March 26 – Duty called

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 reprimand Delegate Jay Alisi for his abusive behavior toward staff will be considered by the full House later this week.

At a meeting to discuss Pimlico and the Preakness, I made the following point.

The bill introduced by The Stronach Group would prohibit the use at Pimlico of an existing source of funding for capital improvements.

It’s the equivalent of cutting Pimlico off at the knees.

“When a horse gets a serious injury like that,” I stated, “they put him down.”

PS If the Supreme Court holds that our lines are unconstitutional, I’ll revisit the issue at a special session in Annapolis this summer.

An oral argument and a fireside chat

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 will meet in their conference on Friday to vote on the case.

Their opinion, which will be binding on how the district should be drawn, will be issued in late June.

The Governor and the General Assembly would then be able to act in a manner consistent with the Court’s holding.

—-

During our floor debate on the minimum wage, I quoted another federal official, Franklin Roosevelt.

In his Fireside Chat the night before he signed the first federal minimum wage law, he said:

“Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day, who has been turning his employees over to the Government relief rolls in order to preserve his company’s undistributed reserves, tell you – using his stockholders’ money to pay the postage for his personal opinions — tell you that a wage of $11.00 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry.”

  • My Key Issues:

  • Pimlico and The Preakness
  • Our Neighborhoods
  • Pre-Kindergarten
  • Lead Paint Poisoning