, and Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, the minority leader.
Another meeting is scheduled Monday in Anne
Arundel County,
and more are planned in Baltimore, Harford, Frederick and Montgomery counties,
as well as in Southern Maryland.

O’Malley, who declared October Disability Employment Awareness Month, said he’s
hoping for more federal help, and warned that deep state budget cuts nationwide
could negate economic gains in these early stages of recovery.

"I know how painful these cuts are," O’Malley said. "We’re not
doing these things because we think no one will be affected adversely. At this
point, anything we cut is core mission."

John Dumas, director of Frederick-based Service Coordinators, which provides
workers who help the disabled, said his agency eliminated 74 of 335 positions
this month, including 40 layoffs. Remaining workers are seeing cuts to their
$10-an-hour wages, as well as reduced mileage expenses and less training.

That affects the kind of help received by people such as Matt Matheson, 39, who
cannot speak, feed or dress himself, but who enjoys activities provided by care
workers who go to his Clarksville home five days a week.

His mother, Pam, 58, who uses a wheelchair after an auto accident, said the
help is vital to his care because of her own physical limits. A former
special-education teacher at the state’s Rosewood Hospital
Center, she met Mattheson
there when he was 7, took him into her family and later adopted him.

Without the care the state provides, "he gets very frustrated and begins
to self-abuse," she said. "I wish people who make final [budget]
decisions can look into Matt’s eyes."

Several legislators who attended the Ellicott City
meeting said that even though the state faces a fiscal crisis, the cuts to
disabled services are too severe.

"I think we did too much damage," Kasemeyer said. "They
definitely have been treated unfairly," Kittleman added, criticizing the
O’Malley administration’s use of state funds to buy large tracts of land for
preservation when needy state residents are suffering.

Del. Shane Pendergrass, a Howard County Democrat, came away with a more
personal impression.

"This put a human face on each story. When I go back to Annapolis, I will remember that," she
said.