Tag: Groucho Marx

Horse Feathers

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

“Whatever it is, I’m against it.”

Groucho Marx sings that line in Horse Feathers.

Sometimes, perhaps oftentimes, bureaucrats and lobbyists sing that line, instead of reading my bills.

My bill in question would amend an existing grant program by authorizing – permitting but not requiring, that the money can be used to repay the academic debt of a grantee’s lower-paid employees.

Several years ago, after reading an op-ed by UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski, I passed a bill creating a program that would provide stipends for interns in high-tech businesses.

That program has never been funded.

The bill we discussed today would meet the purpose of the Hrabowski program with funds from another program – if the grantee chooses to do so.

But first you have to read the bill.

A caucus Groucho would not want to be a member of

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2014 Legislative Diary | No Comments
The Maryland Democratic Party’s “center-right legislators have shrunk to a handful,” writes Barry Rascovar, a former editorial writer at the Baltimore Sun.
The Republican Party faces a similar problem.
None of the three GOP legislators who voted for marriage equality is returning to Annapolis.  Two were elected to local office, Senator Alan Kittleman and Delegate Wade Kach; Del. Robert Costa has retired.
Five years ago, I introduced legislation listing the family members who are allowed to remove a deceased’s remains from a burial site and reinter them elsewhere.  An amendment to remove domestic partners from that list was supported by 32 Republicans.  Only two voted against it.
Twelve Republican members voted in 1991 for the choice legislation that the voters approved on referendum, 68-32%.
For nearly 40 years, compromise language has authorized Medicaid funding of abortions because of a woman’s mental health.  An amendment to strip that language received 48 votes in the House.  All but six of the 48 were Republicans.
No Republicans voted for the Firearm Safety Act of 2013.
I tried to find out how many GOP members of the new legislature were endorsed by the NRA, but you must belong to the NRA to view its endorsements,
As Groucho Marx would say, that’s not a club that would accept me as a member.

The secret word is amendment

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

             “I still insist we take up the tax,” urged a Cabinet member.

“He’s right.  You’ve got to take up the tacks before you take up the carpet,” responded the President, in this instance, Rufus T. Firefly, played by Groucho Marx in “Duck Soup.”

We will take up the gas tax.  The public hearing on the Governor’s bill is Friday.

But for my Monday ritual of outlining tasks and priorities for my long list of bills, the emphasis was no longer on bill hearings, even though I have four this week.

My focus was on amendments.

First and foremost, on death penalty repeal, we will oppose all amendments.

The Senate gun bill includes an amendment that would affect all people who are voluntarily committed to a hospital.

The mental health community feels this would deter countless people from seeking help.  How should the Senate language be modified?  Who can make the most effective case to the work group?

For two of my bills, the amendments reflect a compromise.  Del. Neil Parrott created the software that was instrumental in petitioning marriage equality and the Dream Act to referendum last November.   Our amendment makes it illegal for either side to use fraud, duress, or force during the process of gathering signatures for a petition.

Last year, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce opposed my legislation requiring businesses of a certain size to make their websites useable by the blind.  After discussions this past fall with the Chamber, I are now proposing a tax credit for businesses that make this upgrade.  I will be supporting the Chamber’s amendments at tomorrow’s bill hearing.

In another movie, Groucho crooned, “Whatever it is, I’m against it.”

I’m a big fan of his but not in this instance.

The secret word is suppression

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

The first grade classrooms at Cross Elementary School haven’t moved.

I returned to my alma mater to sit in on the class of Aaron Sohaski, a Teach For America corps member whom  I’m sponsoring.

It was at the far end of the first floor corridor, just like 55 years ago.

One of the students guessed my age, but no one could do the math to figure out what year I was in first grade.

Turning from math to English, Aaron taught the difference between grouch, grouchy, grouchier, and grouchiest.

I doubt if I knew who Groucho Marx was when I was these kids’ age.  So, like Harpo, I said nothing.

—-

Voter suppression – requiring voters to have a government-issued ID or making misleading robo calls the afternoon of Election Day, is an issue I’ve worked on for several years.

During the Great Depression, “paper exclusion” laws were used to deny the vote to people on relief, I learned from an op-ed in today’s New York Times.

When my niece and nephew, Rachel and Elliot, were in the first grade, we tried to coax them into eating mashed potatoes by saying they were French fries’ cousin.

Today’s voter ID requirements are the cousin of denying the vote to the unemployed.

  • My Key Issues:

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