Any hope Gov. Martin O’Malley would follow the lead of other progressive states and implement a fair, nonpartisan redrawing of congressional and state legislative boundaries vanished on the Fourth of July.
He named a five-member advisory commission that will make it appear as though O’Malley is giving this important matter a full public airing with ample opportunity for citizen input. In fact, the fix is in: Every decision made by this panel will be highly partisan and one-sided.
Bossism, with a modern twist, lives on in Maryland.
Boss O’Malley put his patronage secretary, Jeanne Hitchcock, on the commission to make sure the governor gets everything he wants. Her mission is to please her chief, not to give Republicans or independents a fair shake.
She is joined by two Democratic potentates, House Speaker Mike Busch and Senate President Mike Miller. They, too, couldn’t care less about creating a level political playing field. Their goal is to make survival a slam-dunk for incumbent Democrats while reducing the number of Republicans in the General Assembly and Maryland’s congressional delegation.
Barry Rascovar is a State House columnist and communications consultant. His e-mail address is brascovar@hotmail.com.
For a deeper look into the sole “Republican” member of the commission, check out Red Maryland’s Mark Newgent.
No comments:
Post a Comment