QUOTE OF THE
WEEK: “This has been
a terrible disaster. It is beyond our comprehension.”
-- President George W. Bush, on the
Southeast Asian natural disasters
Friday Thursday Footnote #9 … December 30,
2004
A
publication of The Baltimore Jewish Council.
5750 Park Heights Avenue. Baltimore MD 21215.
Phone: (410) 542-4850.
3. Maryland Alliance for the Poor legislative agenda
4. Worth a read
…And click here
for our archive
of previous Friday Footnotes.
|
W |
elcome, friends, to another (early) edition of the Friday
Footnote, a weekly letter about Maryland politics and the Jewish
community.
As we grapple with the mounting scope of the tragedy halfway
around the world, there are a growing number of organizations, including The
ASSOCIATED, looking to forward your relief contributions to those on the ground
who are battling to save lives. Closer
to home, legislators and Governor Ehrlich worked this week to find common
ground on the issue of medical malpractice liability reform. And there is mounting speculation about a
successor to NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, not to mention what his plans may
be.
Don’t forget that for those interested in serving on our
Legislative Committee, charged with reviewing and recommending action on bills
as they are filed, the first meeting will be Monday January 24, from 8:15 to
9:15 a.m. in the Greenstein Social Services Building on Park Heights Ave. I’ll need to know attendance plans in
advance.
Also, please mark your calendars for “Hands-on
Israel Advocacy Training, The Five Rules of Israel Advocacy: A Hands-On Israel
Advocacy Seminar About Survival, Terror and Diplomacy,” presented by the
Baltimore Jewish Council and The Associated. The seminar, on January 25 at
7:00 p.m. at the Park Heights JCC, features Neil Lazarus, internationally
acclaimed expert in the field of Middle East, Israel advocacy and effective
communication training. Participants will explore addressing anti-Israel bias
in the media, learning how to stand up for Israel, dealing with anti-Semitism
in our own communities, and more.
Please contact Lynn Katzen for
more information.
As the secular New Year
approaches, we have much to be sad about and – hopefully – much to be thankful
for at home. I hope you and your family
have a happy and healthy New Year, and a pleasant and peaceful Shabbat.
- David
*** Save the Date: Maryland Jewish Alliance Advocacy Day in Annapolis: March 7, 2005, 5-8 p.m.***
At this time, the death toll in
Southeast Asia has exceeded 110,000 and is still rising. Our hearts go out to the millions of people
who are now struggling to survive the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunamis
that destroyed so many lives, homes and villages.
For those looking to pitch in,
and who want to funnel their support through Jewish organizations, you should
know that The ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore has
established a disaster
relief fund for the victims in Southeast Asia.
There is a form at the above
website you can fill out to make a gift by credit card. Or you can send a check directly to:
Tsunami
Relief Fund
THE ASSOCIATED
101 W. Mt. Royal Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201
Attn: Amy Silberman
(Please indicate it’s for
the Tsunami Relief Fund in the memo section of your check.)
The New York Times posts this larger list of agencies accepting disaster
relief contributions.
All eyes in Maryland’s political world were on Annapolis
this week, and the special session of the General Assembly, called in to tackle
the issue of medical malpractice liability reform. We were there on Tuesday, when the moods ranged from festive (it
was a reunion of sorts), to peeved (many holidays cut short) to anxious (this
is an important problem, after all, with many ramifications affecting people’s
lives across the state).
[And by the way, we send our congratulations to the newest
delegate, Murray D. Levy of Charles County, for his appointment to the
important House Appropriations Committee.
When we met with him last month at his home in La Plata, Del. Levy
already knew more about the state budget than many veterans. So he got his wish, and we couldn’t be
happier for him. Also, Del. Bill Frank
of Baltimore County’s 42nd District has been moved from
Appropriations to the Health & Government Operations Committee. We’ll be working closely with him there on
any number of issues, and wish him well.]
On Tuesday, both houses of the legislature voted to sustain
most of Governor Ehrlich’s vetoes, as expected, and postponed until January 11 –
a day before the start of the regular 2005 session – votes on whether to
override a short list of vetoes. The House list
is here, the Senate
list is here.
By now you probably know the outcome of the medical
malpractice legislation. Early Thursday
morning both chambers of the legislature voted by veto-proof majorities on a
compromise version that would, among other things, cap doctors’ liability
insurance increases at about 5 percent next year, rather than the expected average
33 percent, and would fund that cap by switching HMO taxation from the current
corporate income tax, to a 2 percent tax on premiums. That fund also would pay for increased Medicaid reimbursements to
various specialty doctors. Governor
Ehrlich has said he will veto the bill; if so, the Legislature would likely address
that veto on January 11, along with the others remaining.
Here are the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post perspectives on the outcome of the special session.
Maryland Alliance for the Poor
Legislative Agenda
The Maryland Alliance for the Poor, or MAP, is one of the
BJC’s oldest and strongest legislative coalitions. It was founded in 1988 at the behest of the late-Delegate Howard
“Pete” Rawlings, who urged the various groups that were advocating for
low-income individuals and families to pull together and develop a common
agenda each year. Thus MAP was born,
and Del. Rawlings was its champion for all of his remaining years in the
legislature. Its formal mission is “to
bring advocacy groups and faith communities together to emphasize and
prioritize major policy efforts to assist families and individuals living in or
near poverty to rise above their circumstances.”
Here are highlights from MAP’s 2005 legislative agenda.
Affordable Health Care, Child Care, and Housing
Affordable health care is vital for an increasing number of Marylanders who cannot afford to purchase health insurance and do not receive health insurance through their employers. Quality affordable child care promotes the vitality of Maryland’s families. Decent affordable housing allows families to use their resources for other basic needs and is essential for all individuals who are trying to improve the quality of their lives.
1. HEALTH CARE
Expand access to
health care and health insurance for low-income people.
2. CHILD CARE
Restore the $25
million that was cut from Purchase of Care and eliminate the waiting list.
3. HOUSING
MAP supports solutions that make it easier to produce housing for low-income people including an increase in funding for the Rental Housing Production Program.
Here is a link to MAP’s website, and here is its full 2005
legislative agenda.
Worth a read
Anyone who is
remotely interested in Maryland politics should read this piece from Roll Call,
the respected Capitol Hill publication, which posted
an article this month (reprinted in an online newsletter called “The
BrownWatch”) exploring speculation that Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Md. 7th)
may replace Kweisi Mfume, outgoing President of the NAACP. The article follows all the possible dominos
that may fall from such a decision, as well as continuing speculation about Mr.
Mfume and the future of U.S. Senator
Paul Sarbanes. That followed a USA
Today piece on November 30 citing Rep. Cummings’ willingness to consider
the NAACP position if he is approached.
Among those whom Roll Call
mentions as possible candidates for Rep. Cummings’ seat:
State Sen. Lisa
Gladden; state Del. Talmadge Branch;
Baltimore City Clerk of Courts Frank Conaway; state Sen. Joan Carter Conway; Baltimore
City Council President Sheila Dixon; state Del. Salima Siler Marriott; state
Senate Majority Leader Nathaniel McFadden; Baltimore City Councilman Kieffer
Mitchell - a nephew of former Rep. Parren Mitchell (D-Md.), who held the seat
before Mfume; former Judge Billy Murphy - Arthur Murphy's brother; Baltimore
City Comptroller Joan Pratt; Baltimore City Councilwoman Stephanie
Rawlings-Blake; the Rev. Frank Reid III, who was runner-up to Cummings in the
1996 special primary; and former Maryland Public Safety Secretary Stu Simms.
For those who may have missed
the December 15 Baltimore City Paper, here’s an interesting interview with a
thoughtful and candid Congressman Ben Cardin (D-Md., 3rd). On the next election, he says, “I think I
have lots of choices, and I’ll make a decision in the next couple of months as
to what I’m going to do in 2006.”
And finally, from the other end
of the corridor, here’s a Washington Post piece about Prince
George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey – who visited with some of us
at the BJC not long ago – and growing speculation about his political future.
The Lighter Side
As legislators in Annapolis grappled with the many details
of medical malpractice legislation this week, there was little time for the
simple things, such as exercise, rest and especially eating right. We close with this snippet from the
legislative diary of Del. Sandy Rosenberg (D-41st), who relates that
his first-ever meeting of his new committee, the House Judiciary Committee,
ended Monday evening at 11:18 p.m. (“Get used to it,” said his chairman, Del.
Joseph Vallario Jr. as he banged his gavel to close the hearing.). The hours, and meals, were no better on
Tuesday, Del. Rosenberg reports:
“Today
was not good for my South Beach diet: pizza for both lunch and dinner.”
Next week starts another year … and a new
lease on that diet. Here’s hoping you
all have success with your resolutions, whatever they may be.
ACTION AGAINST HUNGER
247 West 37th Street, Suite 1201
New York, N.Y. 10018
212-967-7800 x108
www.actionagainsthunger.org
AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE
45 West 36th Street, 10th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10018
800-889-7146
www.ajws.org
AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE
South Asia Tsunami Relief
Box 321
847A Second Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10017
212-687-6200 ext. 851
www.jdc.org
AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE
AFSC Crisis Fund
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, Pa. 19102
215-241-7000
www.afsc.org
AMERICAN RED CROSS
International Response Fund
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, D.C. 20013
800-HELP NOW
www.redcross.org
CARE
151 Ellis Street
Atlanta, GA 30303
800-521-CARE
www.care.org
CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
Tsunami Emergency
P.O. Box 17090
Baltimore, Md. 21203-7090
800-736-3467
www.catholicrelief.org
DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL
27 South La Patera Lane
Santa Barbara, Calif. 93117
805-964-4767
www.directrelief.org
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS
P.O. Box 1856
Merrifield, Va. 22116-8056
888-392-0392
www.doctorswithoutborders.org
EPISCOPAL RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT
Emergency Fund
P. O. Box 12043
Newark, NJ 07101
800-334-7626
www.er-d.org
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS/RED CRESCENT
www.ifrc.org
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS
Earthquake/Tsunami Relief
1919 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 300
Santa Monica, Calif. 90404
800-481-4462
www.imcworldwide.org
INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES
Asia Disaster Response
P.O. Box 630225
Baltimore, MD 21263-0225
877-803-4622
www.iocc.org
ISLAMIC RELIEF USA
Southeast Asia Earthquake Emergency
P.O. Box 6098
Burbank, Calif. 91510
888-479-4968
www.irw.org/asiaquake
MERCY CORPS
Southeast Asia Earthquake Response
Dept. W
P.O. Box 2669
Portland, Ore. 97208
800-852-2100
www.mercycorps.org
OPERATION USA
8320 Melrose Avenue, Suite 200
Los Angles, Calif. 90069
800-678-7255
www.opusa.org
OXFAM AMERICA
Donor Services Department
26 West Street
Boston, MA 12111-1206
800-77-OXFAM
www.oxfamamerica.org
SAVE THE CHILDREN
Asia Earthquake/Tidal Wave Relief Fund
54 Wilton Road
Westport, Conn. 06880
800-728-3843
www.savethechildren.org
UNICEF
General Emergency Fund
333 E. 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
800-4-UNICEF
www.unicef.org