In the past, all I could do was reduce spending.

For my first 20 years in Annapolis, I served on the Appropriations Committee, where we cut the Governor’s budget.  We could increase spending for a certain program only if we enacted a new source of revenue. 

Those bills were considered by the Ways and Means Committee, where the Speaker has appointed me the vice chairman for the new term.  This is a committee where I want to be a member, to paraphrase Groucho.

Our jurisdiction includes revenues, education, elections, and gambling.  I will be introducing bills in each of these areas. 

Revenues includes the formulas that determine how much state money goes to Baltimore City and the 23 counties.  To balance the state budget, Governor O’Malley is expected to reduce those payments to local jurisdictions. 

Baltimore City’s highest priority this year will be limiting the impact of such changes, Mayor Rawlings Blake informed the City delegation this morning.  So it’s now one of my top issues as well. 

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Politico.com is a widely read blog about government and politics that features a “daily debate with policy makers and opinion shapers.”  I’m one of the former. 

I was asked for my reaction to Saturday’s tragic events in Tucson. 

Actions and rhetorical excess have consequences.  That an individual “exercised” his Second Amendment remedies is deplorable but not surprising.

 Monday, January 10