No veto for O'Brien from O'Malley

In his last slate of bill signings (PDF), Governor Martin O'Malley ignored a request by Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore, Edwin O'Brien to veto bills giving additional rights to non-married couples or domestic partners. The non veto got little play in the mainstream press such as the Baltimore Sun but was mentioned in an article in the Archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Review.

It is interesting to note that O'Malley could have allowed both bills to become law without the very public and definitive act of signing them. In Maryland law, all bills become effective within 30 days unless specifically vetoed by the Governor. A non signing and non veto could have at least placated Archbishop O'Brien somewhat but would likely have resulted in increased media attention, something O'Malley most likely wanted to avoid.

Another Test for O'Malley

This weekend in every Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien had a letter read during Mass. It encouraged Catholics to contact Governor O'Malley (D), himself a practicing Roman Catholic to veto (not sign) two bills scheduled to be signed in one of the remaining bill signings scheduled. Senate Bill 566 and 597 "establish domestic partnerships between same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples" according to the letter from O'Brien. To be more specific SB566 allows for visitation and medical decision rights for a domestic parter while SB597 exempts domestic partners from property transfer taxes, thereby making their rights the same as married couples. The bills hardly establish domestic partnerships fully, but one could argue they begin a "slippery slope" toward full recognition.

It is relatively rare for a Bishop to make a request of "the faithful" to contact an elected official directly regarding specific legislation. Let's see if the Catholic O'Malley will assent to the lobbying and the Bishop's request or proceed with signing the legislation as he has publicly said he would prior to passage in the House and Senate.

It's an admittedly tough position for O'Malley. If he fails to sign the bills he will be reniging on a previous made pledge and look like a Catholic stooge. The risk for signing the bill will result in possible further alienation of the significant Catholic electorate in the State many of whom are most likely some of his remaining ardent supporters. Though with a 33% approval rating, there aren't many of those left at this point...

Maryland is for Crabs

The inevitable harvest limit on blue crabs has finally happened. How did we get here? It took years of neglect, lack of political will and little or no pubic outcry. We'd have to agree with both of the parties on this issue; the watermen who say that the Bay's health is the problem and the Governor's who felt compelled to take action. It's also encouraging that DNR officials have $3 million available to assist watermen who will certainly be feel the 25% decrease in the harvest this season.

The blue crab population has been declining steadily due to woeful action in the Bay cleanup. While it's commendable to see Maryland and Virginia agreeing on something regarding the Bay certainly agreement on a long term plan to clean up the Bay would be more welcome than a short term "fix" for a single though very important species.

Alas gone are the days when you could catch 25 soft crabs in one morning as I did 25 years ago as a kid in St. Mary's County, but let's hope the Bay cleanup truly gets more attention and action as a result of this short term crab crisis.

Governors act to cut harvest of crabs -- baltimoresun.com

Go green, but not in our backyard

There was much talk by the administration about energy during the past legislative session and most of their legislative proposals became law last week. However the Governor missed a golden opportunity to "walk the walk" and not just "talk the talk" by issuing a ban on a wind turbine farms in State Forests in Western Maryland.

Granted the 40 story high turbines are an eyesore but one proposed site would not have been visible from Deep Creek Lake or other tourist areas. See location details.

The generation from the turbines would not have been enormous either but it would have been a step in the right direction since Maryland is facing a electricity generation crisis. Coal burning plants which make up the majority of generation in Maryland are "under a cloud" so no new coal plants will likely be built. Natural gas fired plants have been the industry's latest solution but fossil fuel plants are now very expensive to run, adding pressure to electricity prices. So any capacity we can add using wind, solar or other renewables should be carefully considered at this point.