December 2009 – Page 3

Poll update 3

Another poll, another winner advances. Alive in the Chesapeake moves on along with previous round winners Twirling, Twirling, Twirling Towards Freedom and Salisbury News. They’ll join the winner of the next round and two second-place finisher wild cards in the semifinals next week.

AitC captured a record 42 votes in the contest (58%) but needed most of them to stave off Right Coast Girl, which had 30 votes for 41 percent. Delmarva Dealings brought up the rear with just one supporter.

I’ll set up the final first-round battle shortly.

A debt downgrade?

It seems to me that the county and state do what they can to maintain a good bond rating, so why not the federal government? It’s part of this missive from the folks at Americans for Limited Government:

Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today in a letter urged members of the House of Representatives to reject “the unprecedented global transfer of wealth” currently being planned at the global summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“Not one cent of foreign welfare via Copenhagen, the International Monetary Fund, or any other international institution should be committed,” wrote Wilson, “until the national debt is brought down to a manageable level: about 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.”

Wilson demanded that members set the record straight: “ALG calls on you to publicly state your position on this foreign welfare scheme.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Clause after complicated clause of the draft [Copenhagen] treaty requires developed countries to pay an ‘adaptation debt’ to developing countries to supposedly support climate change mitigation. Clause 33 on page 39 says that ‘by 2020 the scale of financial flows to support adaptation in developing countries must be [at least $67 billion] or [in the range of $70 billion to $140 billion per year].'”

Wilson warned that the U.S. was at risk of having its debt downgraded. He wrote, “At $12 trillion today, the national debt will surpass 100 percent of the GDP in 2011. The nation faces the increasing likelihood of a debt downgrade by Moody’s Investor Services. Future generations of taxpayers are being bound in the shackles of an insurmountable debt that cannot be paid.”

Last week, Moody’s Investor Services stated that U.S. “public finances are deteriorating considerably and may therefore test the Aaa boundaries…”

Wilson wrote that the cost of implementing the Copenhagen “wealth transfer” would be enough to push the U.S. over the edge: “Much of the national debt is already owed overseas to China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and elsewhere. Doubling down with a wealth redistribution plan to the Third World via Copenhagen will ensure that the rest of the nation’s wealth not committed to paying down the debt will simply be handed over. There will be nothing left for the American people.”

Although the U.S. Senate has the power to ratify treaties, many of the measures under discussion at Copenhagen require approval of both houses of Congress to appropriate funds. “As members of Congress, you have the power of the purse—and you can stop this blatant theft from American taxpayers,” Wilson wrote.

Wilson concluded, “I strongly urge you to pledge to oppose any foreign aid transfer until the U.S. debt has been brought under control, and to oppose any foreign aid transfer, regardless, until a broad consensus is reached on the so-called ‘science’ of man-made climate change.”

I don’t know if Bill Wilson was joking and writing the last paragraph tongue-in-cheek or not, but the idea of “consensus” in science isn’t what science is about. The idea is to work to disprove theories, not set policy because a theory is floated out there.

If we wake up in 2050 and the global temperature is down a degree or two from the point we’re at presently, would all the money and freedom we’ve lost be worth it? Actually, a slight warming wouldn’t be such a bad thing if if brings the line where agriculture is possible closer to the Arctic and Antarctic Circles – particularly in North America and Asia this brings a lot more acreage into play.

And don’t forget that the Medieval Warming Period brought agriculture northward to what we now know as Greenland (hence its name) – all without a SUV in sight or the industrialization evident in filth-belching smokestacks.

Those who have sounded the alarm about encroachment of a unilateral world government (most closely embodied by the United Nations) have often pointed out that a tax like the ‘adaptation debt’ is a first step in that direction. Those who represent the prevailing thought in Copenhagen tend to forget that the United States (and other developed nations) already provide billions of dollars in foreign aid, while we incur a large share of the cost in hosting the United Nations itself. (If Switzerland is a traditionally neutral nation, why don’t they host the UN? Just a thought.)

But in returning to the discussion of debt, what do state and local governments who are short of revenue do to maintain their debt rating? They cut spending. So why is the federal government considering going in the opposite direction unless they plan on printing their way out of the deficit?

So – where does Frank Kratovil stand on this? We probably won’t know until after the vote is taken and by then it may be too late.

A tale of two meetings

It’s funny how things sometimes work out. I’ll leave it to you to decide which is grassroots and which is Astroturf, beginning with the Americans for Prosperity group.

Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) have called for an emergency rally at the United States Capitol on Tuesday, December 15th at 1:30pm to send a clear message: hands off our health care. It now appears imminent that a vote on health care will take place in the near future. AFP-Maryland is encouraging citizens to have their voice heard by attending the rally tomorrow in Washington, DC.

“Apparently the Senate leadership still has not received the message from their constituents in regards to health care,” said state director of AFP-Maryland Dave Schwartz. “We do not want any more costly, ineffective government programs forced upon us. Enough is enough.”

Marylanders from every corner of the state will be heading to the Capitol to have their voice heard. Similar to the “Emergency House Call” in November, AFP-Maryland has helped organize bus stops throughout the state to bring citizens to the rally at the Capitol. While there, AFP-Maryland will also be encouraging citizens to visit their Senators and tell them to keep government’s hands off our health care. Details for area bus stops are below:

*BEL AIR (Greene Turtle parking lot) – 11am Departure
*OCEAN CITY (park and ride) – 9am Departure
*SALISBURY (Boscov’s) – 10am Departure

In the red corner, we have Health Care for America Now. I’m not on their mailing list so it was the folks over at Progressive Delmarva who posted that which I’m excerpting from – it’s billed as a “Conversation about health care reform and what it means to you.”

Informal discussion with physicians, medical students and health policy workers

Time and Date: Tuesday, December 15th, 7 PM

Location: Chesapeake College, Room 110,
Higher Education Center, Wye Mills, MD 21679

Community physicians, medical students, and health policy workers from Johns Hopkins are partnering with Doctors for America to host a “community conversation on healthcare reform” at Chesapeake College. The event, open to the entire community, aims to promote constructive dialogue around health care reform. We also hope to answer questions about the current health care proposals and bills. Ultimately, to ensure that voices from the Eastern Shore are heard, we’ll write a summary letter of our conversations to share with Congressman Kratovil and the White House.

The format will be small focus group-style discussions. We hope to foster an environment where people can feel free to engage in constructive dialogue, ask questions and/or simply listen. Physicians, medical students and other public health practitioners will help guide these discussions. Light refreshments will be provided.

The part about this I’d be most interested in is the summary letter, although finding out if “Stephanie”, who astute readers will recall as the JHU doctoral student in public health from the Cardin conference call I covered, will be one of the participants helping to “guide the discussion” would rank a close second. I don’t think the AFP crew is allowing anyone to guide their discussion.

I joked with the AFP people that they should stop by the Chesapeake College discussion just to make sure both sides are heard, but their timing doesn’t quite work out right. More’s the pity, because only then will any “constructive dialogue” be heard.

Distributing lumps of coal

This came to my e-mail box today and I’ll dutifully report it too. But then, as a value-added service, you get insight and analysis.

Wicomico County Executive Richard M. Pollitt, Jr. will deliver his fourth “State of the County” address on Friday, December 18th, at 10:00 A.M. in the Council Chambers of the Government Office Building. The speech will be covered live on PAC 14. The presentation is open to the public.

Under the new Wicomico County Charter, the County Executive is required to issue a report annually on the state of the county’s financial condition. Besides commenting orally on the economic situation, Mr. Pollitt will distribute a written report on the county’s accomplishments and financial activities for Fiscal Year 2009.

Mr. Pollitt said, “I eagerly anticipate the opportunity to share the difficult challenges and great opportunities that we have had and will have as our county moves forward through this time of economic crisis.”

The most glaring oddity about this presentation is that, for the first time, the SOTC address comes before Christmas. Over the last three years it had been in the news dead zone between Christmas and New Years’ Day. Maybe one announcement is that the county is bagging its affairs during that week as a long series of furlough days.

But I anticipate more of the same musings as he had last year, couched in a manner to promote himself to voters. (Bear in mind, the possibility exists where this could be Pollitt’s final State of the County address as he faces re-election next year.)

It’s unfortunate that this isn’t a true press conference, though, because it would be worth questioning whether Pollitt has given any thought to starting the FY11 budget from scratch as he promised to do four years ago and whether the numerous commissions and groups he’s created have truly accomplished anything. Certainly the full-color glossy report sure to be handed out will ignore the problems and focus on the accomplishments, and that’s fine.

The question voters will decide on next year, though, will be about leadership and whether the direction Pollitt is taking us is the one in which Wicomico County wishes to go. Perhaps the handout is the first piece of Pollitt campaign literature for the 2010 election, done at taxpayers’ expense.

Great expectations dashed

After the disastrous Christmas shopping season of 2008, it’s understandable that retailers desire 2009 to be a makeup year. They’re hoping that pent-up demand for “must have” electronic items and less pricey gifts catering to those desiring creature comforts like sweaters and other clothing items will place their bottom line squarely in the black this year – after all, Black Friday comes with the hope that subsequent holiday sales will make the year’s profit.

But even with the huge crowds swarming around stores in the predawn hours of Black Friday, retailers only saw a modest gain in overall sales. It could portend yet another lousy Christmas shopping season, particularly if the items drawing interest only did so because of heavy discounts placed on loss leaders.

Observers, though, always seem to be shocked by making the yearly realization that shoppers are waiting for a bargain. Even in the best of times there are price-conscious consumers, so it’s hardly a stretch to believe this year will not be a seller’s market.

One thing holding shoppers back from profligate spending is the new idea that cash is king. Not only are consumers holding out for the best bargains, the wait-and-see approach also comes from the realization that their next paycheck may well be their last. As private employers have reduced hours and slashed staff, even the employees of state and local governments once practically immune from job cuts face unpaid furlough days reducing their incomes too.

On the other side of the frugality equation is a preemptive strike by credit card companies to increase interest rates and reduce credit lines in the face of new government regulations affecting their industry. With many homeowners now unable to support their spending habit through home equity lines of credit because of sagging home values due to a glut of real estate on the market, they have little choice but to cut back on their giving and use their assets on hand rather than borrow in order to purchase gifts for their entire list.

There’s no question that Americans are being taught a useful lesson in living within their means this Christmas – in fact, this may be the year homemade gifts make a comeback. Unfortunately, the house of cards our consumer spending-driven economy became is still tumbling down and government policies aren’t conducive to turn it into an economy driven by savings and investment, at least not in the short term.

With unemployment at a rate unseen in a quarter-century and Americans feeling the pinch of having their savings and assets wiped out by the downturn in the financial and housing markets, the prospects of a profitable green Christmas for retailers aren’t very good. Retailers who are invested in the mantra of “shop until you drop” may themselves end up dropping like flies like former electronics retailer Circuit City did last year. In turn that vicious cycle throws more people out of work and forces them to drain their assets in order to survive.

Millions of Americans can consider the last year a lost year insofar as saving for their future goes and a lot of people are back to square one financially, having lost everything they owned in a tide of mounting debt. Since they can’t print money like the federal government can to mask its deficit spending, making up their financial losses will take several years of frugality by Americans, and retailers may dread the prospect of getting several more lumps of coal in their stockings as Christmas shoppers try to recover over the next decade.

Michael Swartz is a Liberty Features Syndicated writer.

Written in the wake of Black Friday, this piece cleared LFS just last Monday.

Victimology

Leave it to Democrats to play on emotion. In part, this is the latest missive I got from Organizing Against America.

My name is Suzanne. I’m a legal secretary and an OFA volunteer here in New Mexico, and this is a bittersweet holiday season for me.

While I have some good news to share with my family and friends, there’s one bad piece of news I need to share at the same time: Due to my skyrocketing health care costs, I’ve been forced to fall behind on my bills, and now my house is under notice of foreclosure.

So this year, when I sit down to write my family and friends, I’ll also be sending a holiday card to my senators, letting them know that my wish this holiday season is health reform.

It goes on from there. I’d be interested to know just why her health care costs are skyrocketing but she doesn’t go into that.

Then my next curiosity: if she’s not working, wouldn’t she be eligible for the government assistance we already have now? If she is working, how does Suzanne have time to be a volunteer? Obviously her medical condition isn’t so terrible that she can’t function at work or as a volunteer.

I know as well as anyone that bad things happen to good people. The stories that won’t be written if Obamacare passes would be those of the people laid off because the company can’t afford the extra expenses of health insurance, or those who die waiting on care because it’s rationed, only parceled out to those who are most economically viable to keep around. (If you don’t believe me, look to Canada and Great Britain for examples.)

While our health care system is far from perfect, the solution proffered by Suzanne and company aren’t going to improve it. Some may be critical of the profit motive in health care, but part of the reason our system has advanced as far as it has is that people are trying to make it better and profit from their improvements. On the other hand, where competition does not exist the result tends to be stagnation.

Any improvement to Suzanne’s financial condition because her health care is “free” will surely be swallowed up in the lack of progress in addressing her ailments that the acute shortages of research and personnel will surely bring once the profit motive is removed. That’s the price we’ll all pay if government-run single-payer health care comes to pass.

Poll update 2

This is fun to watch. For some reason my 2nd poll didn’t close when intended, but the overall result didn’t change. Twirling, Twirling, Twirling Toward Freedom won the 2nd round with 33 votes (63%) and moves on, with Salisbury Soapbox coming in second by grabbing 19 votes (36%) and On Your Side having just one lone supporter.

This round should be quite interesting as the draw placed two of Joe Albero’s contributors up against the other of two blogs suggested to me by the creator of afterthegoldrush – Twirling won its round and afterthegoldrush is in good position to advance as a wild-card. They’re all good, well-read blogs so vote early and often.

Friday night videos episode 16

Well, whadda you know, it’s back. Let’s see what fun stuff I can dredge up tonight.

I’ll start with Nancy Pelosi – this was in another folder and I happened to stumble back upon it. The words “tax increase” just can’t seem to escape her lips, even if you try to read them.

On the other hand, a good conservative woman makes points about the nuts who want to fund ACORN. I just like to tweak my friends on the left by putting Michele Bachmann online. From the Washington News-Observer:

From the same source, three legislators who have embraced the TEA Party movement talk about some of those things which have drawn their support. Here are Representatives Marsha Blackburn, Joe Wilson, and Tom Price.

The Center for Individual Freedom talks about Obamacare and its effect on youth. Hey, I like the part about eating vegetables, getting exercise, and preventative care for twentysomethings.

The group American Solutions decided to do its own jobs summit last week, asking businessmen in Allentown, PA what they would suggest the government do to help them create jobs. These words were likely barely uttered in Obama’s job summit there.

The video has a good message, but the cuts were a bit jarring. I don’t know if it was timed to coincide with the Billy Joel song in the background but they could’ve done a better job with it.

Turning to state issues, candidate for Governor Larry Hogan made one of his first stump speeches to a gathering of Republicans in Howard County. This is the first Vimeo video I’ve embedded so it comes at a smaller size – the advantage is that it can play all at once without the usual 10 minute YouTube limit.

As I promised last week, here’s part 2 of Washington News-Observer’s interview with Ann Coulter.

Normally, that would have been the end but I liked this video Chris Lewis brought to my attention. In the wake of the 9-12 march on Washington, D.C. Ava Aston wrote and performed this song, and she describes it this way:

“We The People” is a song I wrote over the weekend of the 9/12 March. My desire is to inspire Americans who are frustrated and feel discouraged to become invigorated & to stand up and take back our Republic.

The upcoming elections in November 2010, as well as the next Presidential election will determine what America will become. I hope and pray with every fiber of my being that we citizens Democrat, Republican, Independent, or whatever… will unite and fight to keep our Republic the way it was intended. Liberty, Justice and Freedom for every citizen, and for us to be governed For the People and By the People as our Constitution instructs.

Let’s see if we can get this to a LOT more than 4,000 or so views.

The song sort of falls in the space between rock and country, but I can deal with it. Bet my friends from Semiblind could make a good version of it – but they’re probably going to be a subject for another edition of FNV. Until next time, enjoy and crank this one up.

The virtual opposition

I like this. Not sure it’s going to do a lot of good or get a lot of play, but it’s good discussion fodder for a Friday afternoon:

Maryland Republican Party Chair Audrey Scott released the following statement in response to Governor Martin O’Malley’s virtual town hall taking place (yesterday) evening:

“It is fitting that Governor O’Malley would attempt to engage Marylanders in a virtual town hall since his administration seems to have been operating in a virtual reality. Here in the real world, Maryland families are looking at the economic leadership coming from Annapolis and the picture has been bleak. Since O’Malley has come into office over 200,000 jobs have been lost. When is Governor O’Malley going to stop living in the virtual world and start offering real solutions for real Maryland families?”

You forgot to mention his band, Audrey. Larry Hogan likes to do that and it makes for a fun counterpoint. By the way, the original release cites the 200,000 job loss number as it comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

I’m starting to wonder if there’s an intent to start offering real solutions from the O’Malley bunch. Instead, the trend over the last three years has been to:

Overbudget and need to make cuts later, generally in areas which directly affect Maryland families.
Depend more and more upon federal money to fill holes in the state budget.
Continue to tax and regulate people away from investment in Maryland business.

In short, the state’s government continues to expand well beyond the functions it’s supposed to do and into the wallets and private lives of Maryland residents. Obviously 2010 promises to be more of the same because there’s an election next year and, if anything, recent history had shown that fiscal responsibility will be stretched to the breaking point in the final budget of a governor’s term in order to distribute goodies to prospective voters.

The GOP will have to be watching like a hawk, but more importantly it needs to be a united front against fiscal mismanagement. Sadly, several members of the GOP delegation tend too much to “go along to get along” with General Assembly Democrats to get a few crumbs of the overall pie. If the GOP has put up a responsible budget alternative and the final budget votes don’t reflect at least a party-line 33-14 and 104-37 vote in the Senate and House of Delegates, respectively, it will send a message of weak-willedness to Maryland voters and hurt the GOP’s chances next year.

A failing recovery

Obama recovery - fail If nothing else, this post allows me to use the nifty image pictured on your right.

But I thought today’s essay by Patriot Post’s Mark Alexander was a keeper. In “Job Creation for Dummies” he outlines five basic tenets of economic prosperity that Barack Obama is refusing to embrace, instead creating photo-ops like a “jobs summit” to score points for trying rather than allowing government to step out of the way and allow small businesses to succeed.

Just looking at the logo to the right, we see Obama’s philosophy embodied. It’s recovery.gov – as if the government has a place in economic recovery. Sorry, it does not.

I’m certainly no economist, so the sum of my economic learning comes from the School of Hard Knocks. Seems to me though that as government has become more and more complex over my lifetime it takes more and more time for business to comply with government regulations and taxation rules. Thus, it follows that the time spent dealing with red tape is like overhead and businesses cannot make as much of a profit when their overhead is higher, unless they raise the prices they charge to maintain the level of service.

Some may argue that the complexity creates jobs because – as an example – a doctor needs to hire someone to deal with the paperwork presented by health insurers, generally at the behest of government. Fair enough – but is that truly helping the doctor with the appointed task of helping patients or is that just another cost of doing business? That cost gets passed on to someone because, again, businesses don’t pay taxes, their consumers do.

Let’s say you happen to be the paper-pusher hired by the doctor to deal with the paperwork. It’s most likely your salary can only go up if the doctor continues to see patients and reimbursements increase. If not, you could be asked to forgo a salary increase for an amount of time because the overall business income is flat or declining – yet your bills aren’t declining because costs are going up for all the service providers you have – food costs go up, the price of gasoline skyrockets, energy costs increase, and your tax burden gets no lighter. At least if you were on Social Security you’d get a $250 check to make up for a lack of a COLA this year, but regular employees have to make do.

Luckily, the paper-pushing industry probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It appears to me that the only jobs the Obama Administration is interested in creating are government jobs, or work which is dependent on federal money such as “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects like milling and resurfacing perfectly good stretches of highway. The jobs being “saved” are either union jobs, as in the United Auto Workers, or the fat-cat Wall Street types who bundled money to see Obama elected. Yeah, they may take a pay cut for a year but that’s the sacrifice made to make them look better in the press. They’ll get it back.

Meanwhile, good business fold up their tents, take down the shingles they hung, and have no way of paying their debts fully. Homeowners and investors see their nest eggs wiped out – that is, unless they desire “help” from the government.

Apparently the only time those who favor big government are happy is when society is miserable, because then they can step in and make themselves feel better by helping out. On the other hand, when the economic engine is humming they carp and complain because people are happy despite the fact they don’t need a handout. If it weren’t for having a perpetual underclass these busybodies would be throwing themselves off the Bay Bridge.

Let’s face it – the worm turned when getting “relief” from the government was no longer a stigma. The more people on the dole, the less of a chance being there will be looked down upon. That’s the true aim of Obama’s “recovery”and judged by that standard we can see it’s humming along quite well.

2009 Maryland General Assembly awards and scorn

Normally I add this to my monoblogue Accountability Project page once it’s clear that no Special Sessions would be called to change the rankings. This post will similarly be added to the page (which includes links to the monoblogue Accountability Project rating files) upon publication. But it’s time to bestow honors and point out those who are shortchanging the state with their poor legislative decisions.

Now what you’ve all been waiting for – Awards and Dubious Distinctions

I’ll start with the dubious distinctions, or what I call the Reasons To Adopt Recall. These legislators were the worst at taxing, spending, and generally taking away what little freedom we still have to do with our money and property as we wish. In the House of Delegates this group all had a zero or negative rating; in the Senate they rated less than 10. It’s my belief that each and every one of these folks needs to be thrown out in 2010, and I don’t care what the voter registration numbers in their district are!

What’s really sad is the sheer number of legislators on this list. There’s so many that, in order to save space I’ll just do last names. You’ll see why they deserve scorn after reading the voting records. If you look at the 2007 and 2008 lists you may see two-time (*) and even three-time (**) offenders.

Delegates: Anderson*, Barnes, Barve, Benson*, Bobo, Branch*, Bronrott*, Burns, Busch, Cane*, Cardin, Carr, Carter*, V. Claggett*, Conaway, Davis, Doory, Dumais, Feldman*, Frick, Frush, Gaines, Gilchrist, Glenn*, Griffith, Guzzone, Harrison, Haynes, Healey*, Heller, Holmes, Howard*, Hubbard*, Hucker**, Ivey, Jones, Kaiser, Kirk, Kramer, Krysiak, Love, MacIntosh*, Manno*, Mizeur*, Montgomery*, Morhaim, Murphy, Niemann, Nathan-Pulliam**, Pendergrass, Proctor, Ramirez*, Rice, Robinson, Rosenberg*, Ross, Simmons, Stukes, F. Turner, V. Turner, Vallario*, Vaughn, and Waldstreicher.

Senators: Conway**, Currie**, Della, Exum**, Forehand, Frosh*, Gladden**, Harrington*, Jones, Lenett*, Madaleno*, Pinsky**, Pugh**, Raskin*, and Rosapepe**.

Yes, that list has 63 Delegates. This hall of scorn now comprises a record 44.7% of the House of Delegates (smashing the old record of 12.8% in 2007) while the share of Senators on the list dropped slightly from a record 34.0% last year to 31.9 percent.

And then we have the RINO Huntee, the legislator who’s best at selling out to the Democrats and voting with them as they raise taxes and increase spending – all to suck up and maybe get a few crumbs for his or her district. In 2009, once again the person with that target on his back was:

Delegate D. Page Elmore (District 38A). Page is now a three-time “winner” of this award – this year his rating was a pathetic 31.79. Unfortunately, this year Elmore was challenged by Delegates Wendel Beitzel and Susan Aumann for this dubious distinction. Two other Delegates, Leroy Myers and Andrew Serafini, had lower overall ratings but missed a large number of votes, which reduced their rating. When present, their records were rather good so hopefully in 2010 they can be present more often.

Turning to awards, next up is what I call the Top (Blue) Dog Award, given to the Democrat who best reaches across the aisle and votes with those of us who believe in limiting government while maximizing freedom – unfortunately, most of the time here in Maryland that vote is in vain. Nevertheless, my Top (Blue) Dog for 2009 is a new winner this year:

Delegate John F. Wood Jr. (District 29A) upended two-time winner Delegate Kevin Kelly to win the award with a 42.41 rating.

I also have a group who I’ve dubbed the Legislative All-Stars. In most cases they score over 90% but also include at least the top scorer in a body who doesn’t make that threshold. They are the cream of the Maryland crop and those of us who desire a more sensible, limited state government would do well to have one like each of these men and women in every General Assembly seat.

After having seven Legislative All-Stars last year, their numbers dropped to six this year. Five of these honorees are:

Delegate Pat McDonough (District 7), his first time so honored.
Delegate Warren E. Miller (District 9A) is now a two-time Legislative All-Star.
Delegate Anthony J. O’Donnell (District 29A), my 2008 Legislator of the Year and three-time Legislative All-Star.
Delegate Don H. Dwyer, Jr. (District 31) is also a first-time Legislative All-Star.
Senator Janet Greenip (District 33) had the highest rating in the Maryland Senate and sadly concludes her Senate career as its only three-time Legislative All-Star.

So who is the winner of the coveted monoblogue award for the 2009 Legislator of the Year?

Along with Delegate Miller, this man managed to achieve the highest rating for the 2009 General Assembly session. Both he and Miller have the exact same overall rating, which is now the highest in the General Assembly, so I couldn’t use that as the basis for selection.

Miller and my winner differed on one vote, and I chose a man who took a stand with just one other Delegate against the nanny state incursion of banning texting while driving. Without further ado, my 2009 monoblogue award for Legislator of the Year goes to:

Delegate Joseph C. Boteler III (District 8). After being a Legislative All-Star last year and in the final running for the award won by Delegate O’Donnell, this year Boteler improved his effort and earned the award, the second time it’s been held by a Delegate.

MDGOP gets new Executive Director

The revolving door which has been the Maryland Republican Party leadership hopefully has been stopped with the appointment of a new Executive Director – by resume she could be a winner. This from the Examiner:

Kim Jorns will be starting in the position as of January 1. She is currently the Director of Finance of the Virginia Republican Party, and comes highly recommended by contacts in Virginia. “They are very sad to lose her,” said Ms. Scott, “which speaks volumes.”

Ms. Jorns is originally from Wisconsin, serving as Director of Finance for the state party, and being instrumental in helping the struggling Republican party in that state to rebuild. She repeated the performance in Virginia with its challenged state party. Ms. Scott said, “She’s got the experience we need here in Maryland, from fundraising to a reputation for hard work. Our focus now is on fundraising, so one of the first things she is planning to do is to develop a finance plan for the party.”

All well and good, and with the background I wonder if a couple of my friends know her from days gone by in Wisconsin and Virginia.

The key element is indeed finance. Unlike the Democrats, who can count on union dues confiscated from workers being transferred magically to their campaign accounts (assuming they’re good little Democrats and back the union line on their key issues) the GOP relies mainly on smaller donations from interested individuals. Given the success Republicans enjoyed in Virginia a month ago, it’s good we can get a winner on our team.

So once Jorns gets on board after the holidays, it would be nice if she (and new party Chair Audrey Scott) begin to reach out to the smaller counties. While we’re in the midst of filling two new positions on our Central Committee, choosing from a number of well-qualified candidates (and I presume Worcester County is doing the same), surely we can make time to meet with Scott and Jorns because you can call us skeptics at the moment. Bear in mind that Wicomico was the only county not supporting Scott at the recent convention.

It’s time for the squeaky wheel to get the grease. Do I want to see more Republicans elected? Of course I do, although my preference is for the most conservative ones we can find, people who favor limiting the size and scope of government, to be placed into positions of power. We’re happy to help but we want our concerns addressed too.

So good luck to Kim Jorns as she assumes this task. It’s a formidable one but we’ll help any way we can.