When I was 10 years old, Aunt Margie took me to the U.S. Senate gallery. “See that person strutting around like a peacock,” she told me. “That’s Lyndon Johnson, the Majority Leader.”
Today, as I began my 30th year in the House of Delegates, Aunt Margie was in the gallery in Annapolis, with her daughter/my cousin, Babette.
I asked a legislator who’s beginning his second year how it differs from his swearing-in last January. “I was nervous and excited then. This time, I’m excited,” he replied.
“I was thrilled,” recalled a colleague who was here when I began in 1983. “My parents were here.”
My parents joined me for breakfast at Chick and Ruth’s Deli my first day. This morning, I called my mother after my annual cholesterol-fest.
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin spoke from the rostrum today where he once presided as Speaker: “In Annapolis, you confront issues directly, engage in open and honest debate, and move forward with your best response to a problem.”
Left unsaid was the contrast with the Congress.
P.S. Aunt Margie insists that the peacock she was referring to 50+ years ago was Bobby Baker, LBJ’s aide. Nonetheless, I’m sticking with Johnson. Only he could cast a vote.
