Mary Ann with the shaky plan

It causes me no small embarrassment to see that a woman from the next county up the road, a Democrat, a delegate to the Maryland Legislature by the name of Mary Ann Lisanti, has disgraced herself to a point where people are calling for her resignation.

But that's the situation the way it stands for Lisanti, 51, who used the vile n-word to refer to Prince George's County while speaking with other lawmakers at a cigar bar in Annapolis.  She told the Washington Post  that she didn’t recall saying that word, but was “sure everyone has used it.”

Two problems here: a) if you drop bombs like that in public and are unable to remember doing it, you might be dealing with some sort of impairment, and 2) this is the standard political apology.

I don't recall that. OK, now I remember. And I have issued a written apology and I will attend sensitivity training.

That paraphrase of her bumbling apologia reminds me that she forgot the other time-honored defense of telling us that a lot of her friends are black.

Meanwhile, she has lost her leadership position in the House. House Speaker Michael Busch announced Tuesday he has removed Lisanti as chair of the workers' comp subcommittee. Lisanti, a Democrat from Harford County pictured below, issued a statement later in which she weirdly claimed the ability to say words she did not know.

She apologized to the House Democratic Caucus Tuesday morning, after apologizing to leaders of the state’s Legislative Black Caucus on Monday.

Del. Darryl Barnes, the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, called Lisanti’s words “a blatant act of racism.” After all, this is Black History Month, “a time where we should be recognizing achievements in the African-American community.”

Maryland taxpayers pay 141 delegates, and 47 state senators, annual salaries of $50,330 to make laws to govern our lives. It's not too much to expect a bit of probity from these men and women.