After having served in the Maryland House of Delegates for three sessions as a Republican representing both Carroll and Frederick counties, I wish to share with the public my unbiased observations about the General Assembly. Neither party’s leadership owns or controls me, as it truly should be, but it is not the reality for most.
First and foremost, the state legislature is a single-party (Democratic) dictatorship presented as an illusion of a democracy, with the Republicans completely void of any plan, hope or strategy to overthrow it.
It has been truly an eye-opening experience to see from the front line what is going on and how special interest groups have positioned themselves between the elected officials and their constituents with the power of money and access. Most people are too busy working, struggling to survive financially and raising kids to throw money at politicians and show up in their offices.
As the economy tanked under the Biden administration’s failed climate and monetary policies, leading to energy inflation both at the gas pumps and household thermostats, politicians still needed re-election donations. Campaigning is expensive, so if the people you are elected to represent are going broke, special interest groups fill the fiscal void. Once a lawmaker takes their money, they want favors and votes.
What is so insidious about this is the vicious cycle it causes. The people are going broke because of the laws and policies passed by the General Assembly due to the lobbyists, who in turn get money (taxpayers, the ones going broke) from the state budget. Lobbyists do not get paid by institutions to spread $58 million around, greasing up the 188 members of the state legislature in 90 days without a substantial “return on investment.”
The very people whom the legislature is supposed to represent with their hard-earned tax dollars are placed in the backseat, second fiddle to the institutions of power and money, so interest groups can gain profits at your expense. Example: increased fees and taxes to subsidize solar panels and wind mills making your utility bills outrageous. Solar panels and windmills do not work as a consistent reliable source of energy, and every professional in the industry knows it. The facts can not be refuted; if it was the opposite, every utility company would be investing, but they do not. Hence, the lobbyists get paid big money to buy off the legislators’ votes to divert your money to their clients in contracts, subsidies, rebates and credits.
The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project land grab is another example of the citizens being completely trampled upon by the institutions that bought your politicians off. As is, I see no end in sight unless the people rise up in the next election and revolt with replacements of the politicians doing this to them.
It is not just winning a few more Republican seats, since Democrats make up 73% of the legislature. Come the next redistricting process, the speaker of the House and the Senate president will just once again rig the districts with a computer software program that structures election outcomes in their favor. What we have in Maryland is a shameful scam, and the leaders of both parties know it.
Republican leaders are aware, so ask yourself this perplexing question. Why do they completely ignore this fact and do absolutely nothing in the 10 years between the censuses to address this injustice with a constitutional amendment turning the authority of making districts over to the people? After all, I have introduced such legislation two sessions in a row with zero Republican co-sponsors. Talk is cheap, and I found out when it comes to giving power back to the people in Maryland, Republicans are no better than Democrats. Politicians of both parties do not want the citizens to be truly sovereign over them, and as long as leadership insiders draw and rig the election districts, even Republicans will suck up to the Democrats to save their hides from being redistricted out of office. I do not grovel at anyone’s feet and can be honest about this truth. Hold them accountable.
The next governor will be in office when the next census takes place and will have a tremendous impact on the redistricting of not only state legislative districts but also congressional ones. I am the state legislature’s resident expert on redistricting, having sued the state in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 over this very issue and made state Supreme Court case law of such. There is not one of my colleagues who will stand up against me to debate the issue. Why?
As a Lincoln Republican who is proud of my party’s heritage; ending slavery, granting equal protection of the law and voting rights, I plan on re-introducing my amendment making the citizens of Maryland actually sovereign over the General assembly and not this fraud we are presently suffering under.
You the people have a responsibility to revolt in elections, as Thomas Jefferson advised, and take control of the government as our Founding Fathers intended with the American Revolution. They did not sacrifice their lives, limbs and fortunes so that special interest groups with million-dollar lawyers and lobbyists could buy off our elected officials to get fat on our wages being taxed for their profit. This is not what they fought for and you should fight back as true Americans, who understand that the Democratic party of Maryland has truly in deeds and actions proven themselves to be sovereign over the people, unapologetically too. The promise of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution is the guarantee that the people are sovereign over the politicians. That truth scares them beyond belief, and they will do what is necessary to stop you.
I will run for governor in 2026 as your rebellious voice and representative, not bought and paid for by special interest lawyers.
Christopher Eric Bouchat, a Republican, is a state delegate representing District 5, covering Carroll and Frederick counties.