A critical look at state and local legislation

To be sure, a few good things have happened in Maryland since I last wrote about local politics. But some really horrible things have happened too! District 20 Delegate Ida Ruben called it the worst year’s she’s experienced in her 30 years in office.

In Annapolis, a statewide Living Wage Law went through. The credit is due to a long-range, ceaseless, well-planned strategy by Progressive Maryland. Their recent fundraiser of 500-plus supporters is an homage to the group’s success. And a victory by Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the passage of the Renewable Energy Standard Portfolio (the "Clean Energy Bill"), with its emphasis on alternative wind energy, is also a high-water mark in environmental achievement. Plus, CCAN director Mike Tidwell feels the "Flush Tax" (Senate Bill 320) will play a part in significantly lowering the nitrogen level in the bay.

My feeling is that the Governor will veto many of the few good bills passed this year, including some he’s already endorsed! In fact, a big problem is that he’s mistakenly portrayed as a moderate by the local media—if you take a look at his record when he was in Congress, you’ll find he’s an ultra-Conservative. Zero ratings from unions, environmental groups, and various liberal organizations based on his Congressional votes. The scary thing is that he’s likely to be re-elected unless the Democrats can pull off a winning strategy. The overwhelming support for the Governor from the Baltimore-area traditionally liberal Jewish community is an example of what the Democrats are up against. This last session, the Republican Delegates marched lock step in a well-orchestrated strategy to kill all the decent bills. The middle class and poor have yet to feel the effects of his slashing social service programs — wait and see what happens if he’s re-elected!

Which leads me to some of the bad stuff. S.B. 725 and H.B. 1317 regarding the public financing of elections — killed in committee due to a lack of strong Democratic leadership. An Amnesty for Corporate tax crooks bill was passed — in fact, the longer the corporation cheated, the more they’ll get away with. And, although one effort to close the infamous Delaware corporate tax loophole has passed, the Governor has said he’ll probably take the seemingly contradictory step of vetoing a bill he endorsed! This after Comptroller Willie Don Schaefer made public a list of Maryland’s 130 largest corporations and pointed out that 2/3rds of them pay no Maryland taxes! And this in a year where Marylanders face a one billion dollar tax deficit! Well, I guess we’ll just have to fall short when it comes to health care, education, mental health, etc.

Plus, there was the proposed millionaires tax — an effort to add a 3% surcharge coming from Maryland’s wealthiest — it would have raised over $450 million dollars! Instead, a 1% surcharge was passed by the House but rejected by the Senate, which could have brought in less than $200 million from Maryland’s citizens earning $150,000 — 200,000/year. What a bunch of losers!

The defeat of Maryland’s Slots Bill was heralded as a victory. It allowed District 20’s Peter Franchot to do some grandstanding. But the Governor rebuked Senator Ida Rubin for her outspokenness on the issue. She’s lost office space and has been cut out of important leadership meetings. Rep. Garreth Murray is viewed as a disappointment to most liberal observers (although he did add his name as a sponsor to the Living Wage Bill). And District 20 Chairperson of the House Ways and Mans Committee, Sheila Hixson was publically censured by the Washington Post for her support of slots (she gets mucho contributions from slots interests) and others called her on the failure to allocate money for a much needed paper trail for the flawed Diebold election machine system. (I know it’s considered a radical notion, but shouldn’t folks who get a lot of their money from one particular interest group, recuse themselves from advocating and then voting on those issues?)

Here in Montgomery County there is much to take notice of. A "Disruptive Behavior Bill" is before the county council. It would give certain county employees the right to evict or remove from a public facility, any individual who is disruptive. The bill is intended to give employees in facilities like libraries and public buses the ability to react to disruptive behavior without having to resort to calling the police. And County Exec right hand man Gerry Pasternack claimed the bill has the support of the ACLU! But the ACLU has sent several objections to the Council. I guess the lawyers will fight it out.

There’s also an attempt by civic groups to bring to referendum a measure to restructure the County Council — to eliminate old, expensive at-large seats. They need 10,000 signatures in order for it to appear on the November ballot. A worthwhile effort and one which, progressives should support!

Another important issue to watch is the concept of single member districts. Currently, in Maryland, we have both single and multi-member House delegate districts. Takoma Park is in District 20 which is very politically diverse. District 20 has 3 delegates. Each of those three delegates should be elected from within "sections" of District 20 to enable more direct representation of the diverse voices. The current 3 delegates are moderate liberals speaking for some of Maryland’s most progressive population! A single member 20th district would change that since Takoma Park could put its own delegate into the District 20 delegation. So, we need a candidate willing to push that concept. Any recommendations?

In the category of "rays of hope," no matter how hard those "negative, nabobs of negativism" who want to mortgage future generations to build an unnecessary highway that will do nothing but increase traffic—the ICC—seems to always stall. The ICC, one of the 12 fast-tracked transportation projects nationwide, has been recently ranked by 2 national conservation organizations as one of the nation’s worst highway concepts. Two respected groups, the National Resource Defense Council and Environmental Defense, asked the Department of Transportation to re-evaluate, based on a lack of public participation and a threat to environmental and public health.

This ill-conceived highway project should continue to be road blocked, stalled, and questioned by as many groups as possible. In the end, let’s hope that the Bush administration, Governor Ehrlich, and their allies on the Montgomery County Council as well as County Executive Doug Duncan all suffer the consequences of this waste of taxpayers’ money.