Dirty Secrets

(Annapolis) Shhh! The dirty little secret of this week’s Special Session in Annapolis is the white men who’ve governed this state are getting company. They’re about to add a person of color or a female. It’s easy to see as you walk into the chambers. Their portraits adorn the House of Delegates, the Senate Chamber on the first floor and grace the reception areas in the Governors Chamber. These are white men with power who’ve held on to it for generations. That’s about to change and it’s an anathema or a welcome change.

Make no bones about it, when the Maryland Legislature convenes for this Special Session on Wednesday May 1^st the grit of “hardball politics” will be laid bare.

When Marylander, Frederick Douglass claimed, “Power concedes nothing without a demand, never has and never will.” He had no idea a (gay) women and an African-American man would via for one of the three chambers of Maryland politics.

“If not now, then when? I think this is our time, this is our opportunity and we are going to seize the moment,” according to Maryland Legislative Black Caucus (LBC) Chairman, (D) Delegate Darryl Barnes of Prince Georges County. The caucus put down it’s marker for one of its own, Delegate Dereck Davis to become the first African-American Speaker of the House.

Delegate Maggie L. McIntosh, a Democratic from Baltimore City, has made her case suggesting she has some sixty for votes in hand. She all but declared victory during a phone press briefing, “I feel like it’s mine.” If elected she would become the first female and gay Speaker of the House. As the Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Delegate McIntosh can call in a number of favors. She has solid roots in the Union movement and educational communities. During this phone call she said she would be the “Education Speaker,” making funding of the full Kirwan Commission Report a reality, and the building of schools in the state her first priority. In a dig at her opponent, “he’s said nothing about education.” Well that’s not true. Her supporters see her as being the right foil for a popular Republican Governor Larry Hogan. Her loyalties run deep and can be found far beyond the Baltimore City boundaries.

The endorsement by the Black Caucus on Monday was a formality that everyone had expect since the decision by Delegate Adrienne Jones to step aside on Friday, allowing Delegate Davis to be the only African-American candidate. It was a majority but not a plurality.

Noticeable absent from the announcement was Delegate Regina Boyce of Baltimore City. According to reports, she resign from the Black Caucus via email after hearing (Reported by Maryland Matters) that the LBC Chairman Barnes said, “We are going to let a white lesbian be the Speaker of the House?” Delegate Boyce, who shares a district with McIntosh, said, “I was ashamed and embarrassed that our caucus could be so obsessed with having a ‘first black person’ in leadership that they would tear down someone else to express that desire,” During a Bill Signing ceremony on the eve of the vote she said, “I had no idea the email would be made public.”

Delegate Barnes addressed comments attributed to him regarding McIntosh, as being a “white lesbian.” He was appalled by the letter. There was a meeting on Sine Die (30 days ago)… “Those words never came out of my mouth.” The Prince Georges Delegate “attributed it to political posturing.”

Refuting this assessment was Delegate Jose Pena-Melnyk of Anne Arundel and Prince Georges Counties. “I was there, I heard it.” She has gone on record to support Del. McIntosh. Also weighing in on this controversy was Del. Robyn Lewis of Baltimore City who called the comments “appalling.”

The varied divisions in the Democratic Caucus was not lost on Delegate Davis who knows wounds are raw and open in the race. Putting together a coalition of liked minded people to elevate him to the Speaker post will come with challenges. “We all have relationships down here in the General Assembly we work with different people. I have no ill will towards anyone who doesn’t support my candidacy…You can’t take this stuff personally.”

Easier said than done. Some battles get under your skin and linger long after the war. “Sometimes I can be with you, sometimes I can’t,” said the “would be” Speaker.

For the first time we also heard McIntosh admit she reached out to the Republican Party leader, Del. Nick Kipke. “What I told him, I would work with the Republicans.” While this across the aisle "kumbaya moment" was notable, understand this, the Baltimore City Delegate is highly partisan. It was clear when she suggested a Democratic candidate put in the Speaker’s Chair by Republicans would be unacceptable.

While we watch the lead up to an actual vote, the question is what will happen when the Republican Caucus meets? Their leader Del. Kipke of Anne Arundel County says despite his differences with the late Speaker Michael Busch they often comprised and left the “hard-nosed” uncompromised political stances in the background or on the campaign trail. 

When asked during the bill signing ceremony on Tuesday about the GOP and its positions on either candidate, “I believe there both good candidates…we’ll meet and make a decision Wednesday.”

The Prince Georges County Delegate Davis says he has had conversations with Delegate Kipke. “I’m running and I will continue in the tradition of Mike Busch."

A signal that has the Democratic Leaders in the state feeling burned. They want the Speaker elected by a majority of the Democratic Caucus. They feel if the members of the GOP have a hand in crafting who will be the next Speaker they have lost their power.

Davis says Kipke gave him a compliment during one of his committee hearing this session, “When I look at Chairman Davis I see myself in him.”

“Not all my skin-folks are my kin-folks,” an African-American Proverb.

Watching all these events unfold are observers with vested interests. The Leaders of Beautiful Struggle (LBS), a grass roots organization advocating for African-American criminal justice reform, was tempered in the decision by the Maryland Black Caucus to have a single candidate. Dayvon Love of LBS noted it was time for them (the Black Caucus) to “exercise their muscle.” He’s not new to the ways of Annapolis on important issues as it relates to “Black-folk.” “Having a Blackface in a high place doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s…good for the masses of Black People.

A question a number of Delegates will face begins with a simple question. “Can being Gay out weigh being Black?´It’s a conundrum facing a number of people. “If a support a Gay candidate, and not a Black candidate does that make me prejudice?” “If I support a Black candidate and not the Gay one, does that make me homophobic?” If I support a man over a woman does this mean I’m discounting women or the reverse, I’m I discounting men?”

The numbers are stark. Delegate Davis noted there was only on African-American Chair in the House of Delegates when he arrived in Annapolis. There still is only one today (Davis- House Economic Matters Committee), some 20 years later. Delegate McIntosh also mentions the fact there are more women in the legislature than ever before. It's also true that the number of Chair-persons who are Gay have also increased.

These scenarios are going to play out in the vote. It’s likely to get nasty. After the vote will the other side be able to reconcile. Here’s one thing I do know, this vote is going to close.

Skepticism abounds around this race for Speaker of the House. The permutations of the potential outcomes will have your head spinning. While this weeks will end speculation for now…it could come back again in January 2020 when a new legislature is seated.