Election fraud is a real problem in Maryland.
The claims regarding climate warming have been disproved.
Maryland law imposes no limits on when abortions can be performed.
My Republican colleagues made those false assertions during floor debate this past weekend.
There was no evidence of fraud in Maryland’s election last year.
When fraud has occurred, I have responded.
Several elections ago, a flyer urged people to vote on the wrong day and implied that you couldn’t vote if you hadn’t paid your rent or the BGE bill.
I passed a law making it a crime to willfully and knowingly attempt to influence fraudulently a voter’s decision whether to go to the polls.
That law was invoked against those responsible for the Election Day recording several years ago urging people to stay home because their votes weren’t needed.
During floor debate this weekend on climate change, I referred to the impact of Hurricane Sandy on New York City and added that several coastal cities are planning for future calamities caused by the rise in sea level.
A colleague and I shared with each other the text of Maryland’s abortion law, which severely limits a woman’s choice to have an abortion after the fetus is viable.
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=ghg§ion=20-209&enactments=false
“Stress is not something that the average person would think is a true restriction,” my colleague replied.
Stress does not meet the law’s requirement that an abortion is “necessary to protect the life or health of the woman,” the standard in the law.
It is difficult to have a reasoned debate when for one side, far too often, the facts are an accident.
