Today’s Baltimore Sun suggests the next 90 days will likely be the most important that remain in Martin O’Malley’s tenure as Maryland governor. Reporters Michael Dresser and Erin Cox write, “As the General Assembly opens its 2013 session Wednesday, O’Malley will be looking to cap a record that many people believe he will use as a springboard for a future presidential run.”
Key issues to be debated include the death penalty repeal, assault weapons ban and offshore wind power, all of which have national resonance. Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, told reporters, “Objectively, if you look at what he’s proposed and what he’s gotten, he’s gotten a lot of what he proposed,” but a few more wins this legislative season give him the strong record he would need to take to Iowa and New Hampshire if he seeks the presidency in 2016. Norris stated, “If he gets the death penalty nullified and wind energy, those kinds of things appeal to the liberal base of the Democratic Party.”
In the Baltimore Business Journal, Norris commented more specifically on a potential increase in the state gas tax this session, noting that the CEOs of major Maryland companies would need to get behind such a bill to move it forward, given previous concerns that lawmakers could redirect money out of the Transportation Trust Fund.
Norris also spoke to the Gazette about the upcoming 2013 session, suggesting bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips are likely to pass even if some conservative Democrats unite with Republicans to oppose them, and that overall, the Republican Party’s limited influence in the state is “not enviable.”
Tags: CAHSS, PublicPolicy
