Current Maryland Constitution

On this date (Aug. 17) the Maryland convention that wrote the current state constitution completed its work. Maryland is now governed by a constitution that is 148 years old.

Maryland's constitution is much longer than most others. It was written just 3 years after the earlier Maryland constitution, the one which was most noted for having abolished slavery in our state, the only one to do that voluntarily during the Civil War. The current constitution was adopted by a vote of about 27,000 to about 23,000, not exactly an overwhelming vote.

Some notable things in the current Maryland constitution are a lack of the right to bear arms, giving juries the right to judge law as well as facts which means they can vote against what the judge tells them the law is. 

Our current constitution has been amended almost 100 times. It contains a provision requiring that every 20 years the people vote on whether to call a constitutional convention. The last time this was on the ballot, in 2010, the people voted not to do so by a vote of 48% to 40%.

First Maryland Constitutional Convention

On this day (Aug 14) in 1776, six weeks after the U.S. Declaration of Independence, a Constitutional Convention in Maryland convened. Three months later they produced the first Maryland Constitution. Its first section said: "That all government of right originates from the people, is founded in compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole."

Candidates for Md Congressional District 8 at District 18 Democratic Breakfast Club

The District 18 Democratic Breakfast Club, which meets the second Monday each month in Tastee Diner in Silver Spring, has many very good speakers.

The speaker this morning was Delegate Kumar Barve (photo above) who is a candidate to fill the Congressional seat now held by Chris Van Hollen, the Maryland 8th district. He was a very good speaker and answered lots of questions from the audience.

Next month the District 18 Dem Club will have candidate Kathleen Matthews and the following month it will have as its speaker State Senator Jamie Raskin, also a candidate for the 8th district Congressional seat.

MoCo Charter Review Commission

I am pleased to announce that this morning the Montgomery County Council appointed the members of the Charter Review Commission (CRC), and they named me as Chairperson.

The CRC examines the County Charter and all suggestions for changes, and makes recommendations to the Council which if approved appear on the ballot for vote of the citizens of our County.

It’s a little like a Constitutional Convention, but admittedly on a smaller scale and without James Madison to guide us. I have wanted to hold this position for a while and I am very proud to have been appointed to it.

I have put together a website where I collected information about the Charter that is useful to me so i could view it from any computer. This website is completely unofficial and not connected with the County government in any way, but if anyone wants to look at what I consider interesting you are welcome to do so. 

It contains the Charter, a summary of the Charter in plain English, description of issues that might be researched by the CRC, charters of other charter counties in Maryland, reports of the CRC in the past, and a lot of other information that I find useful. It’s at http:bessel.org/charter Again, it is not official and just a personal website of mine, but you are welcome to view it..

I strongly encourage all MoCo citizens to read our Charter and documents about it, and to make any suggestions you wish about revisions you think will be helpful to our county. There will also be some public hearings by the CRC and I urge everything to attend. You can reach me at besselpaulm@comcast.net with any question or comments or suggestions about the CRC and I will post any information I feel will be helpful, such as meeting announcements, at http://bessel.org/charter in addition to official announcements on the MoCo website.

Quote by Justice Clarence Thomas in the Marriage Equality Decision by the Supreme Court

Can anyone understand what Justice Clarence Thomas meant by the following quotation which is from his dissenting opinion in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, decided June 26, 2015, at page page 17:

“Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved.”

"Slaves did not lose their dignity"? They didn't lose their humanity?

Hypocrisy by Dissenters to Supreme Court Decision on Marriage Equality

One of the ironies of today's Supreme Court decision on marriage equality is that all 4 dissenters talked about how important it is that elected officials, on behalf of the people, rather than unelected justices make law. That might have some weight if it weren't for their hypocrisy. 

These are the justices who stopped the counting of votes in the 2000 presidential election, who ruled against the key provision of the Voting Rights Act that had been adopted by large bipartisan majorities in Congress, and who threw out a hundred years of precedent when they ruled that the rich and corporations can contribute all they wish to political campaigns, undermining the political process and overturning law adopted by the same elected officials whom today they said should be the decision-makers. 

These justices (especially Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito) are for deferring to the people and their representatives when they agree with them, but think nothing of ignoring them when it suits their political goals.

It's the same as states' rights. Even the Southern states in 1861 wrote in their declarations of secession that a major reason for seceding was that the Northern states were exercising their states' rights because they were not agreeing with Southern states that slavery was good and should be expanded, and the Northern states used their states' rights to interfere with attempts to recapture runaway slaves. 

People support states' rights and the right of elected officials to make the laws when states and elected officials agree with them. When they don't, they are against states' rights and the right of elected officials rather than justices to make law. That's why the dissents of Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and even Roberts cannot be taken seriously.

Attorney General Brian Frosh Spoke Tonight at the Democratic Club of Leisure World

Maryland's relatively new Attorney General, Brian Frosh, spoke tonight to the Democratic Club of Leisure World. (The photo above is from his website. I forgot to take his photo at tonight's event.)

Brian Frosh is always thoughtful and knowledgeable about the facts concerning important issues in our state. He talked about what he has done since taking office as Attorney General this past January.

For example, his office is opposing the merger of Pepco and Exelon, because the newly-merged company would not have any requirement to be any more efficient that Pepco now is, which is very poor. He is also happy to have authority to hire an ombudsman in his office, but pointed out that there is no money in his budget for that.

He responded to questions about the use of the Confederate battle flag on Maryland license plates, pointing out that can be ended relatively easily. The state song with its references to "northern scum" will require an act of the General Assembly to change.

In response to a questioner who pointed out that the MoCo Board of Education has a record of many violations of the Maryland Public Information Act, he said this is a priority of his office and complimented State Senator Jamie Raskin (who was also present) and others for helping to tighten the Public Information Act with an appeals process and limits on what the public can be charged for copies of documents requested by the public.