Gov. Robert Ehrlich announced that he will hold a public hearing next Monday or Tuesday to decide how to act on the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. rate bill the General Assembly enacted earlyThursday.
“Lawmakers fell short of their obligations to BGE customers. I have grave reservations about a plan that forces 1 million Marylanders to pay $109 million in interest while giving back to BGE $220 million that I had secured for customers,” Ehrlich said.
He also launched an aggressive attack on the measure in a flurry of radio talk show calls.
The governor must decide whether to veto the bill by next Thursday, and he hinted he might do just that. For legislators, “there may be another opportunity to vote” on the bill, he told reporters.
“It?s overreaching just to get by” the November election, Ehrlich said on WBAL radio Thursday morning. “This is not leadership. This is politics.”
“A lot of these provisions were brand-new that we had never seen before, and a lot of them are very disturbing,” Ehrlich said. He said the feedback he was getting from constituents is “uniformly negative.”
The governor and his staff have a laundry list of problems about the bill, including the quick introduction and passage of the 59-page measure, which was confusing to many legislators, Ehrlich said. Objections include:
» All lawsuits about the legislation must be filed in Baltimore City, presumably a more favorable venue.
» Newly appointed members of the Public Service Commission do not have to remove themselves from judging matters they were involved in before their appointments.
» The attorney general has a major role in overseeing the new commission and the people?s counsel. Attorney General Joseph Curran is the father-in-law of Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley.
Sen. Thomas Mac Middleton, D-Charles, the Finance Committee chairman, said, “Where the confusion lies with the bill is with the governor and not the legislature. What lead role did he take to resolving this problem?” after Ehrlich?s original plan was rejected by a judge,Middleton asked. “He didn?t have a plan.”
“The governor is honing in on the numbers to confuse people” so they won?t support the new legislation, Middleton said.
O?Malley, who is running for governor, said Ehrlich?s role is typical of his confrontational style ? drawing lines in the sand and refusing to compromise. “I?m very proud of the legislature,” O?Malley said.
The replacement of the PSC creates “complete uncertainty” about Maryland?s regulatory environment, said Alan Friedman, Ehrlich?s legislative director. This affects many companies beside BGE and Constellation Energy, such as telecommunications and taxicab firms.
