INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, January 4 — Brother David M. Dinges of BLET Division 181 (Brunswick, Md.) was reelected by acclamation to his second term as Chairman of the Maryland State Legislative Board (SLB) at the Board’s quadrennial meeting on December 19, 2020.
The BLET’s Maryland SLB was founded four years ago, and Brother Dinges was elected as the Board’s first chairman at its inaugural meeting on June 2, 2016. Brother Dinges hired out with CSX as a brakeman/conductor in August of 1993 and earned promotion to locomotive engineer in August of 1994. He has held continuous membership in the BLET since January 1, 2008.
Also elected during the meeting were: 1st Vice Chairman Christopher T. Brown, Division 52 (Baltimore, Md.); 2nd Vice Chairman Mark A. Crouch, Division 97 (Baltimore, Md.); and Secretary-Treasurer Joel P. Myers, Division 181 (Brunswick, Md.). Elected to serve as Trustees were: Christopher T. Brown, Division 52 (Baltimore, Md.); Mark A. Crouch, Division 97 (Baltimore, Md.); and Frank L. Shillinburg, Division 934 (Cumberland, Md.).
“I congratulate Brother Dinges and all officers of the Maryland State Legislative Board,” BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce said. “I thank them for their dedicated service to our Brotherhood, and I know they will continue to do an excellent job advancing the interests of our members in the proud State of Maryland.”
In 2019, the members of the Maryland State Legislative Board helped lobby in support of two-person crew legislation, which passed both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly before dying on the governor’s desk. Brother Dinges said the Board plans to pursue a two-person crew bill again in 2021.
Brother Dinges was elected to serve as Division 181’s Secretary-Treasurer and Legislative Representative in 2015, winning reelection to both positions in 2018. He also serves Division 181 as 1st Vice Local Chairman. In 2019, he was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the BLET’s National Association of State Legislative Board Chairmen (NASLBC).
The Maryland State Legislative Board represents more than 200 members from four BLET Local Divisions.