September 2010 – Page 2

Kratovil airs ‘quite misleading’ ad

If this is the way that Frank Kratovil is going to run his campaign to keep his House seat away from Andy Harris from here on out, expect it to be a nasty battle – but count on it being a campaign which hides some of the key facts.

An ad that’s so far only been seen on the internet claims that Andy Harris supports a 23% sales tax increase. But when even factcheck.org – hardly a friend of the conservative movement – cries foul on a similar advertisement, you know you’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Yet the Kratovil campaign is standing behind the statement made in the ad.

(continued on my Examiner.com page…)

By the way, here’s the ad Kratovil did:

And the original AFSCME ad, as shown on Factcheck.org:

It also leads to a coordination question, but I’ll leave that for another day. Suffice to say that the commercial isn’t exactly above board – then again, that’s how Kratovil ran his last campaign too.

Maciarello: I’ll keep Ruark for Foxwell case

Editor’s note 5/14/2022: This piece was brought home from Examiner.com.

According to a Greg Latshaw piece in today’s Daily Times, Republican State’s Attorney candidate Matt Maciarello has promised to keep current State’s Attorney Davis Ruark employed as a special prosecutor for the case against Thomas Leggs, who stands accused of murdering 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell last December. That case, which came to its sad conclusion on Christmas Day last year, attracted regional and national attention to the Salisbury area. Matt opined that Ruark “brings the most knowledge to the case,” according to Latshaw’s article.

The move is fraught with some peril in a political sense, though. Those who voted Ruark out based on his personal problems and treatment of the late Sam Vincent – who was on the verge of announcing a challenge to Ruark before his untimely death – might desire a clean break in the office and decide Democrat W. Seth Mitchell, who defeated Ruark in last week’s primary, could adequately prosecute what seems to most a slam-dunk case. But would Mitchell, a former public defender who’s “dedicated to criminal defense” (shown in the attached YouTube ad) seek the death penalty as many in Wicomico County wish?

The question may be the deciding factor in an election which has no clear favorite.

This is attached at the end of my Examiner piece, but I thought it was interesting enough to add here as well. How many of the people currently being prosecuted by the State’s Attorney’s Office were enticed by this ad? (Hint: when I found it the ad had 15 views.) But I lifted the quote directly from it.

Crying poverty?

I’ve talked about pathetic fundraising pitches before, but Barb Mikulski must really be playing us for suckers if she wants us to believe she doesn’t have the $30,000 to see her latest commercial.

We prepared this great ad about what we’re doing to fight for Maryland and get our beautiful state’s economy back to work. We’re launching it later today, but wanted to give you — one of my most loyal supporters — a sneak peek.

We need to raise $30,000 before September 30, in order to keep this ad up on television and spread our message to voters.

Give it a rest, Barb – you have $2.9 million on hand (as of June 30) so pay for your commercial yourself.

(continued on my Examiner.com page…)

New Rasmussen Poll has O’Malley up 3

Just released this afternoon, the newest (and first post-primary) Rasmussen Poll has Martin O’Malley eclipsing the 50 percent mark for the first time in his rematch with former governor Bob Ehrlich. The numbers have it at 50-47 O’Malley.

It continues a trend that’s seen O’Malley regain momentum after a spring and summer which saw Ehrlich catch up to O’Malley after being down by 9 points in Rasmussen’s initial sampling back in February.

(continued on my Examiner.com page…)

Storming the establishment

Well, it’s been at best a difficult week for the so-called Republican Party establishment. Not only is there much wailing and gnashing of teeth at Christine O’Donnell’s Delaware victory, but one local blogger has taken her time to blast the local establishment as well. I’ll get to her in a minute.

Even before the polls were closed in Delaware, though, there were those who bemoaned the lost opportunity in Delaware since Mike Castle was defeated in his bid to become the caretaker Senator from the First State. Normally I like Hans Bader and his writing, but I have to disagree with his whinefest on this one. Most tellingly he writes:

People who think the country is conservative beneath the surface — or even firmly “center-right” — are living in a bubble, just like the Obama supporters were deluding themselves when they came to the conclusion that the country had become staunchly liberal just because Obama won in 2008 based on the bad economy.

The problem with Bader’s theory is that conservatism is the leading ideological identifier, according to polling data. Yet there always seems to be this tug-of-war between various factions of what can be termed “mainstream” Republicans like Bader who accept that having the party label is more important than principle, against those in the Tea Party Express Bader slams because they remain ideologically purer to conservative principles.

Bader is correct in saying the Obama supporters were deluding themselves, but that’s simply because the country is more right than left – unfortunately those on the right were let down when a centrist candidate was nominated. It was a selection process based to a large extent by primary voters in open primary states and the mainstream media cheerleaders who backed John McCain until the moment he picked the much more conservative Governor Sarah Palin. Ironically, that was the point where McCain peaked and briefly led in the polls.

As events play out, the race may not matter for control of the Senate anyway and there’s no guarantee Christine O’Donnell won’t pull off the shocker in November as she did last week. Before the beginning of September and the Tea Party Express getting involved, no one gave O’Donnell a shot at making it this far nor was the Senate even deemed in play earlier this year – most pundits saw the possibilities as perhaps a 52-48 or 53-47 Democratic edge. But in the eyes of many conservatives, 50-50 with Biden being the tiebreaking vote is better than 51-49 but always having to worry whether Castle would sell out. Such a scenario would likely prove the Democrats who demanded equality in a similar situation under President Bush a decade ago as complete hypocrites now when they deny the GOP that same parity.

Yet the Tea Party vs. establishment battle roils closer to home as well.

Obviously one could consider Julie Brewington’s diatribe against the state Americans for Prosperity chapter and the local Republican Party a serious case of sour grapes since she finished last in a four-person field. She describes herself as “too trusting” of certain people who “used me,” especially when she bucked the trend and supported the more conservative candidate for Governor, Brian Murphy (as did I.) Except for myself and another current member of the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee, she takes aim at party leadership and some of my fellow local bloggers as well. At least one time in the past I advised Julie to grow a little thicker skin, but in this case she makes some very valid points.

There has always been that undercurrent of conservatism locally, and the GOP has been the beneficiary of it for nearly a quarter-century. The last time a Democratic candidate for Governor or President carried Wicomico County was in 1986, and William Donald Schaefer could neither be described as a very liberal Democrat nor did he have much opposition from an extremely weak GOP candidate. Oftentimes we get the benefit from a pocket of Democrats who are simply DINOs and vote mostly Republican tickets on Election Day. This year the good climate for the GOP was manifested by the number of candidates under our banner for local seats, including the Central Committee.

Yet those voters we depend on to carry us despite our disadvantage in registrations are the same ones being alienated by the games being played by establishment Republicans. Trying to tilt the playing field to benefit certain candidates shouldn’t be the job of the state party, and all candidates should be treated with respect. I know there are some who don’t like our current leadership (that line doesn’t start with Julie) but now we’ll enter a new era with a few new players – the leader of the local AFP chapter, a longtime county activist, and the person behind “Conservatives for Maryland.” (I have to scratch my head at the Ehrlich backing by that group though; then again, when the lead local person for Bob runs the group I guess you get a few compromises.) Of the seven who were elected in 2006, it appears just four of us will survive to begin this term.

Yet there will be a particular dynamic to our group which has the potential to discourage the Tea Party from further involvement. Enough of the old guard and (perhaps) tea party skeptics remain that the struggle for leadership may be real and damaging. Obviously this group will back the Republicans who survived the 2010 primary (and it’s a very potent group) but once the state reorganization begins it’s anyone’s guess which way we will go. I doubt that on that front we will be as united as some may desire – I sense there will be profound differences among us.

Having said that, though, we need people like Julie Brewington to keep us honest. What we don’t need, though, is to have all of our dirty laundry aired in public. Sunlight is a great disinfectant but it also makes certain things fade over time, and we need to keep those new political recruits we’ve gained in the conservative movement within the Tea Party in the bold colors they represent. We tried the pale pastels over the last decade and see where they got us.

While the Tea Party exists without a strong inside leader, those within the Republican Party need to take the elephant by the tusks and work on reforming the state party so it better reflects the conservatism of its members.

But we also need to be teachers and present alternatives to the statism we see in Annapolis and Washington. The ‘party of no’ can work for now but we need to become the party of limited-government alternatives once we secure leadership positions. If someone like Mike Castle was going to simply present a slower drift toward statism, it’s best he lost and the job of Delaware Republicans should be to teach the voters that having an advocate for limiting government is in their best interest.

It should be our job as well.

Election Calendar: September 20 – October 3, 2010

With fewer candidates, there are fewer events upcoming. But some of them are pretty interesting.

Wednesday, September 22 – Peter and Judy Jackson host a fundraiser for Wicomico County Executive candidate Joe Ollinger at their home, 4488 Cooper Road in Eden, from 5 to 8 p.m. Catering will be by Black Diamond Catering. RSVP by September 15th requested (form available at the joeollinger.com website). Cost is $100 per person or $150 per couple.

Also that night, the local Americans for Prosperity chapter meeting is slated for 7 p.m. at Brew River – a host of local conservative and Republican candidates are normally present, with speaker to be announced.

(continued on my newly revamped Examiner.com page…)

Statement from Davis Ruark

I was sent this statement from the soon-to-be-former State’s Attorney last evening.

I have been blessed to have served the people of Wicomico County for 23 years as state’s attorney. There are absolutely no words adequate to express my deep appreciation to our citizens, to the exceptional attorneys and staff who have worked with me and to tremendous law enforcement officers past and present with whom I’ve worked on a daily basis.

There comes a time when change is necessary, and I fully accept and respect the decision made by the majority of those voting in the democratic primary.

I am also deeply appreciative of the sentiments expressed in the Matt Maciarello press release thanking me and my staff for the years of service we have given to this county. I value that expression on behalf of my entire office.

I wish both candidates the best in the coming election with the hope that the issues addressing Wicomico County can be openly discussed and potential solutions explored.

Until such time as a new state’s attorney takes office, we will fully fulfill our duties and responsibilities to the citizens.

On a personal level I am remain committed to the best interest of residents and I am excited about the possibilities of service in other areas.

I am an Eastern Shoreman born and bred, a Wicomico native through and through and from my perspective, there are no better people on the face of the earth.

My thanks to all for the greatest thrill of my life in serving as your state’s attorney.

Let me start out my commentary by thanking Davis for his years of service. I know him enough to consider him as more than an acquaintance as there’s been occasions we’ve been able to speak at length when our paths happened to cross because of my involvement with the local blogosphere. Unfortunately, I think that several factors which weren’t directly related to his office were the factors which tipped the scales against him in this election, and hastened the feeling among Democrats that it was time for a change. (Remember, while Republicans have a candidate in Matt Maciarello, Matt didn’t run against Davis directly.)

Obviously the 2008 DWI incident has been beaten to death in the local media, but don’t discount the decision Ruark made to seek the resignations of Sam Vincent and those within the State’s Attorney office who may have supported his campaign. Perhaps Davis believed it would create a distraction should Vincent have continued the effort (and there’s a lot to do given the high-profile Sarah Foxwell case along with less publicized cases.) Losing Sam in an auto accident, though, deprived the voters of Wicomico County a possible alternative candidate for the job and more importantly deprived Ruark the opportunity to reconsider the decision and perhaps come up with a better solution. As it was, it made Davis look like an autocrat only concerned with the trappings of office.

No man is above criticism or replacement, and it’s evident Democratic voters wanted a fresh start.

I suppose it doesn’t matter at this point, but the sense I received in speaking with Davis is that had there been a way to easily run as an unaffiliated candidate he would have gladly done so. I’m actually the guy who delivered him a John McCain sign 2 years ago. But Maryland regulations make State’s Attorney a partisan office and that’s the political reality for the time being, whether he actually believes straight down the line with Democratic principles or not.

(While he’s told me that he’s spoken before to the Republican Club, I did have to lay down the law regarding sign placement at the GOP booth at the Farm and Home Show. He wanted to leave his signs there but the GOP has a candidate. They ended up down the way at the ‘Conservatives for Maryland’ booth.)

Obviously Ruark will be finishing out his term, and there’s important work for him to do regarding passing along some of the unfinished business like the Sarah Foxwell case. I’m certain he will be gracious and helpful to whoever wins in November. Nor will he pack up and blow away entirely as he works closely with the Child Advocacy Center and will still be a popular figure in many circles.

It’s simply become clear that one of those circles is no longer Democratic primary voters.

Ehrlich makes visit to SU, boosts Republicans

Taking a tone more like a speech to graduates than a campaign appearance (such as this one in April), Republican candidate for Governor Bob Ehrlich stopped by Salisbury University this afternoon to several dozen supporters, mainly from SU’s College Republican group.

Bob was credited with getting the Perdue School of Business going under his watch by CR President Matt Teffeau in his introduction, and Bob remarked how his first visit to the school came as the result of a high school football All-Star game. “I lived on the campus for two weeks…in the dorms,” he recalled. Bob considered SU “a hot school” and congratulated those attending for getting in.

(continued, with a slideshow, on my Examiner.com page…)

Picks and pans from a Shorebird fan – 2010 edition

In wrapping up my 2010 Shorebirds coverage, I’m actually going to borrow from the 2009 edition to see what was addressed and what was not.

Each year I talk about what I liked and disliked as a fan, and 2010 had a lot to like – except I’d have liked a little better team recordwise because things definitely fell apart in the latter part of the season. But those are things neither I nor the local Shorebirds management could have done much about. And they still drew about their average attendance over the last few years, drawing 221,051 and rebounding from an all-time low last season due to some nice weather. Too bad they weren’t in a pennant race or we may have reached 250,000.

The staff did its usual good job, although some of those who left were missed. Hopefully Stefan, the onfield host, has found a home since he’s survived here two years. Unfortuately, aside from my suggestion on the clam strips I don’t think the food was any better and the pizza vendor not as good. I do have kudos for Karin and the crew at that concession stand, though, they were very receptive and helpful (and most nights knew that I wanted my large diet Pepsi, light on the ice.) And while she didn’t care much for Thirsty Thursday, I do (more on that later.)

Unlike 2009, we did get back a couple of the local favorite national acts early on as I recall Myron Noodleman made an appearance and Reggy came a few weeks later. Certainly the kids liked Spongebob, although they probably liked the mid-game weather break that evening where the players were signing autographs waiting for the tarp to come off. But what happened to the Redskins cheerleaders? And it might be time to bring back that dog act from a few years back and also see if we can’t get Principal Financial to come back here (they did a parking-lot carnival here at the end of the 2009 season. It was fun.)

To me the giveaways were pretty good. One advantage of being a season ticket holder is that I automatically get each one – so I didn’t have to be there at 4:30 to get a Brad Bergesen bobblehead. (They actually took my suggestion from last year and picked Brad Bergesen. How about my soon-to-be-inducted newest SotWHoF member Brandon Snyder for 2011?) And I suspect we’re going to have at least one other water bottle giveaway; apparently those things went like hotcakes.

Oh, and bring back the Peninsula Home Care wheelchair races!

As for “pans”, yes, they haven’t changed much over the last several years. However, I’m told there will be action on my number one beef over the offseason since we’re hosting the 2011 SAL All-Star Game. And I deleted the fireworks music selection; they’ve done a pretty good job of mixing it up over the last couple years. The shows do seem to be a little shorter now than in past years, though.

Just as a review:

New scoreboard and videoboard, along with a small alternate scoreboard along the first base line.
A closed-circuit TV system for the concession stands so we can watch the game while standing in line.
More player availabilities in the “Bird Pen.”
No bands on Thirsty Thursday. It was a common practice in 2005, my first season here and I STILL miss it!

From what I understand, the offseason plan regarding the scoreboard is to maintain the frame but put all new “guts” inside. If they can upgrade it to an LED board like several other parks have (Frederick comes to mind since we went there in April; I think Lakewood does too) that would be acceptable to me. We did endure the better part of a homestand where some of the components would not work, so it’s obvious our current system is on borrowed time.

I suppose the drawback to #2 might be that the Ovations workers may watch the game on TV rather than pay attention to customers (and I’m sure creating a CCTV system from scratch isn’t cheap.) Perhaps as a compromise they can set up a zigzag system of queueing people (like you might find in a Wendy’s or a bank) so that people in line can face the field yet be in line, at least for the two main concession stands upstairs and perhaps the adjacent Sweet Shop too. Obviously you have to maintain a certain amount of egress width on the concourses and I think this may actually help.

I know #3 is up to the players and manager, but is doing this for at least the Sunday games too much to ask? Seems to me a number of teams have player availabilities as a Sunday attraction and it would tie right in with Sherman’s Sidekicks. We’re trying to get kids to be baseball fans for life, and I can pretty much guarantee you that you couldn’t walk into an NFL stadium on Sunday and get pregame autographs from the players.

In all honesty, all #4 needs is a sponsor. I’m sure the bands would jump at the chance to do a set or two (the sponsor is there to advertise and to pay the bands) and we could set things up the same way. I notice they sometimes do pregame concerts outside, but I think they are better served in the ballpark as a postgame activity (or shorten the pregame announcements for Thursday only and let the bands play from 5:30 to 6:30 – open the gates at 5:15 for those interested in checking them out. Depending on the band, I might be there about 4:45.) Outside would be good if people tailgated but we don’t do that for a Shorebirds game.

Most people don’t know that the Shorebirds are part of a group which owns several teams, including a third they purchased in 2009. The 7th Inning Stretch LLC family includes the Stockton Ports of the California League (a advanced-A team comparable to the Orioles’ Frederick affiliate) and the Everett (Washington) AquaSox of the Northwest League (a short-season rookie league team similar to Aberdeen.) And once again, of the three 7IS affiliates Delmarva had the best attendance – Stockton drew 198,016 for 70 games and Everett drew 90,079 for 36 openings. (I don’t think that counts playoffs – Stockton was knocked off in the opening round but Everett won their league title for the first time since 1985.)

So we have found that our fan base is relatively loyal, although it’s not as large as we had during the early days of the franchise. But next year they won’t have the hooks of it being the 15th anniversary season, a new logo, or new uniforms to draw people in. (On the flip side, we do have the All-Star hoopla, at least for the first two months of the season.) Obviously we can’t do anything about the players we get either, although I’ve heard we are dropping one of rookie league affiliates so that the overall talent level in the Orioles organization will increase. My polling (albeit a small sample) suggests we’d rather have a winner than an Orioles’ affiliate but perhaps we can get the best of both worlds with some tweaking.

As I said last year, the Delmarva Shorebirds can be the jewel of the 7th Inning Stretch empire. If they follow through on some of the key problems they encountered this year, next summer looks to be another fun summer at the ballpark. We’ll get to see the best of the other teams come here, but why not bring home a title while we’re at it?

Murphy backs Ehrlich but blasts state GOP

After losing the primary by a considerable margin, Brian Murphy did the right thing and threw his support behind winner Bob Ehrlich. In a message to supporters, he wrote:

“I entered the race because I am a fiscal conservative, and Marylanders cannot afford higher taxes or fees. Bob Ehrlich has pledged not to raise either, and so he has my full support in the General Election against Martin O’Malley.”

Obviously conservatives in Maryland, led by Murphy, will be holding Ehrlich’s feet to the fire about fiscal prudence. It’s a stand which seems to have a lot of support in the state as Bob Ehrlich spoke about fiscal conservatism early on as part of an overall pro-business stance.

(continued on my Examiner.com page…)

Maryland Republican establishment fears Murphy’s Law in November

One advantage of having a late primary as Maryland does is the lack of downtime between the primary and the campaign — the survivors don’t have to wind the machine back up from a primary fight months before once Labor Day rolls around. Instead, winners get to keep their campaigns cranked up in high gear for another seven weeks.

But the late primary also gives the losers a role. In a divisive fight, the winner has to quickly convince supporters of the loser that they need to get onboard with his or her effort. Generally, those who succeed in November are the ones who gathered the united front shortly after the primary by soothing the wounds deflated supporters of the losing campaigns inflict by a crushing defeat.

(continued at Pajamas Media…)

Mitchell, Otto biggest surprises in primary

There wasn’t a whole lot of drama in last night’s election results around Wicomico County save for the slow pace of counting returns. But by the time all was counted, our fair county had mostly performed as expected – with a couple exceptions. All results are unofficial based on around 600 or so absentee ballots to be counted.

Beginning at the top of the ticket, it was expected that Martin O’Malley and Bob Ehrlich would participate in the ‘grudge match’ for governor and Wicomico’s results fell in line with statewide numbers. The O’Malley/Brown ticket garnered 81% of the Democratic vote in Wicomico while Ehrlich/Kane bested the Brian Murphy/Mike Ryman duo by a 71%-29% margin. Similarly, U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski routed her token opposition with 76 percent of the vote, easily beating Chris Garner’s 11 percent and four others with lesser numbers.

(continued on my Examiner.com page…)