Things were once again a little different at tonight’s meeting due to recent events. Of course we did the Lord’s Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance to start, but after those recitations we heard from John Phoebus.
While Phoebus is in the running for the late Page Elmore’s District 38A Delegate seat, he’s suspended his campaign for a few days due to Elmore’s death. So he came to us not as a candidate looking for votes but a man paying tribute to a former client and man of stature in Somerset County.
John praised Elmore’s work ethic, which he described as one of picking out small bills and using their cumulative effect to bring about change. A “selfless” man and member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee in the House, Elmore fretted about leaving the House post to pursue a Senate seat once Lowell Stoltzfus announced his retirement because of his House seniority and ability to get things done there. And there wasn’t a waterman Page didn’t know; they were a group who could count on Elmore to advocate for them in Annapolis.
Elmore was described by club president Marc Kilmer as having a manner which wasn’t the manner of a typical politician. After we observed a moment of silence for Page, the May meeting minutes were read and we heard another solid financial report.
Even Dustin Mills, tonight’s featured speaker, noted that “words can’t describe what (Page Elmore) meant to the Shore.”
Mills, who’s jumped into the race for Delegate for District 37A, called the incumbent the “quietest, most liberal” member of the General Assembly. While I could argue that point based on voting record, Dustin’s criticism of Rudy Cane avoiding tough votes bears out to be correct more often than not. Out of 96 votes I’ve detailed on the monoblogue Accountability Project from 2007 to 2009, Cane missed 16 votes – including 9 in the 2007 Special Session.
While Mills isn’t a native of the Eastern Shore, he graduated from Salisbury University and didn’t follow many of his classmates off the Eastern Shore – “I intend to stay here and do what I can.” Among his key issues are the wasteful spending in Annapolis, for which he cited an “out of control” state government. There are $140 million worth of unfilled positions in the state budget, continued Dustin, which served as a “slush fund” to move or cut as needed. And why is the state running (and losing money on) two golf courses?
Instead of doing away with unnecessary spending, Democrats in Annapolis may want a tax increase next year – “the wrong approach,” stated Dustin. In the meantime, they raid county coffers to assist the state’s budget crunch. Mills contended the counties are smarter stewards of money than the state and county money should be county money.
On the other hand, Mills would emphasize a more business-friendly approach than his opponent, whose party’s leadership has declined Maryland’s standing in the business community to the third worst in the country by “overregulating and overburdening small business.” His solutions would be to repeal the 2008 sales tax increase, lower corporate taxes, and reduce the unemployment coverage rolls to only include people who are actually unemployed. This, Mills argued, would make the state more business-friendly and (presumably) make up the shortfall a static analysis would assume happens when taxes are decreased. In the real world, lowering taxes leads to greater economic activity.
In addition, Dustin also advocated an automatic “maintenance of effort” waiver for education spending if a county’s unemployment rate was above a certain percentage.
Another effect of the anti-business attitude exhibited by Annapolis was a “brain drain” of college graduates who can’t find work on the Eastern Shore or in Maryland proper. In short, Mills argued that “this (anti-business) attitude has got to stop.”
Turning to another local industry, agriculture, Mills criticized the “ludicrous” treatment of farmers by Annapolis, wondering why Eastern Shore farmers are blamed for the condition of the Bay when a large percentage of the water off Maryland’s shores comes from Pennsylvania.
To conclude his initial remarks, Mills compared his faith in the individual to his opponent’s faith in government. Rudy Cane was “out of touch” with his district, concluded Dustin.
Perhaps the most interesting questions asked of Mills had to do with the immigrant advocacy group CASA de Maryland – a group which Mills remarked “needs to go.” To that end, Dustin would cut its funding and work to disallow “sanctuary cities.” (Good luck with that in Takoma Park – luckily it’s not part of the district.)
But Dustin also told us we “need to aggressively seek out employers” in response to a question on job creation and stop the overaggressive enforcement some truck drivers endure regarding another’s query.
According to Mark Biehl of the Lower Shore Young Republicans, the recent state YR convention “turned out really well.” Their chapter was picked as the state’s best for the second time in three years and the aforementioned Dustin Mills was given a lifetime achievement award for his work so far. (Good thing he doesn’t rest on his laurels.)
Their next meeting, July 14th at the Chamber of Commerce Building (where the WCRC meets) will be a political roundtable and the public is invited.
A simple Central Committee report from John Bartkovich stressed there were still open positions on the GOP primary ballot and we would need volunteers for the Farm and Home Show on August 19-21.
Woody Willing added that we should get silent auction items for the Crab Feast on August 28th “quickly.” He didn’t want a crush of items August 27th.
Brief candidate updates came from Joe Holloway (County Council District 5), Gail Bartkovich (County Council District 3), William Smith (Orphans’ Court Judge), and Ryan Hohman, who hasn’t had the opportunity to withdraw yet because of a demanding work schedule.
Ed Nelson of Andy Harris’s campaign pointed out that Andy had been visible locally, attending two AFP meetings, the Young Republican convention, and a farmer’s breakfast over the last few weeks. Harris also had an “extremely successful” local fundraiser a couple weeks back.
Comparable fundraising success was related by Sean Jester, who’s assisting with Mike McDermott’s campaign for Delegate in District 38B.
M.J. Caldwell wanted to say a few words about the late Sam Vincent, who was “one of the most honorable men you’d ever meet.” In order to give all local voters a say in the State’s Attorney race, the longtime Democrat had recently switched parties; then again, Caldwell called Vincent, “a Republican who never switched.” M.J. also commended Vincent’s “deep loyalty” to the office, speculating there must be unresolved issues there which convinced Vincent to run against his boss.
The question was asked about our club donating to the charities of choice of Elmore and Vincent, which will be a matter for the club’s executive board to solve at a meeting soon – basically it’s a question of how much we feel is appropriate.
Our next meeting is slated for July 26, when candidate for Governor Brian Murphy is slated to speak and attempt to win converts to his side.
