(August 2004) Carmen Amedori became the latest Delegate to give up office for an Ehrlich administration appointment. Though not known for paying attention to detail in establishing her position on specific bills, Amedori clearly considered both the Second Amendment and Right to Life as core issues, and in this she was sincere. She is also an aggressive partisan, and with the start of a Republican administration she became a willing kneebreaker for the new Governor. Readers know it was flacking for the administration among fellow legislators that placed Amedori in opposition to some of the firearm community's interests. Later, instead of explaining why she changed per position to match the Ehrlich team's centrist political needs, she found it more convenient to attack those in our community who reported her flip. Carmen isn't the only Republican legislator whose positions have 'evolved' to accommodate the Governor.
Amedori's Parole Commission appointment is clearly an expression of thanks from a grateful administration, and is probably a sound move for someone whose newly mixed record places her re-election at risk from any challenger who understands opposition research. She is replaced by Tanya Shewell, recently appointed by Governor Ehrlich. To date Shewell has avoided commenting on gun issues, either to us or to concerned constituents reporting to us.
Amedori's transition came hard on the heels of another change, as gunowners' long time friend Delegate George Owings gave up his seat to accept an appointment as Ehrlich's Secretary of Veterans Affairs. As Majority Whip for over a decade, George was a friendly voice to speak for us at leadership meetings. He knew our issue, and never minced words when he spoke forcefully for us, whether on the House floor or at community meetings in his district. Governor Ehrlich recently approved Delegate Sue Kullen as Owings' replacement. Kullen soon went on record in the Gazette paper saying she supported "common sense" gun control and hoped to help sportsmen find "common ground" with those seeking gun bans. We wish George the best, even as we will miss him mightily!
Bob Ehrlich has turned to the General Assembly for an unprecedented number of appointments. Earlier changes to pro-gun delegates include: Tim Hutchins presently serves as Superintendent of Maryland State Police. While we miss Tim in the House, where we worked closely with him as one of the pro-gunners on the Judiciary Committee, he is clearly the right man at the right time to head MSP. His replacement in this Charles county district is Louis Hennessy, a retired DC cop who has been publically antagonistic to firearm community issues. Bob Flanagan, who had been friendly to our issue in recent years, vacated his Deletate seat to serve as Ehrlich's Transportation secretary. He is replaced by Warren Miller (who seems good on our issue.) Ken Schisler, who left to head the Public Service Commission, is replaced by Jeannie Haddaway, and John Cluster replaced Al Redmer when he left to become an Insurance Commissioner. Our very good friend Jim Rzepkowski stepped down from his Delegate Seat to become an official in the Dept of Business and Economic Development, leaving the seat to Terry Gilleland.
Marylanders for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership - the state's only political action committee dedicated to the Second Amendment - invested resources (your donations!) to elect pro-gun Delegates in 2002, and together we made gains in the General Assembly. The overall trend goes our way, yet turnover still hits us hard, as friends who've worked hard for us are replaced by junior appointees who may feel they owe our issue nothing (and in some cases, pay it as such.) In 2006, we'll have to work hard just to get back up to the level we started with after 2002.