LEAKED EMAIL TO MCDCC: Del. Anne Kaiser Endorses Del. Brian Feldman for Sen. Rob Garagiola's Vacant District 15 Seat

UPDATE: District 15 Delegate Aruna Miller told Gaithersburg Patch.com that she wouldn't seek Rob Garagiola's State Senate seat (excerpt below): 

PATCH: [Del. Aruna] Miller said she’s not interested. “I've gotta tell you, I love being in the House of Delegates and have no plans to change that,” she said.

Maryland Juice just received a copy of the following email from Del. Anne Kaiser to the members of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) who she represents in District 14. In the message below, Kaiser suggests the MCDCC members select Delegate Brian Feldman to fill the vacancy created by Rob Garagiola's recent decision to resign from his District 15 State Senate seat. Notably, Garagiola's replacement will be selected by MCDCC members, subject to approval by Governor Martin O'Malley.

Many have expected Feldman to seek the D15 Senate seat, though Maryland Juice has heard a few murmurs from folks interested in bringing a woman, racial or ethnic minority into Montgomery County's all-white State Senate delegation. Nevertheless, there appears to be early buzz from some corners in support of Feldman. In any case, check out Del. Anne Kaiser's email below:

From: Anne Kaiser <XXXXXX>
To: Arthur Edmunds <XXXXXX>; Vivian Malloy <XXXXXX>; Pam Queen <XXXXXX>
Sent: Friday, June 7, 2013 3:55 PM
Subject: Senate vacancy

Arthur, Vivian and Pam-

Good afternoon.  While it is indeed early in this process, I wanted to share with you my views on the upcoming State Senate vacancy in District 15.  I understand that the entire D15 delegation met yesterday, and they have agreed together that Brian Feldman will run for the Senate vacancy.

Brian has distinguished himself in 11 years in the House of Delegates.  Whether as our House parliamentarian this past term or as chair of the county delegation for 5 years or as chair of an influential subcommittee on the Economic Matters Committee, Brian is known for being smart, quick on his feet, fair and liked by his colleagues.  Vitally, he is a thoughtful progressive who gets things done.  He will be able to make an immediate impact as the most junior member of the State Senate.

On the political side, you all know that districts 14 and 15 have the lowest democratic registrations.  That means that candidates must be stronger and must be able to demonstrate their ability to win general elections.  Brian is one of the best fundraisers in the Montgomery County delegation and he is an avid campaigner.  We can't risk losing this democratic seat in the State Senate in 2014.  Brian won't let that happen.

I also happen to think that Brian is a good guy, has a sense of humor and is in politics for the right reasons.  If you have any questions, feel free to call.  I won't call you -- I know that you all get barraged from calls during these heated races.

Thanks for listening....

-Anne

MORE ON THE D15 SENATE VACANCY SOON!

UGH: MD Senate Approves Lockheed Handout // MEANWHILE: Key House Committee Quietly Cancels Steak Dinner w/ Lockheed

MARYLAND DEMOCRATS ARE BRUSHING ASIDE VOTERS TO APPROVE THE LOCKHEED MARTIN WELFARE PLAN - Maryland Juice has been tracking the scandalous efforts by our politicians to give Pentagon contractor Lockheed Martin millions of dollars of corporate welfare -- in exchange for nothing at all. Over the objections of the Montgomery County Council, state lawmakers are trying to force MoCo to exempt Lockheed (and Lockheed alone) from having to pay millions in lodging taxes. No other person or business in Maryland gets to avoid this tax -- but then again no other company has the chutzpah of Lockheed Martin (consistently rated tops in the nation for government contract abuse). Even worse, Lockheed is admitting that the Federal government already reimburses them for most or all of the lodging tax that they are now trying to avoid paying!

In these challenging budgetary times, the Lockheed handout would net the wildly profitable company $4.5 million from our taxpayers every ten years in perpetuity. This is the same Lockheed that a few months ago used 3.5 million taxpayer dollars to give their CEO a golden parachute after he was caught having an affair with a subordinate (excerpt via AmericaBlog):

AMERICA BLOG: A man who was being groomed to take over as CEO of Lockheed, the nation’s largest defense contractor, has been forced to resign shortly before taking office. The reason — he was having a long-term extramarital affair with a “subordinate employee." But that’s not the scandal — the scandal is that you, the taxpayer, will pony up $3.5 million as a parting gift (or maybe a “partying gift”) even though he resigned in disgrace....

Dozens of groups have called on Democratic lawmakers to shut down Lockheed Martin's corporate welfare plan, but it looks like the politicians still aren't getting the message.

ROLL CALL // LOCKHEED CORPORATE WELFARE PLAN PASSES STATE SENATE 37 TO 9 - Late Monday night, the State Senate finally held a long-delayed vote on the Lockheed Martin welfare plan, and our elected officials demonstrated a rare moment of bipartisanship to pass this massive corporate hackery by the overwhelming margin of 37 to 9. Here are the only nine State Senators who rejected this inherently ridiculous welfare handout:

1. Jim Brochin (Democrat)
2. Brian Frosh (Democrat)
3. Delores Kelley (Democrat)
4. Karen Montgomery (Democrat)
5. Anthony Muse (Democrat)
6. Paul Pinsky (Democrat)
7. Jamie Raskin (Democrat)
8. Bryan Simonaire (Republican)
9. Bobby Zirkin (Democrat)

A RARE MOMENT OF "BIPARTISANSHIP" FOR THE LOCKHEED HANDOUT - Amazingly, bipartisanship appears to be alive and well when it comes to corporate welfare. A bipartisan supermajority made up of 37 Senators voted to support this blind handout for Lockheed Martin (see their names here). The list includes all but one GOP member of the Senate, and 5 of the 8 State Senators from liberal Montgomery County. Maryland Juice has heard reports of intense lobbying from leadership figures and Lockheed Martin lobbyists in Annapolis, but I am disappointed that this sort of pro-forma pressure and institutional inertia actually works on our mostly able-minded Senators. Oy vey! 


BATTLE TO STOP LOCKHEED MARTIN HANDOUT MOVES TO HOUSE WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE - Even though the Maryland Senate approved the Lockheed Martin welfare plan, voters still have several more opportunities to kill this proposal. The Lockheed bill (HB815) will now be debated in the House of Delegates Ways & Means Committee, where Montgomery County's Sheila Hixson serves as Committee Chair.  But the launch of the Lockheed effort in Hixson's committee was met with some early controversy....

HOUSE WAYS & MEANS MEMBERS QUIETLY CANCEL PRIVATE DINNER WITH LOCKHEED MARTIN LOBBYISTS AT RUTH'S CHRIS STEAK HOUSE - Amazingly, Lockheed Martin had planned a private dinner with the members of the House of Delegates Ways & Means Committee members only one day after the State Senate voted to send the Lockheed bill to the Ways & Means Committee. Indeed, Lockheed lobbyists had planned to ply the members of Sheila Hixson's committee with a lovely meal at Ruth's Chris Steak House in Annapolis. But someone apparently sensed that the public would go nuts about such shameless crony capitalism tactics, and the event was quickly and quietly canceled yesterday afternoon -- only 4.5 hours before the dinner was due to begin! Look at the leaked email below:

From: West, Nikki <Nikki.West@mlis.state.md.us>
Date: Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 2:28 PM
Subject: Protocol Calendar Cancelation
To: Senate of Maryland <Senators@mlis.state.md.us>, MD House of Delegates <Delegates@mlis.state.md.us>

Good Afternoon,

Please note the following Cancelation in the Protocol Calendar.

TUESDAY, March 19, 2013 - 7:00 p.m.
Lockheed Martin and Ways & Means Committee Dinner
Ruth's Chris
(House W&M Committee)
Susan Bernard - (410) 974-9000
BY INVITATION ONLY

STOP THE LOCKHEED WELFARE BILL IN THE HOUSE WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE - I know I can't be the only one who is sick and tired of this type of cynical corporate politics. Maryland Juice encourages readers to contact Delegate Hixson ASAP, along with the other members of the Ways & Means Committee. Notably, Delegate Hixson has the power as a committee Chair to simply kill this bill by herself:

Photo Source: Edward Kimmel

ACT NOW

[ TELL WAYS & MEANS CHAIR SHEILA HIXSON TO KILL THE LOCKHEED BILL ]

Below I've listed the email addresses for the 23 Delegates on Ways & Means. I've also flagged their political parties and highlighted in red the 7 committee members who are sponsoring the Lockheed welfare bill (see below):

MARYLAND HOUSE WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE

1. Sheila Hixson (D Chair) - sheila.hixson@house.state.md.us
2. Frank Turner (D Vice-Chair) - frank.turner@house.state.md.us
3. Kathy Afzali (R) - kathy.afzali@house.state.md.us
4. Kumar Barve (D) - kumar.barve@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
5. Joseph Boteler (R) - joseph.boteler@house.state.md.us
6. Talmadge Branch (D) - talmadge.branch@house.state.md.us
7. Jon Cardin (D) - jon.cardin@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
8. Don Dwyer (R) - don.dwyer@house.state.md.us
9. Mark Fisher (R) - mark.fisher@house.state.md.us
10. Bill Frick (D) - bill.frick@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
11. Ronald George (R) - ron.george@house.state.md.us
12. Nina Harper (D) - nina.harper@house.state.md.us
13. Carolyn Howard (D) - carolyn.howard@house.state.md.us
14. Jolene Ivey (D) - jolene.ivey@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
15. Anne Kaiser (D) - anne.kaiser@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
16. Eric Luedtke (D) - eric.luedtke@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
17. Aruna Miller (D) - aruna.miller@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
18. LeRoy Myers (R) - leroy.myers@house.state.md.us
19. Andrew Serafini (R) - andrew.serafini@house.state.md.us
20. Melvin Stukes (D) - melvin.stukes@house.state.md.us
21. Michael Summers (D) - michael.summers@house.state.md.us
22. Jay Walker (D) - jay.walker@house.state.md.us
23. Alonzo Washington (D) - alonzo.washington@house.state.md.us

CONTINGENCIES - If Sheila Hixson is unwilling to kill the Lockheed Welfare bill in the Ways & Means Committee, advocates will have to fight this unjust corporate handout on the House Floor. And if that fails, it is time to ask Governor O'Malley to break out his VETO sword!


MORE ON THE LOCKHEED MARTIN WELFARE SCANDAL SOON!


P.S. MARYLAND TAXPAYERS FUND A CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR LOBBYISTS & LAWMAKERS?  - The email copied above, which announced the cancellation of the Lockheed dinner, mentioned that the event was listed in a "protocol calendar." But as Maryland Juice has discovered, a "protocol calendar" is in reality a "lobbyist event calendar," plain and simple.

It turns out that our state tax dollars are spent on staff time for government employees to build and maintain this calendar of lobbyist events. Amazingly, the "protocol calendar" was apparently intended to bring transparency to the fact that these lobbyist-lawmaker mixers even occur. Fair enough, but it seems more and more like the calendar is actually facilitating the lobbyist contacts with legislators. Maybe lawmakers need to rename the "protocol calendar" with a less deceptive name (like "lobbyist event calendar") and proactively make sure they are actually seen by the public. If you're curious to see which industry lobbyists have been wining and dining your lawmakers, you can see two copies of protocol calendars from 2013. It looks like lawmakers have multiple options for lobbyist-paid meals practically every day of the legislative session!

Maryland Lobbyist Events - March 2013

Maryland Lobbyist Events - January 2013

JuiceBlender: MD House Speaker Announces New Committee Members, Garagiola Firmly Supports Death Penalty & More!

Below Maryland Juice highlights a few noteworthy tidbits for Free State politicos:

JUICE #1 // FUNNY: BANKRUPT MARYLAND REPUBLICANS - Maryland Juice recently caught this amusing image and caption on the #mdpolitics feed on Twitter:

Day 3 of 2013 session. I never thought they'd be so upfront about it...  #mdpolitics #annapolis  pic.twitter.com/02Iwfp7F

JUICE #2 // NOT FUNNY: SEN. ROB GARAGIOLA FIRMLY SUPPORTS GOVERNMENT EXECUTIONS: With the big push progressives are making to repeal the death penalty in Maryland, it appears that they cannot yet count on support from State Senator Rob Garagiola (who was recently endorsed by numerous progressive groups like MoveOn in his recent run for Congress). Check out the following excerpt from The Baltimore Sun's coverage:

Garagiola firm on keeping death penalty

A Montgomery County senator whose vote death penalty opponents had hoped to sway this year said Friday that he is firmly committed to keeping capital punishment on the books.... Garagiola is the lone senator from Montgomery County who supports retention of the death penalty.... With his vote unavailable, the path to the minimum 24 votes to pass a bill becomes a bit narrower.

JUICE #3 // MARYLAND HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE BUSCH ANNOUNCES COMMITTEE SHUFFLES: A Maryland Juice source forwarded us the following press release from the office of Maryland House Speaker Mike Busch. The Democratic leader has made some changes to the leadership and committee membership in the Maryland House. Details below:

PRESS RELEASE

SPEAKER BUSCH ANNOUNCES COMMITTEE AND LEADERSHIP APPOINTMENTS

ANNAPOLIS, MD – House Speaker Michael E. Busch today announced committee assignments for six standing committees in the House of Delegates, as well as appointments to new leadership positions.  In the upcoming session, Appropriations, Economic Matters, and Environmental Matters each will have 24, Health & Government Operations will have 23 and Judiciary and Ways & Means will each have 22 members.

The committees are balanced to reflect the demographic, geographic and party makeup of the legislature.

The following Delegates were appointed today.  Delegates not included on this list will maintain their current committee assignments.

LEADERSHIP APPOINTMENTS

• Delegate Anne Healey (District 22), Chair, House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee
• Delegate Jay Walker (District 26), Vice Chair, House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee
• Delegate Samuel I. Rosenberg (District 41), House Chair, Administrative, Executive, Legislative Review Committee
• Delegate Frank Turner (District 13), Vice Chairman, Ways and Means Committee
• Delegate Benjamin Barnes (District 21), Chief Deputy Majority Whip
• Delegate Shawn Tarrant (District 40), Chief Deputy Majority Whip
• Delegate Anne Kaiser (District 14), Vice Chair, House Democratic Caucus
• Delegate Hattie Harrison (District 45), Chairman Emeritus
• Delegate Rudolph Cane (District 37A), Assistant Speaker Pro Tem

APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

• Delegate Guy Guzzone (District 13), Chair, Public Safety & Administration Subcommittee
• Delegate Craig Zucker (District 14), Vice Chair, Public Safety & Administration Subcommittee
• Delegate Keith Haynes (District 44), Delegate Steve DeBoy (District 12A), and Delegate Craig Zucker (District 14) are new members of the Capital Budget Subcommittee, representing Baltimore City, Baltimore and Montgomery Counties.

ECONOMIC MATTERS COMMITTEE

• Delegate Galen Clagett (District 3A)

JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

• Delegate Glen Glass (District 34B)
• Delegate Samuel I. Rosenberg (District 41)

WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE

• Delegate Eric Luedtke (District 14), Chair, Financial Resources Subcommittee
• Delegate Don Dwyer (District 31)
• Delegate Alonzo Washington (District 22)

# # #

Gov. Martin O'Malley Announces Special Session for Aug. 9 // MoCo Leaders Held Heated Meeting to Debate Gambling

UPDATE: The Baltimore Sun last night reported that casino company MGM is no longer pursuing a tax cut for Maryland slot machines. The company is hoping to build a casino at Prince George's County's National Harbor, but had insisted that Maryland's 67% tax on slot machine revenue be lowered. Maryland lawmakers were then barraged with direct mail and calls from constituents complaining about lowering taxes on casino owners while ordinary residents were facing a tax increase. See an excerpt from The Baltimore Sun report below:

BALTIMORE SUN: The chief executive officer of MGM Resorts International, which wants to open a luxury casino at National Harbor, said Thursday that his company has dropped efforts to win tax breaks from the Maryland General Assembly to build a gambling palace at the Prince George's County site....

In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, Murren conceded the line of attack has resonated. "It has played very well," Murren said. "'Why give tax breaks to billionaire casino guys when you've raised my taxes?'"

SPECIAL GAMBLING SESSION AUGUST 9TH: Earlier this week, Maryland Juice broke news that the state legislators could expect to return to Annapolis for a special legislative session to debate gambling expansion. This morning, several Twitter users confirmed that Gov. Martin O'Malley announced that he would call the legislature back to work on August 9th. See the photo and Tweet from Maryland politico P. Kenneth Burns below:

JuiceBlender: Del. Kaiser to Replace Feldman as MoCo Chair, Ruppersberger Exits House Committee, Glenn Ivey News & More

Here's a random blend of political tidbits from recent news, mostly involving Maryland politicos entering or leaving various positions of interest.

JUICE #1: DEL. ANNE KAISER TO SUCCEED BRIAN FELDMAN AS MOCO HOUSE DELEGATION CHAIR - In the last week or so, a few Maryland politicos mentioned that Delegate Brian Feldman (District 15) had stepped down as the Chair of the Montgomery County delegation. Most sources indicated that Delegate Anne Kaiser (District 14) would be ascending as the MoCo House delegation Chair. The Washington Post's Victor Zapana confirmed these rumors in coverage of Feldman's departure (excerpt below):

WASHINGTON POST: Del. Brian J. Feldman (D-Montgomery) will step down as chair of the Montgomery County delegation of the House of Delegates, a key county leadership post in the state legislature, he said in an interview Wednesday.

Feldman, who has served as chair for five years, said he will relinquish the position after a successor is elected July 17. Del. Anne R. Kaiser (D-Montgomery), a top leader in the House of Delegates, is the likely candidate to win, according to two state officials and a county official who were granted anonymity to speak freely about the election....

Notably, Delegate Feldman had been toying with running for Comptroller or State Senate in 2014. Both plans seem to be contingent upon the 2014 plans of those currently holding those positions (ie: Comptroller Peter Franchot and State Senator Rob Garagiola, respectively).

Click Image to Read Button

JUICE #2: REP. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER STEPS DOWN FROM ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE - Meanwhile, on the Congressional level, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger has apparently stepped down from his position on the House of Representative's Armed Services Committee. Its probably just as well, because it seemed that Maryland's Democrat saw his post as more of a cheerleading role than an oversight role, as often happens with members of Congress who have military bases in their districts. The Baltimore Sun's John Fritze reported on the development (excerpt below):

BALTIMORE SUN: Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the Baltimore County Democrat who represents two of Maryland's largest military installations, is stepping down from the House Armed Services Committee effective immediately, his office confirmed Tuesday.

Ruppersberger, who was named to the committee last year, is making way for Rep. Ron Barber, an Arizona Democrat sworn in last week to replace Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords resigned in January to focus on her recovery from a gunshot wound last year....

JUICE #3: O'MALLEY APPOINTS GLENN IVEY CHAIR OF MD LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION - Gov. Martin O'Malley has appointed Glenn Ivey the new Chair of Maryland's Legal Services Corporation (MLSC). Notably, Mr. Ivey was the former Prince George's County State's Attorney and mounted an exploratory effort for the 4th Congressional District race earlier this year. See the brief announcement from Glenn Ivey's lawfirm, Venable:

VENABLE: Venable partner, and former Prince George’s County State’s Attorney, Glenn Ivey was appointed Chairman of the Maryland Legal Services Corporation’s (MLSC) Board of Directors. Retired Venable Partner and Past Chair Ben Civiletti was the founding Chairman of the MLSC.

Established by the Maryland General Assembly in 1982, the Maryland Legal Services Corporation raises funds and makes grants to nonprofit organizations for the provision of civil legal assistance to low-income persons in Maryland. The MLSC is governed by a nine-person Board of Directors appointed by the Governor of Maryland and confirmed by the Maryland Senate.

JUICE #4: O'MALLEY ELEVATES INTERIM APPOINTEE AS SECRETARY OF HIGHER EDUCATION - Governor O'Malley recently named Dr. Danette Howard Maryland’s Secretary of Higher Education. The Anne Arundel County resident has been serving in the role as an interim stand-in for almost a year now, so this simply makes permanent the status quo. The Governor's blog provided some details (excerpt below):

GOVERNOR O'MALLEY: ...“We are pleased that Danette has chosen to continue her outstanding work in our Administration,” said Governor O’Malley. “Her dedication to creating innovative programs and years of expertise in higher education are essential to helping more Marylanders attend and complete college. We believe that under her leadership, we can build on the progress we’ve made to eliminate barriers to completion and help students obtain the skills and education they need to compete and win in the New Economy.”

“I am grateful to be given the opportunity to continue to serve the people of Maryland as Secretary of Higher Education,” said Dr. Howard. “I am looking forward to helping the Administration move toward its higher education attainment goal.”

The O’Malley-Brown Administration has set an aggressive goal that at least 55 percent of adult Marylanders will hold at least one post-secondary degree or credential by 2025....

Notably, the high profile roles of Transportation Secretary and Labor Secretary are currently unfilled with permanent appointees. Maryland Juice is awaiting news of who the potential replacements might be!

Sen. Brian Frosh Unilaterally Kills Youth Empowerment Bill // Majority of Colleagues Backed School Board Voting Rights

BACKGROUND - Over the last few weeks, Maryland Juice wrote about legislative progress to expand student representation on the Montgomery County Board of Education. For years, students throughout the county have voted on a high school senior or junior (aka the SMOB) to represent them on the school board. For almost as long, students have also fought for their SMOB to have a larger role in the Board of Education deliberations. This year, as Maryland was poised to grant Montgomery County's student rep a full vote on the school board, Senator Brian Frosh intervened to kill the effort.

Several notable youth advocates and education figures have spoken out, including Board of Education Member Chris Barclay, the MoCo Young Democrats, and more. A ruckus even broke out on the floor on Monday as several Montgomery Senators tried to save student representation from Senator Frosh's hatchet-job. Aided by a few leadership figures like Senators Rob Garagiola, Roy Dyson and Joan Carter-Conway, Frosh succeeded in using the clout he has developed after years in power to kill the young people's legislation. Below we print a quick recap of the issue, along with key Tweets from politicos

FROSH MAKES BLOCKING STUDENT VOTING A PRIORITY - Last Friday, reports from Annapolis indicated that even though a super-majority of Montgomery County's lawmakers supported full voting rights for their student school board member, Senator Brian Frosh decided to overrule the votes of his colleagues. Indeed, he could've simply voted against the bill on the floor to register his difference of opinion. Instead, Senator Frosh went out of his way on Monday -- while the budget negotiations were melting down -- to squash a student voting rights bill.

As Maryland Juice previously reported, Frosh's unusual efforts concern a bill that would grant full voting privileges to Montgomery County's elected student member of the Board of Education. The bill MC 9-12 passed unanimously in the Montgomery County House Delegation and 5-2 in the Senate. Students have fought for these rights for years, but Mr. Frosh decided to replace the judgment of the rest of the colleagues with his own by effectively placing a hold on the youth representation bill.

WHY SO CRAZED ABOUT THIS ISSUE AND NOT OTHERS? -  Of all the things to use your political clout for.... Notably, the student representation bill was filed as a "local bill" since it only applies to Montgomery County. As a matter of custom, these bills are approved by the members from other counties, as long as a majority of lawmakers from the affected county agreed to support the bill. In short, one should only violate the custom of local courtesy in an extreme circumstance -- otherwise, you create a precedent for lawmakers blocking bills for personal or trivial reasons. Amazingly, Senator Frosh saw voting representation for students on the school board as such a grave threat to democracy, that he was willing to overturn longstanding tradition (aka use his insider skills) to kill this bill. Maryland Juice would be curious to see how many times in his multi-decade legislative career Mr. Frosh has blocked a local bill. I would also like to see what other issues he has deemed so important that they warrant thwarting democracy and upending the legislative process.

YOUNG DEMS AND STUDENTS FIGHT BACK - The Montgomery County Young Democrats and high school activists alike fought until the bitter end to save student representation from Senator Frosh's rampage. See a few Tweets from over the past week below. Our panel of conscripted Tweeters includes: Delegate Anne Kaiser, Senator Bill Ferguson, Board of Education member Chris Barclay, former SMOB Tim Hwang, the MoCo Young Dems, MD Young Dems VP Joseph Kitchen, and Young Dems John Howes & John Mannes.

COMMENTARY ON TWITTER 

A TWITTER SNAPSHOT OF THE LEGISLATIVE FIGHT

WTF MARYLAND SENATE LEADERSHIP: Maryland Juice thinks the current generation of Senate leaders acts as if "Rock and Roll" music (aka issues like same sex marriage and student voting rights) will be the downfall of society. GROW UP SENATORS.

NO MORE DINOSAUR POLITICS.

Montgomery County Lawmakers Approve Bill Granting Full Voting Rights to Student Member of Board of Education

UPDATE: A reader clarifies that the bill must now be approved by the full Maryland Senate (so far, it has been approved by the Montgomery County delegation in Annapolis). But this is usually a pro-forma vote (ie: it will be unusual for the bill not to pass).

A few days ago, Maryland Juice received the following email message from Tim Hwang, the former student member of Montgomery County's Board of Education. He announces that after years of persistent student-led efforts, the State House and Senate officials who represent Montgomery County have voted to approve full voting rights for the student member of the Board of Education (aka SMOB). Montgomery County public school students all vote in a countywide election to select a fellow student to represent their voices on the school board, and now their deputy is one step closer to voting on budget, labor and other policy matters -- just like the adult members.  The legislation was sponsored by Delegates Anne Kaiser and Tom Hucker:

Juice,

I thought you'd like to know that I was just in Annapolis and the bill MC 9-12 passed unanimously in the Montgomery County House Delegation and 5-2 in the Senate Delegation.

The Student Member on the Montgomery County school board now has full voting rights (ie: they are now a completely equal member of the school board and can vote on everything including the budget, legislative proposals, collective bargaining, etc). This changes the dynamic of the discussion with public unions (MCEA, SEIU, etc) and the County Council and shifts the power dynamic on the school board to respect student opinion more.

This is a bill I introduced back when I was on the school board (http://ww2.gazette.net/stories/12092009/montnew175705_32555.php) and the delegation finally took the initiative to pass it out - making MoCo the second county in the state to allow a completely equal student member of the board.

Tim Hwang

Last November, Maryland Juice wrote a little bit about the history of the student voting rights struggle on the Montgomery County Board of Education. We quoted an informative entry from Mr. Hwang on the My High School Journalism website from October 2009:

TIM HWANG: The Student Member of the Board is a 31-year-old appeasement for students. In 1977, the Maryland General Assembly created a nonvoting seat on the Board of Education, and a year later, David Naimon was elected as the first student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education.... 

In 1989, Maryland’s General Assembly gave the student member a limited vote within the board..... When the General Assembly gave “limited voting rights,” they meant it. The Student Member may not vote on “budget items, negative personnel matters, school closings/openings, and boundary changes,” according to the Montgomery County Public Schools website....

Last November, the fate of the student voting rights effort was uncertain, as the bill seemed stalled in the Senate. But the movement forward is now encouraging. Either way, it seems like across the county, students are becoming very savvy in building political alliances and advocacy strategies -- and politicians are noticing! First the anti-curfew organizers stopped MoCo's curfew plan, then competing candidate slates revitalized the MoCo Young Democrats, then the Young Dems helped change the conversation on marriage equality, then #JSA succeeds in getting their friend released, and now this (fingers crossed).

What will the young people do next?