Anthony J. O'Donnell

State Del. Kumar Barve (D-Gaithersburg), who serves as the House Majority Leader, accepted a plea deal after failing a sobriety test in November 2007. Barves’ punishment landed him a year of unsupervised probation and a $1,000 fine with $800 suspended as it was a first-time offense.

His political opponents have remained widely unresponsive to the issue, despite Barve’s highly powerful position in the general assembly.

“In my opinion, this should not be a matter of politics,” said Del. Anthony J. O’Donnell (R-Calvert County), who serves as Minority Leader in the House. “He took responsibility, he did the right thing, case closed.”

Gov. Martin O'Malley: Getty Images PhotoGov. Martin O'Malley (D) said in a statement today that he has "directed the Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services to begin the rule-making process governing the administration of capital punishment in the state of Maryland."

Coming one-month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the administration of capital punishment by the use of lethal injection did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, O'Malley said that case "resolves challenges to the constitutionality of using lethal injection as a method of capital punishment, the method specified by Maryland law."

In March, during the legislative session, House Republicans, led by Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell, called on O'Malley to issue new death penalty regulations, claiming his refusal to do so was in violation of state law.

The close of the 2008 legislative session on Monday meant the time for analysis had begun. As expected, Democrats and Republicans greatly disagreed on the session’s level of effectiveness.

“Our Democratic leaders stepped-up this year and did the heavy lifting that gave us a remarkably successful session,” Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Michael Cryor said in a statement. “There are no other words to describe it. Gov. Martin O’Malley, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and our Democratic leadership are moving Maryland forward in uncertain times. We will actually see progress on our priorities because our governor and Democratic leadership acted now. As a result children, families and small-businesses who depend on education, health care, the environment, transportation and more, will benefit for years to come.”

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Anthony J. O’Donnell (R-Lusby) said the session was “another disappointing example of Governor O’Malley’s failure to provide responsible fiscal leadership.”

“Government continues to grow virtually unchecked and the appetite for taxes has not been satisfied,” O’Donnell said in a statement. “The Democrat leadership is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the taxpayers with empty rhetoric about spending cuts and sound fiscal management.  For virtually every cut that has been made, the governor has found somewhere else to spend those dollars.  For every job that has been cut, additional positions have been added.  Their fiscal restraint is an illusion.  This budget is contingent on the largest tax increase in Maryland’s history and there has been no true effort from the leadership to reduce spending.”

House Minority Leader Anthony J. O’Donnell (R-Lusby) said this afternoon that Gov. Martin O’Malley might be thinking twice about calling a special election in Maryland’s 4th Congressional District because of the possible implications for the Democratic Party’s presidential contest.

“The governor might not be inclined to call for a special election,” O’Donnell told PolitickerMD.com. “He is a Clinton supporter.”

Donna Edwards (D-Fort Washington), who beat Rep. Al Wynn (D-Mitchellville) in this year’s primary and would be the presumptive winner of a special election, is a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and would cast her superdelegate vote for Obama at the Democratic National Convention in late August. O’Malley, also a superdelegate, has pledged his support for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

O’Donnell’s remarks come one day after Wynn announced his intention to resign his seat in June. His term was scheduled to expire January 3. Edwards is expected to easily win November’s general election.