News

Restoring Our Republic 
John Sarbanes, The Huffington Post 
September 14, 2016

The story goes that Benjamin Franklin was approached by Elizabeth Powell as he exited Independence Hall in Philadelphia: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” The 81-year old Franklin replied, “[A] republic... if you can keep it.”

Keeping our republic has become the passion of millions of Americans who are convinced that their government is broken. They see a Congress captured by special interests and frustratingly unresponsive to the needs of everyday Americans. Whatever else they may disagree about, Democrats, Republicans and Independents have all arrived at the same explanation for the rot in our politics: Big Money.

According to a recent Ipsos poll, 7 in 10 respondents agreed that our democracy is at risk if action is not taken to address the undue influence of money in politics. The same poll found that 8 in 10 respondents view that influence to be worse than at any other time in their lives and an overwhelming 93 percent of respondents felt that elected officials listen more to big-money campaign donors than to regular voters.

Click here to continue reading.

By Sarah Gantz, The Baltimore Sun

Baltimore signed an agreement Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Energy and the Maryland Clean Energy Center to develop a financing model to make solar energy more accessible to low-income residents.

Existing financing options for installing solar panels require a large up-front investment or high credit ratings, which can be prohibitive for many low-income homeowners. Details of Baltimore's financing model are still to be determined, but city officials said the goal will be to eliminate some of the barriers that prevent low-income residents from making the investment — as much as $15,000 for a typical Baltimore rowhouse.

"We want to prove the clean-energy revolution in our country can be designed to include everyone," said David Foster, a senior adviser at the Energy Department.

The new program eventually could serve as a national model, he said.

Foster was among the officials and lawmakers, including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Reps. Elijah E. Cummings and John Sarbanes, who announced plans for the program outside a Belair-Edison home selected to receive solar panels as part of another city initiative to install solar panels in low-income areas.

Read entire article in The Baltimore Sun ​

By Lowell Melser, WBAL 

Democratic members of Maryland's congressional delegation gather in an attempt to maintain pressure on the issue of gun safety legislation.

Maryland gun-safety advocates met in Baltimore to support tougher laws connected to gun violence, setting up what could be an interesting debate next week on Capitol Hill.

After last week's sit-in on the House floor, many of Maryland's Democratic members of Congress, along with gun violence prevention advocates and victims of gun violence, made an attempt to keep up the pressure on the issue, addressing a crowd in north Baltimore.

Kate Ranta talked about being stalked by her ex-husband, who shot her and her father.

"My son, who is 7 now, but 4 at the time, stood screaming, 'Don't do it, Daddy, don't shoot Mommy,' witnessing the whole thing. It was luck that no bullets entered his tiny body," Ranta said.

Sheryl Baughman lost her son to suicide. She said she believes that a waiting list for the mentally unstable might have saved him.

"Had they made him wait, maybe whatever circumstances were going on in his life that day could have been different," Baughman said.

Maryland's Democratic political leaders also used the forum to call out Republicans for not working with them on gun legislation, but they had trouble giving reasons why no such legislation passed when Democrats had control over the House and Senate in President Obama's first two years in office.

"I can't answer the question. I was on the intelligence committee, so I wouldn't have dealt with that to begin with, but I know it has always been an issue," said U.S. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-District 2.

Others blamed a supposed stronghold by the National Rifle Association over Congress at the time.

"The tide is turning, and the intimidation factor that operated on all of Congress at one point has begun to shift," said U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, D-District 3.

Read the entire article on WBAL 

By John Fritze,  The Baltimore Sun 

On Wednesday I had the opportunity to be on WYPR’s Maryland Morning. Click here to hear my interview with Tom Hall. 

"This will launch an educational partnership around the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail," Sarbanes said. TTEC aims to educate students about the state's role in the War of 1812 by getting them out of the classroom and onto historic sites.

Continue reading here. 

Now, our nation's leaders are calling it a public health crisis that has reached epidemic proportions. It is getting so bad that it is getting attention from Hollywood to the halls of Congress. Even the president is getting aggressive in the fight.

Read the entire story here.

THOSE OF US who cherish the First Amendment often argue that the best antidote to offensive speech is not a ban or regulation, but simply more speech. A similar logic supports a bill in Congress that would rebalance the grotesque influence of big money in political campaigns by giving a louder voice to small donors. “We’re not restricting anyone’s speech,” said US Representative John Sarbanes of Maryland, sponsor of the bill. ‘‘We’re adding speech.”

Continue reading here.

I was recently on HuffPost Live's Political Junkies dicussing money in politics and the Government By the People Act (HR 20).

Click below to watch the interview.