Slots & Taxes: Legislators ignored by the press (comment & offer)

(Posted 24 Oct 2007)

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In anticipation of the coming special session of the General Assembly, called for the purpose of imposing upon us the largest tax increase in Maryland history, I've been following press reports of what Prince George's County legislators have been saying about increasing taxes or approving slot machines. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

As would be expected, almost every press report on these issues has quoted General Assembly leaders Sen. Thomas V. 'Mike' Miller and Del. Michael Busch. But when it comes to quoting other members of the General Assembly, most reports have ignored delegates and senators from Prince George's County and focused on members from Montgomery County and other jurisdictions, often quoting the same members repeatedly, rather than seeking out a wider variety of members.

In recent days, a couple of the smaller weeklies that concentrate on the northern part of the county have partially covered the opinions of some members from districts 21, 22, 23, and 47, but there have been almost no reports of quotations or opinions of members from the central and southern parts of the county.

And the daily newspapers and broadcast media have virtually ignored all of the members from Prince George's Count, except for Sen. Miller.

Prince George's County members whose opinions on the special session and slots and taxes have gone unreported appear to include:

• District 22:
  
• Del. Anne Healey (D-22) Bio & Phone | E-mail
• District 23A:
  
• Del. Gerron S. Levi (D-23A) Bio & Phone | E-mail
  
• District 24:
  
• Sen. Nathaniel Exum (D-24) Bio & Phone | E-mail
• Del. Carolyn J. B. Howard (D-24) Bio & Phone | E-mail
• Del. Michael L. Vaughn (D-24) Bio & Phone | E-mail
  
• District 25:
  
• Del. Meloney G. Griffith (D-25) Bio & Phone | E-mail
  
• District 26:
  
• Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-26) Bio & Phone | E-mail
• Del. Veronica Turner (D-26) Bio & Phone | E-mail
  
• Del. Kris Valderrama (D-26) Bio & Phone | E-mail
  
• Del. Jay Walker (D-26) Bio & Phone | E-mail
• District 27 A:
  
• Del. James E. Proctor, Jr. (D-27A) Bio & Phone | E-mail
  
• Del. Joseph F. Vallario, Jr. (D-27A) Bio & Phone | E-mail
  
• District 47:
  
• Sen. Gwendolyn Britt (D-47) Bio & Phone | E-mail
• Del. Victor Ramirez (D-47) Bio & Phone | E-mail
  

Offer to General Assembly members: I would like to know where our legislators stand on both slot machines and on Gov. O'Malley's list of specific tax increases. Since the local news media won't tell us what they think, I will be happy to post any responses, position papers, or press releases here, just e-mail them to dcrussell@gmail.com. Depending on the response, I will considering posting a summary table showing the positions of all county members.