A federal judge has ruled that a former Maryland state senator used his influence to get a law passed that would shut down all Prince George’s County strip clubs other than the two he opened.
U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis on Wednesday struck down a 2005 Maryland law designed to close Prince George’s strip clubs that received approval from the county liquor commission after Aug. 15, 1981. By setting that cutoff, the law specifically allowed two Prince George’s strip clubs operated by former Sen. Thomas Broadwater to remain open, Garbis wrote.
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In his decision, Garbis wrote it’s “beyond any reasonable doubt, that the Legislation’s ‘grandfather clause’ was deliberately crafted to favor the potentially connected former Senator.”
Broadwater opened the Hangar Club in 1974 and the Ebony Inn on Aug. 14, 1981, Garbis wrote.
In its original version, the legislation would have closed all strip clubs that received the liquor commission’s approval after Dec. 31, 1970, Maryland General Assembly records show. But a late change written by Sen. Nathaniel Exum, D-Prince George’s, changed the date to Aug. 15, 1981, records show.
Exum did not return calls for comment Thursday. Broadwater, reached at his Lanham bail bonds business, at first denied any knowledge of the law and its proceedings: “I don’t know anything about that, man,” he told The Examiner.
But after further questioning, he said he approached lawmakers “because they had overlooked us and I asked that they consider us, too.” Broadwater said he was “surprised” the law didn’t let the other clubs remain open.
Among those was The Legend Night Club, which opened in October 1982 on the far side of what Garbis called the “bright line” drawn by the strip club law.
“The provision would give a monopoly position to the Hanger Club [and the Ebony Club] without there being any community benefit from such a bonanza,” Garbis wrote. The law, therefore, violated the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which requires equal protection of the law, Garbis wrote.
Legend and Classics nightclubs filed the lawsuit against the state in 2005. At that time, Garbis granted a preliminary injunction allowing the clubs to stay open.
Legend’s weekend parties, which do not involve strippers, were shut down by Prince George’s police following a fatal stabbing there in January. However, the club remains open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays as a strip club, Legend’s attorney Jim Bell said.
fklopott@dcexaminer.com
