Posted by Phil Lee (208.19.133.132) on May 03, 2001 at 15:12:
House speaker casts wider net
For Casper Taylor, a broader, more progressive agenda is key to the state's -- and his -- future.
Sarah Koenig Sun Staff
Originally Published - March 11, 2001
On the dais, one hand in his pocket and the other lazily swinging the House speaker's gavel, Casper R. Taylor Jr. looks as if he just wandered in to watch some mediocre legislative theater.
There's a debate going on about lowering the blood-alcohol level at which a person can be convicted of driving while intoxicated. As delegates argue into their microphones, Taylor leans against the wall between two flags so that, in profile, only his belly is visible. After the 116-17 vote to lower the level to 0.08 percent, Taylor joins in, muttering, "Declared passed," with all the drama of a subway driver announcing a stop.
The casual observer might never guess that Taylor cares strongly about the bill, that it's third on his annual priority list and so has the impressive number House Bill 3, and that without his backing, the measure probably would have stalled in committee.
Since his election as speaker of the House of Delegates in 1994, Taylor has used the office to become one of the foremost policy-makers in Maryland. In contrast to his predecessors, he publishes a yearly legislative agenda, and his members do not mess with it lightly.
This time of year, the 66-year-old former tavern owner plods between committee rooms and his chairmen's offices, sometimes rushing his soup lunch, to make sure his top bills are proceeding apace.
His 15-bill list this session includes some strikingly liberal-leaning legislation, including a proposal to extend health-care coverage to 60,000 of the working poor; a prescription drug plan that would give elderly people pharmacy discounts; tax credits for construction of environmentally friendly buildings; and grants to train people coming off welfare for jobs that provide so-called "living" wages.
Taylor also has given strong support to some of the governor's most-debated priorities, such as targeting 25 percent of state contracts to minority businesses and a bill to include gays and lesbians among those who cannot be discriminated against in housing and employment.
Especially for a politician from Western Maryland, these positions are not obvious ones, says Keith Haller, a pollster with Potomac Survey Research in Bethesda.
"It's quite exceptional for a speaker of the House to pursue a kind of a broad progressive statewide agenda," Haller says. "You will not find another speaker, I don't think, anywhere in the country so bold and aggressive on a wide range of issues as witnessed in this legislative session."
A smart politician
Some lawmakers say Taylor has become more progressive as his speakership has worn on. Others say he is simply a smart politician: If he wants to remain in office, his priorities must reflect those of his members.
In the 1998 election, six conservative Republicans lost House seats to liberal Democrats, points out House GOP leader Robert H. Kittleman of Howard County.
"He looked at the new composition and decided he had to move. The caucus [of House Democrats] got more liberal, and so did he," he said. "A lot of that stuff on his agenda doesn't reflect his personal philosophy at all. That's not wrong, that's the way the body works."
The liberal politics of Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who won re-election easily in 1998, has also affected the House agenda, lawmakers say. A recent poll conducted for The Sun found that most Marylanders have staunchly liberal views.
The leadership agenda is not Taylor's alone, although his unquestioned influence largely determines its success. Some bills on it are put there by request, such as one to create a women's health office, which the women's caucus wanted, or the "green buildings" bill, a project of Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat.
Regardless of the speaker's motivation, Del. Leon G. Billings, a Montgomery County Democrat and one of the most liberal House members, is pleased that his role as his party's "squeaky wheel" has diminished thanks in large part to Taylor.
"I think that he has discovered that his more conservative constituency is not going to support him anyway, so he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by pursuing a more progressive agenda," Billings said.
By focusing on relatively nondivisive topics such as education, economic development and health-care funding, Taylor has affected state policy while helping unify the caucus, Billings added.
'The legislature now has a voice that it's probably never had before," said Del. Michael E. Busch, an Anne Arundel Democrat.
A moderate approach
Taylor says he is simply trying to hew a moderate course -- one that reflects his own politics -- while remaining mindful of his membership.
"My basic beliefs have not changed. My basic convictions hopefully will never change," he said. "But the state of Maryland is more liberal than the overall mainstream of America. I believe that I pay attention to that.
"What I'm trying to avoid -- what I'm urging this nation to avoid -- is having this nation dominated by the extremes on either end."
What he's also trying to avoid is relentless criticism from back home in Cumberland, where his constituency is considerably more conservative. He has been hammered in the local newspaper for supporting the governor's gun safety bill last year. This month, a newspaper column by a gun club official accused him of weakly humoring the governor and being a closet anti-gun proponent, an untenable label in Allegany County.
Taylor fights that perception, explaining carefully that he is against gun control but for gun safety.
He scoffs at the idea that he is anything but moderate-to-conservative, pointing out that his highest priority this year (thus, HB1) is to increase public school funding, including extra money for special education and for poor areas of the state.
Other bills on his agenda concern tourism, a regional transportation study and a corporate tax break.
As for his health care proposals, he has championed such issues throughout his political career. As chairman of the House Economic Matters Committee in 1993, he sponsored the state's health care reform act to make insurance more affordable for small businesses.
On a spiritual mission
Those who have known Taylor for years, such as former Del. Timothy F. Maloney, who served with Taylor from 1978 to 1994, are not surprised by his agenda this session.
"With Cas, it's almost a spiritual mission. I don't think it's anything new. He was talking about health care reform before anyone put those three words together," he says. "In '93 or '94, he must have spent half the session walking around saying, 'How can we make sure every 3-year-old gets vaccinated?'"
Rosenberg traces Taylor's progressive bent to his roots. Coming from an economically troubled part of the state, Taylor appreciates the role of government aid. As a devout Catholic, he feels a responsibility to do good deeds to help the poor, Rosenberg says.
Taylor was born and raised in Cumberland, where his parents ran a restaurant and package store. After studying government at the University of Notre Dame, he returned home, married his high school girlfriend and ran the family business.
With a simmering interest in politics, he joined local clubs -- the Elks, Eagles, Knights of Columbus, Dapper Dan. Once his two children were college age, he ran for the House and began serving in 1975.
In Annapolis, he earned a reputation as a student of policy and as a consensus builder, characteristics that followed him to the speaker's office.
His leadership relies heavily on patience and equilibrium, says Del. Howard P. Rawlings, the Baltimore Democrat who leads the House Appropriations Committee.
Taylor's toughest moment as speaker came in 1999, when a bill to provide money for Baltimore schools outraged delegates from other parts of the state, who demanded equal treatment for their schools.
As the chamber spun into discord, "there were periods when we didn't know what the hell we were going to arrive at," Rawlings said. Taylor "was very patient. He didn't force people into camps."
Taylor remembers the fight as ugly. He used the summer to heal hurt feelings and damaged relationships, a strategy he often employs to pass tough bills.
"My philosophy is always to try to keep everyone in play and keep everybody communicating, and try to do as much of it by your own example as you can," he says. "I try to hide my emotions, which I certainly have, just like everybody else does."
He'd like to be governor
His noncommittal facial expressions, which can look unintentionally melancholy, hold as he talks about his frustration over the governor's proposed budget, which the legislature plans to cut by more than $200 million while searching for extra money to pay for health care deficits.
And he doesn't flinch when asked what he'd like to do next. A few years ago, he looked poised to challenge Glendening, whose picture (unlike that of former governor and Taylor friend William Donald Schaefer) does not hang on his office wall. Taylor says he'd "absolutely" like to be governor, "but you also have to be realistic. I haven't seen a legitimate opportunity."
Political observers say electing an anti-abortion Democrat from Maryland's western edge is nearly impossible.
As for lieutenant governor, he can't say and besides, no one has asked him. Friends say the job of state comptroller or treasurer interests him, but Taylor won't discuss such options.
"We have a comptroller," he said, "and we have a treasurer, and they're both good friends of mine."
For now, he says, he's planning on staying speaker, a job almost everyone who works with him wants him to keep.
"I know people want to move up," says Schaefer, "but if you had to have a permanent speaker, he'd be it."
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Land of Lost Opportunity
March 12, 2001
Where is the Cas Taylor depicted in the Sunday Baltimore Sun piece posted above? Where is the consensus builder, the man willing to allow the voice of the people to override his own personal views on issues of importance to the state? Where is the diplomat, the creator of dialogue, the man who so ably has molded the office of Speaker in the Maryland General Assembly into the most powerful such office in the United States?
The Cas Taylor depicted in such detail in the Baltimore Sun is a stranger to the people of Western Maryland. The people of Allegany County do not question Mr. Taylor’s actions, or his motivations, for fear of losing their jobs. They have no voice in the legislation that affects them. They speak in whispers of his pet projects that do nothing for our community - like his 8$ million amphitheater at Rocky Gap - but say little out loud.
In Annapolis, Mr. Taylor is a consensus builder. In Allegany County, he is a dictator.
Our County Commissioners make no move without Mr. Taylor’s approval. When the question of taxing tip jars arose late last year, Mr. Taylor adamantly opposed a local county tax, even though the money would have done much to assist our financially strapped school system. The County Commissioners refused to even ask the Delegation to file a bill creating a tax, in spite of cries from the public to tap this revenue stream.
Last year, the people of Allegany County were told AFTER the session in Annapolis that a bill had been passed that created a new horse track in the state of Maryland - in Allegany County. Had the people of Allegany County been asked if they wanted a horse track? No. Mr. Taylor wanted a horse track, and he wanted it in Little Orleans. The people were to have no say in the matter.
As Mr. Taylor travels the halls of Annapolis, guiding the unruly House year after year, he works diligently to please the people living elsewhere in the state by forgoing his own stand on issues. To remain Speaker, he must keep a majority of the House membership happy. To do that, he creates and supports legislation that pleases the wealthy, liberal population downstate.
And what do we get? Prisons, horse tracks, and slots.
According to the Sun, Mr. Taylor’s philosophy as Speaker has been “to try to keep everyone in play and keep everybody communicating, and try to do as much of it by your own example as you can.”
When was the last time Mr. Taylor communicated with his constituents at home? He doesn’t. That inability - or unwillingness - to have a dialogue with the people he represents is indicative of where his true interests lie. He can’t be the most powerful Speaker in the country and pay attention to the needs of his constituents at the same time. So what are we getting out of this relationship again? Every county in the state is doing better than we are, and we’re the only county with a Speaker among our Delegation. That fact speaks volumes.
During Mr. Taylor’s tenure, Allegany County has become a county of landfills and prisons. Not many communities really want other people’s garbage or huge prison complexes in their midst, so we get them. Along with $7 per hour jobs that keep families impoverished, as provided for in Mr. Taylor’s One Maryland program.
No one wants $7 per hour jobs, either. People make $9.50 an hour at convenience stores in Washington County.
Mr. Taylor does work hard at something here in Allegany County - he toils to ensure his power here is absolute, because his ability to continue as Speaker - or to move to another position of power - hinges on whether or not he can ignore the needs of his constituents and still stay in office. He has made a commitment in his career, but it is a commitment to his own advancement, not to improving our community. That’s why he must oppress any dialogue here. He doesn’t have time for it, and he doesn’t care. His interests lie elsewhere.
Perhaps the people of Allegany County would be better served by a representative with lesser power, and more interest in meeting the needs of our county. More interest in getting funding for our school system. More interest in investing state money that would foster true economic development with jobs that pay a living wage, as opposed to building amphitheaters and state owned hotels. In other words, a representative committed to creating a thriving, viable community that
provides a future for our children.
The rest of the state can survive without Mr. Taylor. And Allegany County? Without Mr. Taylor, we could blossom.