Today Maryland joined the civilized world and finally abolished its use of the death penalty. Last week the State Senate voted to repeal the death penalty (roll call here), and today the House of Delegates followed suit with a 82-56 vote in support of abolition.
It's about freaking time, people.
ON LIFE VS. DEATH, A SAD PARTY LINE VOTE - The death penalty repeal vote was (sadly) a mostly party line affair, with all but two Republican House members voting against the "pro-life" position. Only two Republican Delegates maintained consistency in their "pro-life" beliefs and joined Democrats in repealing executions: Susan Aumann and Bill Frank (both Catholic Republicans). In contrast, most Democrats voted to end state murder. But 18 Democrats joined the GOP (including one Charles Barkley from MoCo) and voted to continue using taxpayer dollars to pay state employees to kill people. You can see the Democratic Hall of Shame below. I also flagged the pro-death penalty Democrats who voted against marriage equality and the Dream Act. Interesting patterns:
GOP HOUSE MEMBERS WHO VOTED PRO-LIFE:
- Aumann, Susan - Baltimore Co.
- Frank, William - Baltimore Co.
DEMOCRATIC HOUSE MEMBERS WHO EMBRACE VIOLENCE:
- Barkley, Charles - Montgomery
- Beidle, Pamela - Anne Arundel - ( also voted against Dream Act )
- Bohanan, John - St. Mary's - ( also voted against Dream Act )
- Bromwell, Eric - Baltimore Co. - ( also voted against Dream Act )
- Conway, Norm - Wicomico - ( also voted against Dream Act & Marriage Equality )
- DeBoy, Steve - Baltimore Co. - ( also voted against Dream Act & Marriage Equality )
- Donoghue, John - Washington - ( also voted against Dream Act & Marriage Equality )
- James, Mary-Dulany - Harford - ( also voted against Dream Act & Marriage Equality )
- Jameson, Sally - Charles - ( also voted against Dream Act & Marriage Equality )
- Kelly, Kevin - Allegany - ( also voted against Dream Act & Marriage Equality )
- Malone, Jim - Baltimore Co. - ( also voted against Dream Act )
- Minnick, Joseph - Baltimore Co. - ( also voted against Dream Act & Marriage Equality )
- Olszewski, John - Baltimore Co. - ( also voted against Dream Act )
- Rudolph, David - Cecil - ( also voted against Dream Act )
- Sophocleus, Theodore - Anne Arundel - ( also voted against Dream Act & Marriage Equality )
- Weir, Michael - Baltimore Co. - ( also voted against Dream Act & Marriage Equality )
- Wilson, C. T. - Charles - ( also voted against Marriage Equality )
- Wood, John - St. Mary's - ( also voted against Dream Act & Marriage Equality )
Erin Cox from The Baltimore Sun Tweeted the unofficial roll call (see full vote below):
GOP NOT PLANNING ON PETITIONING EXECUTION BAN TO REFERENDUM - Now the death penalty repeal measure heads to Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk to be signed into law -- and believe it or not, The Washington Times reported this week that Republicans appear unlikely to petition the ban on executions to referendum (excerpt below):
WASHINGTON TIMES: Maryland Republicans might concede the fight over the state’s death penalty, saying that they are unlikely to mount a referendum effort as the House prepares to grant final passage to a repeal....
In recent years, outnumbered Republicans in Maryland have used online petitions to send several controversial Democratic proposals to referendum, but the lawmaker who helped lead those efforts says he doesn’t see it happening for the death penalty....
Delegate Neil C. Parrott said he hasn’t completely ruled out leading a petition drive, but that a campaign would face long odds and might not do much to affect policy in a state where recent laws have already made it extremely difficult for prosecutors to pursue executions.Maryland Juice hopes that Parrott and his crew of petitioners hold to these statements, because right now the only other person who desires a death penalty referendum is Senate President Mike Miller.
WE MUST PRESERVE THIS SHAMEFUL HISTORY - Maryland Juice thinks that we need to preserve the evidence of our state's shameful past and make a museum out of our soon-to-be-defunct execution chambers:
