June 7 - Infamous Day for Baltimore County Councilman David Marks

June 7, 2011 - Two years ago.

Credit: Baltimore Sun

That was the day Baltimore County Councilman David Marks falsely announced that he had secured the signatures of four of his council colleagues on a letter denouncing our DREAMERS.

Despite several requests Mr. Marks has never produced such a letter.

Once again I ask - Mr David Marks, produce the letter you claim to have passed around and gotten signed by four of your council colleagues?

In his enthusiasm to align himself with bigotry, David Marks also announced that he had diverted campaign funds from supporters into the effort to collect signatures on petitions to place Maryland's new DREAM Act before the voters in the election set for November 2012.

According to Brian Sears, writing in the TOWSON PATCH, June 8 2011:

"Marks, a Perry Hall Republican, has signed the [anti-DREAM Act] petition. In fact, Marks said he used his campaign account to pay for half of a booth he shared with volunteers collecting signatures at the Towson Spring Festival." 

Well, sadly for simple fairness and also needlessly expensive for Maryland taxpayers, signatures were collected, counted and verified and the anti-Hispanic, anti-high-school kids referendum was placed on the ballot.

But guess what? 

On November 6, 2012 bigotry and David Marks, lost.

The voters of Maryland upheld the state's DREAM Act.

End of story? Not quite. Next year, November 2014, David Marks will be on the ballot.

Time for the voters of the Fifth District to send Mr. Marks where the anti-hispanic referendum was sent. . . . away, 

away,

away. Dixieland

David Marks - (1) hostile to immigrants (2) anti-education (3) abusive of his public trust; that's 3 strikes.

December 7th:

This date marks the anniversary of the attack by the nation of Japan on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor.

December 7 is also the birthdate of Noam Chomsky who said, "We should not be looking for heroes but for good ideas."

December 7 also marks the date 18 months ago in Baltimore County, which gave us no heroes and a very bad idea. 

June 7, 2011 is the date that Baltimore County Councilman David Marks proudly and falsely announced that he and four other members of the Baltimore County Council signed a letter denouncing the newly passed Maryland DREAM Act. (If there ever was such a letter, let Mr. Marks produce it, with the signatures of his County Council colleagues affixed to it.) 

In 2011 Mister Marks claimed that he had arranged for four other members of the County Council to join him in opposition to Maryland Dreamers, children without legal status in the US who want and need to continue their education in junior college and beyond.

David Marks is so zealous against higher education for Hispanic and other immigrant kids that he claimed, back in 2011 he diverted a portion of his campaign funds into the effort to place his prejudices on the November 6 2012 ballot - where he was resoundingly defeated - Maryland's DREAM Act garnered almost 60 percent of the statewide vote.

No doubt, at this point, 18 months down the road, and having been repudiated by the voters of Maryland,  Mister Marks would prefer that everyone forget that he is no hero to education, or to children or to his constituents. David Marks would dearly hope that we would all forget that he has shown himself willing to use his position as a locally elected official to lobby for his prejudices to gain purchase across Maryland.

Mister Marks, now that you and a handful of like-minded bigots have lost in your effort to keep immigrant kids on the lowest economic rung , you may want to change the subject.

But you cannot change your character.

Montgomery College Trustees Endorse DREAM

FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 2012

Montgomery College Trustees Endorse Maryland DREAM Act

RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT

Casa de Maryland today announced that the Montgomery College Board of Trustees has passed a resolution supporting the Maryland Dream Act. Below you can read a full copy of the resolution and a letter explaining the Board's action. I've excerpted a few pertinent parts from the letter, which summarize the Dream Act provisions they endorse, as well as their rationale:

MONTGOMERY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES: The Dream Act provides to undocumented students local in-state rates for tuition in Maryland community colleges (and four-year colleges with additional requirements), provided that the students can show attendance in a Maryland high school for at least three years, that their parents filed tax returns in Maryland during periods between attendance in high school and attendance at community college and that the students commit to legalizing status as soon as they are eligible. It is a confirmation and a slightly modified extension of a long observed policy of Montgomery College that granted all graduates of Montgomery County high schools local instate tuition rates....

There are many reasons for support of the Dream Act. The Act benefits both the students and the community by providing a valuable, better educated workforce, encouraging not only high school graduation but enabling higher education at a tuition cost that is affordable and otherwise, without this Act, out of reach for most of these students. It leverages the public investment already made in these students in the K-12 school system. Further, it is not a scholarship program and, according to an independent expert economist engaged by the College, Dr. David Breneman, the relatively few students involved do not cost substantial additional overhead and actually contribute tuition that would not be otherwise paid if they were assessed at the highest out-of-state rate. Accordingly, as expressed by Dr. Breneman, “…far from imposing additional taxes on Maryland and Montgomery County taxpayers, the Policy [essentially, the Dream Act] actually saves the taxpayers a great deal of money each year.”

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, as a public institution committed to access and education for all, the Dream Act is the “right thing to do” for the College

SOURCE: MARYLAND JUICE