WCRC meeting – November 2009

This month’s WCRC meeting featured a speaker well known to most of those attending, State Senator Richard Colburn.

But first we had to take care of the usual business, and for the most part it went as normal (our secretary was again missing, and he had the copy of the minutes.) One item on the treasurer’s report piqued interest, and that was paying for two years of internet service for the club website. A member wondered how many hits per month the site was getting, which was a question we couldn’t answer.

Another announcement was reminding the club about the upcoming Christmas Party and the fact 2010 dues could be paid there.

Club president Marc Kilmer then introduced our speaker, Senator Colburn, as a “stalwart defender of the Lower Shore and taxpayers.”

Richard related that come January 13, 2010, the Maryland General Assembly will begin its 427th session and it would be his 24th. Stating “I personally believe we’re still in a recession,” Colburn made the easy prediction that “balancing the budget will dominate the 2010 session.” Because Governor O’Malley had leaned so heavily on stimulus money – using $2.5 billion to balance the FY09 and FY10 budgets – it’s masked the fact that lost jobs equal lost revenue to the state.

Colburn also revealed that the pain of making cuts to county budget isn’t shared equally. For example, the very rural Somerset County derives 49% of its budget from state aid while Montgomery County in suburban Washington only needs to depend on the state for 14% of their budget. Richard opined that O’Malley’s cuts weren’t fair and across the board as advertised. Nor could education continue to be spared while other human services endure cuts. The state needed to “exercise restraint” in making the FY11 budget.

One remedy Colburn discussed was making the state more business-friendly. After talking about the poor marks the state received from business publications, Colburn thought that once we got through the recession neighboring states would “eat us for dinner” in terms of job creation. Having the 2007 Special Session was a “terrible idea” in Colburn’s eyes because it raised taxes on the eve of a recession.

A national issue meriting Colburn’s attention during his speech was health care, which needs to include a tort reform element to address America’s new motto: “sue thy neighbor.” Instead of health care though, voters “want to see Washington focus on the recession (and) increase jobs in the private sector.” But overall, “(Nancy) Pelosi is one of the best things Republicans have going” as is the “double O” team of Obama and O’Malley.

Looking ahead to next year’s election, Richard believed that the “wind would be behind us” but tempered his optimism somewhat by noting Maryland is the third most Democrat state in the nation based on registration – the 27 point bulge in Democrat voter registration trailed only Massachusetts (34% gap) and Hawaii (29%), even leading New York and California. However, the GOP cause in Maryland could be helped greatly once Bob Ehrlich got into a race, either for governor or U.S. Senate. He “has no reason…not to run,” said Richard. For his own part, Colburn has his own fundraiser coming up in January here in Salisbury.

Senator Colburn then took questions from the audience. I asked him about the impact of slots on the budget and was told not to count on any help from them in FY11, since Ocean Downs was the only approved licensee so far and they won’t be operational until next summer at the earliest. Had slots been put in place when originally proposed during the Ehrlich administration, we would have already been reaping the benefits and not been well behind the curve of other nearby states moving beyond slot machines and into other types of gambling.

A question on just how much the budget would need to be trimmed drew a guess from Senator Colburn of between $2 billion and $4 billion. One area which could be contentious is cutting teacher pensions by shifting the burden to the counties to handle the expense.

Would Ehrlich-Hogan would be a good ticket? asked another. It would be, given the good name recognition Larry Hogan has. It was unfortunate, opined Colburn, that the Ehrlich-Steele pairing didn’t remain for the 2006 election because that combination may have won.

Once Colburn finished his remarks, Mark Biehl gave the Lower Shore Young Republicans report. With their next meeting coming up on December 9th – marking a move to second Wednesday meetings – the big items on their agenda were preparing for a canned food drive around next Easter and hosting the state convention next June 19th.

I gave a fairly brief Central Committee report in the absence of both our Chair and Vice Chair, and rehashed the events of the state convention in getting a new state party leader and two new seats for our county’s Central Committee. I also pointed out that we were beginning to emphasize the process of getting good candidates for all county offices in 2010 and attempted to determine interest in a number of possible Lincoln Day dinner speakers.

In other business, Bob Miller asked about whether the club would donate to the Bless Our Children holiday campaign, which will be taken under advisement by the club’s executive committee. Mark McIver gave a brief update about the Andy Harris for Congress campaign, excitedly revealing that Harris lead Kratovil in early polling (albeit polling commissioned by Harris) by a 52-39 margin – but warned, “we were up before…we won’t be resting on our laurels.” Next Wednesday Harris is holding a fundraiser in Cambridge featuring Congressman (and 9-12 speaker) Tom Price of Georgia.

One final announcement by club president Kilmer was about an AFP event in Worcester County tomorrow night featuring both District 38B Delegates, who are Democrats. It was an opportunity to ask tough questions for those attending.

With that, we concluded a brisk (barely over an hour) meeting, with the next one scheduled for January 25, 2010.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

2 thoughts on “WCRC meeting – November 2009”

  1. The Christmas Party is Sunday, December 13, at 5:00 at the Elks Lodge. There will be a $10 fee to help cover costs ($15 for couples) and snacks and an open bar will be provided.

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