1) Miller is out - by his recent decision - in 2010. So if he lives another 47 months, you are right. No one can force him out. Technically, Castro is not President for Life either. Technically, you are correct. Mike Miller works in the Mike Miller building; I think Castro works in the Castro building too.
2) Broadband is not a publicly regulated utility, but the utilities and their parent companies have a stake in killing it, because even the regulated utilities can profit from the power to control access and delivery based on content.
3) The utility companies throw around a lot of money on State Circle, and the less radical the proponent of a bill, the fewer reasons that the Senate President for Life (he keeps the title even if he retires, since no Democrat can take it from him without killing him) will deliver it a swift kick. (Miller is Senate President, not Speaker of the House, but if it's dead in the Senate, it's dead.)
If I were a utility lobbyist, I would do my best to smother this one in the nursery, even though the bill is indeed cautious. If I wanted to smother it, I would call Mike Miller on his cell phone and ask him how I could help his people kill this unnecessary, tie-dye hippie driven bill, preferably in committee. (In real life, I am the tie-dye hippie, but I digress.) Miller and Speaker Busch are having difficult relations, but killed later or killed earlier is still killed.
4) Mike Miller and Sen Brian Frosh (D-16) are butting heads as we speak on the death penalty bills, Miller supporting Norman Stone's pro-death penalty bill while Frosh's bill is about to die 6-5 in committee. Miller's likely to have trouble with uberliberal Jamin Raskin (D-20), whose election involved a successful and nasty primary challenge against a long-time Miller ally Ida Ruben. Sen. Madaleno (D-18) and Miller get along somewhat better, but in part because Madaleno is known as easy to work with and a sharp shot on budget matters. But all of these Senators come from or near the part of the county that Miller derides as the "Chevy Chase/Kensington liberal agenda" i.e. mostly Madaleno's district 18 and nearby Takoma "Granola" Park, Bethesda and Forest Glen.
Mind you, I am the dirty hippie that Miller is often worrying about.
Taylor's sponsorship has nothing to do with masking a 'Chevy Chase/Kensington liberal agenda' or a 'radical proponent'.
Del. Taylor is a member of the Economic Matters Committee and more specifically, the Business Regulation and Public Utilities Work Group(s).
The co-sponsors are from areas where there are complaints of alleged redlining, including Cumberland and a significant chunk of Prince George's.
Naturally the companies involved in broadband delivery will want no part of reporting requirements -- but Taylor is not playing a trojan horse role in an ideological conflict here.
Re: Taylor not being radical - exactly my point - agreed - but you said it better.
