If the Supreme Court follows the election returns, as one of my Political Science professors taught me, the Congress even more so. A dozen GOP members of the House are retiring; they will be more likely to follow the path of Senators Corker and Flake and break with President Trump. Others will join their departing …more >
My op-ed in today’s Baltimore Sun: Gov. Hogan’s Israel executive order supports democracy in Md. and the Middle East http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-op-1031-bds-response-20171029-story.html
“Where did you go to high school?” one Baltimore native often asks another. I went to City College, as many of you know. Yesterday, I went to the school’s annual Hall of Fame ceremony. I was inducted a dozen years ago. That earned me a seat on the stage. Class banners were hung on the …more >
“Do we as a society believe it is acceptable for a child’s life to be predetermined by the ZIP code in which they were born?” City schools CEO Sonja Santelises posed that question last night to a commission studying the state’s funding of pre-kindergarten through 12th grade in public schools throughout the state. Irvington is …more >
My bottom line: The law should benefit people or prevent them from being harmed without unduly burdening the rights of those whose conduct is being regulated or criminalized.. One example is voter fraud. To what extent should we impose barriers to the exercise of this fundamental right when seeking to prevent individuals from voting illegally? The Congress struck …more >
Russians bought at least one Facebook ad that targeted voters in Baltimore during last year’s Presidential election. The ad made reference to the Black Lives Matter movement, the Baltimore Sun reported yesterday. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-cnn-facebook-20170927-story.html Under Maryland law, each campaign finance entity responsible for publishing or distributing campaign material through the Internet must keep a sample copy …more >
Amazon guarantees two-day delivery. It’s decision where to locate HQ2 will have an impact on the chosen city/region/state for decades. This bidding war will also affect the losing applicants. Here’s my minor role in this process. I introduced a bill that created an internship program in high tech start-ups for Maryland college students. The state …more >
My coalition building began in a basement on a Thursday night more than 35 years ago. When I ran for the House of Delegates the first time, I wanted to get votes from both the reform and the machine factions of the Democratic Party. I had been going to meetings of the New Democratic Coalition …more >
People are going to jail because they did not pay their rent. That would not happen if they had a lawyer. I’ve introduced bills before to require that an attorney be provided in certain legal situations. After reading the Sun article about this procedure, civil attachment, I’m working on legislation to require that legal counsel …more >
I was walking to the Orioles game on Greene Street last night. Nothing blog worthy about that. But then someone said, “City College.” “What year?” I responded. “’68,” he said. We were classmates. Both of us have worked in state government. Tom in Parole and Probation. He spoke positively of the Math and English departments …more >
