Coat, tie yes for lawmakers. Openness no.
More than 40 states offer live and archived video feeds from floor debates and votes in their legislative bodies.
Not Maryland.
But sneakers are banned on Maryland’s House and Senate chamber floors. Male lawmakers and media members must wear coats and ties. This policy is a throwback to a bygone era.
Maintaining a dress code — that’s loosely enforced — while ignoring governmental transparency is the perfect analogy for Maryland government. Look fancy but fail to address issues that improve accountability.
The Maryland General Assembly’s dress policy is more 1849 than
2019. Sadly, it’s transparency policy is stuck in time, too.
Keeping the public in the dark is a choice. A poor one, but a conscious decision. The California Gold Rush in 1849 spurred Brooks Brothers to create the ready-made suit.
That’s 170 years of suits making the man. That’s before African-Americans and women had the right to vote. That predates men walking on the moon and a computer in every pocket.
Maryland Speaker of the House Michael Busch, D-Annapolis, added video capabilities to his chamber’s committee meetings in 2008. We’ve had the necessary technology in state government for 11 years.
We must embrace tools that shine light on government.
In the past two years, bills to equip the Senate and House chambers with the same technology have been DOA. Gov. Larry Hogan’s office expects a bill to livestream the General Assembly’s floor actions to be filed this session.
To be fair, audio is available from Maryland’s legislative branches. However, if the person speaking doesn’t identify themselves, what good is audio?
By the way, radio is so 1920s. We evolved past flapping and flagpole sitting, so why aren’t we capable of moving toward greater governmental transparency?
“That’s the way it’s always been” is a sorry excuse.
If no jacket or tie is an affront to lawmakers’ sensibilities, what is clinging to antiquated technology?
A $100 silk tie and $200 Italian leather shoes don’t deliver decorum and civility. A polo shirt/khakis combination wouldn’t send the General Assembly into havoc, would it? And, if it did, would that be a bad thing?
It’s the body that limps along and plays catch-up. Remember sports betting, medical marijuana and 9 percent of Marylanders expecting to see their taxes rise after the feds cut taxes?
So, spare us the fashion police farce. A better use of resources would be joining the rest of the country in live video streaming floor debates and votes from the Maryland Senate and House chambers.
Let’s ditch the horse and buggy mentality and leap into the 21st century before 2099.