Discussion for article #245755
That Zucker knows how to vote.
What’s the problem? He voted for it once in one capacity, but now he’s a Senator, a different job.
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notice who’s protesting…
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Supporters say it’s an important measure to help reintegrate felons into society at a time when lawmakers hope to reduce recidivism and control corrections spending, but opponents say those felons haven’t yet paid their debt to society.
Interesting question. Trying to put my own feelings about the measure aside, I think he should be permitted to vote in the senate. That’s where the bill is now, and that’s where he is now. Suppose he voted for the bill in the house, it was vetoed, he didn’t vote for the bill in the Senate, so it fails, and then it’s revived later in the session. Would he be precluded from voting for it then? I think the logic is the same.
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He can vote. It’s not the individual’s vote, it’s the vote of the position. He isn’t holding both at the same time, so there’s no conflict of interest.
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And now for more news from Maryland… the President of Mount St. Mary’s is the shrkeli of Academia:
There could be lots of legislation in the same logjam. Does he have to sit out every similar vote? Seems to be more than a one off exception if this Legislature is like most.
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There is a difference between then and now, you know. They take place in different times.
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As a Maryland resident and a registered Democrat, I can only see this as an attempt by the Democrats to force an item through the legislature by hook or by crook.
This is what got us a Republican Governor, and eventually will get us a more representative legislature.
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It’s not the man, but the position, that has the vote. That seems to me to be the beginning and the end of the legal analysis.
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They’re acting as if he’s voting as a person. He’s not. He’s voting as a representative for the people in his district. The fact that he as one man is voting on the same bill twice is irrelevant because he is just a vehicle for conveying the position desired by the majority of residents who elected that position. That he was appointed is also irrelevant.
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And this is the trick. It would deprive the folks in both districts/areas their representation.
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If a different democrat had been appointed, do we seriously think the result would be different?
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Besides, technically it’s not the same vote. The Senate bill is getting a vote independent of that in the House. All Senators are entitled to vote for a bill that reaches the Senate, just as all Representatives are entitled to vote in the House. Who the duly elected Senators and Representatives are is constitutionally immaterial.