In the world of Maryland lobbying, Joseph Schwartz III is one of the top dogs. A 30 year veteran of the trade, he made
$577,200 in six months in 2004, the third most for an individual lobbyist, working for such honorable clients as
racing tracks who want to stay open longer,
Wal-Mart, and
bad doctors who want to keep their past malpractice problems a secret.
It was on that last issue that the following exchange took place late Tuesday night:
Gutierrez (D-Montgomery) had been grilling lobbyist Joseph A. Schwartz III on why his client, the association of doctors known as Med Chi, was not doing more to ask the insurance company Medical Mutual to alleviate the malpractice rate problem.Schwartz fired back, "I know it's popular to make Med Mutual the piñata of your Mexican party."
More below the fold.
This is the same Joseph Schwartz that Wal-Mart hired to attempt to continue their practice of raiding the state tax base to pay for health care. The man, my friends, is a racist.
The words hung in the air for a beat. One member of the committee shook his head and said, "Ouch." Then an outraged Gutierrez stormed out of the committee room, with a sheepish Schwartz chasing after her.A day later, Gutierrez, who emigrated from El Salvador, was still steamed. She said that after enduring numerous comments about illegal immigrants and immigrant bashing, the remark was the "drop of water that made the glass spill over."
"It's gotten to be okay to just attack Hispanics," said Gutierrez, who is one of two Hispanics in the 188-member General Assembly. "I just think someone has to say, 'Enough is enough.' "
With the failure of the GOP to attract the Hispanic vote in 2004, will you be surprised when the xenophobic base of the party begins popping up like this in state legislatures? Comments like this, designed both to attack Hispanics in this country and the Democratic party that serves them best, must not go unpunished.
Call up MedChi, Schwartz's leading employer, at 800-492-1056. Let them know that hiring racist lobbyists is a guaranteed way to ensure their special interests are never heard from again.