Free me from Andy Harris' district
Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson might have reason to fear the proposed redistricting effort (“Maryland House committee passes Gov. Moore’s advisory panel redistricting map,” Jan. 27). Not because, as he states, it could get in the way of the General Assembly focusing on improving affordability. That objection couldn’t be more of a red herring if it hopped out of a child’s bedtime story between the “Two Fish” and the “Blue Fish.” If the senator’s underlying concern is that Democrats might worsen their 7-1 advantage in Maryland’s congressional delegation, he might have a point.
But if he believes that Gov. Wes Moore’s drive to redraw Maryland’s map in response to Republican states doing the same feeds cynicism about politics, nothing could be as cynical as Maryland’s current map and the 1st Congressional District, where I live.
U.S. Rep. Andy Harris is my congressman. My district was made impenetrable to make the rest of Maryland safer for Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives 15 years ago. Essentially, one-third of Maryland’s land mass is walled off from true competition for congressional representation.
Harris votes against health care, aid for the hungry, even against federal disaster assistance for Marylanders, yet always wins re-election handily. Although he once favored term limits, Harris apparently likes being a congressman for life. He might say my pique is purely partisan, but many Democrats here once voted for a Republican congressman, Wayne Gilchrest, one of the great environmental stewards this Chesapeake Bay-dependent state has known.
Even more vexing for me, the congressional boundary is only a block away. To paraphrase the line about Sarah Palin and Russia, I can see the 2nd District from my house. An earlier redistricting plan even moved us into that district briefly before a judge nullified the plan and moved us back.
To Maryland Senate President Ferguson, I say: I don’t want to be a hostage forever in Andy Harris-stan. Let my people go — to vote in a competitive congressional race.
— Andrew Ratner, Abingdon