On primary election day, June 26, 2018, I met voters at precinct 1005 at Bond Mill Elementary School in West Laurel. Among the many people I met, was Tony Spezio, shown with me in his car with a “Havis” magnet on the side. These magnets are excellent for outreach, which are more dynamic than stationary yard signs, which are also available on request.
| In Prince George’s County, the iconic “Peace Cross” in Bladensburg, MD has been under legal attack by those who want to remove this long-standing memorial to PG veterans of WWI due to “establishment of religion” issues. The matter is now pending presentation to the US Supreme Court. On April 19, 2018, I attended an event at the Peace Cross to support sustaining this landmark in the county. In attendance also was Governor Larry Hogan who awarded a citation to Second Lieutenant John Robert Pedevillano – a World War II veteran, Prisoner of War, and Purple Heart recipient. The Pedevillano family ancestors were those who gave the original land for the installation of the memorial in 1919. In one of the pictures I am shown with Governor Hogan and local friends of the Peace Cross. | ||
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Testimony on HB 1461 –
OPPOSE – Maryland Law Enforcement Trust Act
On March 8, 2018, I submitted testimony against bill HB1461 in the Maryland General Assembly, a bill which would create conditions to protect and promote the presence of illegal immigration in Maryland. I believe this action is unwise and dangerous as a threat to public safety, as it would interfere with the enforcement of federal immigration laws that are vital to the safety and well-being of all Maryland citizens. In addition, its effect would add to the tax burden of Maryland citizens, by promoting the presence of an increasing population of illegal aliens in the state, who can only survive through taxpayer funded relief and welfare.
This bill would deter public safety in several significant ways. For example, it would protect and insulate criminal illegal aliens from capture by federal immigration agents, to thereby promote and support more serious crime in Maryland through the increased violence by gangs and lawless criminal elements, such as MS-13, who especially prey on the fear, language deficiency, ignorance, and vulnerable, dependent status of others in the illegal alien community. National surveys reveal that violent crime from the illegal alien community is disproportionately higher than any other segment of the population.
The presence of large numbers of illegal aliens also places extreme financial burden on Maryland taxpayers, which in Maryland, has been estimated to exceed 2 billion dollars per year. Since illegal aliens are not allowed to legally work, taxpayers must cover the cost of their medical, housing, education and food services to a substantial extent. And, when they do work illegally, they drive out competition for fair, honest wages from among the low-skill workers who are American citizens.
Where I reside in College Park, Prince George’s County is considered a “sanctuary jurisdiction” because local laws protect illegal aliens in the manner that HB1461 would impose on the entire state. Under such “sanctuary” laws, illegal aliens, when arrested by local police, are not turned over to the proper federal government (ICE) authorities, except under extreme situations. In Prince George’s County, the police are also barred from inquiring about immigration status when stopped for other lawful reasons. Sadly, this dangerous condition of large numbers of illegal aliens in Maryland is encouraged by the presence of the main office of CASA Maryland, which is a taxpayer-funded lobby group which especially supports the illegal aliens which predominate the local hispanic community.
In Prince George’s County, local taxpayers are hammered with many taxpayer burdens to support the illegal alien community. For example, it is estimated that the presence of large numbers of illegal aliens here, especially those brought into our country as “unaccompanied minors”, has resulted in 30% of the student body of the Prince George’s County public school system. While lawful taxpaying homeowners are facing the highest tax burden of any jurisdiction in the area, the sanctuary status for illegal aliens has added to this burden with the extra demands for greater government funding for services to them that makes our county an incentive for even more illegals to take up residence here.
In summary, HB1461 would make the entire state of Maryland into the same “sanctuary status” as in Prince George’s County, thus bringing to all Maryland jurisdictions the same burdens and dangers faced by citizens in Prince George’s County now. For this reason, I urged opposition to this bill as being unwise, reckless and likely unconstitutional as well. In addition, I also urged support for the bills HB1549 and HB1308 which would remove the dangerous and unhealthy conditions that exist in “sanctuary” jurisdictions like Prince George’s County. Passing these bills would thereby improve crime prevention, public safety, and lower the tax burden for all citizens here.
On Saturday, January 27, 2018, I attended and briefly spoke at a townhall discussing the value of “parent choice” to improve education. It was sponsored by an alliance of parent choice advocates in Prince George’s County, led by Delvin Champagne.
In my comments, I emphasized the need to support parent choice by de-centralizing the system of public schools, so that each local jurisdiction can exercise more direct control in the hiring of staff, curriculum and format of school operation. In picture, I am shown with Delvin Champagne. Support my campaign for Maryland State Senate – www.havisforsenate.com
In Fall, 2017, the city of College Park made national news by passing a motion to approve non-citizen voting in the city’s municipal elections. In doing this, they angered many citizens by rejecting the option of referring this controversial issue to a voter referendum. Fortunately, the motion to allow non-citizen voting was later held invalid since it didn’t comply with a rule requiring a “super” majority for such charter amendments. Oddly, the city didn’t follow its own voting rule in this matter, which had just been passed by the same body only a few months before.
Many College Park citizens, including myself, were alarmed and outraged by this action for non-citizen voting, seeing it as a dangerous first step to threaten the integrity of responsible government and respect for basic citizenship rights. And further, in rejecting a voter referendum and failing to follow their own rules in voting, the city of College Park was made an object of ridicule at the national level, prompting a former administrator at the University of Maryland to write an article in the Baltimore Sun, nominating College Park as the “dumbest town in America.”
In consultation with other College Park citizens, I spoke out against such non-citizen voting to local and national news media, and work with like-minded city residents to prepare and support a slate of municipal candidates who all stated their firm position AGAINST non-citizen voting. I was also confident that these candidates would otherwise provide the best possible leadership to our city by working for lower taxes, cost-effective government, responsive public safety and a friendly, fair business climate to the benefit and well-being of all.
The result of this civic action raised awareness of this important issue, which is the necessary beginning to assure future responsible voting and accountability to the citizens in local and state elections.
In July 2017, I participated with a coalition of “liberty” organizations, known as “teaparty patriots coalition” to urge the US congress to support the president’s agenda of free market solutions in American economy. I was especially representing the local Maryland liberty group, Free State Patriots, which I organized in 2015 to evaluate and support candidates most in favor of the principles of liberty and limited, constitutional government. At this event, we met with Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell to deliver petitions in support of our position. On September 22, I was invited to follow-up with a briefing on these matters at the White House.
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In Maryland, non-citizen voting has recently been proposed by some local political leaders, such as in the City of College Park. While the noble-sounding argument for this idea is to welcome foreign residents more fully into the life of the local community, its actual effect is to risk a serious threat to the well-being and order of good government in many ways. And besides, there are other, more rational, ways to welcome foreign residents through such means as voluntary and community services.
Traditionally, voting has always been a special function of adult citizens who have the serious interest and knowledge to make informed collective decisions for all in society. For this reason, foreign born residents must become “naturalized” citizens to qualify for voting. Criteria for this includes a period of time, oath of loyalty, and formal testing to assure adequate knowledge of the US constitution and the basic institutions and principles of American government. In addition, they must demonstrate sufficient knowledge and understanding of the English language.
Opening up voting to non-citizens would therefore remove the normal checks of the naturalization process. It would subject the whole voting system to foreign aliens who may have little knowledge of English, and perhaps only a temporary or casual interest in well-being of the permanent community involved. Such non-citizen voting might even invite the participation of illegal aliens, and otherwise dilute the effect of legal citizen decision-making in various critical elections.
Voting by natural born US citizens carries with it a certain assumption that the individual has a sufficient level of loyalty, knowledge, and assimilation into the American culture, due to the citizen’s education in youth, which is mostly subjected to some type of mandatory American schooling. Non-native citizens are likewise qualified through naturalization procedures, which carry qualification criteria that assures a similar knowledge and loyalty as well.
Although the current press for non-citizen voting is limited to local municipal elections, opening up such voting at this level would only promote a movement for similar non-citizen voting at higher levels as well. And, even in local elections, non-citizen voting would logically create conflict and risk of voting outside this limited domain. Finally, non-citizen voting at any level, state, federal or local, invites voter fraud due to manipulation, abuse, and control of elections by self-interested politicians and candidates who seek to prey off the fragile status of many in the local alien community. In sum, non-citizen voting is a bad idea.
