Monday, May 13, 2013
The two-term Democratic senator's decision comes one month after he said he was considering leaving public office.
Democratic State Sen. Bobby Zirkin is running for re-election in 2014 after all. Zirkin, in a text message to a reporter late Friday, write that he "officially filed for Senate today." The decision to run for a third term in the Maryland Senate comes a month after an interview in which he said he was considering leaving public office. "The most important thing in my life is my family," Zirkin said last month. "I have two small children and whatever decision I make will be all about them. I love the Senate and the public policy debates even when they are controversial. It's hard to juggle all those things, to keep all those balls in the air. The balls I refuse to let drop are my kids. I don't want to miss anything with them." Zirkin said at…
Friday, April 19, 2013
After 16 years in the General Assembly, Bobby Zirkin is thinking about not running for re-election.
Bobby Zirkin is considering a life outside elected office. For the first time since being first elected to the House of Delegates in 1998, the now state Senator says he's thinking more about his relationships with his two young daughters than his political relationships in Annapolis. "The most important thing to me is to be a father who does his best not to miss anything," Zirkin said. "I don't want to miss any parent-teacher conferences or any softball games. "It's also not simple to run a business and be in the senate at the same time," said Zirkin, who has his own law practice in Owings Mills. "It's a very challenging thing." Zirkin represents the 11th District, which currently includes Owings Mills, Pikesville and a portion of Timonium…
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Councilwoman Vicki Almond garners a mention as a possible Lt. Governor candidate.
Councilwoman Vicki Almond hasn't finished the third year of her first term in office but one state blogger has her on a list of possible candidates for Lt. Governor. "Wow," Almond said when asked Monday about the potential statewide run for office. Almond, a Reisterstown Democrat, appears on a list of eight names said to be under consideration by Anthony Brown—the current holder of the office and widely believed to be running for governor in 2014. The list was published last week by David Moon, author of the Democratic party blog Maryland Juice. "This is not a complete list of all of the possible candidates on Brown's shortlist. However, each of the names below have been mentioned to me by knowledgeable sources, and at least some of them …
Thursday, February 21, 2013
A bill to repeal capital punishment is expected to pass out of a Senate committee with the vote of the Baltimore County Democrat.
The effort to repeal the death penalty in Maryland was stalled by the vote of one Baltimore County Democratic senator but it may pass this year because of another. Sen. Bobby Zirkin said he will vote in favor of a bill that repeals capital punishment in the state. "I'm forever torn on this issue, have been and probably always will be," Zirkin said in an interview Thursday. "I'm extremely jealous of people who fall comfortably on one side of the debate or the other." In the end, Zirkin said he made the decision to vote for repealing capital punishment based on testimony of some victims who said the death penalty provided little closure because of lengthy appeals and that the state hasn't executed anyone in nearly a decade. Zirkin said the …
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Sen. Ed Kasemeyer casts deciding vote against after supporting the bill last year.
UPDATED (1:00 p.m.)—A bill that would have created a partially-elected school board in Baltimore County was voted down by members of the county's Senate Delegation. The eight senators from the county voted 4-4 to approve the bill, one vote short of what was needed for approval. The deciding vote was Sen. Ed Kasemeyer, a Democrat who represents Catonsville and part of Howard County, who voted in favor of the bill last year. Howard County has an elected school board. Kasemeyer's dissenting vote came after he voted for amendments to change the bill to a seven elected, four appointed member board and a second amendment that staggered the elections of the seven board members. The vote disappointed supporters who believed the bill would finally …
Monday, February 18, 2013
A proposed amendment raises the number of elected school board members to seven and could jeopardize passage of the bill.
An amendment proposed by a Republican senator would increase the number of elected school board members to the Baltimore County Board of Education. The amendment requested by Sen. Joseph Getty would increase the proposed elected school board to seven members—the same number rejected by a Senate committee last year. "I think we should go back to that standard," said Getty, who represents Carroll County and portions of Baltimore County from Cockeysville north to the Pennsylvania line. Getty said he still intends to vote for an elected school board whether it includes six or seven elected members. Seven districts corresponding with the council districts would make the change easier for voters to digest, he said. "If you all of a sudden create…
Monday, February 11, 2013
Representatives from more than four dozen schools around the county vote to support changing how school board members are selected.
The organization that represents Parent Teacher Associations around the county voted Monday to support adding elected members to the Baltimore County Board of Education. The Baltimore County PTA Council voted during a Monday night meeting at Loch Raven High School to support a hybrid elected-appointed school board, according to Yara Cheikh, president of the Hampton Elementary School PTA. Jean Suda, a PTA member at Dulaney High, and Julie Sugar, president of the Loch Raven High PTA, organized the resolution. The final vote was not immediately available but Cheikh said schools from all over the county including Carney, Hampton, Hillcrest and Randallstown Elementary, Deer Park Middle, and Dulaney, Franklin, Loch Raven and Pikesville High …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Sen. Bobby Zirkin seeks to prohibit school board members from serving if they're married to a registered lobbyist.
The vice president of the Baltimore County Board of Education says a bill sponsored by state Sen. Bobby Zirkin targets her solely because of the person she married. Valerie Roddy said Thursday there was "no reason based on my actions as a board member over the last four-and-a-half years to introduce such legislation so I can only conclude this is a personal attack designed to retaliate against anyone named Roddy." Valerie Roddy is married to Patrick Roddy, a former lobbyist for Baltimore County who know works for Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan and Silver. Zirkin said the bill is preventing possible conflicts of interest. "I think in terms of members of the school board, they should be above any appearances of impropriety," Zirkin said. …
A state senator wants a new state bird; one man's technolgical fortress is his castle; and the Senate president feels snubbed by Obama.
It's not a statue in front of the office building that bares his name but Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller did receive a bust of himself this week courtesy of the Regional Manufacturing Institute. Sen. Kathy Klausmeier, a Perry Hall Democrat, gave a sneak preview of the small, light-weight bust of Miller moments before presenting it to the Senate's top dog. "You can't have too much Mike Miller," Klausmeier said. The technology is similar to what was used in a scene of Jurassic Park 3 where a copy of a velociraptor's larynx was recreated. The institute offered legislators in Annapolis the opportunity to have themselves scanned into a computer and get busts of themselves. Miller seemed impressed with the petite bust but joked that it …
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
State Sen. Allan Kittleman wants voting sessions recorded, a Prince George's County senator suffers a basketball injury and two Baltimore County legislators team up to shorten the wait to get a divorce.
A proposal by Baltimore City to secure hundreds of millions in state money for school construction is missing a key ingredient, according to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr. "The state needs to have a role in school construction," Miller said. Baltimore City wants the state to guarantee as much as $30 million a year for 20 years in the form of block grants for school construction and renovations. The city will then use that promise to leverage borrowing $1 billion for its plan. Miller rejects the plan saying it's a lot of money and that the state is needed to provide a check and balance to potential malfeasance and corruption. "I'm a historian, I study all history, OK," Miller said. "Whenever you have a one-sided government you …
cavey
3:04 pm on Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Zirkin sponsored a veterans bill for my neighbor and got it through to help families of vets fighting overseas. Never heard much about it but a great bill. My neighbor brought it to his attention and a year later it became law. I'm a Republican. But this guy is really good. I'm embarrassed of my fellow Rs on this blog. I dont like too many Democrats but most of my Republican friends love this guy… more ›