Leave Us Alone!

Apparently one of the most pressing issues for some Democrats in the Maryland General Assembly is to find a way to deny little people like you from having the audacity to challenge their incumbency:

A Prince George’s County delegate wants to change that, submitting a bill for the upcoming legislative session to boost candidate filing fees for most political hopefuls.

Currently, candidates for statewide office in Maryland — governor, lieutenant governor, comptroller, attorney general and U.S. senator — pay $290. That would increase to $2,000 under the proposal by Del. Veronica L. Turner (D-Dist. 26) of Camp Springs.

“We need people [running for office] who are going to take it seriously,” she said.

Too many candidates pay the nominal fee and don’t seriously campaign, crowding the ballot and confusing voters, Turner said.

“If you are going to be a good candidate, then you don’t mind paying the fee,” she said.

And all I can say is; so what? What exactly is the problem with people deciding to file for office by paying a nominal filing fee? Why should people be denied the ability to challenge their incumbent elected officials, challenge the political establishment, to get their ideas heard? Should Maryland political gadflys from the loft (A. Robert Kaufmann) or the right (Louise Beauregard) been denied the ability to participate because they couldn’t afford the cost of entry?

Somebody needs to explain to me how the ability for people to exercise their constitutional right to express themselves and run for office should be curtailed because the ballot is “crowded” and “confusing to voters”……though I guess that one could argue that the ballot was crowded and confusing enough for a knucklehead like Veronica Turner to be elected by the people of Prince George’s County. And higher fees certainly didn’t keep Alvin Greene from either being on the ballot, or from being elected by the Democrats of South Carolina as their nominee for the U.S. Senate.

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So Delegate Turner, the question for you is why do you believe that people should be denied the fundamental right to participate in the political process? How does Maryland benefit from this?

I suspect, though, that I know the real reason for Turner’s epiphany on fees:

There’s a word for Veronica Turner’s idea: stupid. Plain stupid.

Just a little bit of a taste of what’s the come from the yahoos in the Maryland General Assembly during the 90-day legislative session that begins next Wednesday.