In an era where political gridlock and grandstanding are all too common, Republican Neil Parrott has carved out a unique niche for himself as one of Maryland’s most ineffective lawmakers in recent memory.
Representing Washington County in the Maryland General Assembly for twelve years, Mr. Parrott has amassed a legislative record better known for its lack of accomplishment than anything else.
Now, as he runs a third time to represent Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, let’s take a closer look at what Neil Parrott has done — or, rather, hasn’t done — in the Maryland General Assembly.
Neil Parrott’s 8% Legislative Success Rate
With a success rate of just 8%, Neil Parrott introduced approximately 158 bills over the twelve years he served in the Maryland General Assembly.
How many of Parrott’s bills were enacted?
Twelve.
That’s an embarrassingly paltry record by any measure, especially when one considers that Neil Parrott’s primary role as a legislator was to pass laws that benefit his working-class Washington County constituents.
In 2019, Maryland Matters even crowned him one of the “Least Successful Lawmakers,” a year when he failed to pass a single one of the 16 bills he introduced.
Here’s what Maryland Matters had to say in a May 20, 2019 article:
“A handful of legislators wasn’t successful in passing any legislation, and Republicans — who are in the minority — fared the worst this legislative session. The four least successful lawmakers this past session were Republicans, led by Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington), who failed to pass any of the 16 bills he introduced as a primary sponsor.
The nine-year lawmaker sought to enact legislation that included recognizing exposure to pornography as a public health crisis, changing the size of safety zones for archery hunting in Washington County, and tightening election rules.
Each of Parrott’s bills either received an unfavorable report or did not receive a vote in its committee. Parrott’s office did not respond to a request for comment.”
Neil Parrott’s Recycled Bills Do Not Pass the Maryland General Assembly
One might think that Neil Parrott’s limited success would have inspired him to evolve his approach or consider new ideas.
Instead, Mr. Parrott was seemingly content with recycling the same legislative proposals year after year.
Parrott continually attempted to pass a “Castle Doctrine” bill to expand self-defense protections for Maryland residents. Despite his dogged efforts, the bill failed multiple times, which Parrott attributed to partisan roadblocks.
Rather than refocusing on issues that economically impact Washington County, Mr. Parrott has persisted, following the adage, “If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again”— even when it was made clear from Parrott’s colleagues in the state legislature that the bill had little chance of success.
His legislative recycling habit also surfaced in his 2014 focus on the state’s “rain tax,” which he claimed was one of his top priorities to repeal.
Look, the rain tax was a terrible O’Malley bill. Let’s not mince words. The Democrats’ rain tax was the perfect fodder for Maryland Republicans to launch an astute marketing campaign that helped elect Larry Hogan as governor in 2014.
But here’s the kicker: Washington County wasn’t even subject to the tax.
This focus on a non-issue exemplifies Parrott’s knack for political theater at the expense of real, local concerns.
Neil Parrott Wasted Taxpayers Time With Absurd Bills
If his repetition isn’t concerning enough, consider the sheer absurdity of some of Parrott’s bills.
In 2020, Parrott introduced a bill to deregulate lemonade stands.
His justification?
Nine years earlier, a Montgomery County lemonade stand was shut down due to a local vendor regulation, a scenario so obscure that it’s hard to fathom why Parrott would bring it up nearly a decade later.
Need a laugh? Click this link to watch Parrott’s Jan. 28, 2020, press conference on the ever-so-pressing legislative priority of protecting Maryland’s pop-up lemonade stands.
When Parrott reintroduced the bill in 2021, even his colleagues questioned its necessity, as no similar issues had arisen since.
Perhaps even more silly, however, was Parrott’s political stunt in 2011, when he proposed amendments to Maryland’s marriage equality bill to legalize incest and polygamy.
Here’s what Parrott said:
“I don’t see any problem with incest in marriage if we are going to go ahead and allow something that hasn’t been allowed ever in all of human history by allowing one man to marry another man or a woman to marry a woman. I think this is the same type of thing that we’re talking about.”
He defended his comments as a “tongue-in-cheek” move to protest the bill, but the proposed amendments did little more than mock the legislative process.
Moreover, Mr. Parrott has shown a lack of understanding or due diligence even when proposing serious legislation.
In one particularly embarrassing episode, he sponsored a bill that would’ve inadvertently shut down NSA Headquarters. Parrott admitted he’d only “skimmed” the bill before supporting it, revealing a concerning level of carelessness for someone entrusted with shaping public policy.
You have to read the legislation before you pass it.
Neil Parrott’s Legislative Stunts
Neil Parrott’s twelve years spent collecting a paycheck from the General Assembly seems more suited for the tabloid-style drama than a statehouse.
In 2020, Mr. Parrott sponsored a bill to exempt Washington County from Maryland’s clean needle program, which distributes sterile syringes to reduce disease transmission.
He called the program a “drug starter kit” and argued that it sent the “wrong message.”
Public health experts refuted Parrott’s claims, showing that these programs reduce HIV transmission rates and save lives. In this case, Parrott’s bill was opposed by public health officials and law enforcement in Washington County, but Parrott remained steadfast in his position.
Here’s what Herald-Mail Media reported:
Andrew Bell, who previously worked as syringe services program coordinator for the Maryland Department of Health, said Parrott had given the committee “falsehoods and misleading information” that according to the World Health Association, there was no evidence that needle services increased the duration of substance abuse.
Tricia Christensen of the Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition testified that she’d heard from “our friends at the Washington County Health Department who run this program that since all the media attention around this legislation has started, they’ve had new clients coming to the health department — people who didn’t know the program existed and are glad that it does. So, unfortunately for the delegate who introduced this bill, it may have had the opposite effect.”
Neil Parrott: A Righteous Gemstone
In other cases, Parrott used his position as a state delegate to pursue initiatives that are as unfeasible as they are unnecessary.
For example, in 2014, Parrott proposed a bill to require the state to conduct tests to ensure that libraries and schools were filtering out pornographic content.
The Maryland Library Association opposed the bill as redundant and overly burdensome.
“Libraries and schools are already subject to a comprehensive set of state, local, and federal law and regulations prohibiting improper Internet usage,” the association said in written testimony.
Nevertheless, Neil Parrott defended his bill, describing Maryland’s libraries as potential hotbeds of inappropriate material — a position that, once again, had little basis in reality.
So, it begs the question: Which Maryland public libraries can we find Neil Parrott porno patrolling?
Neil Parrott’s Self-Serving Legislation
Neil Parrott has not been shy about sponsoring legislation that appears more self-serving than public-minded.
For example, Mr. Parrott spearheaded a bill to exempt home-schooled children —such as his own— from paying tuition for part-time courses at public schools.
When the local school board suggested charging tuition, Parrott argued it was “blatantly unfair” for home-schooled families to pay for these courses, insisting that the county should foot the bill instead.
Here’s what Herald-Mail Media reported on February 4, 2016:
“Local lawmakers agreed this week to sponsor legislation that would allow the Washington County Board of Education to offer individual courses to children not enrolled as full-time students.
Del. Neil C. Parrott, R-Washington, the chairman of the county’s delegation to the Maryland General Assembly, said the drafted bill would make costs for those courses part of the county government’s maintenance-of-effort obligation.
Parrott agreed that the school system needed to be compensated for extra costs incurred for educating those students, but wanted it to come from state or local government rather than tuition.”
It’s telling that Neil Parrott pushed for a bill that benefits such a narrow demographic while failing to address far more pressing issues for his broader Washington County constituency.
Neil Parrott’s Empty Promises for Washington County
Mr. Parrott’s focus on legislative grandstanding while a Maryland state delegate left Washington County largely overlooked.
In fact, during the 2021 session, the county’s biggest wins weren’t even due to Parrott’s efforts.
Herald-Mail Media reported that Washington County’s most significant accomplishments that year were funded through federal pandemic relief efforts, not Parrott’s state-level initiatives. Instead of fighting for substantial, district-specific improvements, Parrott was seemingly more invested in grabbing headlines.
At some point, Maryland 6th District voters must ask themselves whether they want a representative more interested in pursuing a personal agenda than in championing policies to improve their lives.
Neil Parrott’s record suggests he’s more comfortable on a soapbox than in a committee meeting. The 6th District deserves a representative focused on practical solutions, not legislative stunts that waste taxpayers’ time and money.
April McClain Delaney Releases New Campaign Ad
As Parrott’s 2024 Democratic opponent, April McClain Delaney, pointed out in her latest campaign ad, “Voters in the 6th District deserve better than the divisive extremism that Neil Parrott represents.”
With a 92% failure rate, Parrott has had plenty of time to show what he can —and can’t— do for Maryland.
If Neil Parrott’s past is any indication, his future performance in Congress will likely be similar.
