Maryland Constitution

Amid allegations that a key witness is intentionally evading lawyers for Republican lawmakers, a Carroll County judge postponed yesterday until Jan. 4 a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate all of the tax, gambling and spending-reduction bills approved in last month's special session. Circuit Judge Thomas F. Stansfield granted a motion by the plaintiffs to postpone the hearings until Mary Monahan, chief clerk of the House of Delegates, can be found and deposed. The administrative officer is central to the case because the lawsuit hinges on an obscure technical provision in the Maryland Constitution that the plaintiffs - led by Del. Michael D. Smigiel Sr., a Cecil County Republican - claim the General Assembly violated.

Republican legislative leaders filed suit yesterday to invalidate all of the tax, gambling and spending reduction bills approved in last month's special session of the General Assembly. They argue that the Senate violated the state constitution by adjourning for six days without a vote of approval from the House of Delegates. A clause in the Maryland Constitution says that: "Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, at any one time, nor adjourn to any other place, than that in which the House shall be sitting, without the concurrent vote of two-thirds of the members present."

Let city voters, not residency rules, determine next mayorThe voters of Baltimore will elect our next mayor. Whether a candidate has lived in the city for the 12 months immediately prior to the election is a factor that they can consider. It should not be an absolute bar to seeking the office.We are sponsoring legislation that would reduce the residency requirement for mayor of Baltimore from 12 months to six. The bill further provides that the City Council could enact an ordinance reaffirming the one-year standard, provided it does so no later than four weeks prior to the filing deadline for mayor.

WITH THE NEW term of the Maryland General Assembly beginning tomorrow, it seems appropriate to provide an updated lexicon of the political parlance of the state.To wit:Arm-breaking: Lining up "the votes" persuasively, the old-fashioned way. Used to ensure leadership gets what leadership wants.Bell-ringer: A bill or amendment proposed to the legislature to exact favors and money (as in ringing the cash register bell) from those whose interests are threatened by the legislation.B'hoys: Originally the Irish ward heelers of the large Eastern cities such as Baltimore.

In the end, consensus was reached relatively easily.For the 12 legislators put in the often-uncomfortable position of judging the ethics of a peer, that might have been the biggest surprise of the Larry Young debate."

State Sen. Larry Young's likely expulsion from the Senate today would set off a process for filling the vacancy that is spelled out clearly in the Maryland Constitution -- but is more commonly a straight political deal worked out behind closed doors.Technically, a vacancy in the Maryland Senate or House of Delegates is filled by the party central committee for the district. Its recommendation is forwarded to the governor, who is bound to appoint the person named.As a practical matter, though, the five members of the Democratic State Central Committee from Young's West Baltimore district -- the 44th Legislative District -- are loyal to Young.

A Baltimore Circuit judge found 30 city residents -- including a business owner and a community activist -- in contempt of court yesterday, fined them $115 each and kept them under courthouse arrest for failing to appear for jury duty."

In November, 82 seats in the 188-member Maryland General Assembly turned over, and a new regime from Prince George's County ("The Sowth," as Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. would say) overtook the second floor of the State House.With that volume of personnel changing, it seems appropriate -- and instructive -- to provide a lexicon for newcomers to familiarize them with the political parlance of Maryland.Here goes:Arm-breaking: Lining up "the votes" persuasively, the old-fashioned way. Used to ensure leadership gets what leadership wants.

The answer to the question posed by the headline is "yes, but . . . ."We mean that in two ways.First, from the perspective of victims, yes, their rights exist in several state statutes, but judges, prosecutors and other functionaries in the criminal justice system often overlook, ignore or deny them those rights. The result is that those victims are not provided an opportunity to observe or participate in trials, sentencing hearings, parole hearings, etc., even if specified in law.Second, from the perspective of opponents of the "victims' rights movement," yes, their rights as citizens exist but only insofar as they do not intrude into a process whose only principals are the defendant and the state that is prosecuting him.Our own view has been that victims have limited rights, the exercise of which, if not restrained, could lead to even further injustices.

Havre de Grace. -- Somewhere in my files is a friendly handwritten note, received a number of years ago from the choleric gentleman who is now our about-to-be former governor.''Dear Horse's Posterior,'' it begins, and continues in similarly florid style. It took issue with something I had written. I don't recall what it was, exactly, except that it seemed pretty trivial at the time. But it certainly got a response.If the note had come from almost anyone else in politics it would have seemed startling, an off-beat curiosity to be preserved for historians of the future.

Mayor Sheila Dixon has pledged to fight the charges of theft and perjury she faces and said she will continue to serve in office. If she is not convicted, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to remove her from office, a review of the City Charter, state constitution and legal articles shows. There is no method for expelling a sitting mayor or members of the City Council in the City Charter, though the Maryland Constitution does have a provision that disqualifies from office any elected official who has been convicted of a crime.

The state Senate failed twice yesterday to pass a bill calling for a constitutional amendment that would raise the minimum amount of damages sought in order to convene a jury trial in a civil lawsuit. Under current law, people suing or being sued for $10,000 or more in District Court can request a jury trial in the Circuit division. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat, would have raised that minimum to $15,000. Supporters of the legislation argued that raising the minimum - last adjusted a decade ago - would reflect inflation and that the measure would prevent deep-pocketed insurance companies from dragging out lawsuits in prolonged Circuit Court proceedings.

Minority shut out of session's debates While The Sun may be ambivalent about high taxes, I had hoped the newspaper might care about the way they were passed. But apparently it is not. The Sun urges Republicans to drop their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the special session ("Much ado about little," editorial, Jan. 2). As state legislators, we take an oath to defend the Maryland Constitution. When the Maryland Constitution is ignored or undermined in any way, it erodes the basic foundation of our form of government.

In a filing with the Maryland Court of Appeals, an attorney for five Republican legislators laid out in detail for the first time yesterday an alleged "conspiracy to conceal constitutional defects" by Democratic leaders during November's special legislative session. Also yesterday, the state's highest court cleared the way for the hotly contested deposition of the House of Delegates' chief clerk in the GOP-led lawsuit, which seeks to invalidate the tax, gambling and spending-reduction bills that start going into effect this week.

Amid allegations that a key witness is intentionally evading lawyers for Republican lawmakers, a Carroll County judge postponed yesterday until Jan. 4 a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate all of the tax, gambling and spending-reduction bills approved in last month's special session. Circuit Judge Thomas F. Stansfield granted a motion by the plaintiffs to postpone the hearings until Mary Monahan, chief clerk of the House of Delegates, can be found and deposed. The administrative officer is central to the case because the lawsuit hinges on an obscure technical provision in the Maryland Constitution that the plaintiffs - led by Del. Michael D. Smigiel Sr., a Cecil County Republican - claim the General Assembly violated.

Republican legislative leaders filed suit yesterday to invalidate all of the tax, gambling and spending reduction bills approved in last month's special session of the General Assembly. They argue that the Senate violated the state constitution by adjourning for six days without a vote of approval from the House of Delegates. A clause in the Maryland Constitution says that: "Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, at any one time, nor adjourn to any other place, than that in which the House shall be sitting, without the concurrent vote of two-thirds of the members present."

For one sentence in the Maryland Constitution, the 39 words explaining the qualifications for attorney general are a tricky business. Thanks to the Court of Appeals, it's unlikely we've heard the last on the subject, too. In a 72-page opinion filed Monday (counting the extra 32 pages of concurring opinion, that's an average 2 2/3 pages per constitutional word), the court made a bad situation worse. Voters may recall that the brouhaha began when a question arose whether then-Montgomery County Councilman Thomas E. Perez met the constitutional requirements to be Maryland attorney general.

The Maryland Constitution makes it clear that elections must be held on a single day in November, and that voters must cast their choices in home election districts, the state's highest court said in a written decision released yesterday elaborating on its August ruling striking down multiple-day early voting. Still, the debate over the practice could continue during the 90-day General Assembly session that begins next month, one lawmaker involved in the issue said. The General Assembly passed early-voting legislation in 2005 and refined it this year, authorizing selected polling places in each county to open five days before Election Day. Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. vetoed both bills, arguing in part that they opened the state's election system to fraud, and that they were pushed through by Democrats who were trying to gain an upper hand in this year's election.

Maryland's highest court struck down yesterday the General Assembly's attempt to fire the members of the Public Service Commission, calling it a usurping of the gubernatorial power that is "repugnant to the Maryland Constitution." The decision is almost certain to set off more litigation because it left in limbo the $10.8 billion merger of BGE's parent company and a Florida utility. The Maryland Court of Appeals blocked the creation of a new Public Service Commission, while leaving intact a provision that prohibits the current regulatory agency from ruling on the merger.

The state's highest court threw primary election preparations into turmoil yesterday, canceling five days of early voting and removing one of three Democratic candidates for attorney general, Thomas E. Perez, from the ballot. The Maryland Court of Appeals issued brief orders a few hours after hearing oral arguments. The rationale for the rulings - one of which handed Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. a significant victory in his feud with a Democratic-controlled General Assembly that he argues has overstepped its bounds - will be released at a later date.