Jefferson-Jackson dinner

Tonight was the night of the Jefferson Jackson Dinner which is the biggest event of the year for the Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee. It was a good time.

The keynote speaker was Governor Martin O'Malley. He raised a lot of good points. Even though the nation is in the midst of the Great Recession, Maryland has the highest rated public school system in the nation. Maryland has the largest increase in jobs of all the states and, consequently, the lowest unemployment rate. The Chesapeake bay is even getting cleaner, although very slowly.



The message of the Democratic party has been, and will be, Hope. Even when things are bad, we can make them better. That's a message I can believe in. That's a banner that I will get behind.

My opponents, one in particular, are running on a fear message. If you fail to support them, evil things will happen. That's not really a message, it's more of a threat.

Delegate Dwyer has challenged me to a debate, which I have accepted. I hope that we can set a date in June. I would like to give the people the opportunity to hear the difference between hope and fear. I already know what the winner will be.

Vote Chiappelli.

Earth Day Wish list

Happy Earth Day!

This time of year is always busy for my family and myself. My wife is an environmental educator and Earth week is like the Super Bowl for Environmental educators. We always attend trash pick-ups, tree plantings, festivals, garden-plantings, etc.

I want to highlight three environmental goals which I hope to achieve in the General Assembly. They may seem a little eccentric, but bear with me. In NASCAR when they want to lighten a car by a pound, they do it by shaving 1/100th of a pound from a hundred places. In order to clean the environment, we'll have to do it by shaving pollution and waster from a hundred places.

-Pass the legislation necessary to allow residents to install clean power on their properties and sell the excess power back to the grid. I know that we are in the process of doing this and that many parts of the legislation are already in place. I also know that when we get it right, green power will boom in Maryland. Because if there is money to be made, people will get on board, regardless of ideology.

-Kill sytrofoam. Either by passing a tax on the use, an outright ban, or mandating that it be recyclable. I recognize that styrofoam has value but using it to transport greasy fries from point A to point B and then placing it in a landfill for the next millenium strikes me as a poor use of resources.

-Deregulate the cemetery business to allow green funerals and create an industry that would profit by preserving open spaces. Tax embalming as it essentially pumps the deceased full of toxic chemicals which are then placed into the ground.

And for the Earth Day humbugs out there, go insulate your attic anyway, you'll get a federal tax credit.

Micromanage

Bob McWilliams' column in the April 2nd issue of the Capital highlights the type of delegate that I do not want to become.

Bad things happen. If a person causes a bad thing to happen to another person, generally you can sue. Most of the time there is already a law against it. The crime of assault includes unwanted touching of all varieties. The crime of Harassment includes non-physical conduct which is harassing all the same. Stealing is wrong.

By and large, we have our bases covered.

Bad things will still happen.

And when they do, legislators leap to the rescue to create a new law or regulation that re-states the existing law. Mr. McWilliams column mentions a few laws which were proposed this session: Not hitting bicyclists with your car doors or throwing things at them or eating, drinking or smoking while driving a car.

Newsflash: It's already a crime to hit bicyclists with your car door. And if you are eating while driving and it causes and accident, you can be found guilty of reckless driving.

I'd like to quote Mr. McWilliams, "[O]ur legislators are much too quick to repeal "everyone's" freedom in response to isolated cases of individual irresponsibility. Increasingly, we all lose a bit of our liberty as we allow the passage of endless laws in a futile effort to control people who don't really care about the law to begin with."

I would like to go to Annapolis to help prune the Maryland Code. Why have three laws when we can condense them into one? Why have one law when none is required?

It's not a sexy issue, but it is important. Legislating is not a matter of picking up the paper and picking the issue of the day. Legislating is about taking a long-term look at the State and the government and determining the best course of action for the future.

Protect the Future. Vote Chiappelli.