Legislative Redistricting is enacted without as much as a hearing

Map seems to have the will of the monkey see, monkey do Democratic leadership in Annapolis, yet some Independent Dems remain outraged

It’s a process that was suppose to circumvent the politically partisan will of either major party; relying merely on the merits of the once-a-decade census taken and how the new numbers would be represent the constituents of this great state. Instead, what we’ve gotten is possibly one of the most obviously partisan processes known in politics – known simply as gerrymandering. However, while the Democrats complained of ‘Dr Death’ during the Ehrlich administration, and pointed to the ultra-conservative ways he [Governor Ehrlich] carried things in Annapolis; Democrats have seemed to have flipped the script with their return to power, as they have done more to hurt the working class citizens of this state in four years than any Republican could have done in an entire generation.

Despite raising taxes historically, alienating the will of the conservative minority party and screwing up the educational funding formula known as Thornton, that they passed without a funding source a decade ago - which many expect from the donkey party; to alienate an entire class of voters, mainly African Americans, who are the backbone to their electoral survival – is just plain foolish! Yet, the Governor and his buddies known as the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate (Michael Busch and Thomas ‘Mike’ Miller respectively), have done just that with both a congressional and legislative redistricting map that has done nothing but piss blacks off – both the constituents and the many political leaders who remained quiet for now, but have expressed their own plans of get-back in the future.

On Friday, forty-five days into the legislative session, the legislative map drawn up by the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Committee became law, pursuant to Article III, Section 5 of the Maryland Constitution – and without as much as a hearing in either chamber. Yet, if you ask the House Speaker or the Senate President, both blame the opposite chambers lack of political will as to why nothing was done. “There are always some people happier than others, as I have never witnessed 100% solidarity in any redistricting process,” said the Speaker of the House, Michael Busch. However, the Chairman of Maryland’s GOP didn’t see it quite the same.

“The governor and his allies are attempting to pass one of the most important pieces of legislation in the last ten years without so much as a holding a single hearing on any of the proposed alternative maps. While the governor and the legislature may have legitimate fundamental differences as to how the map should be drawn, that is no excuse to deny the people of Maryland an opportunity to be heard.”                  - Alex Mooney, in a previously released press release

The map - which adds two majority African American districts to the state senate and one majority Hispanic district to the House of Delegates – falls short of what many minority legislators and community groups were calling for. Delegate Aisha Braveboy, the Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus’ Redistricting Process Committee, believes that the map provides too few majority-black districts and said that it would lead to continued underrepresentation of the state’s largest growing population over the past decade. Other legislators such as Delegate Tiffany Alston called it a ‘slap in the face’ to the entire bloc of African American voters, while Senator C. Anthony Muse was the only African American state senator to contest its make-up. While all three of these legislators hail from Prince George’s County, which many believe was severely diluted by this map, as well as the congressional map passed late last year, several Baltimore lawmakers believe that their representation was also diminished with the loss of two House seats and the sharing of one of only six senate seats.

“This map is ridiculous, especially coming from a Governor who just yesterday was the Mayor of Baltimore, yet now seems to want to punish those who may not have supported him the way he felt they should have,” questioned one lawmaker who wished to remain anonymous, as they still need to get the Governor to sign possible upcoming legislation. However, others such as Radamase Cabrera of the PG County Fannie Lou Hamer PAC, were far less worried about what the Governor may think, as he wholeheartedly believe the process to be blatantly racist and says the governor pushed the map on the people that adversely discriminates against black and brown people statewide.

“We are not surprised that the General Assembly did not want to have a hearing on O’Malley’s proposal,” Cabrera said, as he also questioned quiet a few of the lines drawn that seem to favor democratic leaders. “We see no reason at all for Prince George’s County to go into Charles and Calvert County in the 27th District,”which is the district controlled by the Senate President. “It is our intention to go to the Maryland Court of Appeals and challenge the redistricting law in Judge Bell’s court,”says Cabrera, who believes Chief Judge Robert Bell will rule similarly to a 2002 decision, in which Judge Bell struck down a map drawn by then Governor Parris Glendening. That ruling’s decision was based on a democratic map, that Senate President Miller was also involved with, that was ‘not consistent with the requirements of Article III, Section 4 of the Maryland Constitution’, which expresses that ‘legislative districts must be compact and account for boundaries of political subdivisions’.

Whether that will happen still remains to be seen, yet what I can tell you is this, these Anglo-Saxon political leaders who BELIEVE they know what is best for blacks, more so than their own leaders; will suffer the wrath of the largest bloc of democratic voters at some point. The question is when will they wake up and realize the potential they have, and return the favor on the monkey see, monkey do Democratic leadership that currently exists in Annapolis? As long as you have these uncle tom negroes running around touting the ‘Obama Mantra’ of get nothing for your vote but a coke and a smile, you will never have a unified constituency ready and able to buck the do-nothing politicos that currently dominate the Maryland General Assembly - and the Legislative Black Caucus.  

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