Live Blog: Baltimore County Delegates Talk General Assembly Wins, Losses

The meeting just wrapped up. It wasn't so much of a legislative recap as it was a perspective of Maryland politics through the eyes of a conservative.

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8:41 p.m.—Del. Boteler really does not like the rain tax. "This tax is an assault on private property rights." Boteler just said that an individual who he will not name so as "not to get him in trouble" told him that the rain tax actually threatens the Maryland farming industry because farms won't be able to comply with new stormwater regulations.

On a separate note, Boteler just called what Annapolis Democrats are doing "fascism." 

"Vote and pray. Amen," he concluded.

8:35 p.m.—On to Del. Boteler who is bashing the Internet sales tax.

8:30 p.m.—"We need to change the culture in Annapolis," Cluster said pointing to Del. McDonough's (again, who is not present) list of 40 taxes that have been passed under the O'Malley/Brown administration although that list hasn't been independently confirmed.

8:25 p.m.—Cluster, a Republican, is up next. Said he office received 7,000 emails regarding opposition to the gun bill.

"All O'Malley has done has made a feeding frenzy for guns," Cluster said.

He noted that there is a petition drive circulating against the Gun Safety Act.

He moved on to speak out against the repeal of the death penalty using the suspects of Boston Marathon bombings as an example. 

"They couldn't get the death penalty in this state now," Cluster, a former Baltimore police officer, said.

8:20 p.m.—Bromwell, a Democrat, said he struggled with party line votes.

"This year I probably voted against more of my parties initiatives than I ever have before," Bromwell said.

Voted against the gas tax, alcohol tax and rain tax, for the example. "I knew we were going to get in trouble if we did it. ... And I did get criticized by my party," he said of the rain tax. 

8:17 p.m.—Three of the legislators just walked in: Dels. Eric Bromwell, Joe Boteler and John Cluster, all from District 8. The three just came from a similar recap meeting in Parkville.

I wonder if they shared a taxi. #snarky

8:06 p.m.—A year ago, SIX local legislators spoke about last year's Special Session.

8:01 p.m.—"This is a bit unusual," Pat Keller, a PHIA representative said speaking of the unexplained absences of FIVE elected officials.

8 p.m.—A man in the crowd, an admitted immigrant, said it was politically incorrect of Jennings' representative to say "illegal immigrants" although the same man said he too did not support legislation to give undocumented immigrants a driver's license. He went on to speak against undocumented immigrants prompting Jennings's representative to say "Del. McDonough would love you."

-One problem with that. He's not here.

7:55 p.m.—Jennings was successful she said in passing legislation that establishes punishments for individuals who shine laser-pointers toward air crafts. This has been an ongoing issue for years. It's quite bothersome to pilots.

Larkin turns to the crowd for questions.

7:52 p.m.—It's not all bad news she goes on, speaking of legislation concerning jobs training and professional licencing for veterans. Larkin is doing a pretty nice job recapping despite having not planned to speak tonight.

7:50 p.m.—She continues to paint a bleak picture of Republicans' takeaway from the 2013 Maryland General Assembly speaking of the passage of the Gun Safety Act. On the plus side, from Sen. Jenning's POV, she said the decriminalization of marijuana legislation did not go through.

7:45 p.m.— "This particular session was like no other session that I've seen in my entire life," Larkin, Jennings's representative, said. "We hit the ground running."

She lamented the repeal of the death penalty and passage of the "infamous" gas tax.

"Unfortunately what we're left with is extra taxes and not necessarily going to the projects that it's supposed to go to," Larkin added. "The governor had a very aggressive agenda."

7:40 p.m.—One man in the audience jokingly said "why don't we vote them all out of office?" Another man responded, "seconded."

As of 7:37 p.m., no confirmed legislators are here. Although Sen. J.B. Jennings's district director Tammy Larkin is here.

ORIGINAL—Just before 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, and a small group of about 20 Perry Hall Improvement Association members are awaiting the arrival of five Baltimore County lawmakers.

Dels. Joe Boteler (R), Eric Bromwell (D), John Cluster (R) Rick Impallaria (R) and Pat McDonough (R) confirmed their plans to attend Thursday's meeting.

Stick with Patch as we live blog the meeting and all that is discussed.

>>> Be sure to keep up with all Perry Hall news by following Patch on Facebook and Twitter. Don't be left out of the loop. Sign up for the daily newsletter here to also receive breaking news alerts.

CORRECTION: Del. Eric Bromwell's name was spelled incorrectly. Patch regrets this error.