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Monday, Sept. 21, 2009:

Prince George's Layoff Announcement Expected Today
Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) is expected to announce budget cuts today to close a $22 million drop in state funding. Johnson has warned of possible layoffs, and county employees have been on edge for more than a week following a hastily called meeting in which Johnson and county council members discussed layoffs without union representation for county employees. Check back here later today for the news. The cuts may foreshadow how counties across Maryland will grapple with $200 million in cuts approved last month by Gov. Martin O'Malley and the state's Board of Public Works.

She's Out, She's In - Democratic Nomination Turmoil in Annapolis
The buzz in the state capital this morning has nothing to do with the governor, or state politics, but the local mayor's race.
If you checked out over the weekend: Friday night a spokeswoman for Zina C. Pierre, the first black woman to win the Democratic nomination for Annapolis, withdrew from the race after a local blogger broke news that she faced a series of financial and legal troubles, including a Bowie home in foreclosure and unpaid state taxes.
A day later, a new campaign spokeswoman said Pierre was back in the race and suggested she'd never really withdrawn.
The turn of events has the capital buzzing about whether Pierre has the full support of the city's Democratic establishment - and whether she will be able to remain in the race. The Baltimore Sun quotes Nick Berry, chair of the Annapolis Democratic Central Committee, saying the city's Democrats will continue to support Pierre.
But House Speaker Michael E. Busch tells The Sun he's "sympathetic but concerned" about the situation.
Annapolis blogs are atwitter about whether Busch and other heavy hitters in the party have or will pull strings in the race:

California Company Fires Back At Maryland Over Debt Collection
Last week, Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said it ordered Encore Capital Group and a group of unlicensed San Diego companies to stop trying to collect on "junk debt" bought from credit card companies and other lenders. In some cases state residents' debt was decades old, state officials said.
Encore President J. Brandon Black tells the San Diego Union Tribune today that the company is licensed in Maryland, well-aware of its statute of limitations on old debt and has been operating legally in the state.

Maryland, California Expected to Announce Joint Effort on Stem Cells
Maryland and California officials are expected to enter into a formal agreement in Baltimore this week to facilitate joint projects and funding on stem-cell research, writes The Daily Record's Danielle Ulman.
Gov. Martin O'Malley will address the convention today. He will receive an award from the Genetics Policy Institute, which orchestrates the annual World Stem Cell Summit, the largest such gathering annually in the country.

And, Briefly...

Montgomery County's Peter Franchot (D), who has often cast himself as a fiscal hawk and outsider in Annapolis, will seek a second term as state Comptroller.

Franchot, 61, announced his re-election bid Friday in a shaky, 1-minute You Tube video posted on his Web site - a simple beginning partially explained by the fact he's yet to draw a serious challenger.

"I love being comptroller," Franchot begins, smiling into the camera, on a sidewalk in Annapolis after filing his re-election papers. Franchot quickly asserts he's delivered on a 2006 campaign promise to be a good steward of the state office charged with collecting taxes and deciding state contracts.

Franchot says he's rewarded residents and business who do the right thing and pay their taxes on time "by leaving you alone and focusing on those small number of Marylanders who cheat on their taxes, aggressively enforcing state tax law."

The former state delegate from Montgomery for 20 years also offers a nod to disagreements he's had in the past with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and others in his own party about issues such as slots, which he opposed.

"I've also tried to be an independent voice and a fiscal watchdog and I've been willing to put my hand up and object from time to time when I see a project that's a waste of taxpayers' money," Franchot says. "I think in these hard economic times that kind of leadership is called for."

It's not Franchot's first video, his state Web site is now adorned with one of him walking onto the screen to talk tax policy.

On his campaign Web site, Franchot has begun seeking contributions. In the 2006 election cycle, which included a primary victory over William Donald Schaefer, the former governor and Baltimore mayor, and a general election defeat of Republican Anne McCarthy, Franchot's campaign raised over $1 million, including a hefty personal loan to his campaign.

Maryland Politics sat down yesterday with Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) at her Capitol Hill office to talk health care, the partisan divide in Congress and life at National Harbor. In short, the public option remains a line in the sand for Edwards, and she thinks the thud with which the much-anticipated bill by Sen. Max Baucus's committee fell this week helps the chances of including the option in a final bill. She's also pleased about the formal disapproval the House handed Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.).

Some highlights:

Q: So what did you think of the Baucus bill?

A: Middle class and poor people are bearing the burden and the brunt of this failed health-care system, and in my view, the bill that Senator Baucus is introducing really cuts at the core of the very people we're trying to help. ... This idea of cooperatives as an alternative, I think most experts have completely debunked those as any kind of alternative to a robust public plan, and I agree with that. ... [The bill] has no Republican support, and it's bad policy. ... We have three bills in the House that are far stronger than the Baucus proposal. I think we're on solid ground here. ... Our job in the House of Representatives is to get our work done. We can't worry about what the Senate is doing. Our job for the people is to get the strongest bill possible out of the House. That's how we create legislation. ... One of the things about the president's speech last week [to Congress] ... and the town hall meeting speeches that he's held since then, is the president has been very clear: "If you all have better options out there to alternatives to meet the goals of lowering costs and increasing competition and providing accountability for the insurance companies, I'm happy to hear them." The thing is, nobody has put any of those ideas on the table, and the idea that we have on the table that will meet those goals is the public option.

Q: Speaking of that speech, I caught you on the Kojo Nnamdi show the other day [audio, around 21:30] calling for Mr. Wilson to be censured for his headline-grabbing outburst.

A: It's a disapproval is what it was. ... Actually when I said "censure," I was actually talking in the generic, the word censure: to express disapproval, that's what we did formally. When I was speaking on Kojo, I actually wasn't speaking of whatever the formal action [for censure is] but that there would be some kind of sanction against him under our rules.

Q: So you are satisfied with what the action the House took?

A: I am, very much so. I think it was important for us to do and to maintain the rules and the order of the House, and that we continue to move on with our business which we've done.

Q: You've been a stalwart supporter of the public option. If a final bill arrives without one, will you vote against it?

A: Well, that's the question of the day. I mean, look, there are a couple things that I do know. One is that a bill has to get out of this House that has a public option, because otherwise we don't stand a chance of getting one out of the Senate. ... I also believe that a public option, in my view, really is essential to reform.

Q: But if the final bill doesn't have the public option, do you vote for it?

A: Well, I've joined with 60-some of my colleagues who signed a letter to the president and to our leadership saying very clearly that if there's not a public option in the final bill then I won't support that bill. I haven't changed my position.

Q: How are you finding Congress? You're on the inside now, in your first term. What's surprised you about it?

A: I've lived here and worked in and around the Hill for many years and on public policy and stuff ... so the procedural stuff and the process stuff doesn't really surprise me. ... But I think there's actually more, you know, sort of respect across the aisle than one has a perception of from television. The members that I've met, whether Republicans or Democrats, whether they've been here for a long time or a little bit of time, are really respectful to one another, and I think sometimes ... you don't necessarily get that perception. ... There are clearly partisan divisions on policy. They're not personal divisions.

Q: Yeah it does seem personal.

A: I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true at all. ... There are a couple of members on the Republican side that I have a really great relationship with, and I look up [at vote counts] and they're a "yes" and I'm a "no," and they're a "no" and I'm a "yes" all the time.

Q: Where do you live in Maryland?

A: I live in Fort Washington, well, actually now I just moved. I still have my house that I'm cleaning out in Fort Washington and I recently moved over to National Harbor.

Q: You were really involved in the debate over how National Harbor should turn out, and the push for a residential component. What do you think of it now?

A: I think the residential component is the best thing that we could have done for that project. Had we not done that, and only been relying on restaurants and some conventions, in this economy? I think it would be bad. I'm glad that the county has the ability to reap the benefits of ... property taxes from people who live at National Harbor, and I think it's actually made it a better ... more integrated environment. ... One day I just, I had some time, and I took a book out ... it was the early, early days of spring, I hadn't even moved over there yet. ... I took my book and I was sitting out ... and I watched and I saw and I could just see it was families, and you know, lovers -- it was beautiful to watch that and to see people really enjoying that, and I think [the residential units] turned it into something that was really part of the community, and not just kind of a tourist destination.

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Friday, Sept. 18, 2009:

Multibillion-Dollar Budget Gaps Seen Through 2014
Shrinking paychecks for some of Maryland's wealthiest residents, along with new data showing wages falling across the state, will mean a budget problem twice the size of what officials predicted just months ago.
Maryland faces a budget hole of almost $2 billion in the fiscal year beginning next summer.
The gap, which amounts to 14 percent of this year's budget, sets up an election-year budget battle sure to increase pressure on Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to address unpopular budget solutions his administration has so far avoided, such as shifting costs of teacher pensions to local governments.
Lawmakers may also view that battle as more urgent with new figures from Warren Deschenaux, the legislature's chief fiscal analyst, forecasting that ongoing state spending will outpace revenue by at least $2 billion each year through 2014.
Republicans have begun weighing in and calling for action.

Roundup on Obama's Visit:
President Barack Obama turned to a young, liberal audience at the University of Maryland on Thursday to rally support for his health-care overall.
The Post's Anne E. Kornblut and Megan Greenwell write that "Obama tailored his remarks to the student crowd, hoping to arm young people -- who are among the least likely to purchase health insurance but could form an important core of a new health-care system -- with new facts and enthusiasm in the debate. Obama declared that young people would be able to stay on their parents' insurance longer -- until age 26."
Photos here. Predictable support from Maryland Dems here. And swipes at Obama's plan by former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) here.

Seeds of the ACORN Scandal
The Post's Darryl Fears and Carol D. Leonnig tell the backstory of the ACORN Scandal in Baltimore and the District that led to an overwhelming vote by the House on Thursday to defund the organization, as other probes continue.
"The proposition was outrageous, outlandish, and right up James E. O'Keefe III's alley. Hannah Giles was on the phone from the District, and she was asking him to dress like her pimp, walk into the offices of the ACORN community activist group, openly admit to wanting to buy a house to run as a brothel, and see what happened...."

Red Maryland blasts O'Malley for his week of silence on the scandal, and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy for "incredulously looking into the possibility of charging O'Keefe and Giles for violating state law in obtaining the video."

Council, Leggett Spar Over MoCo Science Complex
In Montgomery, the dance between the council and county exec Ike Leggett continues over an effort to build a science city (or is it "science village"? Depends on who's talking...) near Johns Hopkins' county campus between Rockville and Gaithersburg. A pair of council committees Thursday balked at recommending a land purchase that's key to the plan.
Instead, five council members recommended buying just some of the land needed for the convoluted and far-reaching effort, which includes relocating a series of government offices to make way for additional development. Leggett's eager to build momentum by nabbing all the needed land now. But some council members want to wait before buying a key slice of the property until they decide what the science community should actually look like.
Check back here next Tuesday for results of a vote by the full council.

PG Layoff Announcement By Monday
County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) says an announcement will be coming as early as today and definitely by Monday as the county grapples with a $22.7 million cut in state funding.

Also, The Post's Jonathan Mummolo and Ovetta Wiggins look at an island of residential development beginning at National Harbor.
"Prince George's County officials approved the addition of 2,500 condos and townhouses to the plan as a concession to angry neighbors who feared a sort of Atlantic City on the Potomac was rolling into Oxon Hill. Adding housing, they argued, would make it a little more Mayberry and a little less Disney.
Even with the first condos, the vibe is still much closer to the latter. With a neighborhood that is part shopping mall-part upscale highway rest stop-part resort, residents walk out their lobby doors onto theme park-like streets, which won't show up on some GPS devices. They teem with convention guests, shoppers, tourists and couples arriving by water taxi to dine out. There is no grocery store, no gas station, no Metro stop."

Briefly:

O'Malley Trivia
And a light note to end the week: The Web site Irish Central looks at the history of the O'Malley name in politics. "The ancient O'Maille or O'Malley name is said to be derived from the Gaelic words "maille" meaning gentle or smooth ... Martin wasn't the first O'Malley in politics. U.S. Representative Thomas O'Malley represented Wisconsin in the early 1930s, and prior to that, Edwin Joseph O'Malley (1881-1953), born in the Bronx, was a ward boss for Tammany Hall ..."

In an e-mail to supporters Thursday, outgoing Maryland GOP Chairman James Pelura says his three-year tenure was "an uphill battle in our Democrat-dominated, one-party state." But Pelura, who is stepping down Nov. 14, also takes credit for "laying the groundwork for a rebirth of the Republican Party in Maryland."

Among the evidence Pelura cites is a 4.4 percent increase in registered Republican voters between 2007 and 2008. While there was an uptick in GOP registration prior to the 2008 election, the longer-term view is less rosy.

Between December 2006 -- when Pelura was elected chairman -- and August 2009, the number of registered Republicans in Maryland actually dropped, from 912,024 to 907,743. That is a decline of about 0.4 percent.

During the same period, the number of registered Democrats in Maryland rose by about 11.5 percent -- from 1,740,968 to 1,941,239.

Pelura also takes credit for an increase in total donors to the state GOP and for the creation of "a series of commissions to educate, and to advocate for, the citizens of Maryland," including one on tax policy.

In his e-mail, Pelura also says the timing of his resignation announcement will allow time for potential successors to come forward in advance of the party's regularly scheduled convention in mid-November.

"We still have a lot of work to do," he writes, "but with your help, we can continue to rebuild on the foundation that has been started."

Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson, among a chorus of Maryland lawmakers who attended President Obama's speech today at the University of Maryland in College Park, said the occasion was a big shot in the arm for the county.

"The president really had to speak to his base and the base of the people who really wants health care," said Johnson. "In Prince Georges County alone, we have 91,000 people without any health insurance."

State Sen. C Anthony Muse (D-Prince George's) also applauded the speech as timely:
"It was really important for the president to be here when you think about the fact that 880,000 people die every year because they don't have health insurance or have access to health care."

"We have to rally what is truth and what is false," Muse said. "It is good for the President to also be in smaller groups and, on Sundays I think he needs to visit some of the congregations."

-- Hamil R. Harris

Falling personal income tax revenue will leave Maryland with a budget gap near $2 billion to fill for the fiscal year that begins next summer, state finance officials say.

And $700 million in cuts made in recent weeks won't go far enough to plug growing holes in the state's current $13.4 billion spending plan.

Gov. Martin O'Malley will seek another $290 to $300 million in cuts in coming months, T. Eloise Foster, his budget chief said Thursday as the Board of Revenue released its latest version of budget doom-and-gloom.

In a statement, O'Malley said his administration will "act responsibly, working with stakeholders and local partners, to make the tough decisions necessary to bring the state's budget into balance."

There was no immediate word on where he may seek additional cuts. While speaking to reporters on Wednesday, O'Malley would not rule out the possibility Maryland may need to lay off employees, but noted that his administration had worked hard so far to avoid that route.

The state has eliminated 3,200 positions over the last two years, and in cuts approved last month, imposed furloughs of up to 10 days on some 70,000 state workers.

Former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) took a few swipes at President Obama before the latter's Thursday morning appearance in College Park, dismissing the event as "simply another day in the health-care road show."

But Ehrlich's conference call, organized by the Republican National Committee and billed as a "pre-buttal" to Obama, was a bit of a dud. It drew only two questions from reporters -- both about Ehrlich's political future in Maryland.

Ehrlich focused his opening remarks on what he said has been confusion between "partisanship" and "ideology" in coverage of the health-care debate.

Ehrlich, a former congressman, said the public understandably does not like the partisan divide in Washington. But on health care, "the problem seems to be ideological differences within the Democratic Party," he said. "Sometimes that gets lost in the reporting on a daily basis."

With that, the call was opened to questions. The first questioner sought an update on Ehrlich's thinking regarding a rematch next year with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), who defeated Ehrlich in 2006.

"It is something we're looking at," Ehrlich said, but he made clear there was nothing new here. "There is no timeline, so there are no artificial deadlines."

Ehrlich added that he felt no "undue pressure" from anyone to make up his mind, saying: "I feel I've earned that right, by the way."

The second questioner said the first questioner had taken his question. There were no more questions, so Ehrlich was given an opportunity to make a closing statement.

The former governor said that health care was an important topic, and in fact one that he and wife have discussed often on their weekly radio show. Obama's problem, Ehrlich said, was that he was having trouble turning campaign "platitudes" into policy.

"The president seems to want to bring big government into our lives ... and the people have recoiled," Ehrlich said. "The president has a major political problem."

He said the Republicans remain willing to help craft a better plan.

"We are where we are," Ehrlich concluded. "I'm very happy to answer any additional questions."

There were none, and the call ended, clocking in at less than 15 minutes.

Before the Ehrlich conference call, House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) offered a sort of pre-pre-buttal, saying in an interview that "Ehrlich did not work to expand health care whatsoever" during his tenure as governor.

"I can't remember where Gov. Ehrlich accomplished anything (on health care)," Busch said.

Busch pointed to a 2004 special legislative session on medical malpractice, which Ehrlich called, only to veto the bill that emerged from the Democratic-controlled legislature. Part of the bill included a tax on HMO premiums that was used to improve reimbursements for Medicaid services.

"He vetoed a bill that put more money into Medicaid," Busch said.

2 p.m. UPDATE: Henry Fawell, a former aide to Ehrlich who now works in his law firm, has provided a rebuttal to Busch's pre-pre-buttal.

Fawell forwarded a seven-point list of "Ehrlich health-care accomplishments" that he said were intended to "help jog the Speaker's memory."

Among them: adding 100,000 people to the Medicaid rolls; creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Disabilities; creation of Maryland's stem cell research fund; and tougher penalties and stronger incentives for landlords to comply with lead-paint standards.

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Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009:
Obama's Coming
   Maryland Democrats have run the gamut of emotions from giddy to stressed-out this week, working to make sure one of the nation's bluest states rolls out an appropriately oversized red carpet for President Barack Obama's latest speech on health-care reform, which he'll deliver at 11 a.m. today at the Comcast Center.
   State lawmakers have handed out "tickets upon tickets," says one, to make sure anyone who's anyone will be there and that the crowd will be filled with supporters cheering loudly when the cameras roll.
   Gov. Martin O'Malley on Wednesday predicted the speech (the president's third since last week's national address) will be "historic."    Whether or not that pans out, and whether Obama will weigh in on specifics included in the bill introduced Wednesday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus remain to be seen.
   But it will be the third time since 2006 that Obama's visited the university and the second time he's used the Terps' 18,000-seat Comcast Center as the backdrop for a major speech, notes Adele Hampton in the University of Maryland's student newspaper, the Diamondback.    Unlike the last two visits, "the atmosphere has never been as contentious as it is now," Hampton writes. At least small groups of protesters are expected outside the speech.

GOP Taps Ehrlich For Republican Reaction
   Former Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich (R) who is contemplating a rematch next year with O'Malley is scheduled to give a "pre-buttal" to Obama's College Park speech in a 9:30 a.m. conference call with national reporters.
   It's unclear (but likely) that the GOP's current National Party Chairman Michael S. Steele (for our readers outside Maryland, that's Ehrlich's former lieutenant governor) had something to do with getting Ehrlich the spotlight.
   The Post's John Wagner will be listening in. Check back here later this morning for his full report.

More Bad News Expected on Revenue Estimates
   Gov. O'Malley on Wednesday said he'd received initial indications that today's numbers showing the latest gap between falling tax revenue and state expenses will be larger than what he suggested last week -- as much as $300 million, or more than 2 percent of the state's $13.4 billion budget.
   The governor said Maryland's 7.2 percent unemployment rate is predicted to cascade through Maryland tax rolls in coming months and necessitate more painful cuts.
   Today's Question: What's next on the chopping block? Post your suggestions in the comments.
   Another round of state funding cuts would be the ninth since the recession began in 2007. This summer alone, the state has moved to furlough 70,000 state workers and close a minimum-security prison and a psychiatric hospital.

Lawmakers Blast Outdated Data Cited in Hospital Closing
   "The Board of Public Works received the wrong number of Eastern Shore residents treated at a mental health clinic in Chestertown before voting to close it, angering Upper Shore lawmakers," writes the AP's Brian Witte, looking at the angst about what lawmakers say were mistakes made in the haste to close the Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center's inpatient psychiatric.
   "Comptroller Peter Franchot, who is a member of the board along with Gov. O'Malley and Treasurer Nancy Kopp, said he voted to approve the closure after he was told that about half of the 198 people treated there are from the shore. The number is important, because the loss of the facility presents logistic difficulties to find treatment in a rural part of the state across the Chesapeake Bay," Witte writes. Franchot said he later learned the number was much higher, about 190.
   Sen. E.J. Pipkin, an Upper Shore Republican, told the board the way the closure was handled was "clearly a mistake."

House Speaker: State's Medevac System Still Needs More Analysis
   House Speaker Michael E. Busch on Wednesday announced he reappointed a work group on emergency medical services, saying the system needs continued legislative oversight because of its complex network relying on volunteer fire and rescue personnel.
   The announcement comes before the one-year anniversary of the Trooper 2 Medevac crash in Prince George's County.
   The group will begin meeting this fall and, among other duties, will monitor procurement of three new Medevac helicopters.

ACORN Scandal Continues
   ACORN, the group under fire after employees were caught on camera in Baltimore and in the District appearing to advise a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp to lie about the woman's profession to aid in tax preparations, said Wednesday it is ordering an independent investigation.
   The Baltimore Sun's Paul West breaks down the fight brewing in Congress over cutting the group's federal funding:
   "ACORN's ability to maintain access to federal housing funds will rest with a conference committee that is expected to craft a final version of [a] $122 billion Transportation and Housing and Urban Development spending measure," West writes.
   "House Democratic Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland told reporters he was concerned about the "despicable" actions of two ACORN employees in Baltimore but stopped short of supporting" measures to strip funding."
   For his part, Steele called ACORN an "undeniably corrupt organization" and took pains to highlight what he said were Obama's "close past ties to ACORN."
   Conservative bloggers have picked up on another problem for ACORN, like many companies they've let their business license lapse.
   First Click checked the record, and it appears true.