Annapolis - Gov. Martin O’Malley and lawmakers have met behind closed doors in the last few months to discuss how to cure the state’s $1.5 billion budget shortfall, which appears to contradict O’Malley’s campaign vow to make government more transparent.

“Maryland is a state where the governor and legislative leaders meet behind closed doors,” said Roy Meyers, professor of public budgeting at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “They tend to make their decisions, and then try to sell them to the public. That is Maryland’s political culture.”

O’Malley meets this morning with a score of top Democratic lawmakers to lay out his plan for remedying the state deficit next year. No Republicans are invited.

O’Malley briefed House Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Thomas Mike Miller on Monday afternoon, and the governor’s staff discussed it with Miller’s and Busch’s aides before that, but they gave the aides no written documents, the legislative staff said.

The governor may not even talk to reporters about the plan after today’s 8 a.m. meeting at his residence, O’Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said.

It’s not as if O’Malley hasn’t discussed solutions. He’s openly talked about a number of different tax hikes and some spending restraints. He just hasn’t made his choices clear.

“He didn’t get into specifics about how much money he would raise from each revenue source,” Busch said of his meeting with the governor.

Meyers objects to the lack of public input.

“I’m not sure it is the best approach right now,” he said. “There are many educated citizens” who could comment on government operations.

“We have political debates without being presented with the kind of information we actually need,” he said.

Christopher Summers, president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, said there “needs to be an open discussion of Maryland’s spending priorities. That’s a discussion that we have not had in a very long time.”

llazarick@baltimoreexaminer.com