First of all, let me thank all of you who wrote, called, and e-mailed your concerns about the Session and the proposals contained within.  Constituent contacts really do make a difference to me.  And, with very few exceptions, the contacts I received were polite, well argued, and full of good intention.  

I voted No to all of the 1.3 Billion dollars in new taxes.   Delegate Eric Bromwell and I were two of only eighteen Democrats to cross party lines and vote against this tax package.  While I support Governor O’Malley, this is an area where we did not agree.  I didn’t feel that we reduced government sufficiently in our attempt to reconcile the structural deficit.  Therefore, I thought the tax increases, particularly the regressive sales tax increase was unwarranted.

I voted Yes to 530 Million dollars worth of cuts to the state budget.  This was not easy.  We cut funding to K-12 education.  We cut into grants for college.  We cut state jobs.  We cut monies that protect our environment.  We cut money to keep us safe.  Only House Leadership, including Speaker Michael Busch, and Appropriations Chair Norm Conway had the guts to name actual budget items to be cut.  While the State Senate and the House Republicans  talked loftily about the need to make cuts, both seemed only comfortable with theoretical cuts.

I voted Yes to allow the slot machines in the state of Maryland.  I have the pleasure of serving with fantastic individuals on both sides of the aisle, but I feel the need to point this out.  Twenty-nine of my Democratic colleagues in the House voted against slot machines when Bob Ehrlich was Governor, but for slot machines when Martin O’Malley was Governor.  Twenty-three of my Republican colleagues in the House voted for slot machines when Bob Ehrlich was Governor, but against slot machines when Martin O’Malley was Governor.   This partisan political football is going to the voters to decide in November.


In addition, I voted Yes to the establishment of the Chesapeake Bay Green Fund, and to the expansion of Health Care to the uninsured.  While I didn’t like the fact that these things were handled during the Special Session that was supposed to only deal with the budget, health care and the Bay are issues too close to my heart to vote against.       

I did not call the Special Session, nor did I want to be there.  I simply took in as much information as possible, and made the votes that I though would best help the people that elected me, taking into account their wishes. 

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