ANNAPOLIS – Gov. Martin O’Malley needs to make an effort now to drum up support for an expansion of gambling in Maryland, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said after meeting with O’Malley and House Speaker Michael Busch on Tuesday morning.
“We need some elbow grease, we need some hard work, and we need some elected officials to humble themselves and ask,” said Miller, D-Calvert and Prince George’s.
O’Malley, who indicated an eagerness to “get [gambling] behind us,” plans to do just that Wednesday morning, aides said. The governor is scheduled to travel to Baltimore with Busch, D-Anne Arundel, to meet with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and city lawmakers, whose votes could be crucial to passing gambling legislation in the House of Delegates.
Discussions of adding table games such as blackjack and roulette as well as a sixth state casino site, likely at National Harbor in Prince George’s County, have dragged well past the regular General Assembly session and into the summer.
“I think the broad parameters for what we need to do are pretty apparent to most people, and I think that there is still a strong opportunity to resolve this issue and to do it sooner rather than later,” O’Malley said following his meeting with Busch and Miller.
Any legislation passed by the General Assembly would allow Maryland voters to approve or deny a gambling expansion on the November ballot.
O’Malley wants lawmakers to reach a consensus on a gambling expansion before he calls them back to Annapolis for a special session on the issue. He now places the chances of reaching a deal before a mid-August deadline at better than 50-50.
Meeting with delegates wary of gambling expansion, such as Baltimore lawmakers, is key, according to Miller.
“If a person like the chief executive calls you up to his office, that makes a big difference,” he said.
Republican lawmakers are opposed to another special session, one that costs the state about $25,000 per day.
Senate Minority Leader E.J. Pipkin, R-Eastern Shore, described O’Malley’s move to call a special session as “a frantic effort toward making hurried and disastrous decisions.”
