Baltimore

Facing a looming budget shortfall, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-Baltimore) announced he would be considering steeper cuts to funding for health care and education and is considering a furlough program, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Last month, the Board of Revenue Estimates reported the state's general fund revenues were at roughly $14 billion - $432 million less than original estimates.

To combat the deficit, O'Malley announced he would be asking state agencies to identify cuts of up to five percent in the current year's budget. The governor plans to present these cuts to the Board of Public Works on October 15. 

O'Malley said the nation's economic outlook and the result of November's slots referendum would influence the decision to make more cuts.

Perhaps this is one of those situations where there is enough blame to go around.

First here is what we know. We know that Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (D) is being investigated into whether or not she received gifts for approving city incentives that favor developers. In particular is developer Ronald Lipscomb. Lipscomb and Dixon, who were separated from their respective spouses for quite sometime, acknowledged that they had a personal relationship between 2003 and 2004. During the course of the relationship, they had spent a lot of time traveling and a lot of time shopping. Those shopping strips involved dropping a lot of money in a single store. Also a fact is that Dixon did not make full disclosures when she filed her ethics reports. This is where I begin.

Dixon acknowledges 'personal relationship'

The Baltimore Sun has an exclusive report on the newest revelations about state prosecutors' investigation of "bribery, perjury and misconduct in office" into Mayor Sheila Dixon's gifts and relationship with a prominent developer while she was president of the City Council.

The result of a two-year investigation, court records presented to a Baltimore County District Court show trips and gifts Dixon received from Ronald. H. Lipscomb, a developer who had business before the city that she voted on.

Dixon told the Sun in a statement that she and Lipscomb "had a personal relationship" in late 2003 and early 2004 while they were estranged from their spouses, and acknowledged that gifts were exchanged.

The gifts were not reported, which is likely in violation of city ethics law and punishable in the same manner as perjury.

In 1999, the Maryland General Assembly voted to ban lobbyists from buying meals for individual lawmakers. Designed to curb the appearance of impropriety, the legislation, House Bill (HB) 1, passed with overwhelming support.

The law, however, did not forbid lobbyists from buying meals for lawmakers in a committee or county delegation setting, which has some advocacy groups calling for a total repeal on lobbyist gifts, while others say the current law prevents small lobbying firms and grassroots organizations from competing with big budget firms, and needs to be changed.

"The average Joe who wants to talk to a (General Assembly) member over a meal can't do so," Senate Majority Whip Lisa Gladden (D-Baltimore) said during an interview with PolitickerMD.com. "You have only the big wigs who can afford it."