What’s Maryland’s government hiding?
Tony Lobianco writes in this morning’s Washington Times that the Maryland Attorney General’s Office is trying to block testimony in a lawsuit aimed at blocking impending tax hikes;
The state attorney general today will ask Maryland’s highest court to block a key witness’s testimony in a lawsuit aiming to overturn the results of last month’s General Assembly special session.
The state will file a writ of certiorari with the Maryland Court of Appeals seeking to block testimony from Mary Monahan, the chief clerk of the House of Delegates, said Raquel Guillory, spokeswoman for Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler.
“I am very surprised that the attorney general is exercising this degree of desperation,” said Irwin Kramer, attorney for Republican lawmakers and a Carroll County businessman who filed the suit this month. “It makes it all the more important that we find out exactly what the attorney [general] is trying to hide.”
The Washington Examiner reports that it’s a pretty straightforward complaint and the testimony of the clerk is germaine;
Attorneys representing Republicans want to question Mary Monahan, who records and validates House proceedings, about records kept during the session, which resulted in about $1.3 billion dollars in tax increases.
They contend the Senate adjourned too long without permission from the House, which they say violates the constitution.
A deposition has been scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday in Easton, said Irwin Kramer, who is representing the GOP. Kramer said the state is simply trying to keep the facts from becoming public.
“For me it shows the intense desire to silence the witness,” Kramer said Sunday afternoon.
But Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for Attorney General’s office said Monahan’s testimony is not germane to the legislative process.
“We believe that the deposition is unnecessary, one, because of legislative privilege and, two, anything that she has to offer is irrelevant” to the results of the special session, She said.
Who else but the chief clerk could testify to the length of the session? I mean that’s whole purpose of the clerk’s office, isn’t it? Methinks Democrats doth protest too much. Mary Monahan must have intimate knowledge of more nefarious activities among Democrats enough so that the details of their whole scheme may have a political cost this year.
[Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Rachel] Guillory said Sunday that a court stay on the new taxes would “cause undue hardship in the state.”
How? Because the government would be forced to operate on the same amount of money operated on in 2007? Because taxpayers could keep a few pennies of their own money a little longer? Pompous arrogance in the extreme.
(Crossposted at Red Maryland)
Category: Politics
