Virginia Republicans have been accused of “overreaching” this session, but they have nothing on Maryland Democrats — who have been actively undermining the democratic process and attempting to water down a provision in the Maryland Constitution that gives voters the final say on controversial issues.
Delegates Eric Luedtke, D-Montgomery, Sheila Hixson, D-Montgomery, Jolene Ivey, D-Prince George’s, and Jon Cardin, D-Baltimore County, co-sponsored a bill (HB 127) that would prevent the use of an innovative on-line tool developed by MDpetitions.com, which used it to collect electronic signatures of registered voters to get the Dream Act on the November ballot. MDpetitions.com is currently working with the Maryland Marriage Alliance to get the recently passed same-sex marriage law on the ballot as well. “Let the people decide” might well be the best description of these efforts on two of the most controversial issues facing Marylanders.
Ludicrously entitled the Maryland Referendum Integrity Act, this is a blatant political attempt to prevent similar grassroots efforts in the future. In a one-party state like Maryland, referenda are an essential constitutional check on government overreach. But the bill would basically outlaw online petition gathering by requiring each voter to sign “in the individual’s own handwriting,” with each page notarized. It would also prevent petition gatherers from offering “any form of compensation” — including a pizza for hungry volunteers. This would put citizen groups at a major disadvantage compared to groups like CASA de Maryland, which gets tax dollars and has already launched a $10 million campaign to defeat the Dream Act referendum.
The state Senate trashed the democratic process by holding its vote on same-sex marriage after less than 48 hours of deliberation following Gov. Martin O’Malley’s intense arm-twisting of lawmakers in the House who voted it down last year. Last September, at an Equality Maryland meeting in Chevy Chase, Maryland Attorney Doug Gansler shockingly revealed that, FDR-like, O’Malley had intentionally packed the state’s highest court with compliant judges. After acknowledging that same-sex marriage referenda were voted down in every state that held them, an arrogant Gansler said on videotape: “The right-wing, myopic folks will then try to have a referendum. And let’s say that the people vote, the machines don’t work, and they vote it down, right? So then what happens … The new judges that Gov. O’Malley has appointed will ultimately decide.”
Harvard fellow J.H. Snider noted in Monday’s The Washington Examiner that, despite the fact that Maryland voters approved a constitutional convention in 2010 by a 54.4 percent majority, Gov. O’Malley and leaders of the General Assembly have refused to convene one. They’re too busy packing the courts and trying to silence the people to do what they are constitutionally required to do when the people speak.
