The Poors: Leaded and unleaded
by Tom Sullivan
Once again, our vigilant T-party politicians are on the alert for the theoretical possibility of crimes by the Poors. Courtesy of Charlie Pierce comes the next wave of imaginary dirty tricks perpetrated by the Poors on honest, decent Americans. Landlords, in this case:
Holt is Maryland's secretary of housing, community and development, and he is wise to the ways of America's crafty poor people. Holt is seeking to "relax" Maryland's lead-poisoning law in order to take the jackboot of regulation off the necks of the state's landlords. And nothing gets by Kenneth Holt.
From the Baltimore Sun:
Kenneth C. Holt, secretary of Housing, Community and Development, told an audience at the Maryland Association of Counties summer convention here that a mother could just put a lead fishing weight in her child's mouth, then take the child in for testing and a landlord would be liable for providing the child with housing until the age of 18.
Pressed afterward, Holt said he had no evidence of this happening but said a developer had told him it was possible. "This is an anecdotal story that was described to me as something that could possibly happen," Holt said.
Thank heavens these public servants are always on high alert for the possibility of widespread voter fraud (or was it the widespread possibility?) and other dangers for which they never seem to produce evidence. Bigfoot might steal their Wheat Thins. The Poors might counterfeit the governor's power bill. Prisoners might hide tiny revolvers in their beards. "Just because we haven't found the example doesn't mean they aren't there" was good enough to argue last year before the Supreme Court.
Pierce continues:
Republican audiences are perfectly willing to buy the notion that clever moms are having their children suck on lead weights to stick it to their landlords and get something for nothing. Within the Republican Party, there is a relentless search for solutions to problems that do not exist, and an equally relentless search for suckers in the general public.