Day: January 30, 2010

Could Maryland be another Massachusetts?

Well, Senate candidate Dr. Eric Wargotz thinks so. He wrote to the Gazette and said this:

With all deference to former Gov. Bob Ehrlich, I find his comments, through his spokesman and published in The Gazette to be inaccurate.

Having door-knocked for Scott Brown and then witnessing his victory in Massachusetts firsthand, I know that an independent candidate, free from machine politics, can and will win against any Democrat or Republican in any state, including Maryland.

In fact, President Obama admitted as much during a post-election interview when he stated, “the same voters that voted for me, voted for Scott Brown.”

Ehrlich saying that Barbara Mikulski is no Martha Coakley is also not accurate. Both officials are lifelong politicians, both are beholden to machine politics and both stand for higher taxes, greater governmental spending, amnesty for illegal immigrants and a federal takeover of the health care industry. And both are/were well-liked.

Scott Brown’s reputation for listening to voters, his record of fighting for open, transparent and accountable government and his campaign theme of “we can do better” resonated with independent, Democratic and Republican voters alike.

In my campaign for United States Senate, as I go door to door and event to event, I am finding a similar response — Maryland voters want elected officials that will listen to them and that will then act in their best interest, not the machine’s best interest.

Maryland voters believe that “their” United States Senate seat, afforded to “them” by the Constitution, does not belong to Barbara Mikulski or to any one political machine or party … it belongs to “them,” the people.

My candidacy for U.S. Senate, like Scott Brown’s, gives Marylanders a chance to once again have their voices heard in Congress.

I am hopeful that Bob Ehrlich might reconsider his comments given this firsthand accounting from both Massachusetts and Maryland, and perhaps have the evidence he needs to run for governor — a decision that I would support.

First of all, it’s worth noting that Wargotz was responding to this article. The piece by C. Benjamin Ford correctly points out that Maryland’s voter registration numbers are indeed quite different from those in Massachusetts.

But, if voter registration was the only indicator of success you would have an entire slate of Democrats in all of our local countywide offices, since Democrats hold somewhat of an advantage in those numbers locally. Yet Republicans hold 3 of the 10 countywide offices available in Wicomico County (Sheriff, one seat on the Orphan’s Court, and one of two at-large County Council seats), and three Democrats are in their posts simply because they were unopposed (Registrar of Wills, State’s Attorney, and one of the three Orphan’s Court judge seats.) In contested races, the two parties pretty much split equally.

With the right campaign and right backing, certainly any Republican can make a run at and beat Mikulski. The difference between her previous campaigns and this one is that people are beginning to pay more attention to her record. As Eric notes, Mikulski “stand(s) for higher taxes, greater governmental spending, amnesty for illegal immigrants and a federal takeover of the health care industry” based on her voting record. Outside of the immediate D.C. area, does Maryland really want that?

The only sour note Eric hit was his support of Bob Ehrlich running for governor, because Bob’s now dithering until March to make his decision.

This statement may not make me a lot of friends among the Maryland GOP faithful, but I’ve pretty much lost my respect for the guy politically – as I see it, Bob Ehrlich is handing Martin O’Malley a second term on a silver platter by crippling Larry Hogan, who could be truly ramping up his campaign now in the wake of Scott Brown’s victory. If Ehrlich wanted to push his way to the lead in polling (particularly the important one on November 2nd) he should’ve jumped in two or three months ago. Even with Ehrlich’s name recognition, it’s tough to beat an incumbent with a short campaign – that’s why the major contenders in the race for the Senate seat began their campaigns last year as did Hogan and former candidate Mike Pappas.

I can already see a scenario where Bob Ehrlich gets into the race late, loses, then points the finger of blame at the Maryland Republican Party for not being supportive enough early on while he was making his decision. Sorry, it’s not my fault you waited around.

I wonder if Bob Ehrlich will be taking questions at our Lincoln Day Dinner next week. I know I have one or two.

Obama agrees with the GOP. So what’s the holdup?

One interesting point made in President Obama’s State of the Union speech last week was the idea of opening up more offshore drilling – something Republicans have advocated doing for years but a task where Democrats and environmentalists (sorry, I repeat myself) continually throw up roadblocks to progress.

Recently inaugurated Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell noted in his SotU response that:

Here in Virginia, we have the opportunity to be the first state on the East Coast to explore for and produce oil and natural gas offshore.

But this Administration’s policies are delaying offshore production, hindering nuclear energy expansion, and seeking to impose job-killing cap and trade energy taxes.

Apparently there’s a disconnect between what Obama is now saying and what the Department of the Interior (led by its secretary Ken Salazar) is actually doing – apparently Interior wants to delay a planned lease sale. Writing on the Energy Tomorrow blog, my friend Jane Van Ryan notes:

There’s a lot to like about the planned Virginia offshore lease sale. It’s believed the leasing area could contain 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

If energy companies are allowed to develop this offshore energy, they could create about 2,600 jobs, make about $8 billion in capital investments and generate $271 million in Virginia state and local taxes, providing a huge boost to the Commonwealth’s economy. (Emphasis in original.)

Needless to say, given its location, the Eastern Shore of Virginia could gain much-needed economic development if energy companies are allowed to set up shop and explore off the coast. They may not get all of the jobs and investment (some would likely settle in the Tidewater area) but any boost would be a help for Accomack and Northampton counties.

Yet it seems like DOI wants to work at cross purposes with President Obama’s request – assuming, of course, his words are truly sincere and not just a sop to conservatives after a series of electoral spankings culminating with the win by Scott Brown in Massachusetts.

It’s just something to think about as the snow falls along the Eastern Shore and people use the natural gas, heating oil, and electricity (created in part by natural gas) to keep themselves warm as the snow falls and the mercury continues to dip.