In miniature, January 29

• I’m honored to have joined the board of the Frederick County Landmarks Foundation, one of my favorite local organizations, which maintains historic buildings such as Schifferstadt and runs the wonderful annual Barnstormers Tour.

• Howard Gorrell: More hypocrisy on Maryland redistricting [Maryland Reporter] LRAC’s legislative maps, unlike MCRC’s, split the city of Gaithersburg. Might that decision be vulnerable to a legal challenge? [David Lublin, The Seventh State] To help pry open the closed shop that is Maryland politics, try open primaries [Colin Alter, same]

• Reminder: Del. Dan Cox’s many baseless election-theft claims include insinuations of “rampant” poll fraud in four GOP-heavy Maryland counties that did not return the sort of margins for Trump he expected a year ago: Frederick, Carroll, Anne Arundel, and Harford. [Brian Griffiths, The Duckpin] Numbers on county shifts here; note that while these four suburban counties all swung hard against Trump (10-13 points), as did more Democratic suburban jurisdictions like Howard (10) and Baltimore County (11), many counties that are partially suburban in character swung a lot too, such as Calvert and Talbot with 11-point swings, Washington 9, Wicomico and St. Mary’s with 8, and Queen Anne’s with 7.

• The redistricting season has now wrapped up with the legislature choosing gerrymanders over our commission’s fair maps for both Congressional and legislative elections. Some clips: Henry Olsen/Washington Post, WTOP, Star-Democrat (Easton). And I’m quoted in this Frederick News-Post piece by Jack Hogan on the implications of the legislative maps for Frederick County.

• Maryland ranks near the cellar in business tax climate and Andrew Macloughlin of the Free State Foundation explains why. [Maryland Reporter]

• Baltimore Magazine cover story on literary Baltimore. And a happy Baltimore hometown story.

In miniature, January 22

• Hey, I’m in the news again on gerrymander reform [WBOC, video of governor’s press conference, more information and portal to apply for citizen seats]
• Comptroller Peter Franchot urges lawmakers to “back off” Kirwan override: “They don’t know where the $4 billion…is going to come from, other than ‘maybe this’ and ‘maybe that.’ ” [Bruce DePuyt, Maryland Matters]  Kirwan bill “is far more about grabbing political power than improving the quality of education.” [Sen. Bob Cassilly, Maryland Matters]
• Maryland bill would enact only-in-the-nation tax on digital advertising. General Assembly should sustain Hogan’s veto of this bad measure [Rebecca Snyder, Matthew McDermott and Lisa Reynolds, Frederick News-Post]
• In fatal no-knock raid shooting of Duncan Lemp, “clouded by the conflicting accounts and the lack of video evidence,” MoCo state’s attorney’s office issues report excusing police from blame [C.J. Ciaramella, Reason]
• Less latitude for bullies to file speech-deterring lawsuits: “Decision breathes some life into Maryland’s weak anti-SLAPP statute” [Paul Alan Levy]
• As if restaurants in Prince George’s County haven’t suffered enough this past year [Baylen Linnekin, Reason on nannyish children’s meal measure]

In miniature, November 12

• I joined host Mark Uncapher to discuss the successful Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett and we got into a bit of Maryland stuff too [DirectLine, Montgomery County Republican Club YouTube audio, more]
• Procedural issue, not substance: “Supreme Court takes appeal of Baltimore climate-change lawsuit” [Daniel Fisher]
• “What Happened to MoCo’s Racial Equity Law?” [Adam Pagnucco/Seventh State, from the summer; Steven Malanga, City Journal earlier on municipal chief equity officers]
• “Del. Cox tweets QAnon hashtag, a theory that’s been widely debunked” [Steve Bohnel, Frederick News-Post; earlier]
• Also, as for Del. Dan Cox’s calling me (among other bad things) a “Hogan GOP rhino pretender,” if you think it’s easy to be a rhino pretender, you should see how long it takes to get into the costume [same]
• Standards for admission of expert witness testimony: “Maryland Drifts Into Daubert” [Michelle Yeary, Ronald Miller]

In miniature, August 21

• Thanks to WBAL’s Yuripzy Morgan for having me on her show to discuss my article, “What We Know, and Don’t Know, About Portland and the DHS.” You can listen here;
• As of 2017 Maryland was fourth highest among the states in police spending per capita, a remarkable 49 percent higher than the number in Virginia [Chris Edwards, Cato Institute]
• At least six contenders bypassed Maryland’s unusual bipartisan judicial election arrangements with Democratic-primary wins in July [Washington Post, Seventh State on Montgomery County controversy]
• Big brother is watching you: distracted driving “monitoring systems” considered for Maryland roads [Bryan Renbaum, Maryland Reporter]
• Attorney General Brian Frosh: just let tenants stay on without paying rent through at least January, whether they can show COVID-19 hardship or not [Bennett Leckrone, Maryland Matters] Fifty delegates, including Frederick County Del. Karen Lewis Young (D-3A), sign wildly irresponsible letter demanding rent cancellation [Adam Pagnucco, Seventh State]
• I joined Caleb Brown at the Cato Daily Podcast to criticize the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights measures on the books in Maryland and some other states [earlier]

In miniature, July 6

• Also, passing unconstitutional laws is a bad idea in itself: “Board of Public Works OKs Payout to Drug Companies After Court Overturns State Law” [Bruce DePuyt, Maryland Matters]
• Del. Vaughn Stewart’s package of housing bills “combines upzoning with Vienna-style social housing” [Christian Britschgi]
• “Maryland Uses Surveillance, Data To Track Motorists, Traffic” [Eric Myers, Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter]
• Some flashback stories on Maryland police misconduct [Radley Balko, Washington Post 2015; Danielle Gaines, Maryland Matters last year (testimony before Commission to Restore Trust in Policing)]
• Barbecue food trucks and the Maryland Constitution [Institute for Justice]
• Can’t be healthy: “with the decline of private news media, the fact is that the largest, best-financed entity now covering [Montgomery] government is the county government itself.” [Adam Pagnucco, Seventh State]

In miniature, May 29

• My law blog Overlawyered ceases publication this weekend after nearly 21 years, you can read its Maryland archives here;
• How about “no.” Does “no” work for you? “Baltimore Wants To Sue Gun Makers Over Gang Violence” [Cam Edwards, Bearing Arms]
• The environmental group fretted that suspending the bag tax will leave “the public with a false sense of security in encouraging single-use plastic shopping bags” which “are difficult to clean.” Yo, Sierra Club! That’s why they’re called “single-use” bags [Jim Bovard, American Conservative; Josh Kurtz, Maryland Matters]
• Precinct-level reporting, confidentiality, ballots returned without signatures: the details of vote-by-mail (VBM) Maryland still needs to work out [Cheryl Kagan, Howard Lee Gorrell]
• Some good ideas in here for your county or municipality, too: “D.C., Maryland Jurisdictions Start Deferring Taxes, Fees and Regulations” [Adam Pagnucco, The Seventh State]
• Montgomery County development politics analyzed along the lines of the classic Bootleggers and Baptists model [Arnold Kling]

In miniature, April 4

Mostly links from before the pandemic crisis hit:

• Richard Vatz: To have passed the extravagantly expensive Kirwan education bill, with the handwriting already on the wall as to the state’s looming fiscal crisis, “is revelatory of the utter irresponsibility of Maryland’s lawmakers.” [Bryan Renbaum, Maryland Reporter]
• Montgomery County SWAT team shot Duncan Socrates Lemp in his home, and questions won’t go away [Jim Bovard/American Conservative, C.J. Ciaramella/Reason]
• “Maryland Charges Big Fines for Skipping Small Tolls” [Meg Tully, Maryland Reporter]
• Happy to get a request from Pennsylvania to reprint and distribute my chapter on redistricting and gerrymandering found on pp. 293-299 of the Cato Handbook for Policymakers (2017). Check it out;
• Senator Michael Hough (R-Frederick, Carroll) proposes limiting lawmakers to 20 introductions of general bills in a session [Danielle Gaines, Maryland Matters]
• Eastern Shore educators, fellow students unprepared as mental illness, violence mainstreamed into everyday classrooms [Mike Detmer, Dorchester Star, Bryan Renbaum, Maryland Reporter (Del. Kathy Szeliga, R-Baltimore and Harford, urges legislative action)]

In miniature, March 7

• Information about abuse by officers who represent the public is information that should be public [Ava-joye Burnett, WJZ on Baltimore sunlight-on-settlements ordinance] General Assembly considers greater police transparency [Samantha Hawkins, Maryland Matters]
• Oh! Takoma! “The proposal… would ban all gas appliances, close fossil fuel pipelines, and move gas stations outside city limits by 2045. The cost to the average homeowner could reach $25,000, officials wrote.” [Rebecca Tan, Washington Post on Takoma Park anti-fossil fuels scheme]
• Montgomery County ordinance requires bicycle registration, authorizes impoundment and misdemeanor charges if cyclists lack the requisite sticker [Jacob Sullum, Reason]
• Critical profile of Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation, which is influential locally as well as on children’s issues nationally [Martin Morse Wooster, Capital Research]
• Reform of Maryland’s harsh teen “sexting” laws welcome [Amy Alkon]
• Neat trick: Montgomery County manages to run its monopoly liquor stores in the red, recalling the days of Off-Track Betting when New York ran monopoly gambling parlors and contrived to lose money on them [Bruce Leshan, WUSA]

In miniature, December 22

• Every move you make, they’ll be watching you: Montgomery County considers first-in-nation program to use road cameras to catch drivers using their cell phones [Rebecca Tan, Washington Post]
• And whether relatedly or not: why is Montgomery County’s violent crime rate twice as high as that in neighboring Fairfax County, Va.? [Kevin Lewis, WJLA]
• Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young gives a boost to white-van trafficking panic. Bonus: body parts harvesting rumors! [Vanessa Herring, WBAL; Donie O’Sullivan, CNN; Lenore Skenazy (“Being freaked out by a van is like being freaked out by a pigeon.”); mentioned on Yuripzy Morgan’s WBAL show]
• In Rouse’s vision of Columbia, schools and housing patterns would work together to promote socioeconomic integration. But Howard County school boards and land use officials went their own way [Len Lazarick, Maryland Reporter]
• Toward greater transparency in police misconduct and discipline [Glynis Kazanjian, Maryland Matters]
• Frederick County Charter Review Commission update: I supported and argued for Councilmember Steve McKay’s well-thought-out proposal to give voters a bigger say in filling vacancies in elected office, a responsibility currently held mostly by party central committees. [Steve Bohnel, Frederick News-Post; earlier]

In miniature, November 17

• State of Maryland is appealing, to Fourth Circuit, federal judge’s ruling that its law regulating political advertising on social media is unconstitutionally broad [Denise Lavoie, AP/WHSV] As I wrote at the time, “Social media trickery is bad. Chipping away at First Amendment liberties to stop it is worse.”
• Some overdue national attention for the role of Maryland’s “red flag” gun law in the shooting death of Gary Willis at the hands of Anne Arundel police [Jacob Sullum, earlier]
• This, from Baltimore musician Jonathan Jensen, had me laughing [Classic FM]
• Maryland’s Brian Frosh was a key player in national campaign to embed privately paid environmentalist lawyers in state AG offices [Todd Shepherd, Free Beacon; Chris Horner (“Turns out Maryland actually has *two* Bloomberg-funded ‘Special Assistant Attorneys General’ to pursue Bloomberg priorities”); earlier and more here, here, here, and here]
• “Coincidentally or not, current and former members of the Baltimore Orioles, which the Angelos family owns, were dispatched to the State House for a good will visit while the [Angelos asbestos] bill was under consideration.” [Josh Kurtz, Maryland Matters]
• Hospital price regulation in Maryland is often depicted as an unqualified policy success. Is it? [Chris Pope, The Hill]