J. Adam Fenster/The Gazette

This year, the Silver Spring-based advocacy group helped shoot down Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s slot machine bill, pushed successfully to close corporate loopholes and was part of the effort to reform CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. It also plays a role in local and state elections, registering voters and campaigning for candidates, and supports campaign reform, living wages and tax reform.

This week, Executive Director Tom Hucker talked with special correspondent Margie Hyslop about the challenges the nonprofit faces in a tough economy with a newly divided state government. This is an edited transcript of that conversation.

Q: You convinced legislative leaders to back closing tax loopholes that benefit corporations, special interests and the wealthy this year. Has Gov. Ehrlich given you any reason to believe he will sign the bills?

A: I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that he's vetoing this revenue bill. Politically, I don't think it's smart to do that.

I can't imagine he's getting sound political advice that would say [he] should -- two weeks after Maryland voters wrote their checks to the state to pay their taxes -- allow Burger King, Victoria's Secret, Exxon, all these Fortune 500 companies to continue to cheat on their state taxes.

Why would he want to position himself that way with the electorate and then make the deep, deep cuts on top of the deep cuts that have already been made in health care, education, transportation and social services, and then go down as the grim reaper of Maryland politics by 2006?

Q: How will you convince governments to end those tax benefits when they argue that to do so would mean they'd lose business and jobs to nearby jurisdictions that offer more breaks?

A: Most of these questions in Annapolis hinge on whether elected officials are going to do what voters want or what special interests want.

Ordinary people who chose to live in Maryland think that was generally a good choice, so they don't really believe it when some corporation threatens to leave Maryland when they have a lot more to lose. It's a lot harder for a gigantic multinational company to do that.

Companies come, people come to Maryland, Montgomery County, Prince George's County because we have a great education system, compared to most states and certainly [to] surrounding states. We have a highly educated work force, great climate, great location.

[Former Treasury Secretary Paul] O'Neill, a Fortune 500 executive most of his life, is quoted as saying he never made any business decision based on an economic development program; any good businessperson doesn't. People look at the risks and the rewards.

Q: You helped defeat slots this year. Will you continue to fight expanded gambling, and what new challenges on that front do you foresee next year?

A: Clearly, the gambling companies have unlimited money to throw at the Assembly. They could strike out three times, but if they hit the ball once, it's going to go over the fence.

We fought that proposal because it was really unfair to local communities, gave way too much money to track owners and gambling companies, more than it gave to education. We're not against gambling for moral reasons. [The slots bill] was a terrible, destructive, hastily conceived, miserable deal.

Q: On what big issue will Progressive Maryland focus next?

A: We'll continue to work to balance the budget fairly and responsibly. It's the one big issue that overrode every other priority in Annapolis, and will again next year.

The bill the Assembly passed would only close three loopholes. We identified 52 loopholes.

The Maryland income tax is extremely unfair compared to other states. ... In Maryland, everybody from the poor [to the upper middle class] pays about 9 1/2 percent in state and local taxes. Millionaires pay only about 8 percent, and the very top tier pay only about 7 1/2 percent. [Redskins owner] Dan Snyder is paying about 7 1/2 percent, maybe [less]. His driver and his maid are paying 9 1/2 percent.

Q: Should your organization and other labor advocates hold governments to implementing salary and wage agreements even if, by implementing them -- rather than waiting until governments can afford them -- it will require layoffs?

A: This is something we don't have an organizational position on. We don't want layoffs, and we want them to honor the contract, too. You don't balance the budget on the back of working families and public employees that are doing the work of the state that the people have asked them to do.

Plenty of jurisdictions have accepted the fact that you have to share the burden. They go to their vendors, they go to the electric company, to their suppliers and they say, "We're going to cut a better deal this year because we have less money." They renegotiate their contracts, then they go to employees last.

Q: Some "part-time" workers employed by Baltimore County have filed a lawsuit arguing that the county government has engaged in unfair practices -- specifically, by hiring many persons to work one hour less than "full-time" in order to avoid giving them benefits and job protections. How concerned are you about the issue in Maryland and elsewhere? Is Progressive Maryland going to get involved?

A: We're very small and poor, and we try to pick some issues strategically and move the ball forward.

If you are trying to run a business, it's great if you can take some of your costs and pass them on to somebody else. That's not a very good way to run a government because you are passing it onto the very communities you are supposed to be governing. Whether it's private sector or public sector work, more is being done with low wages and no benefits.

If you just are using traditional economic assumptions to look at a government budget, you think you are saving money. What you don't realize is how much poverty is costing you. There are studies that show every minimum wage job that's created costs the public -- taxpayers -- $9,000 a year.

It's much more efficient to put the money in [the workers'] pockets in the first place and eliminate the bureaucracy. The first rule of holes is to stop digging when you realize you're in one.

Q: Progressive Maryland has played a key role in defeating and electing several candidates (for instance, Phil Andrews over Bill Hanna for the Montgomery County Council in 1998 and elevating Christopher Van Hollen to Congress last year). Are you targeting any particular races in 2004? What are you planning in 2006?

A: Now, I wouldn't say there's anybody we're targeting. There are a lot of voters who aren't happy with their senators for breaking with them and voting for slots. And more of them are Republicans than Democrats.

Maryland gets more progressive every day. There's a great divide between what voters tell us they want and what happens in Annapolis.

We're about making elected officials more accountable. There are about five registered lobbyists for every lawmaker in Annapolis. Special-interests control really starts at the governor's mansion. Bob Ehrlich broke all [fund-raising] records, and it's going to go up. He'll probably be able to outspend a Democratic opponent 2- or 3-to-1.

Progressive candidates don't have to match dollar for dollar. Most people agree with us, but it's going to take a lot of grassroots organization. ... We have staff out now knocking on doors in Prince George's County signing up new members. We'll spend all summer and all fall and all next year just getting more.