A Prince George’s state senator told The Examiner he was trying to help former state Sen. Tommie Broadwater when he changed a law to allow Broadwater’s strip clubs to remain open while closing down others in the county.
The 2005 law, which would have closed all Prince George’s County strip clubs that received liquor commission approval after Aug. 15, 1981, was struck down by U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis last week. Garbis ruled that the clause added by Democratic state Sen. Nathaniel Exum violated the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment requirement that all laws be applied equally.
Broadwater used his political connections so his club, the Ebony Inn, could remain open, Garbis wrote. Broadwater’s club received liquor commission approval on Aug. 14, 1981 — the day before the line drawn by Exum’s grandfather clause. Broadwater’s Hangar Club opened in 1974, Garbis wrote.
On Monday, Exum said when he looked at the law after it had passed the House he felt there was “discrimination” because it grandfathered in some clubs and not others.
The original House version would have closed all clubs that received the liquor commission’s approval after Dec. 31, 1970. That change was made by the Economic Matters Committee, Maryland General Assembly records show.
“I was at the point of let’s treat them all the same,” Exum said. When asked why he then chose to exclude clubs that opened after August 1981, Exum said: “After I saw others had been grandfathered in, why not grandfather my person?”
That’s a similar stance to the one Broadwater took Thursday when he said he approached lawmakers “because they had overlooked us and I asked that they consider us, too.”
Two clubs that would have been shut down under the law sued the state in 2005. At that time, Garbis granted a preliminary injunction allowing the clubs to stay open. Now, it’s up to lawmakers to rewrite the law so it doesn’t violate the Constitution, Garbis wrote.
Exum declined to discuss with The Examiner any other details regarding his decision to write the clause that Garbis said gave a “monopoly position” to Broadwater’s Ebony Inn and Hangar Club.
