No, no, ‘e’s uh,…he’s resting.

A week ago we pointed out how the proposed special session of the legislature was a critical make-or-break moment for Governor O’Malley. For his minimalist spending cuts, maximalist tax increase plan to work the taxes must go into effect in January.

From the beginning Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Mike Busch have been underwhelmed about playing the whitewash crew to O’Malley’s Tom Sawyer in a session that would offer little to Marylanders other than higher taxes.

Last week the Republican caucus’s announcement that it would vote against slots in a special session has virtually ensured that there will be no blue smoke and mirrors to distract the masses.

Trending: Thank You

Today the Washington Post belatedly acknowledges this fact and actually moves the story forward a bit:

House leaders publicly questioned the need for such a session. Senate Republicans announced they were abandoning the governor on his proposal to legalize slot-machine gambling, a key component of O’Malley’s package. And leading Democrats from Montgomery County told O’Malley privately that his proposed overhaul of the income tax would be too onerous for their upper-end constituents.

Whoa! What’s this? Rich MoCo democrats don’t want to pay higher taxes. Someone had better call Lanny Davis, fast.

O’Malley continues to insist that he will call a special session early next month. He has to, really, if he is to avoid making actual, honest to gosh, budget cuts. There is talk that the legislature may convene to only consider an increase and expansion of the sales tax, the most regressive of taxes and one that runs counter to his stated theme of “tax fairness.”

There aren’t a lot of good choices here for O’Governor.