Why Md. voters don't turn out [Letter]

I was somewhat confused by Dan Rodricks' column on the low turnout in last week's primary elections ("Excuses aside, Maryland voter turnout an embarrassment," June 25).

I mean, why is he shocked at the low voter turnout? Voter apathy is a direct result of one political party's stranglehold on power in Maryland. Republican voters are apathetic because they know they are outnumbered 2-to-1, and Democrats are the same because they know the coronation of Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown was already a done deal by the party's power brokers.

And even if by some miracle Mr. Brown turns out to be the empty suit I think he is and stumbles during the campaign, allowing Larry Hogan to win, things will still be the same just as if Mr. Brown had been elected.

Why? Because the real power in this state is concentrated in the House speaker and Senate president's offices occupied by Mike Busch and Mike Miller. Nothing happens in this state without their blessing, and anyone who doesn't believe that need look no further then the administration of former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Practically everything Mr. Ehrlich championed was blocked by Messrs. Busch and Miller.

Remember Mr. Ehrlich's proposal for slot machines to pay for the Thornton school funding formula? How did that work out? Yet slots and table game gambling were quickly approved as soon as a Democrat became governor.

I can hardly wait for Mr. Brown to take office. If current Gov. Martin O'Malley will be remembered as the first governor to tax the rain, Mr. Brown will surely try to one-up him by being the first to tax the air.

Mark Wilson, Fallston
