Harford’s Lisanti says she will return to House today
After racial slur, she put distance between her, others
Harford County Del. Mary Ann Lisanti said Tuesday she will return to the floor of the Maryland House of Delegates to do her job after putting “some physical distance” between herself and her colleagues after she used a racial slur and they voted to censure her.
The Democrat vowed in a phone interview to appear today on the House floor, where she missed more than a dozen votes Friday, Monday and Tuesday.
“Clearly, the last few days have been extremely intense in an unprecedented, adversarial media environment,” Lisanti said in her first extended interview about what happened. “After really thinking about it, I really thought it was best for everyone involved to put some physical distance and give not only myself, but members of the legislature and the advocates there working on bills some distance to what has occurred and what is the best step going
forward.”
The House voted Thursday night to censure her for calling a legislative district in Prince George’s County a “n---- district.” Lisanti made the remark in January in front of other legislators at an Annapolis bar. She was confronted Feb. 25 by leaders of the Legislative Black Caucus and apologized.
Despite a deluge of calls for her to resign, including from the black caucus, the state Democratic and Republican parties, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and some of her constituents, she has declined to do so.
“Let me be clear, I’m not in any way belittling what has occurred,” Lisanti said. “I realize I have a lot of relationships to mend. I think I can, absolutely. I think redemption is possible.”
But some African-American residents of Harford have said Lisanti’s use of the slur cut too deep: They are not ready for healing to begin and wonder if she sees them, too, as she viewed black residents of Prince George’s.
House Speaker Michael Busch, as part of disciplining her, stripped Lisanti of her seat on the House Economic Matters Committee.
Lisanti failed to attend a Harford County delegation meeting, hasn’t been seen in the halls of the State House and her office has been closed — with the door locked — each time a reporter checked it Friday, Monday and Tuesday. Another delegate, Democrat Cheryl Glenn of Baltimore, has taken over shepherding a Clean Energy Jobs Act for which Lisanti had been a chief sponsor.
“I don’t understand why she’s not showing up if she’s not going to step down,” said Denise Perry, chairwoman of the Harford County Democratic Central Committee, which also called for Lisanti to resign. “Not showing up means you’re not doing your job. She is of no benefit to us.”
Lisanti said she left Annapolis on Friday for her home in Havre de Grace, but returned Tuesday and worked from her office. She said she prepared for a hearing Wednesday on a bill regarding death benefits for military families.
“I have some Gold Star families coming tomorrow for the bill, so I was prepping them on what to say, how to testify, what to do,” Lisanti said.
Lisanti said that she spent a lot of time on the phone over the weekend.
“There were a lot of people back home that I wanted to see, a lot of people who wanted to see me, talk to me,” Lisanti said. “My focus — I’m a district representative — and I wanted to spend the time with people here in the community.”
She said there’s no doubt in her mind she still can serve her constituents.
“There’s a public reaction and a private reaction from people, and I’ve had a lot of support from members of the legislature,” Lisanti said. “Obviously, with any type of situation like this, there’s a healing process, no question about that. Who knows how long it takes?”
She said she believes she will be able to effect change and that her presence will make a difference.
“My bills are alive. They’re not going anywhere,” she said. “They’re really very important and they’ll still be debated on their merit. Tomorrow, I’m going to go to work like I always do and fight for my bills.”
Lisanti had one full-time staff member who has left her employment since the uproar began. It was a mutual decision, she said. She still has one contractual employee. Lisanti receives about $45,000 to run an office and she is paid an annual salary of $55,330.
Lisanti said she remains committed to doing the work she was elected to do and said again she will not resign.
“You know, I don’t walk away from a challenge. It would be very easy to walk away,” said Lisanti, echoing a statement she read Thursday after the censure vote. “I’m not looking backward. I’m looking forward. And I’ve got a big legislative agenda that’s in front of me. I have a lot work still to do in Annapolis and that’s where my focus is.”
She said she has taken responsibility for her actions and will try to earn back the trust of her colleagues and constituents.
To earn back that trust, she said, you have to “show up every day, do your work, say what you mean, do what you say you’re going to do, and be there for people when they need you. You give a voice to people that don’t have a voice. You fight for injustice. You give power to the powerless. You help people solve problems.”
“Let me be clear, I’m not in any way belittling what has occurred. I realize I have a lot of relationships to mend. I think I can, absolutely. I think redemption is possible.”
Harford County Del. Mary Ann Lisanti