Republican lawmakers from Anne Arundel County were bracing for the worst out from the legislative redistricting map that was released before Christmas.
In last year’s election, they had taken over the county’s 15-member House delegation, and they did not expect the Democrat-dominated legislature to let that stand, especially with Democratic Speaker Michael Busch on the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Committee.
Del. Tony McConkey of Severna Park said, “The changes to Anne Arundel are small compared to what Republicans were expecting, but are much greater than what may be apparent at first glance.”
Democratic incumbents were protected, and at least two Republican legislators were put at risk in the 2014 election.
Busch called it “a fair map” and one that “ensures every Marylander will have a voice in Annapolis.”
One Marylander likely to continue to have a voice in Annapolis is Busch, who represents the capital city. The new two-member district 30A he helped draw moves Republican Del. Ron George out of the district (where he got more votes than Busch) into another district where George may have to run against other Republicans.
The new district lines also will make it more difficult for Republican Del. Herb McMillan to win reelection since it moves GOP voters south into a heavily Republican single-member district now represented by Republican Del. Bob Costa, chair of the Anne Arundel County delegation. District 30A encompassing Annapolis is now much more likely to elect two Democrats, even if Busch chooses to retire.
When the General Assembly convenes Jan. 11, and presumably re-elects Busch as speaker for his 10th year in the post, he will have become the longest serving speaker of the House. In 2014, he will be 67.
Targeting Don Dwyer
Other changes in Anne Arundel County districts target Del. Don Dwyer, a social conservative who is one of the Democrats’ most disliked Republicans. The governor’s committee carved out a single-member district in the northern part of District 31, which largely stays intact. This one-person district is “much more Democrat than the rest of 31,” McConkey said, “and includes the home of Don Dwyer in an obvious attempt to give Democrats an advantage in defeating Delegate Dwyer.”
These moves give Democratic candidates a better shot at picking up two seats in the 15-member delegation, returning it to Democratic control.
McConkey and his fellow delegate from Severna Park, Cathy Vitale, are also extremely unhappy that their own community is now split into three districts. Both told Gov. Martin O’Malley at a pre-Christmas hearing that they’d like to see their hometown put back together. But in redistricting, partisan advantage tends to trump community cohesion.
Maryland, by the way, is the only state in the country that elects any legislators by three-member districts. In the latest plan, voters in 22 districts elect three delegates at large, including District 32 in the Glen Burnie area; but that number is down from 32 three-member districts in the current legislature. By creating more one- and two-member districts, Democrats have been able to gerrymander in more subtle ways.
The Problem of Darryl Jones
The Anne Arundel County Council is trying to figure out what to do with one of their own who is about to go to prison. Councilmember Daryl Jones is due to start serving five months in federal prison in January for failing to file 35 personal and business income tax returns between 2002 and 2006, amounting to more than $108,000 in back taxes, plus penalties. He’s already paid the back taxes.
A federal judge gave Jones jail time not only because he is an elected official who didn’t pay his taxes for five years, but also because he’s a lawyer and a former prosecutor.
Jones says he was taking care of his ailing mother, but five years of failing to pay taxes now will likely cost him his license to practice law — at which he was apparently making more than $200,000 in some years. He is one of the few African-American lawyers in Anne Arundel County.
The problem for the council is that there is no provision in the charter concerning removing a councilmember convicted of a crime. Most on the council hope that Jones will “do the right thing” and resign his seat, but so far, he hasn’t shown that he’s willing to do that.
The council now seems headed to declaring Jones’s seat vacant when he heads off to prison, because he would no longer be living in his district. But Maryland law makes that a bit more complicated. Court cases have found that legislators living primarily outside of their districts can still be considered residents there if they maintain a home and intend it as their principal residence.
Recently, the Maryland legislature has even gone so far as to count prisoners as residents of their last known address for purposes of legislative reapportionment.
There is also a racial element in the case, with Jones only the second African- American to serve on the county council. Black constituents feel Jones was unfairly targeted for prosecution and got a longer sentence than others in similar circumstances.
Another Confrontation on School Funding
Here we go again on school funding. Schools Superintendent Kevin Maxwell and County Executive John Leopold have an annual battle over how much the county should fund the school system, and they seem headed for another confrontation.
Maxwell is asking for $986 million from the county, almost $50 million more than last year, because of rising enrollment. The budget includes 62 new positions and $38 million in raises the system negotiated with the teachers union.
“I fully realize this will raise some eyebrows,” Maxwell said in his budget message, “but I refuse to bow to political criticism and deviate from my belief that we have a moral, ethical, and legal obligation to seek this money from the county, which is our funding authority.”
Maxwell’s request is raising more than eyebrows at the Arundel Center, the county government headquarters where staff has been cut, budgets are lean and there are no raises planned. Budget Director John Hammond said the schools will get no more additional funds than required by the state maintenance-of-effort law. That’s about $5.5 million. Hammond suggests the school system go back and renegotiate the contract. It doesn’t sound like Maxwell is inclined to do that. He’d rather fight with Leopold than the teachers.
DeGrange Sees Flat Funding for Education
Sen. James Ed DeGrange, the Anne Arundel Democrat who is the Senate chair of the Spending Affordability Committee this year, told the BWI Business Partnership last month that jobs putting people back to work in the private sector and transportation funding — along with balancing the budget — would be the focus of the upcoming session.
DeGrange, who rarely votes for a tax increase, seems inclined to raise transportation revenues, but found little support for a gas tax hike. He asked how many people “wouldn’t mind” a gas tax increase. Out of about 150 businesspeople at the breakfast, he counted four who raised their hands.
“That’s better than my last meeting,” DeGrange said, noting that “the business community is kind of divided” on tax hikes for transportation.
He said nothing that would have encouraged education advocates.
“It’s always been that we haven’t touched education,” particularly for K-12, DeGrange said, who also chairs two budget subcommittees. But next year, in education aid, “maybe we hold some things flat. That’s the only thing that hasn’t been touched.” (Public school aid was largely held flat this past year.)
“Everything has to be on the table,” said DeGrange.
“There will be proposals” for other tax increases, but transportation funding is “where the focus is going to be,” DeGrange said in an interview.
