Maryland Freedom Caucus response to Speaker Pena-Melnyk

DEMOCRATS POLICE SPEECH WHILE MARYLAND FAMILIES STRUGGLE 

Annapolis, MD—News broke today that Maryland’s Comptroller is withholding taxpayer refunds, claiming the state has run out of money and needs to use yours instead.

While Marylanders suffer under record taxes and a collapsing budget, the Speaker of the House is instead wasting time writing private letters to police the speech of elected representatives on a podcast. Rather than addressing these kitchen-table issues, the Speaker of the House has resorted to heavy-handed speech policing of Maryland Freedom Caucus members reminiscent of Communist Party tactics.

This session, Democrats passed the largest budget in state history— a staggering $71 billion — following the largest tax and fee increases in Maryland history just last year. Yet instead of confronting the economic damage their policies have inflicted, the Speaker repeatedly tried to silence Freedom Caucus members during debate, prompting an open letter exposing her undemocratic conduct.

On Sine Die, the final day of session, the Speaker broke her explicit promise to Republicans by ramming through two controversial election bills after 11:55 p.m.— measures widely viewed as unconstitutional attempts to further disenfranchise independent and conservative voters.

In an election year, Maryland Democrats have abandoned the issues that matter most to families in order to police the speech of the minority party. The Maryland Freedom Caucus urges voters to remember this when they cast their ballots in November.

Del. Matt Morgan

District 29A

St. Mary’s County

Chair

Del. Kathy Szeliga

District 7A

Baltimore County

Vice Chair

Del. Ryan Nawrocki

District 7A

Baltimore County

Whip

Del. Lauren Arikan

District 7B

Harford County

Del. Brian Chisholm

District 31

Anne Arundel County

Del. Mark Fisher

District 27C

Calvert County

Del. Robin Grammer

District 6

Baltimore County