Maryland delegate says she won't resign after House censures her for 'racist and hateful slur'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The House of Delegates censured Harford County Del. Mary Ann Lisanti on Thursday for her use of a racial slur, which members said “brought dishonor to the entire General Assembly of Maryland.”
After the vote, the Democrat said she would not resign, despite calls for her to do so by House leaders, the governor, the Legislative Black Caucus and constituents.
She also said she did not believe she had used an offensive term to describe African-Americans, although she acknowledged earlier in the week that she had done so. A reporter asked if she had said it, and Lisanti responded: “I do not believe I did, but I am still accepting responsibility.”
Lisanti said resigning would be “an easy way out” and not the right thing to do.
Lisanti came under fire this week after The Washington Post reported she used the racial slur during an after-hours gathering in January at an Annapolis bar. Lisanti told a fellow lawmaker that when he helped a candidate in Prince George’s County, he was knocking on doors in a “n— — district, ” according to the report.
n a Thursday evening session convened to discipline Lisanti, delegates voted to approve a resolution of censure that said she “publicly admitted to using a hateful and derogatory racial slur while describing a predominately African American legislative district in Prince George’s County.”
The vote was 137 for censure, with one delegate who did not vote, one delegate who was excused from voting (Lisanti) and two who were granted excused absences.
“This racist and hateful term has no place in anyone’s vocabulary, particularly an elected representative of the state of Maryland, serving on behalf of all of our constituents,” the resolution said.
After the vote, Lisanti read a statement to reporters outside the House chamber that she had prepared but did not deliver during the floor session.
“You, my colleagues, are considering what is appropriate sanction for the use of a word. While ever so vile and hurtful, a word. Not an action, behavior or course of conduct,” Lisanti said. “Words matter. They can inflict pain and, in this case, this word represents the most deplorable, and for that, I accept your action.”
Lisanti said she hoped to hire a staff member to help her reach out to “diverse communities” in Harford County.
“Healing begins tomorrow,” Lisanti said.
The resolution was drafted by House Speaker Michael Busch and Del. Kathleen Dumais, the majority leader for the Democrats , who was the only delegate to speak before the vote.
“This is a sad day for the House of Delegates when we have to act to censure one of our own. … With this vote, we are saying as a body that racial slurs and racially charged language cannot and will not be tolerated,” said Dumais, a Montgomery County Democrat.
The resolution noted that African-Americans make up 30 percent of the state’s population and 57 of the 188 members of the General Assembly.
It concluded by saying, “This conduct has brought dishonor to the entire General Assembly of Maryland.”
The House took the step after Lisanti resisted pressure from leaders in face-to-face meetings Wednesday night and Thursday morning to resign, according to three sources with knowledge of the meetings.
Busch told reporters Thursday night that censure was necessary to “protect the integrity of the House.”
He also said it was a sad day for Lisanti and the other members of the House.“Regardless of what she said — she said a racial slur, which is not acceptable anywhere in society — she's still a human being,” Busch said. “There's some empathy that goes to Delegate Lisanti.”
The speaker said it was up to Lisanti whether she would step down. "Everybody in leadership has talked to her about the pros and cons of resigning,” Busch said. “It's her decision and her call to make."
Censure is the second-strongest punishment in the General Assembly, exceeded only by expulsion. It is a public expression of the House’s disapproval of a fellow lawmaker’s actions.
Busch stripped Lisanti on Thursday of her assignment to the House Economic Matters Committee, which reviews bills related to business regulation, such as increasing the minimum wage and banning tobacco use under the age of 21. Earlier in the week, Busch removed Lisanti from posts as a subcommittee chairwoman and as a co-chairwoman of a joint committee on unemployment insurance. Having no committee assignment means Lisanti’s sole responsibility is to attend floor sessions of the House of Delegates and vote on legislation.
Del. Darryl Barnes, chairman of the black caucus, said his membership still wants Lisanti to resign.
"My hope is that with the censure, she will look herself in the mirror and realize she must resign," said Barnes, a Prince George’s County Democrat. "She cannot be effective at all. She has no responsibilities and no committee and folks are continuing to call for her resignation."
Tags
Who is online
47 visitors
This forum is being infected with gaslighting nonsense.
It's a shame.
Why do I get the feeling if a Republican had said that your reaction would be different?
Yep.
So true. I don't know why I bother most of the time, anymore.
I posted an article myself on this forum on this woman.
I condemn racism by DINOs, by republicans, by independents, and democrats (although it seems the republicans and the, ahem, independents, not so much if it's their own)
Wow! I am simply taken aback by all of it. It seems hard to tell up from down in these "crazy mixed-up representatives" —pervasive across the land. Part of me wants everybody to just calm down. Not every problem should call for a "def-con alert" with proceedings to follow. I mean, we do have some really bizarre usages of the "N" word creeping across television airways in "pockets" - in context of a story - and sometimes as a "popular expression." In those formats, the word is multiplied by the number of audience members and in each distinct showing across the medium.
When does in-house fines, penalties, and training operate anymore? The term, "racist" is not a toy to attach to people simply to get what they've got. It gets watered-down that way. Becomes ineffectual. A tool of destruction. This term, "racist" should search out and remove the worse of the worse!
Should this representative stay or should she go (away). It would depend on her pattern of usage of racist terms; her "spirit" - which can be determined if she continues to say she meant what she said; or, the ineffectual state of her after 'adjudication' by her peers.
She has lost a great deal of effectual power in her office. What is left her to execute her job properly, that would settle the question of continuing on or resigning for the good of the people. The people should come first!
White liberal privilege strikes again! Further proof of Dem double standards.