John Bohanan: What say you??

[Bean Machine]

Mr Bohanan, I have tried repeatedly to get your thoughts on HB294 (gun control bill). Senator Dyson was kind enough to respond quickly with his views. Why are you not forthcoming with your opinions? You are an elected official and should respond to your constituents on this matter.

Our sons played football together at LHS and I have always thought you to a pretty straight forward guy...I'm starting to rethink that now. Please answer sometime soon.

 

[mAlice]

Mr Bohanan, I have tried repeatedly to get your thoughts on HB294 (gun control bill). Senator Dyson was kind enough to respond quickly with his views. Why are you not forthcoming with your opinions? You are an elected official and should respond to your constituents on this matter.

Our sons played football together at LHS and I have always thought you to a pretty straight forward guy...I'm starting to rethink that now. Please answer sometime soon.

Bean, my husband has written Bohanan several times, and has always gotten a response in a timely manner. While I hate politicians in general, and trust them NOT, try to take into consideration that he simply may have not gotten to you yet, or has not had the opportunity to respond. I won't ask when you wrote him, but if it has been an unreasonable amount of time, please disregard my response, and continue with your public humiliation of him.

 

[TPD]

Bean, my husband has written Bohanan several times, and has always gotten a response in a timely manner. While I hate politicians in general, and trust them NOT, try to take into consideration that he simply may have not gotten to you yet, or has not had the opportunity to respond. I won't ask when you wrote him, but if it has been an unreasonable amount of time, please disregard my response, and continue with your public humiliation of him.

I think what Bean is saying is that Bohanan is non-committal at this point. I wrote to John and within 2 days got a non-committal response from him, which tells me he is leaning towards supporting the gun bill but is not telling those of us against the bill because he does not want a barrage from his constituents.

His office's response to me -

Thank you for contacting Delegate Bohanan regarding the upcoming firearms bill debates and votes in the House. All gun legislation will come before the Judiciary Committee on which he does not serve. HB294 is scheduled for a hearing today (March 1). If the bill comes out of Committee to the House floor for a vote by the entire body he will keep your views in mind. He appreciates your time and respects your concerns. He is considering the views of his constituents on these issues

 

[mAlice]

I think what Bean is saying is that Bohanan is non-committal at this point. I wrote to John and within 2 days got a non-committal response from him, which tells me he is leaning towards supporting the gun bill but is not telling those of us against the bill because he does not want a barrage from his constituents.

His office's response to me -

Thank you for contacting Delegate Bohanan regarding the upcoming firearms bill debates and votes in the House. All gun legislation will come before the Judiciary Committee on which he does not serve. HB294 is scheduled for a hearing today (March 1). If the bill comes out of Committee to the House floor for a vote by the entire body he will keep your views in mind. He appreciates your time and respects your concerns. He is considering the views of his constituents on these issues

Sounds to me like he's listening to people who are telling him what they want, not those asking him what his stance is. That would lead me to believe that he will lean the way in which he receives the most input.

 

[TPD]

That would lead me to believe that he will lean the way in which he receives the most input.

I would like to see politicians for/against tally sheets from constituents and then see how they voted. I'll bet many times they do not match.

 

[mAlice]

I would like to see politicians for/against tally sheets from constituents and then see how they voted. I'll bet many times they do not match.

We're talking about MD here. I'd be willing to put money on most of the input he receives is for weapons bans of some sort.

What if he personally doesn't want his rights infringed, but 90% of his email says to ban guns. How should he vote? Should he give the people what they want, or should he give himself what he wants?

 

[TPD]

We're talking about MD here. I'd be willing to put money on most of the input he receives is for weapons bans of some sort.

What if he personally doesn't want his rights infringed, but 90% of his email says to ban guns. How should he vote? Should he give the people what they want, or should he give himself what he wants?

I wasn't referring to just the gun bills, but legislation in general.

Good questions - we, the voter, generally vote for someone who represents our views based on what we know about them or have heard about them. Using Bohanan as an example - Catholic family, kids got a Catholic education, family attends Mass on Sundays, so based on this and conversations with him, you would assume he would vote against gay marriage - NOT. In this instance, I would like to see his tally sheet on those people that actually contacted him through emails/letters/phone calls with their opinion. Catholics were in force on this issue, so I would think he had more 'against' contacts then 'for', but in the end he voted 'for'. Politicians don't always represent those that voted for them, but do things that keep them in favorable position within their party to move up and get appointed to the next big committee. I think Bohanan has gotten to that position.

 

[Bean Machine]

Bean, my husband has written Bohanan several times, and has always gotten a response in a timely manner. While I hate politicians in general, and trust them NOT, try to take into consideration that he simply may have not gotten to you yet, or has not had the opportunity to respond. I won't ask when you wrote him, but if it has been an unreasonable amount of time, please disregard my response, and continue with your public humiliation of him.

mAlice, I wrote both Senator Dyson and Mr. Bohanan at the same time. I received a reply from Dyson within a week. After 3-4 weeks of no response from Mr. Bohanan, I wrote him a second time. This was at the beginning of last week. I still do not know where he stands on this issue. I'm not trying to humiliate him I just want to know where he falls on this important issue. I thought maybe other forumites might have had the same issue here, so posted this...

 

[stgislander]

Mr Bohanan, I have tried repeatedly to get your thoughts on HB294 (gun control bill). Senator Dyson was kind enough to respond quickly with his views. Why are you not forthcoming with your opinions? You are an elected official and should respond to your constituents on this matter.

Our sons played football together at LHS and I have always thought you to a pretty straight forward guy...I'm starting to rethink that now. Please answer sometime soon.

This may help. I thought I remembered reading this somewhere. Post #56

http://forums.somd.com/life-southern-maryland/265661-mom-gun-control-md-6.html#post5069517

 

[ylexot]

We're talking about MD here. I'd be willing to put money on most of the input he receives is for weapons bans of some sort.

Except that his district is just St Mary's County. I'd be surprised if the majority of input was for a weapons ban. Roy certainly knows which way his district leans.

However, John also has his eyes on Steny's seat when he leaves, and being against a ban probably won't help him win the seat. Of course, being a Dem in that district, you could probably be a convicted rapist who eats puppies and still get elected by PG county.

 

[stgislander]

This may help. I thought I remembered reading this somewhere. Post #59

http://forums.somd.com/life-southern-maryland/265661-mom-gun-control-md-6.html#post5069517

Fixed.

 

[Lurk]

Except that his district is just St Mary's County. I'd be surprised if the majority of input was for a weapons ban. Roy certainly knows which way his district leans.

However, John also has his eyes on Steny's seat when he leaves, and being against a ban probably won't help him win the seat. Of course, being a Dem in that district, you could probably be a convicted rapist who eats puppies and still get elected by PG county.

Only as long as they're not pit bull puppies.

 

[Bean Machine]

This may help. I thought I remembered reading this somewhere. Post #56

http://forums.somd.com/life-southern-maryland/265661-mom-gun-control-md-6.html#post5069517

About half a dozen of us met with Bohanan Friday to discuss the issue. Meeting lasted about 25 minutes and he listened to what we had to say and took notes. His current claim is that his going in position is that someone is going to have to "prove" to him why we need to change anything, because at this point he does not see the value of the bill.

We shall see.

So apparently he has not made up his mind, and is willing to listen? In my letters I did let him know my opinion. I suspect he does have quandary here. He wants the support of, and to support, the Democrats who are trying to pass this, however his constituents do NOT want this. My feelings are that he won't come right out in opposition to this but WILL go ahead and vote for gun control, mostly because it's the Democrat thing to do. I would hope that he wouldn't be Hoyer lite and say "I don't care of 85% of you are against it, I'm voting for it (because Nancy said to)", but rather have a spine and actually represent the feelings of the majority of his constituents even when that is like a salmon swimming upstream. Senator Dyson did the salmon thing and I respect him for that.

 

[So_what]

My feelings are that he won't come right out in opposition to this but WILL go ahead and vote for gun control, mostly because it's the Democrat thing to do. I would hope that he wouldn't be Hoyer lite and say "I don't care of 85% of you are against it, I'm voting for it (because Nancy said to)", but rather have a spine and actually represent the feelings of the majority of his constituents even when that is like a salmon swimming upstream. Senator Dyson did the salmon thing and I respect him for that.

Bingo, we have a winner. Dyson only voted against it because because MOM told him it was OK since they had enough votes to pass it anyway.

 

[Bean Machine]

Bingo, we have a winner. Dyson only voted against it because because MOM told him it was OK since they had enough votes to pass it anyway.

Well I will say this, Dyson's response was unequivocal that he did not support gun control and did support the 2nd amendment. He voiced that opinion before there were any votes in any committees, so I don't think MOM said it was ok. He had made up his mind before that...

 

[awpitt]

Well I will say this, Dyson's response was unequivocal that he did not support gun control and did support the 2nd amendment. He voiced that opinion before there were any votes in any committees, so I don't think MOM said it was ok. He had made up his mind before that...

Roy has been pro-life and pro 2nd Amendment for years now, dating back to his days in Congress and in the MD House of Delegates before that.

 

[Bean Machine]

I finally did get a reply.

Dear Mr. Machine,

Thank you for contacting Delegate Bohanan regarding the upcoming firearms bill debates and votes in the House. All gun legislation will come before the Judiciary Committee on which he does not serve. If the bill comes out of Committee to the House floor for a vote by the entire body he will keep your views in mind. He appreciates your time and respects your concerns. He is considering the views of his constituents on these issues.

Sincerely,
Michele Hampton
Office of Delegate John L. Bohanan, Jr.

I'd say based on the amount of testimony that the committee heard in opposition to the bill, I would be shocked if they did bring it to the whole house. 32 hours of people who are against it, each limited to 1 minute. That's a LOT of people.

 

[bresamil]

I like John as a person, but please remember that as a politician he has been groomed by Steny for years. Their formal opinions rarely differ.

 

[MikeyBash]

Just received this from his office:

Thank you for contacting Delegate Bohanan regarding the upcoming firearms bill debates and votes in the House. After considering all the information that has been made available to him, Delegate Bohanan has decided to vote against HB 294, the Firearm Safety Act of 2013. He appreciates the time you have taken to share your views with him.

Sincerely,
Michele Hampton
Office of Delegate John L. Bohanan, Jr.