What, you think you're special?
Whoever the culprit, the bill's death is a fine example of the opaque art of legislating in Annapolis, where transparency and good government are no match for the special interests, monied contributors and backroom deals that are the General Assembly's stock in trade.
You are not special.
When 137 to 0 Is Not Enough
An Annapolis whodunit
Monday, April 14, 2008; A14
THE DEATH this month of legislation in Maryland authorizing Montgomery County to adopt a system of public financing for local elections is an Annapolis whodunit.
Practically every delegate and state senator from the county itself backed the bill, which would have established a voluntary system of public financing for qualifying candidates for county executive and the nine seats on the County Council. No lawmaker in either chamber of the Maryland General Assembly publicly opposed it. In the House of Delegates, the measure sailed to passage by a vote of 137 to 0.
In the Senate, where the bill was assigned to the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, a single witness testified on the bill (council member Phil Andrews), explaining its merits and encountering nothing but favorable reactions from the senators who were present. And then, mysteriously, the bill never came up for a vote. Call it death by silence. (A similar bill to establish a statewide system of public financing for elections also died in the legislature, for at least the sixth time in the last decade.)
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Newsvine
Furl
Google
Yahoo
