(Monday, March 18, 2002) Keep government open! Don't let anti-gunners hide mischief! Stop HB 1024!
The community responded well to our last alert about HB 1024, that proposes to give bureaucrats an easy way to hide what they're doing. We put out the word, you responded, and momentum to pass a 'secrecy in government' act has begun to slow. Now we need to strike the next blow. Read and heed now!
If 1024 becomes law, then all a bureaucrat need do to claim that your needs for information don't outweight the public good from withholding them. And *he* is the one who decides, then hides. When it comes to our auditing the mischief of corrupt government, HB 1024 locks the fox inside the hen house!
As if that isn't bad enough, anyone who files suit is in for a big surprise at the end: 1024 removes your ability to collect damages in court.
That's right: under current law, someone who must sue in order to get files can at least get expenses back, and a judge can award punitive damages if he believes the bureaucrat unreasonably withheld records. But 1024 proposes to change all that. By law you could NOT get damages from court. The message to bureaucrats is clear: "There is No penalty for hiding what you do!"
Gun owners can kiss goodbye our ability to expose what anti-gun activists are doing on the state payroll. Unless you act now!
Please call each of the following Delegates, who serve on a key committee that is considering this bill, and ask them to STOP HB 1024 in its tracks. There is no amount of tinkering with this bill that will dress it up. DO THIS BY CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20!
DELEGATE EXTENSION EMAIL
B. Daniel Riley 3289 b_daniel_riley@house.state.md.us
Joanne Parrott 3289 joanne_parrott@house.state.md.us
James Crouse 3421 james_crouse@house.state.md.us
Louise Snodgrass 3240 louise_snodgrass@house.state.md.us
David Brinkley 3107 david_brinkley@house.state.md.us
Diane DeCarlo 3384 diane_decarlo@house.state.md.us
Gail Bates 3556 gail_bates@house.state.md.us
(Dial the above toll free at 301 858 xxxx or 410 841 xxxx )
These are all legislators who should be receptive to a message from our community. If you recognize that you're a constituent of one of these folks, then please make an extra point of noting it to them!