Annapolis Update #2 – Feb. 12, 2009
As the legislative session moves slowly forward, there are some observations I would like to share with you.
First, in his State of the State address the Governor does not seem to have offered any stimulus package for the State of Maryland. With the economy as it is, you would think that a stimulus would be priority #1. He did talk about the fact that utility bills are high, and that we are going to have to help people pay their utility bills. He forgot to mention that his public policy has resulted in driving up the cost of energy.
The Department of the Environment is pushing forward with their global warming, or, as it is now referred to, climate change, solution. I have to say, I do believe in climate change — I have lived in Maryland most of my life and I have never seen two days with the exact same weather. The climate change bill, aka “global warming”, as touted by the O’Malley administration, is expected to create 300,000 new jobs, which seems physically impossible to anyone with common sense. I predict that if the bill is successful, it will cost the State of Maryland 600,000 well-paying jobs to create 300,000 government jobs to try to correct the mess it made.
I have also learned that the State intends to spend millions of dollars — to plant trees. Apparently, the age-old process of pollination and falling seeds no longer works. The government which must do all things for all people now must also do all things for all trees.
Leaving aside the ridiculous, I’d like to mention some of the bills I have introduced. I have re-introduced legislation to suspend for life the driver’s licenses of convicted drug dealers of heroin, coke, methamphetamines — the hard core drugs. This bill costs the State zero, and gives an additional penalty that judges can mete out to the dregs of our society — those who sell drugs to our children and who also make drug addicts of infants born to addicted mothers. Obviously, I have no sympathy for drug dealers.
Another bill is to create a single new High Court for the State of Maryland for all death penalty eligible cases. The prosecuting arm would be the Attorney General’s office, and Att. Gen. Gansler, fortunately for all of us, supports the death penalty. The judges would be brought in from courts throughout the State on a rotation basis. The jury would be selected from throughout the State. This bill would do away with the so-called regional disparity of administering the dealth penalty. Having as prosecutor the Attorney General, an elected official, just as local State’s Attorneys are, would amount to having a prosecutor specializing in death penalty cases. Thus there would be less chance of errors for both the State and the defendants. In the long run, this bill would save the State money by establishing a smoother and more coordinated process.
A third bill is for early release of jailed illegal aliens, with automatic deportation. This legislation has already been passed in New York and Arizona, saving the citizens of those states millions of dollars. Naturally, the most heinous criminals would not qualify for this program. With the slumping economy, the State needs more bed space in its jails, and this will help free up beds. It will also save the taxpayers money, plus it will get these criminals, and possibly their families, who may be on some type of government subsidy, out of the state and out of the country.
I could go on, but I think I have said enough to ask you to compare my agenda with that of the Governor, and with some of your other representatives in the legislature. I ask you to decide which you think makes more common sense — and by the way, common sense is something we see little of in Annapolis!
