Pubdate: Mon, 19 May 2003
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2003 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact:  http://www.sunspot.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Authors: Tim Craig, David Nitkin, Sun Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/bush.htm (Bush, George)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

EHRLICH'S DECISION TO VETO OR NOT COULD BE DEFINING MOMENT

With Choices On Final Bills Of Session, He Risks Wrath Of GOP Base, 
Democrats; Interest Groups Ready To Pounce

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. will take a major step toward defining his 
governorship this week when he decides the fate of several much-debated 
pieces of legislation approved by the General Assembly.

Whether he blocks or approves this final series of bills from the 2003 
session - ranging from fiscal issues such as corporate tax increases to 
social concerns such as the treatment of immigrants - could determine if 
Ehrlich alienates his Republican base or angers Maryland's 
majority-Democratic electorate.

Mixed messages - vetoing some bills while approving others - could make the 
new Republican administration more difficult for supporters and critics to 
characterize.

"I think it is unmistakable; you are going to see his decisions on some of 
these bills are going to clearly help define where he stands on some 
high-profile policy matters," said Paul E. Schurick, Ehrlich's 
communications director.

The administration has been facing intense pressure from advocates on both 
sides of each issue, forcing the governor and his staff to navigate through 
delicate discussions on how to act.

The governor's staff has been toiling for weeks to craft veto messages it 
hopes will place Ehrlich's decisions in the best possible light, capping 
his first legislative session as chief executive.

High-profile bills awaiting the governor's blessing include a $135 million 
corporate tax package and a proposal to remake the CareFirst BlueCross 
BlueShield board of directors.

Ehrlich must also decide the fate of initiatives to give illegal immigrants 
in-state tuition rates, to reduce penalties for the medical use of 
marijuana and to allow local jurisdictions to use automated radar cameras 
to catch speeding motorists.

The governor is expected to issue a batch of vetoes Wednesday and to sign 
more bills into law Thursday, with interest groups from across the 
political spectrum ready to pounce on the administration if the governor 
goes against their wishes.

"He campaigned as a moderate. The Maryland voters thought they were getting 
a moderate when they elected him, and based on which bills he signs and 
which bills he vetoes, we are going to find out if he is really moderate," 
said Sean Dobson, deputy director of Progressive Maryland, which is urging 
the governor to sign the tax and immigrant tuition bills.

Not to be outdone, conservatives say they will not give Ehrlich a free pass 
if he disappoints them.

"We would certainly expect he would veto a tax rise of any kind, and that 
includes the package that is in front of him," said Richard Falknor, vice 
president of the Maryland Taxpayers Association. Falknor's group is also 
urging the governor to veto the immigrant tuition bill.

But those divergent views could be just what the governor had hoped for.

Some suspect Ehrlich may use his final bill decisions to please social 
conservatives and Republican business leaders on some issues, but move back 
toward the center on others.

The strategy is often known as "triangulation" - a concept embraced by 
President Bush and former President Bill Clinton - where a politician does 
just enough to keep ardent supporters happy while going against them 
sometimes to reach out to moderate voters.

Ehrlich could satisfy conservative Republicans by vetoing the corporate tax 
bill - which will require further cuts to many government programs - and 
the immigrant tuition bill, while at same time trying to appease moderates 
by signing the medical marijuana proposal.

'Mixes Them Up'

"Instead of defining him more clearly, if he mixes them up, it could 
actually make it more difficult to define him because some bills he would 
seem conservative and on some bills he seems to be moderate," said Matthew 
Crenson, a political science professor at the Johns Hopkins University.

Ehrlich and his top advisers deny that political strategy has any role in 
his deliberations or the timing of his decisions.

"I just wanted a complete and full vetting before I make decisions on the 
most controversial bills," Ehrlich said.

Shortly after the inauguration, Ehrlich laid out a moderate agenda that 
caused many Democrats to grumble that he was looking and sounding like one 
of them while they were convinced he was not. But since the demise of his 
slots proposal, the governor's rhetoric has been more conservative, and he 
has been aggressively reaching out to his Republican base.

Concrete actions such as signing or vetoing a major piece of legislation 
should start shaping the true Ehrlich.

"That starts to define his administration," said House Speaker Michael E. 
Busch, an Anne Arundel County Democrat. "The important thing for him to 
remember is that the people who elected him were the moderate to 
conservative Democrats in suburbia."

Top Democrats, who have been struggling to find an effective weapon to use 
against the governor, are eagerly awaiting his decisions. They are 
preparing to denounce Ehrlich for whichever of the high-profile bills he 
vetoes.

"There's nothing moderate about the guy. He campaigned as a moderate 
Democrat, and he's acting as an extremely conservative Republican," said 
Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who fears the governor will 
veto a bill letting his county impose a surcharge on driver's license fees 
to pay for transportation projects.

The only measure that Ehrlich has outright promised to overturn is the tax 
bill, which would temporarily increase the corporate income tax, create a 
health maintenance organization premium tax and close so-called corporate 
tax loopholes.

Democratic leaders say such a veto would prompt criticism that the governor 
is protecting his wealthy campaign contributors while slashing programs 
that help the poor.

"Bob Ehrlich raised $10 million to defeat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and it 
didn't come from the little people," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike 
Miller of Prince George's County.

Republicans counter that Ehrlich is trying his best to stick to his belief 
that Marylanders already pay too much in taxes.

"He is trying to do what is best for the citizens of Maryland," said 
Marilyn Dankner, president of the Maryland Federation of Republican Women.

The governor said that is the litmus test he will use in deciding what do 
about the CareFirst measure.

The governor's decision on the CareFirst legislation will be closely 
watched in Annapolis. The bill would replace board members and reaffirm the 
company's status as a nonprofit corporation. But in recent days, Daniel J. 
Altobello, chairman of the CareFirst board, has been urging a veto, arguing 
that the legislation could jeopardize the company's ability to use the Blue 
Cross and Blue Shield trademark in its name.

Democrats say they will be outraged if Ehrlich vetoes the measure. "Do you 
protect the concerns of Marylanders or do you protect your fat-cat donor 
base?" Miller asked.

On the issue of medical marijuana, the governor risks being accused of 
succumbing to pressure from the White House if he does not sign that 
measure. Ehrlich has repeatedly said he was inclined to support the 
legislation - which establishes a maximum $100 fine for seriously ill 
patients caught with the drug - but the Bush administration has been urging 
him to veto it.

Feeling Some Heat

The governor is also feeling pressure from conservative Republicans - and 
some African-American leaders - to derail plans to allow illegal immigrants 
to receive in-state tuition rates at state colleges and universities. Some 
Republicans are also upset about a proposal that creates a task force to 
study whether it should be easier for undocumented immigrants to receive a 
Maryland driver's license.

"Illegal immigrants should have to play by the rules," said Sen. Richard F. 
Colburn, an Eastern Shore Republican. "I think the driver's license bill as 
well as the immigrant tuition bill would just be bad policy."

But regardless of what the governor does this year, Colburn said, it will 
be years before the public has a good grasp of Ehrlich's philosophy.

"You are going to have to wait two or three years to really judge Bob 
Ehrlich as governor of Maryland," Colburn said. "You can't judge a CEO of a 
$22.4 billion corporation in 130 days."
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MAP posted-by: Jackl