Thursday, October 18, 2012
How will you vote on the Congressional redistricting plan on Nov. 6?
In addition to more notable referendum questions such as same-sex marriage, DREAM Act and expanded gambling, Maryland voters will also be asked to decide the fate of the state's recently redrawn congressional districts. Earlier this week, Comptroller Peter Franchot announced he intends to vote against the maps and asked voters to do the same. The comptroller said the recent maps drawn by Gov. Martin O'Malley and approved by the General Assembly are unfair and make Maryland "the poster child for gerrymandering." A spokeswoman for the governor noted that the maps have survived a number of challenges in the courts and that the process used to create them is legally sound. Voters on Nov. 6 will be asked to vote for the referred law or against …
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Comptroller says Maryland "is the poster child for gerrymandering" and urges voters to vote no on Question 5.
Democratic Comptroller Peter Franchot said Monday he supports his party's candidates but that recent redistricting of Maryland's congressional is too heavy-handed. "This map is way over the edge in terms of bare-knuckle politics," said Franchot. "I'm a proud Democrat. I support Democrats. I just want it to be fair and not fixed," Franchot said, comparing the redistricting process to "Boss Tweed-style Chicago politics." Franchot Tuesday called for an independent, non-partisan commission that would redraw the congressional and state legislative districts. The change would help restore faith in the political system, he said. The comptroller said the districts should be more compact in order to provide voters with better representation. He …
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Committee votes to reject Republican alternative plan and sends Gov. Martin O'Malley's map to the full House.
A committee voted 18-5 along party lines late Tuesday afternoon to send Gov. Martin O'Malley's congressional redistricting plan to the full House of Delegates for a vote. The action by the House Rules Committee sets the stage for preliminary and final votes on Wednesday. The same committee rejected a Republican alternative plan similar to one proposed by Republican Sen. E.J. Pipkin in the Senate. The Senate also rejected Pipkin's plan. The House is expected to reconvene around 5 p.m. Tuesday night and the delay any action on the bill until 10 a.m. Wednesday in order to give Republican lawmakers an opportunity to prepare amendments to the bill. House Speaker Michael Busch said debate on the bill and the amendments could be extended. "It's …
Monday, October 17, 2011
Republicans offer only one amendment in a debate some expected would last until late Monday night.
UPDATED (7:23 p.m.)—A bill redrawing eight congressional districts in Maryland moved one step closer to final passage in the Senate with a 33-13 vote Monday night. The vote, taken nearly an hour after a specially appointed 15-member Senate committee voted late Monday afternoon to approve Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan, was anticlimactic. Republicans offered just one amendment to the bill in a debate that lasted minutes rather than hours. Sen. E.J. Pipkin's amendment would have stripped out O'Malley's plan in favor of Pipkin's, which added a third majority minority district and kept intact the two Republican districts. In the end, the Senate voted 13-33 to kill the amendment. Sen. Jim Brochin, of Towson, was the lone Democrat joining …
African-American voting rights groups, Republicans join to oppose O'Malley plan.
A coalition of African-American voting rights groups and Republicans announced they will oppose Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to redraw the state's eight congressional districts and warned that they intend to take the issue to court. Carletta Fellows, a spokeswoman for the Fannie Lou Hamer PAC, called O'Malley's plan "institutional racism" and said it violates the federal Voting Rights Act by not creating a third majority minority district. O'Malley's plan, which will have a hearing Monday afternoon, apparently attempts to protect six incumbent Democratic U.S. House members. There would also be changes for a Republican-held district, made up mostly of western Maryland, that would make elections there more competitive by adding part of …
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Meanwhile, proponents of shared districts say crossing boundary lines promotes regional cooperation.
Democrats and Republicans alike asked a five-member commission to not cross jurisdictional lines when it redraws state legislative districts later this year. Members of both parties argued during a hearing of the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Committee in Randallstown Monday that the often partisan process of redrawing legislative districts should not be used to create additional shared districts between Baltimore County and neighboring jurisdictions. The commission is charged with making recommendations on the decennial redrawing of state legislative and congressional districts. The hearing at the Randallstown Community Center was the last of 12 public hearings. Some at the hearing Tuesday said population growth in the county should …
Dana Schwartz
2:33 am on Wednesday, November 7, 2012
How can there be so many jerks in this state? This was not about Dems vs Reps, it was about disenfranchisement and too much power in the hands of people we didn't vote for! Very disappointed. It's an embarrassment being "the most gerrymandered state in the US". It's time for an amendment instituting term limits for MD legislators! more ›