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Monday, August 17, 2015

Apology From Housing Secretary Over Lead Remarks

Through a spokeswoman, Maryland Housing Secretary Ken Holt has apologized for remarks he made Friday suggesting that parents would deliberately poison their children with lead, in order to force landlords into settlements in lead paint suits and to give them free housing.

Holt's original comments came on Friday during a speech to the Maryland Association of Counties Summer Conference in Ocean City, in which he promised he would ask the legislature to pass a bill limiting a landlord's liability in lead poisoning cases.

By Saturday afternoon, Holt's press secretary Audra Harrison issued the following statement:
"The secretary deeply regrets his comments and apologizes to anyone he offended. His statements do not reflect administration or departmental policy. Both the administration and department take the issue of lead poisoning very seriously and will always work protect the health and safety of Marylanders."
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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

He is stating a fact, there have been many of these cases so they get loads of money and then disability payments from the government too.

Anonymous said...

Trump would have doubled down and turned it around.

Anonymous said...

He should have gone to Trump on how to handle this. I would have brought copies of lawsuits and had landlords who had this done to them with me. Don't like the truth, don't be ghetto trash willing to hurt your child for a check!

Ray said...

Truth hurts.

Anonymous said...

Are there documented cases of parents deliberately feeding lead paint to their children in order to file lawsuits?

Anonymous said...

Is it deliberate if they fail to supervise/educate/feed their children so they won't eat the paint of the woodwork?

Anonymous said...

They also teach their kids to walk right out in front of cars hoping to get hit, and then win the lawsuit lottery.

Anonymous said...

As we can see from some of the the comments before mine Holt was merely expressing the mind set of a certain group of conservatives.

There is more than one way to become lead damaged from the home you live in. I remember a story I read one time about some upper middle class parents who poisoned their own children unintentionally. They were doing home improvements inside their old home while living there.

I always thought how many people have done that. Lots of people I am sure. I once lived in a Victorian neighborhood. All those families were renovating while the family continued to live in the house.

Unfortunately lead can be very insidious. No need to put a sinker in your children's mouth.





Anonymous said...

They also teach their kids to carry drugs and sell them, if caught, it is a juvinile so the laws are really soft on them.

Anonymous said...

WTF - he's right!