Maryland's Do-Nothing Left BALTIMORE -- Democrats now enjoy a monopoly on power in this state after Martin O'Malley swept popular Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich from office last year. But despite lots of bluster, the result of the new governor's first legislative session is that the more radical ideas on the agenda simply didn't get done.

Could this be a new model for Democrats? Lots of talk aimed at the party's base, only to be followed by very little substantive action once handed the responsibilities of governing?

Mr. O'Malley, the mayor of this city for seven years, is well known as a flashy, glib personality and a good campaigner. It was expected he'd also nurse along national ambitions by pursuing an ambitious agenda during the 90-day session in Annapolis that ended this week, much as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was to immediately put her stamp on Congress.

The most distressing result of Mr. O'Malley's first 90 days, at least to the business community, was the enactment of a "living wage" bill, which will force government contractors to pay employees $11.30 an hour in the urban Baltimore-Washington corridor and $8.30 in rural areas. Maryland is the first state to pass such a stipulation (similar laws do exist in municipalities across the country), and it was seen as a promise fulfilled by Mr. O'Malley to the organized labor groups that supported his campaign.

This measure has led conservatives to fear the worst from an O'Malley administration. One small business owner in Baltimore County told me he expects the "living wage" bill to trigger further government intervention into the private sector, major environmental legislation "to make progressives feel good" and higher taxes to help fund inefficient public schools. Mr. Ehrlich, for his part, now hosts a talk show on a local radio station, and during his first broadcast on March 31 said the new General Assembly is "far left. It's harsh left . . . The Democratic Party has changed in very fundamental ways."

But it's a little hard to find the stamp Mr. O'Malley is putting on Maryland. The restoration of one-party rule in the state -- in 2002 Mr. Ehrlich became the first Republican to win the governor's mansion in more than three decades -- is so far failing to tilt the state sharply left.

Led by an oddly detached governor, Democrats did not enact the juggernaut of tax hikes and anti-business regulations that most fiscal conservatives feared. The General Assembly passed a number of laws that Mr. Ehrlich likely would have vetoed -- such as a statewide smoking ban (some restaurant and bar owners protested, but Maryland is hardly in the forefront of such policy), imposing California's emissions standards on cars sold to state residents, issuing an apology for the state's long-ago participation in the slave trade, and a bill that would require the state's presidential electors to vote for the winner of the nationwide popular vote.

Besides serving Al Gore's ego, however, the latter, for now, is mere political theater. It won't actually take effect until states with at least a total of 270 electoral votes -- enough to win the presidency -- enact the same law. The emission standards also won't kick in for a few years and the living-wage mandates apply only to government contracts -- the living wage is not a statewide increase in the minimum wage.

Meanwhile, left on the cutting room floor were proposals to repeal the death penalty (a pet cause of Mr. O'Malley's), raise the cigarette tax by $1 a pack, provide health benefits for 200,000 uninsured Marylanders and establish a "green fund" to spend on environmental causes in the Chesapeake Bay.

And despite mild criticism from The Baltimore Sun's liberal editorial page, the media are largely letting the governor get away with doing nothing. That suggests he isn't likely to think more boldly in the near future. Another indication of his timidity is that he's bragging about restoring an order of "civility" to Annapolis. "We are not going to repair the divisions of the last four years in the first 90 days [of his administration], but I think we've made a lot of progress," Mr. O'Malley told a Sun reporter this week.

If divided government over the past four years was an issue, however, it wasn't a problem for the state. Mr. Ehrlich often clashed publicly with daunting Democratic majorities in both houses of the state legislature, but he overcame large budget deficits to preside over a period of tremendous prosperity, punctuated by unemployment consistently below 4%.

It's no secret that Mr. O'Malley, 44, harbors higher electoral ambitions. What he appears to be counting on is that he'll gain a larger office -- say that of vice president -- by thinking small now. He's looking to get a sense of the national mood before committing himself to policy, and wants to be able to lineup behind whoever wins his party's presidential nomination.

However, Mr. O'Malley still faces an obstacle in the form of state Senate President Mike Miller, a 64-year-old veteran legislator. Mr. Miller is a vocal proponent (as was Mr. Ehrlich) of expanded legalized gambling, mostly in the form of racetrack slot machines, which could bring in $800 million annually in taxes. He also supports increasing gasoline, tobacco, income and sales taxes, as well as cutting spending. Mr. Miller, who plans to retire in 2010, has no desire to engage in national politics. If he chooses to clash with Mr. O'Malley, the confrontation will come just as the Democratic presidential nominee is paring names from his (or her) vice presidential list. How inconvenient governing can be.

And Mr. Miller has no shortage of ego. He told The Sun's Jennifer Skalka in an April 8 article that, "I'm a student of Lyndon Johnson. I'm a student of Winston Churchill also. I'm a student of Napoleon. I'm a student of Alexander the Great. I'm a student of Julius Caesar. I'm a student of Douglas MacArthur."

Mr. O'Malley, on the other hand, is a student of former president Bill Clinton, a politician who will pursue the most expedient and fashionable platform to further his own personal goals. The upcoming battle over slot machines -- which House Speaker Michael Busch adamantly opposes -- could land Mr. O'Malley in political quicksand. One job of a vice president is to move tough legislation. If Mr. O'Malley can't do that in a legislature controlled by his own party why would anyone add him to a national ticket? Sometimes even doing nothing has its risks.

Labels: Democrats, Ehrlich, living wage bill, minimum wage, O'Malley

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