Gilchrest hits the road

I heard about this last Thursday on the AM Salisbury radio show, over the weekend he made it official: 

U.S. Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest plans to travel to Iraq with a small delegation of Congressmen next week to see first hand the security situation in the region, to meet with Iraqi government officials about the progress of establishing a stable government and to talk to American troops and commanders on the ground in combat.

He will be traveling to Iraq October 4th through October 9th, 2007. It will be his third visit to the region since the war began in 2003. He visited troops in October 2003 and again in August 2004. Gilchrest has also traveled to the Middle East to meet with leaders from Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian government and Israel.

“There is no substitute for going to Iraq and talking to the men and women who are in this fight every day. This opportunity comes at a critical time in U.S. policy and I’ve always found the best information comes directly from the people involved. When we have to make decisions that will determine the fate and the lives of tens of thousands of American troops, not to mention the Iraqi people, you owe it to them to have the best information,” Gilchrest said.

In addition to visiting Iraq twice since the beginning of the US invasion, Gilchrest has had extensive meetings with returning government officials, veterans and even Iraqi government officials.  The Congressman, a former Marine who served in Vietnam, has also attended almost every funeral of the 28 soldiers and sailors from the 1st Congressional District who have lost their lives since this war began.

I have no idea if anyone reading monoblogue is actually serving our nation overseas but it would be interesting to know what type of reaction he gets from the troops if they find out he’s voted to cut their mission short prior to its victorious conclusion. Or, is he trying to get on record for the winning side as well and what will it do to the part of his base who wants out of Iraq?

Regardless, hopefully he makes it there and back in one piece. As I noted in the Election Calendar below, it’s likely he’ll talk about this on October 11th as a guest on AM Salisbury.

Election Calendar: October 1-14

A very, very, very slow Election Calendar this time, at least with events I’m aware of. So I’ve added a few short election-related items at the end.

Saturday, October 6: State Senator Rich Colburn has scheduled a fundraiser at the Cambridge American Legion Post #91. Festivities start at 5:30 p.m. and dinner’s set for 6:30 p.m. Admission is $50 – checks should be made payable to “Citizens for Colburn Committee” and mailed to: Citizens for Colburn Committee, 5210 Heron Road, Cambridge, MD 21613. Reservations should be made by calling (410) 924-0098. Congressional candidate Andy Harris is the featured speaker here too as he was yesterday.

Thursday, October 11 (tentative): Once again, it should be Congressman Wayne Gilchrest‘s turn to wax poetic on the AM Salisbury radio show with Bill Reddish. As always, the fun begins at 7:40 a.m. on WICO-AM 1320. This is assuming Wayne gets back from Iraq in time – more on that in my next post.

I also found another intriguing event that will occur just outside the boundaries of my area on October 10, and I’m curious what the press reaction will be. Apparently Barack Obama’s “Countdown to Change” tour will be in PG County so he’ll tread into what’s ostensibly Clinton territory given O’Governor’s support of Hillary. Maybe there’s a Gansler/O’Malley schism brewing because Doug’s listed on the sponsor bill along with Rep. Elijah Cummings.

So juicy doings among the liberal set. Meanwhile, I’ve found out that Joe Arminio pays attention to those things I write about him because he now cites me properly on his site and my coverage of the Wicomico Straw Poll is his top news item. Very good.

Also relating to last week’s events was John Leo Walter, who trumpeted his Straw Poll win from last Monday in the paid vote category. I’d be curious to see the pictures from that since I believe it was his wife Wendy snapping away as we went on. Hopefully I didn’t break their camera.

Hey, I managed to mention all four Republicans running for Congress. So let me talk about the Democrats – while Chris Robinson has done a nice update to his website, his opponent Frank Kratovil hasn’t updated in months. What gives? Makes my job a LOT easier if there’s an updated event list.

Thus ends another week’s Election Calendar. I’ll probably have to update it tomorrow as Andy Harris updates his site – most likely he has other area events besides the Colburn fundraiser.

Stoltzfus “Picnic in the Park” 2007

As he has the last couple years, State Senator Lowell Stoltzfus was kind enough not to throw me out of his “Picnic in the Park” that now occurs in the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center. Of course, after raining the first year I went in 2005, he moved it indoors and it’s been gorgeous outside both times. So I had some good food and listened to the speakers, some of whom are pictured below.

Our local Delegates and Senators got a turn at the podium. From left, State Senators Lowell Stoltzfus and Rich Colburn (at podium), Delegate Page Elmore and Delegate Addie Eckardt.

I’ll cover a little more of what was actually said shortly. For now, I’m going to backtrack a bit to make a few other observations and comments about the event itself. First of all, this guy’s volunteers are everywhere:

I swear these Ron Paul people read monoblogue to find out where events are and show up 2 hours beforehand to place the signs. The only one they missed recently was the WCRC Straw Poll - but I had items and a speaker representing his campaign there.

Another staple of these events is the silent auction. In this case, the auction was split half-and-half with the bigger ticket items being done as a live auction and perennial auctioneer Lewis Riley handling that end of it. The only item I bid on this time was represented by that green cap, a gift certificate for dinner at the Captains Galley down in Crisfield.

There were about 20 items donated to the live and silent auction. I think people get a little burned out on donating because the number of items dwindles as events occur.

The menu had mostly white meat with the pulled pork being the best part. Our red meat came from the speakers. District 38A Delegate Page Elmore started with the “$64,000 question…when will the next session be?” He derided the probable tax increase that “clobbers the wealthy” while giving the middle-class folks “peanuts.” District 37 State Senator Rich Colburn continued the tax theme with a different tack, noting that the sales tax increase proposed by Governor O’Malley makes the Eastern Shore’s problems worse by 20%. This is in reference to the 5% disadvantage we have against sales tax-free Delaware increasing by 20% to a 6 point difference. Colburn also compared the Ehrlich malpractice insurance special session in 2005 to the upcoming O’Malley one. While Ehrlich was chided for having no agreements in place before calling the session, there is “no consensus” on the deficit issue either – yet O’Malley’s been free from criticism on that point. Delegate Addie Eckardt from District 37B also briefly spoke a few words of agreement.

At that time, Lowell introduced the afternoon’s keynote speaker, State Senator and Congressional hopeful Andy Harris, who Stoltzfus said has “the right philosophy” to represent us.

Andy Harris pitches his bid for a Congressional seat.

Andy started out by talking about the salad days when he worked with Governor Ehrlich on what Harris termed “shared Republican values.” He compared that to a “broken” Washington that “needs to be fixed” with a focus on several issues: taxes, immigration, family and marriage (a “basis of society” that needs to be “protected”), and the Long War, which he termed “our first religious war in 230 years”, one where “surrender is not an option.” He had a good reception from the folks who were there. It’s interesting to note that last year’s keynoter was Congressman Gilchrest, then running for reelection. Times and opinions change on the Eastern Shore when a good alternative is presented.

Senator Stoltzfus closed the speechifying part of the event with some comments of his own. Calling the budget problem “very significant”, he called into question how the projected deficit zoomed from $1.1 billion to $1.6 to $1.7 billion in a month. Lower revenue estimates were supposedly the culprit, but it led us to wonder if there was some cooking of the books going on to justify bringing in additional revenue to spend.

One thing Stoltzfus brought up that I didn’t realize is, of a $30 billion or so state budget, only $14 billion is revenue collected by the state of Maryland – the rest comes from the federal government. Doing the math then, if the new taxes collected are $2 billion as claimed, that’s an increase of almost 15% in state revenue taken from the pockets of you and me. On the other hand, Stoltzfus stressed that just leveling funding of existing programs (no cuts) would erase the deficit problem. The trouble comes with the large spending increases proposed by Governor O’Malley and his minions.

I took this final picture just as the formal portion of the event was drawing to a close. We didn’t have the same turnout as last year, but then again except for the early 2008 federal primary this is an off-year. Much of the 2006 turnout came to meet and greet those Republicans who survived the primary.

A smaller turnout than last year, but the amount of money raised was about the same. We had a few no-shows with the nice weather and other events going on.

I think what needs to happen for 2008 is that the farmer in Senator Stoltzfus needs to determine if the summer’s been too dry or too wet and plan his picnic in the appropriate locale. If it’s been too dry, have it outside or bring it back in if the fields are too wet for harvest. Next year will be the both the thick of the 2008 election and the beginning of the effects of our soon-to-be tax increases so we’ll see who comes to speak to us.

Weekend of local rock volume 7

No, it’s not this weekend but last weekend. I’ve had such a busy week that I hadn’t made time to put in this post. It’s a “fun” post for a Saturday as opposed to the heavy politics I had all this week.

The particular weekend in question was my birthday weekend (the odometer flipped last Saturday.) So my goal was to see bands on both Friday and Saturday nights. Originally I was going to do the same combo as my last “weekend of local rock” post but plans changed so it turned out I got to see one new band to me, one band I hadn’t seen in awhile, and a double dose of my friends from Semiblind.

It started Friday night up in Seaford at Coyote’s. That was dose number 1 of Semiblind, who sounded great but didn’t have a lot of folks to play to – quite a shame. They only got in a couple of their originals because of that; and while they do justice to a whole range of cover songs I really dig their original stuff. Of course I had my camera Friday night.

The band Semiblind rocking Coyote's back on September 21.

Of course, sitting right up front gave me a chance to capture each of the band members too.

Jim singing and playing his guitar.

Asher churning out the bass notes.

Lynn hammering on his drums. It's hard to get his pic in the back.

Of course, Michelle's up front singing her stuff.

You can catch these guys almost every weekend someplace in Delaware, personally I try to see them when they play in the Seaford area. They’re talented musicians and nice folks as well.

I had planned on sticking around Salisbury to catch Crossroads on Saturday night but the show fell through. Previous to that, I had become aware that Lennex was making a return appearance to their OC stomping grounds as a benefit for the Coastal Bays Program. I didn’t figure out until Friday that it was an all-ages show at Seacrets, thus it was an early evening affair. So I had a brainstorm about doing a fun twofer. It started at Seacrets with two bands, Hot Box and Lennex. (I didn’t get there in time to catch a third area band, Loud Love.)

Hot Box is a group that has a funky sound with a hint of jazz to go with their straight-ahead rock. The Baltimore-area group does come down here quite a bit, next time they’re in the area will be the second weekend of October. I got a couple pictures of them at work, dig the bongo player on the right.

They sing about pretty in pink in the song 'Play On Playa' but look good in blue light.

And a shot from the other side. That wasn't my drink in the shot.

Because it was a benefit show, all three bands were playing for free. But Lennex brought its merch table. I picked up a couple CD’s for my collection and a sticker for my experience board. Forgot to get one for my car though!

A well-stocked merch table - obviously Lennex tries to keep its name out there.

Since they were the main attraction, they drew the better crowd up front. But I still got in a couple decent photos.

Yeah, there were a lot of folks enjoying Phil Ritchie and the band.

I got this picture pretty early on, it was likely my best - certainly blogworthy.

While I don’t have the exact amount, I’m guessing there were maybe 300-400 people in Seacrets, and at $20 a pop plus doing 50/50 drawings, the Coastal Bays folks had to make 5 figures easily from this fundraiser. Lennex is also going to hang around for awhile and they’re well worth checking out too. You never know, they could be the next big thing.

Because the Seacrets show ended about 9:00, this gave me an opportunity to see Semiblind again near their hometown of Millsboro, over in Long Neck, Delaware. They play the Sandbar Tavern there quite a bit and the folks were more plentiful and spirited. I got good birthday wishes from them that night as well. Overall, it made for a pretty good day into night. (I was merciful with Semiblind, figured I had enough pix from the night before.)

So ended another weekend of local rock. It’s the time of year when summer is winding down and the local bands look for places to play and people to appreciate them, so get out tonight or next weekend and support your local music scene!

A free state half-debate

Last night we had a half-debate (plus one) up in Baltimore as just six of the leading ten GOP Presidential contenders bothered to show up for the event purporting to be about “minority” issues.

With the “presumption” that the GOP is for the “majority”, in opening remarks Michael Steele noted that the GOP and blacks had been traditionally at “arm’s length” to the benefit of neither.

Steele was also joined in the crowd by former GOP head Ken Mehlman and Newt Gingrich. It would’ve been much more intriguing had Newt been onstage, but we’ll see what he does in future days. As for the debate itself, here’s how I scored the contenders, in reverse alphabetical order. (I’m standing up for those of us at the tail end of the alphabet – and ballot.)

Tom Tancredo

I was afraid when he stated that he was the only GOP candidate to attend the NAACP convention that Tom would descend into an evening of pandering. But he recovered when he told the assembled he wanted his legacy to be one of helping “all” Americans and that the politics of race was “destructive.” He continued on with that vein, noting that he couldn’t agree with the “race-baiting” of the employment disparity question, saying it had “nothing to do with race”.

Overall, Tancredo made the case for fewer federal laws, particularly in the area of drugs. He also scored points with me on his answer to the DC statehood question, saying that if they want representation they could simply dissolve and become part of Maryland (he also incorrectly stated the same about Virginia, which long ago annexed the portion of the District south of the Potomac.) Another nice touch on the same answer was saying voter ID was “not too much to ask.” Tom also made a winning comment at the end, saying that it was “racist to assume you couldn’t teach” minorities and coming out for school choice.

The only faults I found with Tancredo were the slight pander in the opening statement and talking in favor of drug importation. Overall, I think he showed the best of any candidate including my personal choice, Duncan Hunter. He increased his standing in my view, but I’m still not totally sold on his Long War stance yet – that’s what cost him my endorsement.

Ron Paul

It was obvious by the audience reaction that the “Paulbots” were there in full force. Paul also did his best to advocate for his issues and show that they crossed racial lines. In his answer to the opening question about his absent colleagues, Ron said that he shows up wherever he’s invited to “talk about freedom.”

Much of what he said then was couched in the idea of “emphasizing rights” and building a “free society.” In particular, I enjoyed his citation of black (by popular demand) economist Walter Williams on the minimum wage. In most of his answers, his idea was getting government out of our lives, which I agree with. Unfortunately, Paul spent some of his time talking about a war we entered under “false pretenses”, a “non-declared” war. Like it or not, we are there so I think we need to finish the job with victory. He also struck a negative tone with me by his opposition to the federal death penalty.

Like Tancredo, I agree with Paul on a lot of issues but his opposition to the Long War is the millstone around his neck as far as endorsing him goes.

Alan Keyes

Keyes had a chance to introduce himself as a candidate both to the debate viewers and to me personally since I haven’t looked yet at how he compares with other aspirants on my pet issues. And to start out, if he was attempting to be humorous about him showing up at debates where the “top-tier” candidates skip but not invited to debates where they show, he came across as whining a bit. I doubt they’re really “afraid” of him.

Alan spent a lot of time speaking about a return to morals, referring to the minority community as being affected by “promiscuity” and “hedonism” and their morals being destroyed via government policy. I found his comment about restoring local justices of the peace intriguing, too.

Keyes did do a little bit of pandering though, referring to “corporate interests” and invoking the name of Katrina in his answer to illegals’ path to citizenship. He also talked about creating jobs in black areas – personally I’d like the government to get out of the way and allow job creation in all areas. On foreign policy, he was “appalled” by the “fortress America” attitude some of his cohorts exhibited on Darfur, but also chided President Bush for not choosing “security over democracy” in Iraq.

But looking at his performance overall, he didn’t do a lot to help himself in my standing. I’m thinking he’ll be a middle-of-the-pack candidate on my scale.

Duncan Hunter

Duncan did a good job of sticking to message, even getting a complaint from the moderator that he didn’t answer the question on equal justice for blacks and Latinos. He started out well by not talking about his absent opponents but instead talking about leaving Iraq “in victory” and the border being “on fire.” He refused to pander on the legacy question, correctly pointing out that the GOP led the civil rights effort in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He also made a point on the voter rights/DC voting question that it was Democrats who were allowing their votes to be diluted because illegals were also voting fraudulently. Also I found humorous that he’s in support of statehood for the District if they get the right to keep and bear arms – that was the sticking point in recent legislation to grant statehood.

Hunter also gave a good reply to the question on health care, refusing to make it a racial issue and talking about being able to buy insurance across state lines and tort reform – items that would help all races. I’m not as wild about the idea for tax credits for income derived from home visits, but on the whole Hunter represented himself well. Overall, I’d rank his performance second to Tancredo’s.

Mike Huckabee

Being a top-tier candidate in my ratings and moving up the scale nationally, I expected more from Huckabee. Unfortunately, like Tancredo, he slipped a bit on his opening statement and he never really got back on track as I saw it. First of all, why are you “embarassed” about the other candidates not showing up? It makes you look better. And saying we have a “long way to go” on racial issues only creates more excuses and makes the problem worse.

On too many issues, I was disappointed with Mike’s answers, which to me smacked of various levels of pandering. From talking about a legacy for blacks (as opposed to all of us), to saying there’s “not equal opportunity yet”, and supporting a “Veteran’s Bill of Rights”, Mike went on an opposite tack to those who look to government as needing to become smaller and more colorblind.

While Mike has his heart in the right place about prisons being too crowded with people who simply let their drug and/or alcohol problem get the best of them, I don’t think the three strikes and out policy is “nonsense” like he does. Huckabee’s answer on health care makes sense on the intervention vs. prevention front, but I’m not sure if he wouldn’t succumb to the allure of the single-payer system.

But Mike had company at the bottom of my rankings.

Sam Brownback

Similar to what I said about Huckabee, don’t apologize for those not there. He was correct about the GOP expanding by growing its base, but to do this we need to stick to our principles, not play to whichever specific group is in the crowd. Like Huckabee, Brownback did a lot of pandering. It gave me more questions than answers.

No, we do not to apologize for slavery. I can personally say I’ve never had a slave, since it was illegal for almost a century when I was born. So why apologize?

And if you say we don’t have a colorblind society, does that not become a self-fulfilling remark?

It’s admirable that you spent nights in jail and in a homeless shelter (by choice, not through illegal or immoral activity). Does that really qualify you to be President?

With the three-region solution for Iraq you advocate, do you honestly think that it won’t disintegrate into the civil war some claim is already going on? Wouldn’t that give al-Qaeda three bases of operation?

And finally, why is it so important that education be integrated through affirmative action? It correlates in reverse with what Tom Tancredo said about being racist to think that you can’t teach minorities unless they sit next to a white child.

The only thing Brownback said that I liked was bringing up HSA’s in his answer to the health care query. But overall, he and Mike Huckabee did the least to help themselves in selling their campaign to me.

That’s how I saw each candidate. What was actually said aside, here’s what I really thought of the event and the surrounding aura.

The Maryland GOP is already in somewhat dire straits financially, although because Maryland didn’t vote Republican in the last election we’re all going to be in more dire straits financially as the redistribution of wealth from the producers to the slackers continues apace.

*ahem* Back to my point. There was an effort to have a breakfast featuring the candidates as a fundraiser but that was cancelled when too few expressed an interest. And given the participation tonight, we can see that the so-called frontrunners a) are apparently afraid to debate issues in what’s likely a not-so-friendly setting, and b) value trying to raise money so they can do yet another 30 second commercial more than actually interacting with willing voters in the Maryland GOP. (Yes, we have a few, and we’re working on getting more.)

So here was a chance for Presidential candidates to help out the state party, and many chose to do something else. This should be remembered as you make your selection February 12, 2008.

By the way, I found (h/t to Caughtit and WorcesterRight) a website that matches you with the candidate who agrees with you most on the issues. It’s actually sort of similar to how I came up with my choice but they don’t weigh the particular issues to the extent I do nor do they cover all of them I did. So this is how I matched up with each on the site:

  1. Tom Tancredo – 86.11%
  2. Sam Brownback – 83.33%
  3. Fred Thompson – 83.33%
  4. Mitt Romney – 79.63%
  5. Ron Paul – 77.78%
  6. Duncan Hunter – 76.85%
  7. John McCain – 66.67%
  8. Rudy Giuliani – 64.81%
  9. Mike Huckabee – 64.81%

As I said, Tancredo led my personal rankings for awhile until we got to the Long War. What I find odd is that this site almost comes out in reverse of how I ranked them, with the exception of McCain being near the bottom in both. The website qualifies in the “things that make you go hmmmmm….” category.

They also gave me the Democrats. My highest “match” was a tie between Joe Biden and Bill Richardson, both at 24.07 percent.

Crossposted on RedMaryland.

Harris hammers Gilchrest on illegals and franking

I’m certain I won’t be the first to put this up, but I aim to be the best article on the subject.

Today I got the latest press release from the Andy Harris Congressional campaign:

“Gilchrest Misleads Voters on Illegal Immigration”

The full color franked mail Gilchrest’s congressional office sent out at taxpayer expense is misleading the public on Gilchrest’s record on illegal immigration. “The taxpayers are funding Gilchrest’s misleading statements concerning his record on illegal immigration,” said Chris Meekins, Political Director for the campaign.  

The truth is Gilchrest supports AMNESTY for illegal immigrants (co-sponsor of H.R. 371, 2007). “Unlike the incumbent, I will never support any form of amnesty,” Harris added.

Gilchrest’s real record on illegal immigration:

  • H.R.1885 5/21/2001 Vote 127: Gilchrest voted to allow illegal immigrants who overstayed their visas to pay a $1,000 fine and stay in the U.S. while they completed their residency application.
  • H. AMDT 655 7/8/2004 Vote 341: Gilchrest voted against an amendment that would have increased funding for enforcing current federal laws against sanctuary policies for illegal aliens.
  • H. AMDT 745 9/9/2004 Voted (sic) 439: Gilchrest voted against the amendment that would have barred illegal immigrants working in the U.S. from receiving Social Security benefits.
  • H.AMDT 138 5/17/2005 Vote 177: Gilchrest voted against the amendment that would have denied federal homeland security funding to state and local governments who refuse to share information with federal immigration authorities.
  • Not only is Gilchrest misleading the public about his record, but he is also using taxpayer dollars to do it. “Apparently Gilchrest has so little respect for taxpayer dollars, that he votes for billions of dollars in wasteful spending and then uses taxpayer dollars to fund campaign activities,” Meekins said.

    “It is one thing to send a letter to a constituent who asks about a specific issue, it is a completely different thing to mislead them,” said Chris Meekins, Political Director for Harris for Congress.

    Using taxpayer funded franked mail for his own political benefit is nothing new for the office of Wayne Gilchrest. In the first quarter of 2007, Gilchrest’s office was in the top 10% of all members of congress in his abuse of franked mail.

    Personally, I think I was to blame for a lot of that “abuse” as previous posts show. I’ve gotten maybe a half-dozen letters from the Congressman this year pertaining to his incorrect stance on the Long War. That aside, I looked into each vote the press release alluded to.

    The first vote (Vote 127, H.R. 1885 from 2001) was “On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass” and it passed 336-43. The bill in question was called the “Section 245(i) Extension Act” at the time of the vote, but was rolled into another bill later in 2002. As the THOMAS website notes:

    H.Res. 365 incorporated the text of H.R. 3525, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, in H.R. 1885, originally the Section 245(i) Extension Act dealing with certain immigration petition filing deadlines. Subsequent action on border security returned to H.R. 3525. H.R. 3525 became Public Law 107-173 on 5/14/2002.

    In other words, it’s part of the laws that aren’t being enforced now.

    Second up is the vote on H. Admt. 655, which was part of the process of voting through H.R. 4754, “Making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes.” In other words, a budget bill. Again quoting the THOMAS website:

    Amendment sought to provide funding for the Department of Justice to enforce section 642 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996 which forbids localities from preventing their police officers from reporting immigration information to the Federal Government. (This amendment was by Rep. Steve King of Iowa, and would have increased funding by $1 million.)

    The amendment failed 278-139, Gilchrest in the majority with 86 other Republicans and 190 Democrats (plus the “independent” Bernard Sanders of Vermont, who is practically a Socialist.) In this one, Harris is exactly correct as Gilchrest helped to deny the added funding.

    Next is a vote on amending another FY2005 budget bill, this one “Making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes.” (Those “other purposes” always scare me.) The amendment in question was sponsored by Rep. J.D. Hayworth of Arizona, and was “An amendment to block payments of benefits under the proposed Social Security totalization agreement that was signed with Mexico.” Hayworth noted in arguing for the amendment (from the Congressional Record):

    The principal problem with the agreement is that our Social Security Administration assumes that only 50,000, only 50,000, Mexican workers will apply for Social Security benefits. But with estimates of over 4 million Mexican workers here illegally, I think the number in fact will be significantly higher.

    In this case, the amendment was shot down by a 225-178 vote. Gilchrest joined 60 other Republicans and 164 Democrats in voting to kill the idea. Once again, Harris can correctly say that Gilchrest voted directly to favor illegal immigrants.

    The final vote in question was a FY2006 appropriation for the Department of Homeland Security. It was on an amendment sponsored by Congressman (and current Presidential candidate) Tom Tancredo, who stated in advocating the amendment (again from the Congressional Record): 

    Mr. Chairman, my amendment would prevent State and local governments who refuse to share information with Federal immigration authorities from being able to obtain Federal funds under this act. These so-called “sanctuary” policies are not only misguided and dangerous; they are also illegal.

    Section 642(a) of the illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 already makes it illegal for State and local governments to prevent their police from interrupting the free exchange of information between State and local police and Federal immigration enforcement authorities. Nonetheless, many local governments adopt policies that explicitly prevent their police officers from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

    When local governments refuse to share information with Federal immigration authorities, police departments often stop and/or arrest criminal aliens time and again, only to release them without ever having checked their immigration status. As a result, instead of being deported, these aliens move on to commit other crimes oftentimes.

    On principle I don’t like seeing the hammer of denying federal funds being used against local and state governments if they don’t pass certain laws, so I’d be inclined to be against this amendment solely on that basis despite its bid to increase enforcement. I don’t think Gilchrest voted against that amendment on my particular principle though. It lost 258-165, Gilchrest joining 64 other Republicans, 192 Democrats, and that lone independent in voting “nay”.

    So Harris has accurately portrayed Gilchrest as having some favor on illegal immigration, or at least doing his part to look the other way.

    Now the question of franking. I’m not in possession of the “full color franked mail” Congressman Gilchrest’s office has sent out, but I did ask Chris Meekins for a .pdf copy. (Of course it’s 12 MB so it may not make it into my mailbox.) To be honest it may come to me tomorrow since I originally planned this post for then and told him that; instead I’ll do my Morgan State GOP debate wrapup tomorrow afternoon instead of late tonight – too many late nights recently.

    Anyway, the idea of franking was to encourage the elected representatives of the people to keep in contact with the voters in their district. In my case, I get a lot of mail from the Congressman because he knows I’m interested in a number of subjects he votes on and he informs me of the reasons for his decisions. On the other hand, a previous Congressman in whose district I lived (Rep. Marcy Kaptur) truly abused the privilege, sending out several puff pieces a year featuring all of the pork she spread around the district. They generally had a voter survey in them too but obviously she ignored my input since she voted pretty much the straight liberal line.

    Simply put, I don’t have a problem with the principle of franking, but perhaps a full-color piece may be abusing the idea a little bit.

    A discussion with Presidential candidate, Congressman Duncan Hunter

    Tonight I was invited to participate in a conference call for supporters in the Maryland and Virginia region, so I accepted the invitation and found out a few interesting things going on with the Hunter Presidential bid. I also got a question in as you’ll read below.

    Duncan started out by talking about the “great momentum” his campaign was building, from winning the townhall.com Texas Straw Poll earlier this month to a enthusiastic reception (he was “overwhelmed”) by Michigan Republicans last weekend at their conference on Mackinac Island. A key factor in his reception among Michiganders was his tough stance on trade, vowing to stop allowing China to “cheat” on our existing trade agreements and devaluing its currency. Further, China was using these ill-gotten gains to purchase military hardware that (in my personal opinion) will be used against us in the next couple decades.

    While the Congressman is low-ranked on most polls, at this point Duncan saw the race as still one predominantly based on name recognition, where candidates like Fred Thompson have an advantage. Once the campaign got more into issue mode, Hunter thought he’d start moving up the ladder. To that end, beginning next week Duncan would start buying TV time in key states – one thing that surprised me was how inexpensive commercial time is in certain early primary states ($100 for a spot on Fox News, as one example.) Also Hunter pointed out that these commercials would be featured on his website.

    This was in response to the first question that was asked. I asked the second one addressed in the twenty-minute call. It was one I’d ask any Republican candidate given the situation here on the Eastern Shore: what policy do you feel is your best for attracting the conservative Democrats to our side to vote for you?

    The Congressman likened the situation to that which attracted the Reagan Democrats in 1980, and it was about the same key issue – jobs. There’s pressure on good jobs in this country coming from two fronts – China cheating on its trade agreements as discussed above and illegal immigrants undercutting wages. Hunter gave an example of a drywall contractor who he met in Iowa that employs all American workers getting underbid constantly by unscrupulous contractors employing illegals. Further, Duncan claimed that the established Hispanic community in our country is dead-set against amnesty. I think he qualifies as an expert since he represents San Diego in Congress.

    So I thought he gave me a good answer to my question. Then he went further into talking about his efforts to secure the border – Rep. Hunter wrote the law authorizing the double border fence to continue along the entirety of our Mexican border. This is a fence style that has cut smuggling 90% in the San Diego area where it exists now.

    Finally, Congressman Hunter urged us to tune into tomorrow night’s Baltimore debate. Locally, it’s on cable channel 22 – for the rest of you it’s the proverbial “check your local listings.”

    I’m a bit concerned about that debate. First of all, most of the so-called “top tier” aspirants are skipping out. Participating are Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, Hunter, Alan Keyes, and Ron Paul. (Late note: Congressman Tom Tancredo also participated.) Secondly, the focus will be on “minority” issues and the audience likely will be less-than-friendly to the GOP. According to the Sun:

    Debate planners have been working behind the scenes to produce a program that won’t be overly hostile to the Republicans, including an effort to seat an audience that is as neutral as possible, according to a person with knowledge of the preparations.

    Still, the candidates who show up will expect tough questioning on issues such as immigration, the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and their party’s dismal standing with black and Hispanic voters.

    Personally, I’d love to see Hunter or someone else turn the tables and ask why minority voters continue to vote for a party that has promised them so much yet delivered so little over the last 50 years. I don’t believe in “minority” issues, I believe in American issues.

    We’ll see what Duncan and the others say tomorrow night. It’ll be a rare PBS viewing for me, that’s for sure.

    Crossposted on RedMaryland.

    Wicomico Neighborhood Congress – September 2007

    Last night was the inaugural meeting of the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress. While 150 invitations were sent out across the county, it was a hardy band of about 55 who showed up. After everyone signed in, we were welcomed by the Steering Committee Chairman, Jim Ireton.

    WNC Steering Committee Chair Jim Ireton delivered welcoming remarks as County Executive Rick Pollitt looks on.

    Jim treated those who didn’t know to a brief rehash of the trials and tribulations of putting together the WNC then turned it over to the keynote speaker:

    County Executive Rick Pollitt was our keynote speaker.

    In his remarks Rick used the birth of the Allen Volunteer Fire Company out of a tragedy as an example of how a community can pull together for the benefit of all, much like the goal of the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress. He also said that there were few neighborhood problems that hadn’t been faced before, and that he hoped participation in the WNC would be a “rich, rewarding experience” as we “do our part as citizens”, making ‘from heres’ and ‘come heres’ want to be ‘stay heres.’ We also had a welcome from Amy Hasson of Salisbury University, who briefly spoke about her experience with neighborhood groups.

    Then the meeting was turned over to three local citizens with experience in running neighborhood associations.

    Tim Spies spoke about his experiences with the Camden Neighborhood Association, the area's oldest one.

    Susan Carey spoke on behalf of the Johnson's Lake neighborhood and about problems it faces.

    County Councilman John Cannon was once president of the Nutter's Crossing neighborhood group, but went through some of the things needed to make any group a success.

    The three pictured above (Tim Spies, Susan Carey, and John Cannon) have been involved in their associations for years. Spies talked mainly about how the Camden Neighborhood Association used some of the grant money it received through the Weed and Seed program to improve its public spaces, while Carey focused more on the issues of crime and vacant houses that her Johnson’s Lake area faced. Cannon focused more on the legal ins and outs of a neighborhood group like by-laws, covenants, community infrastructure repair, and other maladies that a group like his at Nutter’s Crossing ran into from time to time.

    Mike Pretl goes through the proposed WNC charter.

    Putting together a group such as the WNC can be a painful and slow process. In one respect, the steering committee punted a few basic items down the road a bit, like establishing their own by-laws and rules. The proposed charter was meant as a temporary stopgap for the organization’s first year until it gets settled in.

    Really the only issue I have with the charter is under Goals and Strategies. I’ll write the offending paragraph with a strikethrough on the parts I don’t like and suggest a change in bold.

    The mission of the WNC shall be pursued through a grassroots organization, consisting of neighborhood associations, allied entities, and individuals, with emphasis on geographic, racial, and economic diversity representing the whole of Wicomico County. Its strategies shall focus on:

    a. education of our citizens in the tools of citizenship;

    b. organization of neighborhoods to achieve a common purpose;

    c. empowerment to change conditions needing change; and

    d. advocacy to urge government and/or the power of private enterprise to address neighborhood concerns.

    After that and a brief treasurer’s report, it was finally time to start discussing problems. Before we started, those in attendance were asked to fill out a survey ranking what they saw as the largest problems in Wicomico County. Here’s the list as I have it:

    1. Crime
    2. Jobs
    3. Slum/Blight
    4. Gangs
    5. Code Compliance
    6. Roads
    7. Schools
    8. Emergency Services
    9. Traffic
    10. Wells
    11. Street Lights
    12. Stormwater
    13. Internet
    14. Local TV stations

    We broke into five groups at that point to discuss a number of issues. Each group was issued a pair of boards, one to write down problems and one for solutions. Here are examples.

    Debbie Campbell and County Councilman David MacLeod go through a list of problems with housing in Wicomico County.

    Next the pair discuss solutions.

    I chose to join in the discussion on growth and development, since I have a little bit of expertise on the subject and I also thought that I’d be the voice of reason in the group since it was apparent from the tone of previous discussions that we had a few anti-growth zealots among us. But we had a productive 20 minutes or so. I did make my pitch for getting our group involved with putting together the next comprehensive plan as one way to address sprawl.

    I do have to comment though on something stated on a board above. Number 3 on the “solutions” board states, “expose SAPOA for what they are (lobby group to further rental industry interests).” Yet the WNC charter wants us to be an advocacy group, too. I know there’s a number of slumlords out there, but like it or not Salisbury does have a thriving rental market so we need to be a little more for cooperation and less for confrontation. However, these boards will be “living” boards and will be at each WNC meeting to promote discussion so perhaps we’ll have input on other solutions too.

    It was interesting to me how the political dynamic worked there. Monday night I had my share of seeing Republicans, while last night (except for John Cannon, Orphans’ Court Judge Bill Smith, and one WCRC member I know on the WNC) it was pretty much a Democrat show as you’ll see below. Again, I suppose I fit in as the voice of reason. 🙂

    Salisbury City Councilwoman Shanie Shields (right) discusses the issues with Rick Pollitt (left) and Rocky Burnett (center).

    Two of our County Council representatives, David MacLeod and Sheree Sample-Hughes (on phone).

    However, while we are probably pretty far apart on the political scale, I have to hand it to this lady for her hard work:

    Debbie Campbell, arguably the key force behind the WNC.

    We also know now that our next meeting will be sometime in November out in Hebron, and the topic naturally will be growth and development. So that ought to create a few fireworks. Future meetings will cover the topic of crime (January) and environment (March.) In the meantime, I have a little work to do in my own neighborhood now that I’ve gotten the Straw Poll out of the way.

    WCRC meeting – September 2007 (Straw Poll)

    Last night I posted the results of the Straw Poll; tonight I go into what was said.

    Unfortunately I didn’t get quite the participation or attendance I expected; then again, this was a first-time event and we have competition from hundreds of other organizations – not to mention we’re not located in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, or South Carolina. Maryland is the primary backwater state once again despite moving up to mid-February.

    On a personal level, I am pleased that the event went off well despite the lower than expected crowd. It’s the first time I attempted putting together an event like this and insofar as anything we made last night from the purchase of ballots was “free” money, $300 (plus $100 in 50/50 money, plus signing up one new member) is nothing to sneeze at whatsoever. And I managed not to sound too stupid at the podium, either in handling the event as it went on or my presentation advocating Duncan Hunter for President. I actually thought I did that pretty well, four minutes off the cuff without notes or reading. Just wish I’d convinced another few voters.

    We had four local speakers who exhorted the gathering to vote for their guy. As you’ve likely guessed, I was one on Duncan Hunter’s behalf. But I’d also like to thank BJ Corbin for his support of Mike Huckabee, Ryan Hohman for advocating Ron Paul, and Bonnie Luna coming up to press Fred Thompson’s candidacy. Obviously she was the big winner given the results. We also found out that Bonnie is Fred Thompson’s Wicomico County coordinator, so I guess she’s really the first to step up to assisting on a national campaign to that extent. Finally, from a message standpoint I thought each of us were well-received so that was a nice experience. I was getting a thumbs-up from Joe Arminio in the back on a couple points regarding Congressman Hunter (as did BJ with Mike Huckabee) so I made a little impact.

    The four of us were a pretty good opening act for the remaining four speakers.

    First to speak was Congressional candidate and Arnold resident Joe Arminio. This gives you a little idea of the crowd as well.

    Joe Arminio drew first blood. The author, consultant, and newspaper publisher from Anne Arundel County began his ten minutes by referring to what he termed “colossal developments” in our economy, particularly the devaluation of the dollar against the euro. (He refers to it farther in this recent press release from his website. I received it but hadn’t had an opportunity to post it yet – so here you go.) Arminio even raised the specter of a possible depression since so many of our dollars are held overseas. Joe continued by stating that our country was “on fumes” in many economic respects.

    His solutions lay in going back to an era before America hit its “apogee” as he put it; or to an era before 1972 when real wages peaked for the American worker. A return to something akin to the gold standard to discourage borrowing and increasing tariffs on imports to preserve our industry were just two parts of the cure, along with a sharp decrease in immigration. Arminio did not have kind things to say about the prospect of a North American Union, either. (I edited the above slightly based on Dr. Arminio’s comment below.)

    Another idea I found intriguing in what Joe said was the idea of creating committees of voters to assist him and give feedback on how he’s doing. In a respect, Arminio wants to create democracy within the republic, although he didn’t go into many specifics on the idea.

    Cathy Bassett, District and Communications Director, served as the pinch-hitter for Congressman Wayne Gilchrest.

    Cathy Bassett was a late fill-in for Congressman Gilchrest but did a good job in his stead. She termed Wayne as the “most electable” of the four, claiming that he gets a lot of crossover Democrat votes that the others might not get because the Democrats will “run hard” for the seat. She also alluded that out-of-district interests are out to “buy” (my term) a Congressman as opponents are taking PAC money that Wayne does not.

    Saying that Congressman Gilchrest supports making the Bush tax cuts permanent, Bassett also made a jab at Gilchrest’s opponents by talking about earmarks in a positive light, couching it in terms of bringing home the bacon. Wayne would pursue “certain” earmarks, ostensibly those bound for the First District. One example she gave was the dualization of U.S. 113 in Worcester County.

    If there’s one thing Cathy said that troubled me a bit, it was when she talked about corruption and bad behavior in Congress. She gave four names out, and while I did not write down the names, if my memory serves she cited Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay, Mark Foley, and Larry Craig – it may not have been that specific four, but I’m positive all four she called by name were Republicans. I’m not saying the Congressional GOP is clean and pure as wind-driven snow, but what about William Jefferson or Alan Mollohan?

    Congressional hopeful John Leo Walter makes his point during his remarks at the Wicomico County Republican Straw Poll.

    In my remarks about the recent WCRC Crab Feast, I said that John Leo Walter was “probably the most ‘average Joe’ in the race (but was) facing a pretty steep learning curve as far as running a race goes”. Well, Joe did two smart things for this Straw Poll. One, he brought a big family and other supporters down from Centreville and they must have had a few dollars for the paid ballot portion of the Straw Poll. Secondly, he quoted what I said on my website as part of his remarks. And yes, he began by talking about his family.

    John didn’t really go into specifics as far as policies go, except to brand himself as “similar to Fred Thompson.” (Given the Straw Poll results, another shrewd move.) He stressed instead his thought that Congressmen go to Washington and after a time “lose their way”, whereas in Walter’s mind he shared the idea of the Founding Fathers – a person going to serve for a few terms then returning to his business or farm. (He didn’t come out and impose a term limit on himself, though.) John also described himself as full of youth, enthusiasm, optimism (in the mold of Reagan), and energy. Also he made a key point of his daily experience in dealing with the law and Constitution as a practicing attorney.

    As the Political Director for the Andy Harris campaign, Chris Meekins came down to talk in Andy's place.

    Unfortunately, Andy Harris could not be with us last night as we had the misfortune of scheduling our event on top of another he was committed to. But we arguably had the next best person to describe him in his Political Director, Chris Meekins.

    Meekins talked a little bit about Andy’s family and active-duty military background (Operation Desert Shield/Storm). He also touched on the support Andy has from his fellows in the General Assembly (7 of 8 district Senators and over 10 Delegates), and termed Harris a “principled conservative.” In terms of policy, that translated into a hard line on illegal immigration (the idea of in-state tuition for illegals was “ludicrous”), taxes (Harris would oppose “all new taxes”, while Meekins claimed that Gilchrest voted for $15 billion in new taxes via the farm bill), and the Ahmadinejad visit (Harris would move to cut off federal funds to Columbia for inviting the Iranian despot.)

    Another issue raised by Cathy Bassett was addressed by Meekins. Disputing the claim that Gilchrest was the most electable, Meekins pointed out that the Democrats redistricted the state in such a way that all of the Republicans were lumped into two Congressional seats (1st and 6th Districts.) So the Democrats conceded these two districts in order to solidify six seats in Maryland’s delegation.

    All in all it was quite informative for the people who made it out. There is one more polling list I wanted to mention though.

    I found it interesting to see how many “paid” votes a candidate got per “raw” vote. If you divide the two numbers you see who supposedly has the deepest support (or the deepest pockets). On the Presidential side it worked out this way:

    1. Sam Brownback – infinity (1 divided by zero)
    2. Duncan Hunter – 19.0 (19/1)
    3. Ron Paul – 13.5 (54/4)
    4. Fred Thompson – 7.27 (160/22)
    5. Alan Keyes – 3.0 (3/1)
    6. Mitt Romney – 2.5 (15/6)
    7. Rudy Giuliani – 2.0 (12/6)
    8. Mike Huckabee – 0.67 (4/6)
    9. John McCain – no votes in either poll
    10. Tom Tancredo – no votes in either poll

    The average was 5.82 paid votes per raw vote.

    Congress:

    1. John Leo Walter – 11.36 (125/11)
    2. Joe Arminio – 7.4 (37/5)
    3. Andy Harris – 4.14 (91/22)
    4. Wayne Gilchrest – 2.25 (18/8)

    In this case, the average was 5.89 paid votes per ballot.

    I also want to point out that I got promotional items from just two campaigns – Ron Paul’s and Mitt Romney’s. (You can see some of it in the photo backgrounds.) I also made up a few Tom Tancredo items since his handout was readily available on his website. For the record, Ron Paul’s campaign was also the most responsive about sending someone down but backed out toward the end. I also got a late reply from Alan Keyes’s camapign but having started so late I didn’t figure on getting anything there.

    By the way, I still have a boatload of items so the next time you see a GOP table most of the items are leftovers!

    Finally, the thanklist:

    My fellow WCRC officers: George, Marc, Brad, Helen, Dave, and Tom – couldn’t have done it without you. I had the easy job standing in front of everyone.

    Those speakers representing Presidential candidates: BJ, Ryan, Bonnie – thanks for sticking your neck out for a person you believe in. I may not agree with them but you argued for your people well.

    The Congressional candidates and their seconds: Joe, John, Cathy, and Chris – most of you came a long way to speak to us and we wish you all the best. Let’s make it a good, hard-fought, and clean campaign that discusses issues.

    Finally and most obviously thanks to all of you who participated in the audience. It was a complete crapshoot how this would turn out. It may be I was shooting for the farthest of stars, but I got pretty far past the moon nonetheless. And I did find out tonight at the WNC meeting that Joe Gidjunis will post the results on his Daily Times blog so we’ll get a little bit of pixels besides me anyway.

    Here’s hoping we don’t have to do this Presidential Straw Poll thing for another 8 years!

    Wicomico GOP Straw Poll Results

    I’ll have more on the actual event and what was said tomorrow. For tonight, here are the results of the “raw” ballots, filled out by each of the 46 people attending:

    Presidential:

    1. Fred Thompson, 22 votes – 47.8%
    2. Rudy Giuliani, 6 votes – 13.0%
    3. Mike Huckabee, 6 votes – 13.0%
    4. Mitt Romney, 6 votes – 13.0%
    5. Ron Paul, 4 votes – 8.7%
    6. Duncan Hunter, 1 vote – 2.2%
    7. Alan Keyes, 1 vote – 2.2%
    8. Sam Brownback, no votes
    9. John McCain, no votes
    10. Tom Tancredo, no votes

    For 1st District Congress:

    1. Andy Harris, 22 votes – 47.8%
    2. John Leo Walter, 11 votes – 23.9%
    3. Wayne Gilchrest, 8 votes – 17.4%
    4. Joe Arminio, 5 votes – 10.9%

    Club members also had the opportunity to purchase votes for a separate ballot for $1 apiece. This raised over $300 for the club and made that set of results a little different. I added this feature to see the depth of support for each candidate, and it also allowed people to split tickets, as it were. I know I did.

    Presidential:

    1. Fred Thompson, 160 votes – 57.6%
    2. Ron Paul, 54 votes – 19.8%
    3. Duncan Hunter, 19 votes – 7.0%
    4. Mitt Romney, 15 votes – 5.5%
    5. Rudy Giuliani, 12 votes – 4.4%
    6. Mike Huckabee, 4 votes – 1.5%
    7. Alan Keyes, 3 votes – 1.1%
    8. Sam Brownback, 1 vote – 0.0%
    9. John McCain, no votes
    10. Tom Tancredo, no votes

    For 1st District Congress:

    1. John Leo Walter, 125 votes – 46.1%
    2. Andy Harris, 91 votes – 33.6%
    3. Joe Arminio, 37 votes – 13.7%
    4. Wayne Gilchrest, 18 votes – 6.6%

    Tomorrow night after I attend the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress inaugural meeting I’ll post more on tonight’s Straw Poll – what the candidates said and other interesting items. I got pictures and text of tonight’s event so look forward to it.

    Crossposted on RedMaryland.

    Election Calendar: September 24 – October 7

    It’s deja vu all over again. Looks like last week’s calendar is still good this week except I add one event.

    Monday, September 24: The first Wicomico County Republican Straw Poll will be held at the Chamber of Commerce building at 144 E. Main Street in Salisbury, 7 p.m. If you’re a Republican you’re invited to participate. We’ve confirmed two Congressional candidates to attend (Joe Arminio and John Leo Walter) and Andy Harris is sending his Political Director, Chris Meekins. Didn’t get quite the participation I wanted but this still should be a fun event for local Republicans.

    Thursday, September 27 (tentative): If the every other week pattern established over the last several months holds, expect Wayne Gilchrest to appear on the AM Salisbury radio show (WICO, 1320 AM) around 7:40 a.m.

    Thursday, September 27 (tentative): Congressional candidate Christopher Robinson is slated to hold an invitation-only fundraiser “locally” on this day. 

    Saturday, September 29: He’s not on the ballot this year, but State Senator Lowell Stoltzfus is holding his annual “Picnic in the Park” on this date. Last year it was actually indoors at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center. I’ll have to get more on this during the week to nail down the event time and such, look for an update.  Last year’s event was $25 and went from 1-4 p.m. in the WYCC Midway Room. Congressional hopeful Andy Harris is slated to attend.

    Saturday, October 6: On the other end of my area, State Senator Rich Colburn has also scheduled a perennial fundraiser for the Cambridge American Legion Post #91. Festivities start at 5:30 p.m. and dinner’s set for 6:30 p.m. Admission is $50 – checks should be made payable to “Citizens for Colburn Committee” and mailed to: Citizens for Colburn Committee, 5210 Heron Road, Cambridge, MD 21613. Reservations should be mailed by Friday, September 28 or made by calling (410) 924-0098. This is another event that Andy Harris may attend as Senator Colburn’s endorsed his campaign – I may know more tomorrow when Harris’s update comes out.

    Unfotunately, it looks like Maryland is to the Presidential candidates like this Bill Murray line from the movie Stripes – “Come on!  It’s Czechoslovakia!  It’s like going to Wisconsin!  We zip in, we zip out!” Guess that’s what happens when states frontload primaries and leapfrog each other, we done got leaped. But I’ll keep checking.

    Another APB to Eastern Shore bloggers

    First of all, yes, I’m still alive. I just took a day off from posting yesterday, something about adding another one to my age. Saturday is typically my slow readership day anyway so I decided to enjoy it.

    Fans of the Maryland Bloggers Alliance should know this, but for the rest of you Carnival of Maryland 16 is up at Abolitionofman.com. Once again I’ll be the host for CofM 17 (as you can see below – nice work!), so probably starting Tuesday or so once the changeover is completed (I don’t handle that) we’ll be ready for new submissions for me to put together in another winning Carnival on Sunday, October 7.

    To refresh your memory on who and what represented us on the Shore last time, here’s the Carnival I hosted back in May. So send me your best stuff!

    Oh, by the way, those of you on the other side of the bay are welcome to submit too. 🙂