An Independent on Your Ballot: What I Would Bring to Annapolis

Five names, two votes for Delegate in District 9A. What a delegate actually does, who I am, what I would bring to Annapolis, and why your second vote…

There are five names for Delegate in District 9A this year, and you get to vote for two. Mine is the fifth and last, marked Unaffiliated. Of all the General Assembly races on Maryland's ballot this November, this is the only one with an unaffiliated candidate on it. Early voting starts Thursday, October 22. Before you decide where your second vote goes, I would like you to know what the job is, who I am, what I would bring to it, and how it changes when the person doing it answers to no party. What a delegate actually does Maryland's legislature, the General Assembly, has 141 delegates and 47 senators. It meets for 90 days every year starting in January, and in that time it decides more about your household budget than most people realize. It passes the state budget. This year's was $70.8 billion. It writes the state's tax laws, including the property tax credits that decide what some homeowners pay. It sets the formulas for how much state school aid Howard and Montgomery receive, even though both counties already pay about two thirds of their own school costs. It decides how much state gas tax and vehicle revenue comes back to counties for local roads, a share that state law cuts from 20 percent to 15.6 percent in fiscal 2028 unless the legislature changes it. And it writes the rules that BGE in Howard and Potomac Edison in Damascus and Clarksburg operate under. If it shows up on your tax bill, your child's school budget, your commute or your electric bill, a delegate most likely voted on it. Delegates serve four year terms, so whoever you elect on November 3 will vote on four state budgets. Who I am I came to the United States more than forty years ago, and I earned all three of my degrees here: a bachelor's in computer information systems from the University of…