My state probably doesn't need more Dems so much as Much Mo' Betta Dems, if the measure is conducting public business in public.
My run-in with a local town clerk isn't partisan so much as indicative of a lack of serious attention to open government in practice by the legislature and O'Malley administration, overrun the both of them with Dems.
Let's see.
-- I've gotten to argue with a town clerk and hear from their hourly lawyer over whether I can be "required" to fill out a "PIA Request Form" under Maryland law (to get one sheet of paper). I'm sure the bill to the town for responding to my phone call in a letter far exceeds the cost of just giving me the letter with a smile.
My point was that the e-mail request I sent (asking if possible for an electronic copy, e.g. a PDF scan or a fax) *was* all the "writing" I needed to do, and they couldn't force me into putting anything more in writing.
His point was, well, I'm not entirely sure. I think it was that gnat-like parsing of the statute is very important, in fact, more so than just providing one sheet of paper.
-- Martin O'Malley, who has presidential ambitions since he's a term-limited Gov, shows his public spirit and his progressive credentials by walling off the Baltimore City IG's materials:
"... a 2005 executive order, signed by then-Mayor Martin O'Malley, by which the inspector general position was created. The order specifies that complaints received by the inspector general and reports and records generated by the inspector general were not subject to public disclosure laws."
http://www.baltimoresun.com/...
-- Sun reporter barred from City Hall while looking for supposedly public stats:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/...
.
Mayor Rawlings-Blake is a Dem, having replaced the corrupt. Sheila Dixon, a Dem.