Prepared remarks for the

unveiling of the portrait of former Speaker Casper R. Taylor, Jr.
March 30, 2004

by Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse, State Archivist and Commssioner of Land Patents

Mr. Speaker, governors, past speakers whose portraits grace these walls, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

It is most appropriate that we pause today in the midst of a difficult session to cast partisan debate and rhetoric aside to pay tribute to former House Speaker Casper R. Taylor. Today, in recognition of his tenure as speaker of the House of Delegates, we unveil his portrait, which, based on past incumbency, should remain on these walls for another fifty years before moving to a place of honor elsewhere in the complex.

It is a portrait replete with the symbols of the office.  In addition to an excellent likeness by the artist, Carolyn Egeli, you will find the mace, the historic symbol of the independence and authority of the House of Delegates.  Maryland's mace dates back to the first days of the General Assembly in Annapolis.  It is placed here while the  House of Delegates is in session and represents the right of the members to speak their minds freely, and to summon witnesses before it without fear of intervention by executive or judicial authority. The mace first took on special meaning in the history of a legislative body when it was employed by the English House of Commons as a symbol of its resistance to the king, Charles I.  Apparently, the mace of the House of Commons was an ebony rod surmounted by a silver globe, bearing the king's coat of arms and other marks of royal authority.  In Maryland, the first mace was presented by Governor Francis Nicholson in 1698 to the House of Delegates (then known as the Lower House of Assembly).  I believe the ebony rod of the mace to be original. It is capped with silver, upon which is engraved the reverse of the 1794 Great Seal of Maryland, designed by Charles Willson Peale, a native Marylander and one of the foremost artists of his day. 

In this portrait you will also find the speaker's gavel resting securely in Speaker Taylor's hands, indicative of the strong leadership role he played and the effective way he would bring the house to order.  So important did he see the gavel as the mark of his office  and the responsibility he bore, that when he left the speaker's chair he commissioned a gavel for Speaker Bush to be made from the Liberty Tree to remind us all that democratic government, while requiring order and discipline within, is ultimately for liberty and freedom without.

This afternoon we meet to pay tribute to a man who has devoted his career to the ideal of the Citizen Legislator.  A man who takes stands on principle, even if it should prove unpopular. That is why he created the Thomas Kennedy Award to recognize the zeal and principled efforts of his fellow citizen legislators in the face of ignorance and misunderstanding.  That is why they, in turn, recognized him with the Thomas Kennedy Award this year in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the democratic process and for extending the ground of public confidence in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Last year, the Maryland Senate recognized Speaker Taylor as a First Citizen and noted how he embodied the ideals of leadership so exemplified by the founding generations of Americans. You will find a short biography in your program and a more extensive one on the Maryland State Archives web site (www.mdsa.net), and you have heard from Governor Ehrlich and President Miller, so I won't belabor you with more than a brief recitation of Speaker Taylor's distinguished public career.

During his tenure as speaker, Cass Taylor was widely respected for his wise, thoughtful leadership and his devotion to the principle of making a democratic government work for the good of all. His concept of One Maryland guided his vision of the state and how it should be managed. At the same time, he was an effective advocate for his native Western Maryland.

Tim Rowland in the Morning Herald, aptly described Speaker Taylor in an article written in 1993 on the eve of his taking the speaker's gavel:

Cass Taylor's philosophy toward politics is the same as John Madden's is toward football. A down in the trenches, mud on the helmet style. ....

Taylor thrives on compromise. ... As long as it's the other guy who's doing most of the compromising.

Rowland continues:

His strength is bringing everyone to the bargaining table, so even if they don't get their way, they at least felt part of the process.  That's what allows him to build enough consensus to pass the health care bill.

Everyone, I am sure, has a favorite story about Speaker Taylor's approach to the business of government. Permit me to borrow two from Tim Rowland's account.

1) A few years ago on the House floor, Taylor called his committee to an urgent noontime meeting to deal with "A Southern  Maryland Problem."  the next day he did the same thing, saying the committee had still not completely dealt with "That Southern Maryland Problem"   --- which turned out to be a gargantuan country smoked ham.

2) You could always tell when you were in trouble when appearing before his committee: One group of witnesses appeared before Cass Taylor's Economic Matters Committee one winter, pushing a bill that Cass Taylor obviously had little patience with.  Halfway through their testimony he got up and began straightening the paintings on the walls of the Committee Chamber.

Fortunately the portraits in this Chamber are up too high for a repeat performance today in case he should feel that we have gone on a bit too long about him.

Cass Taylor is not one to talk about himself, nor is he comfortable with extended laudatory praise, no matter how well-deserved.   Indeed his efforts to create the Speakers Medallion and the Thomas Kennedy Award were intended to praise others for their contributions to a better life for all Marylanders.

Permit me to close, instead, by emphasizing how important it is to keep an image of those who dedicate their lives to public service on view at the very heart of democracy, a watchful eye, so to speak, on the proceedings below.

And in case anyone should ask you whether it is appropriate, once so enshrined, to continue to be an advocate of causes in which you believe, particularly before this body he has led so well, let me  remind all of us here, that in the fall of 1784, a portrait was placed in the then House Chamber of three distinguished soldiers, Washington, Lafayette and Tilghman, only to have one of that distinguished trio return to persuade the legislature to fund his favorite capital project:  the building of a canal from the falls of the Potomac to the Ohio.  While it only eventually got to Speaker Taylor's hometown of Cumberland, the Canal proved of great benefit to Maryland and we have George Washington to thank for returning to these halls to lend his influence to its creation.

I suspect the same is true with regard to Cass Taylor's return to Annapolis as an influential private citizen whose advice is always valued.

Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to introduce the artist, Carolyn Egeli, who has captured Cass Taylor so faithfully and elegantly in her portrait that we are about to unveil.