Since we're apparently already handicapping the post-Ferguson succession race, let me save everyone some guesswork.
If Senator Ferguson loses and the Senate chooses Will Smith, Guy Guzzone, or Jim Rosapepe as the next Senate President, I'll still be here for the next four years giving them absolute hell.
In fact, Will Smith would be my last choice.
Advocates are tired of being told to celebrate Democratic supermajorities while watching bill after bill die in committee. Women's health bills. Survivor protection bills. Childcare bills. Economic justice bills. Civil rights bills. House-passed bills that never make it across the finish line.
The question isn't who can manage personalities, distribute favors, or position themselves for higher office. The question is who will actually move legislation.
For years, advocates have been told to wait, be patient, trust the process, trust leadership, trust the committees, trust the institution. Meanwhile, families, survivors, women, and marginalized communities keep being told their priorities can wait another year.
So if we're talking about Senate Presidents, my metric isn't who has the strongest coalition of insiders. It's who is willing to stop treating the Senate like a graveyard for legislation.
And if the answer is "none of the above," then they should expect scrutiny from advocates on day one.
The next president of the Maryland state senate has to be a Democrat cuz they have the majority and they're not going to lose at this election. And it has to be a senator. Those two are requirements. I don't think they can draft anybody in, or at least they never have and probably never will. Jim rosapepe is a highly respected individual, but at his age they're looking for somebody younger. As far as everybody else, who would you like to see as Senate President? You got very lucky in the house with JPM. She seems to be far closer to what you advocate. Who would you like to see when for Senate? President and AOC and Joseph Stalin are not eligible after all Stalin is dead.
What impresses me about Sydnor is that he has consistently focused on civil rights, voting rights, equity, and making government work for people who are too often left out of the process. He was the lead Senate sponsor of Maryland's Voting Rights Act and has been willing to take on difficult issues involving representation and access to democracy.
For me, the next Senate President should be someone whose first instinct is to ask, "How does this affect ordinary people?" rather than "How does this affect institutions, lobbyists, or powerful interests?" Sydnor has demonstrated that kind of people-focused leadership.
Maryland has plenty of smart legislators. What we need now is leadership that prioritizes civil rights, transparency, public trust, and meaningful access to government. That's why Sydnor would be my choice.
However the people speak, any leadership needs to address the current friction between the state’s resistant cabinet and agency culture of siloism in the face of the Moore-Miller administration’s whole-of-government mandates.
The lack of interoperable shared data and supporting digital systems in a state now fully wired for broadband, is wreaking havoc on distributed enterprises who battle government agency silos daily.
Entire economies such as small farm diversified agriculture are completely invisible to the Comptroller’s office.
The current government structures were built for the 20th century. Elected officials need to aggressively push through legislation to catalyze economies that already exist but need 21st century infrastructure.
Barry,
Since we're apparently already handicapping the post-Ferguson succession race, let me save everyone some guesswork.
If Senator Ferguson loses and the Senate chooses Will Smith, Guy Guzzone, or Jim Rosapepe as the next Senate President, I'll still be here for the next four years giving them absolute hell.
In fact, Will Smith would be my last choice.
Advocates are tired of being told to celebrate Democratic supermajorities while watching bill after bill die in committee. Women's health bills. Survivor protection bills. Childcare bills. Economic justice bills. Civil rights bills. House-passed bills that never make it across the finish line.
The question isn't who can manage personalities, distribute favors, or position themselves for higher office. The question is who will actually move legislation.
For years, advocates have been told to wait, be patient, trust the process, trust leadership, trust the committees, trust the institution. Meanwhile, families, survivors, women, and marginalized communities keep being told their priorities can wait another year.
So if we're talking about Senate Presidents, my metric isn't who has the strongest coalition of insiders. It's who is willing to stop treating the Senate like a graveyard for legislation.
And if the answer is "none of the above," then they should expect scrutiny from advocates on day one.
The next president of the Maryland state senate has to be a Democrat cuz they have the majority and they're not going to lose at this election. And it has to be a senator. Those two are requirements. I don't think they can draft anybody in, or at least they never have and probably never will. Jim rosapepe is a highly respected individual, but at his age they're looking for somebody younger. As far as everybody else, who would you like to see as Senate President? You got very lucky in the house with JPM. She seems to be far closer to what you advocate. Who would you like to see when for Senate? President and AOC and Joseph Stalin are not eligible after all Stalin is dead.
Sen. Charles Sydnor. Hands down.
What impresses me about Sydnor is that he has consistently focused on civil rights, voting rights, equity, and making government work for people who are too often left out of the process. He was the lead Senate sponsor of Maryland's Voting Rights Act and has been willing to take on difficult issues involving representation and access to democracy.
For me, the next Senate President should be someone whose first instinct is to ask, "How does this affect ordinary people?" rather than "How does this affect institutions, lobbyists, or powerful interests?" Sydnor has demonstrated that kind of people-focused leadership.
Maryland has plenty of smart legislators. What we need now is leadership that prioritizes civil rights, transparency, public trust, and meaningful access to government. That's why Sydnor would be my choice.
However the people speak, any leadership needs to address the current friction between the state’s resistant cabinet and agency culture of siloism in the face of the Moore-Miller administration’s whole-of-government mandates.
The lack of interoperable shared data and supporting digital systems in a state now fully wired for broadband, is wreaking havoc on distributed enterprises who battle government agency silos daily.
Entire economies such as small farm diversified agriculture are completely invisible to the Comptroller’s office.
The current government structures were built for the 20th century. Elected officials need to aggressively push through legislation to catalyze economies that already exist but need 21st century infrastructure.
I’m with Bill. Don’t even want to think about an alternative.