Talking It Out

The League combs through Martin O'Malley's new budget so you don't have to. The Post and the Sun also have good analyses. For a first year budget, it looks pretty good -- Funding for K-12 school construction is increased, and college tuition is frozen, as O'Malley pledged to do during the campaign, all without tax increases. Of course, the rub is that he balanced the books by dipping into the state's "rainy day" fund, which he won't be able to do next year. He will, however, have a whole year to talk with legislators about how to overcome the future deficits. Mike in comments makes the point that, because the General Assembly's session is so short, much of the policy debate will likely be informal, behind-the-scenes negotiation between the Governor and House and Senate members. I don't have much to add to that, but it is worth remembering that much of what we call government rests on informal arrangements among policymakers, out of which emerges, eventually, the right law, program, etc. -- something that Bob Ehrlich, for one, never seemed to grasp.