MPT's Ask the (Lt.) Governor

A Direct Connection exclusive with Lt. Governor Anthony Brown

 

Jeff Salkin:  Good evening and welcome to Ask The Governor.  The phone lines are open now, we will have the number on the screen.  You can also email us at askthegovernor@mpt.org. 

Pinch hitting tonight for Governor O'Malley is Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown.  Nice to see you. 

LT Governor Brown:  Jeff, it's great to be on the show. 

Jeff Salkin:  Good to have you with us.  To what do we owe the honor of the special appearance? 

LT Governor Brown:  Well, first of all, I always enjoy the opportunity to, you know, fill in for the Governor.  It's a great opportunity to get around and participate, play my part in communicating for the administration what we're doing in State government for the people of Maryland. 

Tonight, the Governor is -- I'm real proud of what he's doing, he's at Walter Reed.  He and O'Malley's March are performing for Wounded Warriors and their family members.  And so he's playing for about an hour and so he couldn't be here tonight, so he asked me to fill in. 

So I'm real proud of that, because having served 24 years on active and reserve duty I certainly take a lot of pride in what our men and women in uniform have done.  And for those who are wounded and returning back to the community, to have the Governor go out and spend some time with them, that's a great thing.

Jeff Salkin:  So it's a St. Patrick's Day connection maybe a little bit?

LT Governor Brown:  Well, you know, I'm not sure what they're going to be performing, but a few musical selections --

Jeff Salkin:  Yeah, a little Irish --

LT Governor Brown:  -- from O'Malley's March, so I'm sure it's going to be a fun time. 

Jeff Salkin:  Your status in the reserves now is Colonel, right?

LT Governor Brown:  Yes, I'm a Colonel in the reserves, still drilling one weekend a month and two weeks a year with a unit out of Pennsylvania, a group of lawyers and paralegals.  We provide a lot of the legal assistance to soldiers and their families, soldiers who are deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan -- wills, powers of attorney, and some pretty basic assistance like that.  But it's important, because in order for the men and women who deploy to be able to focus on their work when they're overseas, they have to know that their affairs at home are taken care of.  So that's part of what we do. 

Jeff Salkin:  In terms of the State Legislature, which has a little less than four weeks to go in this 90 day session, there is some legislation -- I believe it's legislation that has to do with military families and the schools that their children attend.  Was that a legislative issue or was that something that was done administratively?

LT Governor Brown:  That's a legislative issue.  It's a bill that the Governor and I introduced, it's part of our priority package. And what it does, it looks to support military families who come to Maryland and enroll their children in our public schools. 

On average, a child in a military family will change schools six to nine times between K and 12th grade, whereas non-military families may change schools two or three times. 

And during all these transitions, there are often a lot of obstacles for students.  Aligning courses that they may have taken in one state with the requirements in Maryland.  So we're trying to eliminate, or at least lower, those obstacles so that they can graduate on time. 

Jeff Salkin:  Let's talk about some of the other issues in the Governor's agenda that you have been particularly involved in. 

The domestic violence issue, where the House of Delegates has now approved a bill that would allow judges -- and in some cases require judges -- to take away firearms from people who are the subjects of protective orders.  It has passed the House of Delegates.  What are the chances in the State Senate?

LT Governor Brown:  I'm optimistic that the bill will come out of the Senate and that it will be on the Governor's desk in April.  I certainly want to commend the members of the House of Delegates. It's not an easy issue any time you're talking about regulating firearms. 

But it was an important measure.  We know that last year in Maryland there were 75 deaths, murders, related to domestic violence.  And among that 75, about 42 -- 56 percent, more than half -- involved a firearm. 

So we often know in domestic violence cases who the abusers are, we know who the victims are, and we often know whether there's a gun involved.  So what these two bills do is give judges the tools to take the firearms away in these domestic violence cases.

Jeff Salkin:  You testified on this and you had a personal family experience that led you to that position. 

LT Governor Brown:  Yes.  Unfortunately, you know, a tragedy did strike my family in August of 2008 when my cousin, Cathy, was murdered by her estranged boyfriend at 10:30 at night, he shot her. 

And so this bill won't bring Cathy back, nor any of the 75 victims last year in Maryland, but it will go a long way in preventing things like what happened to Cathy. 

So, you know, we can't -- there were 500 murders in Maryland last year and a lot of them are very difficult to prevent.  There's random killings, there's killings that are involved in the drug trade, or other illegal activity. 

While we continue to fight the fight against those categories of crimes -- in the area of domestic violence this is an area where we can make considerable progress.  Because, as I said, we know who the abusers are and we know who the victims are and we know when there's a firearm involved.  More often than not, we do know, because the victim typically has knowledge of the presence of a firearm in the house.  Or maybe there's a registration of the firearm or a hunting license. 

We know that when you have a gun involved in a domestic violence household, the chances of someone dying, being killed, is three times greater. 

So this bill is going to go a long way to saving lives in Maryland.

Jeff Salkin:  Supporters of gun rights have had a couple of concerns; one, that there's not a lot of due process, especially in the issuance of a temporary restraining order, and second, proposed an idea that the person seeking the restraining order should be allowed to get a weapon for protection.  Any merit to that idea? 

LT Governor Brown:  You know, I think what we don't want to do is get into a situation where we're literally fighting fire with fire.  I don't think the answer to protecting victims of domestic violence is to arm those victims. 

What I think we ought to do is we ought to take firearms out of the equation.  And that's what the Governor and I are proposing to do and, as we mentioned, the House has passed it and the Senate, we are hopeful will pass it. 

But we also have to do more than that.  We have to support victims -- women, typically, and children -- as they try to transition out of these violent households.  So we need to provide transitional housing and other support services. 

We have to make sure that our judges, our law enforcement, prosecutors, educators, are much more understanding and can better identify the signs of domestic violence, so that we can provide that support to victims.

There are a number of things that we can do.  But one thing that we shouldn't do is to simply arm the victim, so that they can fight fire with fire.  I think that's a deadly --

Jeff Salkin:  But what if the victim -- probably, you know, hypothetical -- if both the victim and the alleged abuser, for some reason both had carry permits?  Should we take away both guns? 

LT Governor Brown:  I would say in that case -- and certainly under the bills the Governor and I are introducing we're going to take the gun away from that abuser. 

And I would say that more often than not, what you'll find is when law enforcement arrives on the scene and they start doing their risk assessment, which they do now throughout Maryland, what will come up in that conversation is with the woman, with the victim, is whether or not there are handguns in the house. 

And when that woman who is seeking assistance does identify that there is a weapon in the household, I think law enforcement will be very effective in convincing her to turn over that gun. 

What we do find is that often both abusers and victims will voluntarily surrender firearms, because they recognize the potential danger of having a firearm in the house. 

Jeff Salkin:  High pressure situation. 

Let's take some phone calls, tons of lines lit up for you.  Dave in Baltimore City.  Dave, thanks for the call, go ahead.

Dave:  Yes. 

Jeff Salkin:  Hi.

Dave:  I just -- hello.  I just want to know where you stand for the State of Maryland, on the Second Amendment. 

Jeff Salkin:  All right.

Dave:  I fought two wars, Korea and Vietnam.  And I want to know where you stand on that Second Amendment.  I am a benefactor member of the NRA and -- 

Jeff Salkin:  Got it.  Dave, thanks very much --

Dave:  -- association. 

Jeff Salkin:  Okay. 

LT Governor Brown:  Dave, first of all, thank you for your service to our country in uniform.  Certainly I believe in the Second Amendment.  And I also believe, though, that states have the right to regulate firearms.  The Supreme Court ruled just recently, I think two or three weeks ago and I think Justice Ginsberg may have written the opinion, that when someone is convicted of the misdemeanor offense of domestic violence that a state can take that firearm away. 

So there certainly is a recognition that by regulating firearms, taking them out of the domestic violence context, that that is not a violation of the Second Amendment. 

So I think we need to be careful.  I think that there are -- there is evidence that there are unlawful uses of firearms in certain situations and states ought to be able to regulate and, in fact, we do regulate firearms. 

Jeff Salkin:  Jacqueline in Baltimore County.  Jacqueline, thanks for the call, go ahead. 

Jacqueline:  I was just curious -- I heard him say that -- he talked about his cousin, I'm just curious, you know, what about the ones that can't call?  What about the ones that can't call 911?  When we go to Social Services and try to get help, there's no one to help us. 

Jeff Salkin:  So you're saying that if you call 911, there's no help? Or there's no way to call 911?

Jacqueline:  You can't call 911 when there's somebody beating you.

Jeff Salkin:  Understand.  All right.  Thanks very much. 

LT Governor Brown:  And that is true.  I do want to -- and I'm reaching into my book here because I want to put out a phone number that is useful for domestic violence victims or those who fear for their lives. 

You can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline, it's 1-800-799-7233.  And in Maryland you can call, 1-800-634-3577.

Now, of course, in the case of an emergency those numbers aren't going to work for you and I understand the caller's concern.  And that there are times where the threat is right there and there's not an opportunity to call law enforcement. 

What we are trying to do, in addition to taking away those firearms, again is to educate also victims of domestic violence that it's okay to come forward and to say that you're a victim of domestic violence, because what we know is that no community is immune from domestic violence.  It's across every racial, ethnic, religious community or lines that exist in Maryland.

So what we're doing is encouraging victims to come forward and seek help. 

Jeff Salkin:  I don't know how much you want to talk about your cousin's particular case, but was it a story where there could have been an intervention of some kind?

LT Governor Brown:  You know, my focus really is not so much on Cathy. I mean, she wasn't even -- she had not even sought a protective order. So I don't -- you know, that's really where my focus is. 

My focus is what can we do to protect the victims going forward, what services and support can we give them.

Jeff Salkin:  Let's take a look at an email, this came in from Katherine, who says, We have carefully reviewed our bills for years -- talking about utility bills -- noting days of the cycle, average temperatures, kilowatts used.  We're very conscientious about conserving energy.  Imagine our shock when we review our bills and see the total kilowatts used drop by several hundred from the prior year usage and our bill is a minimum of twice what it used to be. 

The Lieutenant Governor doesn't have a mansion, you live in a house. So you know what's going on.  Why is this happening?  Is there anything that we can do about it -- short term/long term?

LT Governor Brown:  Sure.  In the short term what the Governor just recently asked the Public Service Commission to do was to look at, to investigate, this recent spike in electricity bills.

And last week the chairman of the Public Service Commission notified the electric companies that they will not shut off any households from electricity until he and the Public Service Commission can investigate the reason for these spikes. 

In the long term what the Governor and I are committed to is a rational re-regulation of the industry.  It's probably cost prohibitive to go back and re-regulate what's already been de-regulated --

Jeff Salkin:  Were you in the legislature when that --

LT Governor Brown:  I was in the legislature and --

Jeff Salkin:  And voted for it?

LT Governor Brown:  I voted for it.  And it was -- it was in retrospect --

Jeff Salkin:  You were a freshman, that would have been your first year?

LT Governor Brown:  I won't blame it on that.  I won't blame it on that.  I mean, you know, the thinking then was that de-regulation would foster competition and we just have not seen that competition in the industry. 

So it -- at the time it didn't seem misguided, but, you know, as we sit here today and look back on it, would we have made the same decision today as we made then?  No. 

So the Governor and I are looking at rational re-regulation as we go forward. 

Jeff Salkin:  Which isn't an immediate fix.

LT Governor Brown:  It's not an immediate fix.

Jeff Salkin:  I mean, the idea that a future power plant will be regulated years -- you know, it could be a decade off.

LT Governor Brown:  That's right.  These are long -- this is a long-term approach, because it takes quite some time to build a generation plant.

Jeff Salkin:  Hannah in Allegheny County.  Hannah, thanks for calling, go ahead.  Hannah, you're on. 

Hannah Smith:  Hi there.  I'm Hannah Smith and I'm just wondering what they're going to do for our local economy and everything they do for local businesses -- and I know that there's been a lot of businesses that I know won't open up anymore in Allegheny County. 

Jeff Salkin:  All right.  Hannah, we'll talk about it.  Thanks for calling in. 

Hannah Smith:  Thank you.  'Bye.

Jeff Salkin:  So obviously we have the Federal government -- I mean, today the Federal Reserve virtually going nuclear to try to stimulate the economy by intervening in the Treasury market.

Big picture, are we doing enough?  How's your fellow Harvard law graduate, the president, doing with this? 

LT Governor Brown:  I mean, I'll give him a good grade for his first 50 or 60 days.  I think he inherited a very difficult situation.  He -- you know, the credit market's in trouble, the economy is slumping, home prices, home sales going down, unemployment going up, and I think that given the scenario that he's inherited, he's taken some pretty decisive steps. 

Jeff Salkin:  And to bring it home a little more, obviously, the caller from Allegheny County is having a tough time there.

Prince George's County, where you reside, has had as many, if not more, foreclosures than anywhere else in the State. 

LT Governor Brown:  Sure.  Let me talk about job creation as part of the Federal stimulus.  Maryland stands to receive about $3.9 billion in Federal stimulus money.  And in addition to that stimulus we also have other components of stimulus.  We have BRAC, the Base Realignment and Closure, and we're going to experience the growth of anywhere from 45,000 to 60,000 jobs over the course of the next few years. 

And then the third component of stimulus is just the day-to-day expenditures of Federal government.  So, for example, when the President announces additional funds to NIH in Montgomery County, that's going to create jobs in Montgomery County. 

When they talk about adding more claims adjudicators to Social Security Administration in Baltimore, there are upwards of several hundreds of jobs that could be created as a result of that. 

The Federal stimulus dollars that are coming to the State of Maryland we estimate will either create or save anywhere from 66,000 to 90,000 jobs.  About 17,000 of those will be in the transportation infrastructure projects that we are going to put to shovel soon.  In fact, we've already put one to shovel on New Hampshire Avenue in Montgomery County, probably, I think, the first in the nation. 

But we are -- we are poised to create jobs with the $610 million that we are getting from the Federal government in transportation projects. 

So a lot of our efforts rely on the Federal stimulus dollars.

Jeff Salkin:  People have been hearing about the BRAC, Base Realignment, jobs for a while.  The timing couldn't really be much better.  Federal jobs, stable stuff, and working for military contractors, mostly -- let's talk about that a little bit -- mostly Fort Meade and up in Harford County. 

When can somebody go looking for one of those jobs?  Where do you go? 

LT Governor Brown:  Sure.  The direct jobs, about 15,000 of them -- and as you mentioned, Fort Meade, 5,000 to 6,000; Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County, another 7,000; and then the remainder of that 15,000 is between Andrews Air Force Base and Fort Detrick and Bethesda Naval Medical in Montgomery County.

Those jobs, by law, Federal law, have to be in Maryland by the end of 2011.  So that is, you know, two plus years from now. 

However, the activities that are coming to us from Northern Virginia, the Defense Information Systems Agency, they're already beginning to send those jobs there.  And they're filling those jobs with Marylanders. 

The activities that are coming from Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, the Communications Command, they're sending the jobs already to Maryland and they are filling them with Marylanders. 

So it's beginning to happen now.  We'll see it all -- those direct jobs, we'll see them here all by the end of 2011.  And then the indirect jobs, the Defense contractors -- whether they're embedded on the installation or they're outside in the community -- those will come in between now and probably 2013, 2014.  

Jeff Salkin:  Kim on the line from Anne Arundel County.  Kim, thanks for the call, go ahead. 

Kim:  Thanks for having me. 

Jeff Salkin:  Sure.

Kim:  Hi.  I think it's wonderful that Maryland is finally beginning to empower women who are the victims of domestic violence.  The concern and question I had is about the law, in terms of the punishment.  Maryland does not have a self defense law.  It doesn't have self defense.  So if a woman should happen to kill her abuser -- not meaning to, but if it goes down like that -- to save herself, what's going to happen to her?  She's going to be charged with either second degree manslaughter or second degree homicide. 

Is there a plan in place for these women, who are just merely trying to protect themselves? 

Jeff Salkin:  Kim, thanks for the call.  We got it.  

LT Governor Brown:  I'm an attorney, I've never practiced criminal law in Maryland.  It surprises me to hear from the caller, Kimberly, that Maryland does not have a defense of self defense.   That would be -- that's unusual to hear that.  And I find that -- you know, that's hard to believe that we don't have self defense as a defense in Maryland. 

And there are certain things that we ought to be doing and I think we need to continue, you know, embracing measures to protect victims so that we don't have to get into a situation where a woman is confronted with that threat, where she has to resort to defending and take the life of another or injure another. 

We ought to take steps to transition those victims out of the homes when they seek assistance, provide support to the woman and her children in a protective environment. 

Jeff Salkin:  John from Baltimore County.  John, thanks for the call, go ahead.

John:  Yes.  Good evening, Lieutenant Governor.  First I'd like to say I think that both you and the Governor are doing a nice job.  And my question is with the stimulus money coming to Maryland, will there be an increase of police officers on the streets in high crime areas?  Thank you. 

Jeff Salkin:  That was John. 

LT Governor Brown:  Sure.  John, there's a number of areas where we are going to see increased funding. 

Jeff Salkin:  It's only thousand page bill, you don't have it at your fingertips.

LT Governor Brown:  Don't have it here.  But one point that I definitely want to make is that there's not a whole lot of discretion in that $3.9 billion.  A lot of it is prescribed how it will be spent, when it needs to be spent, and the criteria for spending it. 

$1.1 billion will be for public education; $400 million goes directly to the local school systems and the rest will come through State government. I mentioned earlier about $680 million or so in transportation funding. 

But then there are a lot of other categories -- Head Start, childcare, food stamps, unemployment.  There is not a funding stream directly for increased police on the streets.  However, the relief that this Federal stimulus provides will be able -- so that State government and local governments do not have to lay off people. 

Now, I can't speak to what Prince George's County will do or what Harford County will do in terms of whether they have to lay off law enforcement.  But I know certainly in the State we have as a goal not to lay off any employees. 

So the Federal stimulus may not create more police officers on the street, but the goal is not to take any off the street. 

Jeff Salkin:  Couple minutes left.  Is there anything in the Governor's agenda, any issues in this session where you agree (sic), where the O'Malley/Brown administration is not speaking with one voice?

LT Governor Brown:  You're asking me --

Jeff Salkin:  Where you disagree. 

LT Governor Brown:  -- if the Governor and I disagree? 

Jeff Salkin:  Yeah.

LT Governor Brown:  No, I mean, when the Governor asked me three years ago to run with him, I spent a lot of time considering what that meant.  And I looked at Martin O'Malley's record.  I had conversations with friends and confidantes.  I looked at what he had laid out for a vision for Maryland and what I envisioned for Maryland.  And based on that, that  research, that due diligence, I came to the conclusion that this is someone who I could run with, we share the same values, the same goals.  We've articulated a set of principles that guide our day-to-day decisions.

So the Governor and I on all the major policy issues are in agreement.  Now, sometimes we arrive at the same conclusion from a different avenue or perspective.  But on the major policy issues, we are in agreement. 

Jeff Salkin:  We saw Tom Perez, Labor Secretary for the State,
take a job in the Obama administration.  I think he was another Harvard law guy.

LT Governor Brown:  That's right.

Jeff Salkin:  Obviously, there's some pretty deep connections to folks in the administration.  Is there anything in Washington that would get you to give up the Lieutenant Governor's position?

LT Governor Brown:  You know, I am just very honored to have the privilege to serve Marylanders as the Lieutenant Governor, I really am.  And so my goal is to continue serving as Lieutenant Governor and what's out there on the horizon, whether in Washington, whether right here in Maryland, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. 

But I'm committed to the Governor, to running for re-election in 2010, so that we can continue the good work that we're doing in Maryland.

Jeff Salkin:  And I know you spoke supportively of the work the President is doing, but, you know, I don't know if you saw his NCAA bracket, he has both Maryland and Morgan going out this weekend. 

LT Governor Brown:  Yeah, well, I've got, for both the men and the women, Maryland is going to take it.  I know it's a little bigger uphill climb for the men, but I'm staying with the home teams.

Jeff Salkin:  There you go.  That's somebody who's running for re-election in 2010. 

Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown, thanks for being with us. 

LT Governor Brown:  Thank you, Jeff. 

Jeff Salkin:  Hope we can do it again.  And thank you for watching Direct Connection.  We're back tomorrow night at 7:30 with Your Money & Business.  From all of us at MPT, have a good night. 

 

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