“I’ll get that information to you next week,” the advocate told me. “Next week will be too late,” I responded. “The session ends on Monday.” If you don’t get it done by midnight Monday, it’s wait ‘til next year. Just before the start of the day’s session is the best time to chat with a …more >
What is in the long-term best interests of the people we serve? That’s the question government officials – both elected and appointed, have to answer daily. It’s the question we will need to answer correctly between now and the end of the session next Monday evening at midnight.
I could have been in the courtroom. I had a seat for the oral argument at the Supreme Court today on the constitutionality of Maryland’s Congressional districts. But duty called in Annapolis. As the House chair of the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics, I summarized our recommendations for a group of legislators. A resolution to …more >
On Tuesday, Governor Larry Hogan and former California Governor Arnold Shwarzenegger attended the oral argument at the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the boundary lines for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District. Today, the Governor introduced legislation that would redraw those lines, based on the recommendations of a bipartisan commission that he appointed. The nine Justices …more >
You don’t ask a question to which you don’t know the answer. I learned that in law school. Nowadays, you don’t ask a question to which Google doesn’t know the answer. But you have to ask the right question. The deplorable conditions of the living quarters for people who work and live on the backstretch …more >
I went to school this morning. A pre-k class at Wildwood Elementary Middle School. I had not been in the school since it was renovated and expanded as part of the 21st Century Schools program. The expected enrollment was 600 students, but currently there are 800, the principal Sherelle Barnes informed me. That’s a positive …more >
Nothing concentrates the mind like a bill hearing. Ditto for a lawsuit filed by the City of Baltimore asserting that the bill introduced by the owners of Pimlico Race Track is unconstitutional. City Solicitor Andre Davis said it more lawyerly: “We are going all the way to the extent we need to in order to …more >
House Bill 317 would amend Maryland’s civil rights law in the area of public accommodations, such as restaurants. The subcommittee I chair had amended the bill. Consequently, I was the floor leader when it was debated yesterday. This is what was said. Delegate Fisher: Mr. Speaker, I just want to remind the body that this …more >
A disturbing account of Baltimore’s murder rate and the relationship between the Police Department and the African-American community was the cover story in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine. This is how the article ends: The meeting was standing room only. “We just want to feel safe, period,” Monique Washington, president of the Edmondson Village Community …more >
My last bill hearings in the House were today. Numbers 27 and 28. No more early mornings making final edits to my written testimony, which I submit to the committee but never read when I testify. As I tell my students, it’s better to speak off the cuff, even if you stumble, than to look …more >
