Odds and ends no. 10

This is the First Congressional District edition. I have a lot of little items covering most of the GOP side.

First of all, looking back at the Chestertown forum, the disdain that the two most well-known challengers to Wayne Gilchrest have for each other isn’t a secret anymore. While he’s probably not going to win the race, I admire Robert Banks for sticking to a relatively positive message. Monday I got this reaction to the rancor from him:

I’ll agree that the debate was entertaining, but not always for the right reasons.

In 22 years of active participation in First District politics, I’ve never seen campaigning like this.  It’s gotten really personal and that has detracted from the substance of the race. The negativity from the other campaigns shows how frustrated they’ve become that this race can’t be bought. The good people of the First District are too smart for that.

The voters are sending a clear message: they are fed up with the election-year promises and win-at-any-cost attitudes of career politicians.

EVERY NASTY AD THAT GOES ON THE AIR HURTS OUR CHANCES OF KEEPING THIS SEAT RED IN NOVEMBER. Let’s remember that.

I am ready to lead the District towards a healthier, more unified Party.

I’m serious about the issues and ready to tackle Washington on the things that critically affect our District.  I am also urging the members of my Party to get on the same page with the election just a couple of weeks away.  We must be united and ready to put an end to the infighting.

On February 12, the voters will speak out against the rhetoric and the negativity.  I’m looking forward to seeing how much they have to say.

While I like the overall tone, I’m not sure the seat is being “bought” since the three major participants are putting a good deal of shoe leather in as well. Our district is more suited for “retail” politics than most since it doesn’t have a dominant media market. Gilchrest and Harris have frequently sought votes in our area by putting their face time in at various public and private events.

Now let’s turn to Senator Pipkin. A frequent reader of my site makes this claim:

(Senator Pipkin) has been the primary opponent for any of Maryland’s Renewable Energy Initiatives…I know because I was there to testify in favor of all the above and Pipkin was staunchly opposed to any of the Renewable Energy Initiatives. (Emphasis in original).

He cites a total of four bills that were introduced in last year’s session, so I looked up the intent of each.

HB74 – Among other things, it would have revamped the Solar Energy Grant Program in the Maryland Energy Administration to be the Solar and Geothermal Energy Grant Program. (HB960 was a bill with similar intent that my reader cites.)

SB186/HB328 – To establish a Solar Energy Grant Fund to be administered by the Maryland Energy Administration, subject to oversight by the Public Service Commission and specifying the sources of the Fund.

SB187/HB253 – To alter the amounts of specified grants awarded under the Solar Energy Grant Program in the Maryland Energy Administration and repeal provisions relating to the Geothermal Heat Pump Grant Program. (This shouldn’t be confused with the HB253 that Senator Pipkin regularly uses against Andy Harris as a vote for illegal immigrants; that was in the 2003 session.)

None of them made it out of Senator Pipkin’s Finance Committee, but HB74 passed the House of Delegates 136-0. While the intentions have merit, I think I can understand the side Pipkin was on because, hey, we have a deficit don’t we? So I have to disagree with my reader on the financial necessity of the issue in general but he can properly cite Pipkin as one roadblock to passage.

I also heard E.J.’s new radio commercial today. This is part of what his campaign said about it:

Playing on his wildly popular “Who Knew?” ad campaign from 2004, E.J. Pipkin is responding to outrageous and ridiculous accusations by his opponents. In the television, radio, and print ads, Pipkin answers the negative assertions by Andy Harris and his illegal partner, the Club for Growth.

For several weeks, the Harris campaign has been distorting, twisting, and at times outright lying about the Pipkin record. Pipkin dismisses the allegations and explains the truth about the key issues in play.

Unlike ads from his competitors, Pipkin is looking the voter in the eye and telling them what he believes.

Pipkin’s ads are placed to remind voters that E.J. Pipkin has been fighting against higher taxes and out of control government spending for years. Campaign manager Mike Brown believes, “People know E.J. People know E.J. has been fighting for them when it comes to lowering taxes, lowering the costs of health care, protecting the Bay. These ads remind people about what they already know, E.J. Pipkin is a solid conservative who is fighting for them.”

Primary voters can expect to be bombarded with last minutes (sic) efforts to distort records and confuse voters. Our ads cut through the clutter and distortions and go straight to the issues that matter to the voters, ” Brown added.

In the ad, Pipkin states, “You don’t have a business person to operate on you and you don’t hire a doctor to balance your checkbook.”

The TV ad is here, and the radio spot here. A couple things stick out to me on this release though. First of all, no collusion between Harris and the Club For Growth has been proven by the FEC, and that probably won’t be determined until after the election anyway. (I wouldn’t hold my breath for an apology if Pipkin is proven wrong, either.) And he must like the tag line at the end since he used it at the forum. I bet we’ll have another mailing coming with that same theme too.

But the pithiest reply comes from a post on the media buy from PolitickerMD:

On the ads’ recycled ‘Who knew?’ theme, Harris campaign manager Chris Meekins quipped, “And it worked so well for him the first time.”

Andy Harris has been busy in the Wicomico County area over the last couple days. Yesterday he appeared on the AM Salisbury radio program with host Bill Reddish.

First of all, he promised a “different campaign” in the last two weeks as he tried to get away from what was becoming a “soundbite” one. And while Pipkin has been ripping Harris’s perceived lack of financial savvy with his doctor and checkbook talking point, it may give Andy free reign on the healthcare issue. Addressing health insurance in the interview, Harris sought to work on strengthening private insurance while finding ways to encourage employers to contribute to their employees’ insurance costs – all while making an effort to shift the coverage choices from employers to individuals.

Also as part of the ten-minute phone interview Harris called his so-called vote to support illegal immigrant in-state tuition part of a “parliamentary maneuver,” opined that a real economic stimulus would involve making the Bush tax cuts permanent while limiting the size of government, and saw an opportunity to end the situation in Iraq “diplomatically.”

Today in Salisbury Harris appeared in person to secure the official backing of former state Agriculture Secretary Lewis Riley, three members of Wicomico County Council (Gail Bartkovich, John Cannon, and Joe Holloway) and Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis. For his part, Harris was:

“…humbled these elected officials from the Eastern Shore believe I will best represent Shore values in Congress. In Washington, I will fight to lower taxes and decrease wasteful government spending, so our economy will produce high-paying jobs for families across the first district.”

He also has a local event this evening that I’ll be attending. That’s why you have an early post this evening and I’ll discuss the impact of Presidential race defections tomorrow.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

4 thoughts on “Odds and ends no. 10”

  1. This is a *little* off topic here (and if you want to not approve it, Michael, I’ll understand). Here is my problem with Renewable Energy:

    If it was such a great bargain (either short term or long term) you would not need government incentives through grants, taxes, and loans to get private industry and private residents to pick it up.

    I would oppose these bills, too, on the principle that the tax code should only be used to raise revenue, and not to coerce private action. That is facism.

  2. Anyone who has paid any attention knows that Harris is the one who will win. He’s been campaigning up and down the District, something which neither of his opponents have done. I don’t know how much time Pipkin or Gilchrest has spent elsewhere in the district, but my sources say: “not much.” So, if we really want to elect someone who will represent the entire district, then Andy Harris is the guy.

  3. Well I don’t know if Pipkin’s campaign is going to take advantage of it, but Harris’s plan to push for more in the way of employer provided healthcare (if that’s his plan, it’s hard to tell from the description of what he said) pretty much shows he doesn’t get conservative economic thinking.

    As I understand it the primary argument put forth by conservatives is that government distortion of the market is the primary cause of the “healthcare crisis.” To that end we need to take a more hands off approach and get government out of the issue.

    A key part of that hands-off style is a move away from employer-provided insurance. Current tax structures massively encourage people to get their health coverage through an employer. However this results in the insurance market becoming responsive to the needs of the purchaser – which is the employer not the individual. Employers will need only basic, general coverage at low price, whereas individuals will need policies more tailored to their individual needs at the lowest possible prices.

    Altering the tax structure to shift the primary purchasing of health insurance from employers to individuals will almost certainly lead to lower costs. Look at car insurance; the market is almost entirely personal purchasers and as a result providers must fight much more to appeal to individuals. The result is lower costs and more personal service.

    To repeat a Pipkin theme, “You don’t have a business person to operate on you and you don’t hire a doctor to balance your checkbook.” Andy Harris might understand what is and isn’t healthy, but if he’s saying what I think he’s saying, he clearly doesn’t understand the economics of health insurance.

  4. Sorry if I didn’t write the portion about health insurance clearly. Senator Harris’s intent (echoed in his Chestertown forum appearance) is to make insurance personal with incentives to employers to help fund their employees’ plans. (At least that’s how I wrote it then.) As I recall, at that point E.J. Pipkin claimed it was his idea first. Maybe so, but Pipkin doesn’t go into this subject on his website nor have I noticed it in his mailings.

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