Killing his oath softly

Allow me to join the round of boos…I mean, editorial boards in calling out Governor Martin O’Malley (D) for not doing anything about the death penalty. First in The Washington Times, whose editorial board states, “Unlike his Virginia counterpart [Gov. Tim Kaine (D)] who has decided to uphold the law, Mr. O’Malley has chosen to snooker it. We understand that an untold number of Americans and politicians wrestle with the morality of the death penalty. But Mr. O'Malley must understand, too, that the law is the law, and he has sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution and Maryland state law.”

The Capital editorial board who clearly states that they are for what the people want, if they want to repeal the death penalty, but “[they] do have a problem with endless procrastination, legalistic nitpicking and waiting on the outcome of jury rigged studies.” It should be noted that they started off by saying that Maryland is on its way to being a symbolic state. I thought we were already there with all of the official state “stuff” we have on the symbol list.

In any event, O’Malley is showing the same lackadaisical attitude that was on display when it came to the budget last year. We were facing a budget deficit that ranged from $1.3-1.7 billion dollars. Instead of jumping into looking at what he could do budget wise to lessen the blow for the following year, he took a wait and see approach while attempting to fire the alleged incompetent and consumer hating Public Service Commission to bring on his own alleged professional, competent and consumer friendly PSC in hopes of rolling back the BGE rate hikes. By the way, how did that go and how much more money did he give Steve Larsen?

Now the same logic of doing nothing in hopes of it going away, is being applied to addressing the de-facto death penalty moratorium that was put in place in 2006 by the Court of Appeals, before O’Malley stepped into Government House. O’Malley is showing once again why his job approval is close to Glendening territory. The death penalty repeal has failed for two years in a row. State Sen. Alex Mooney (R-Dist. 3) was the deciding factor each year. In 2007, Mooney ultimately decided that the death penalty was a necessary evil. The Capital News Service quoted Mooney as saying, “Regrettably, the only way to stop some people from continuing to kill is to resort to the death penalty.” His stance did not change in 2008.

It should be noted that Mooney and Gov. Kaine in Virginia are devout Catholics. Kaine’s personal stance against the death penalty was a big concern during his election in 2005, but he vowed to uphold the law if elected, and he has. Four executions occurred under his watch, and within hours of the Supreme Court ruling, Kaine said that executions would resume with clemency being looked at on a case-by-case basis. Kaine has been an honorable man in holding to his promises and upholding the law.

O’Malley is nowhere near the honor of Kaine or the piety that he emits. His procrastination is costing more time and now more money as the state is about to waste tens of millions of dollars in another study of the death penalty through a 19-member panel in which he will have great influence over. This much is clear; O’Malley has thrown aside his duty to impartially uphold the law to enact his own agenda.

It does not matter if you are a liberal or a conservative, democrat or republican, O’Malley swore not to show prejudice while upholding state law or the U.S. Constitution. If this were a two-party state, politicians on both sides of the aisle would have raised an uproar. Not only Maryland operates on one party rule, the Governor has free reign to procrastinate because House Speaker Michael Busch (D-Dist. 30) and Senate President Thomas Mike Miller (D-Dist. 27). These two men have been more concerned about making sure that the O’Malley PR machine continues to make the Governor looks good.

So I join The Capital in Annapolis, The Washington Times and the Maryland Republican Party (and I should note that I am a registered Republican) by asking Governor Martin J. O’Malley to stop procrastinating and come up with new procedures for the death penalty. This is not the budget, this is not slots and this is not Constellation Energy. This is law and justice, an area in which you have been holding Maryland back on since you stepped into office.

Governor, you have a job to do and so far, you have been doing a poor job of it, to the point that you are now slowly becoming a man who does not keep his word, which is found in Article I, Section 9 of the Maryland Constitution. “I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland, and support the Constitution and Laws thereof.” The death penalty is the law of Maryland, which you have sworn to support.

P. Kenneth Burns is the editor/writer of Maryland Politics Today and a columnist for PolitickerMD.com. He also contributes to Red Maryland and Salisbury News. He lives in Laurel, Prince George’s County. His email is kennyburns@marylandpolitics.us.

P. KENNETH BURNS can be reached via email at kenny@kennyburns.com.

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Comments

killing his oath softly

posted by Get Real

Amy Fusting: Just read Mike Miller's comments on the "Big win" for Gov. Pinnochi-Omalley in the Constellation Energy fight. That says it all when it comes to the lapdog statements we get out of the legislative "leaders". These people believe that not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth! There isn't enough lipstick in Md. (home of cosmetics giant Noxell) for the Gov.'s and legislature's pigs. Full stories and follow-up questions are near extinct in the press when it comes to anything contrary to the One Party line. What ever happened to those underperforming schools and the children that O'malley and the Party "saved" from that evil Nancy Grasmick's takeover plan? Another big win. But for who? Not the kids that were sacrificed for the sake of stifling anything the Ehrlich administration was trying to accomplish. When will the sacrifices come from those in power? Don't hold your breath in this state (unless you are near the stench eminating from the Annapolitbureau.
p.s. I, like many, simply have to vent or we'd explode from all that builds up daily from this state governed by shallow and self serving hypocrites. There is however, fire beneath my smoke.

04/25/08 10:53 am

response to "killing his oath softly"

posted by amy fusting

Dear Mr. Burns,

I read with interest your recent column about the legislature's decision to establish a commission on the death penalty in Maryland which you refer to as only "another study." Perhaps a greater willingness on your part to "study" would have led you to the clear language of the bill itself. "The Commission shall make a final report on its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly on or before December 15, 2008." A diverse panel of Commissioners, listening to the citizens of Maryland at public hearings and making practical and thoughtful recommendations on an issue of such import is not merely a "study."

Your comparison of Governor Kaine's decision to halt executions in Virginia, cited by the Washington Post as "largely symbolic because the Supreme Court has not allowed an execution since it took up Baze v. Rees," with the happenstance of Governor O'Malley's being elected one month before the Court of Appeals effectively halted executions in Maryland is simply not valid. The circumstances surrounding and affecting each governor's decision are inapposite. Governor O'Malley is bearing true allegiance to the citizens of the State of Maryland by listening to their elected representatives. The commission bill was passed in April, before the impending Baze decision was handed down. If the General Assembly intended that the Supreme Court have the final word on capital punishment it could have rejected the bill in anticipation of that decision. Governor Kaine has not heard from his citizens in the same way on this issue. If any comparison may be made between the two it is on the matter of executive privilege, a perrenial favorite with Republicans, which both are exercising beautifully.

It is also unclear who you are trying to insult when you state that House Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Thomas Mike Miller "have been more concerned about making sure that the O’Malley PR machine continues to make the Governor look[s] good," and yet bemoan the fact that "O’Malley is showing once again why his job approval is close to Glendening territory." I suppose the Speaker and the President need to step up their public relations efforts which, if we take your word for it, haven't proven very effective. I also fail to see how President Miller is faithfully serving his role in championing the Governor by continually calling for the lethal injection protocols process to be initiated, announcing that he is "not going to vote for repeal of the death penalty under any circumstance," and co-sponsoring a bill which would have statutorily exempted the lethal injection protocols from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.

You are incorrect, although this will surely be decried as legalistic nitpicking, in reporting that "the death penalty repeal has failed for two years in a row" and simply unfair in asserting that State Senator Alex Mooney "was the deciding factor each year." The more accurate statement is that, yes, the bill to repeal the death penalty failed to reach the Senate floor by one committee vote in the 2007 legislative session and never came to a committee vote last session. The repeal of the death penalty has not "failed," it has not yet reached the Senate floor where its merit should be tested. In defense of Senator Mooney, there are eleven members on the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee which means that any one of the six who voted against the bill last session could have been the "deciding factor." More that just being defended however, Senator Mooney deserves an enormous amount of praise. Senator Mooney not only co-sponsored the bill establishing the commission on the death penalty, he voted the bill out of committee and he voted for it on the Senate floor. In fact, nine of the eleven members of the committee voted for final passage.

And, although it is nearly impossible to choose, perhaps the most outrageous assertion in your article is that "the state is about to waste tens of millions of dollars in another study of the death penalty[.]" This is just false. The members of the commission are entitled to reimbursement for travel expenses and receive no compensation for their service. The fiscal note on the bill predicts $46,200 in expenditures only to provide staff support to the commission and assumes that the expense reimbursements for will be "minimal and absorbable within existing resources." It is the death penalty itself which has wasted tens of millions of dollars. This March a new Urban Institute study finds that each death sentence in Maryland costs the state $3 million on average for adjudication and incarceration—$1.9 million more than other murder cases in which prosecutors could have sought the death penalty but did not. More complex trials, costlier appeals, and more expensive death-row prison space all contribute to the death sentence's higher cost.

I appreciate that we are on different sides of this issue and will likely never agree on the proper fate of the death penalty in Maryland. Disagreement does not, however, grant any of us a license to exaggerate and carelessly report the facts. I look forward to reading your column in the future and hope that you will be more diligent in your research.

Best regards, Amy Fusting

04/25/08 8:52 am