March 2011 – Page 3

Silence from the local left

In case you hadn’t noticed it, or just didn’t go there because left-leaning sites aren’t your cup of tea, the Progressive Delmarva domain and blogsite are moving (or have moved) into the dustbin of history. It all stemmed from a post done by one contributor (who goes by the nom de plume Two Sentz) about Shari’a law and the argument which followed. Once Melanie quit, others folowed and the Blogspot site now has a series of farewell posts at the top.

Obviously the lefties among us locally aren’t completely unrepresented, but speaking as an occasional commenter who attempted to set them straight on a few topics their demise leaves somewhat of a hole. However, a couple of them (including Two Sentz) have their own websites so those contributors will continue on their own as they see fit.

One immediate impact for me is that I lost my partner for polling the Salisbury City Council race, which I am planning to resume next week. But I will continue undaunted, and that’s an advantage of being a solo operation.

There was something quite interesting to me in one of the final comments on the Shari’a piece – it seems that Melanie left because she was concerned that her work colleagues got the impression she was posting these items. I happen to know she works at a local university, and that revelation scares me. I thought progressives were all about ‘diversity’ but as we see time and time again it’s only certain types of diversity they want to promote. Apparently diversity of thought isn’t one of them.

And when you think about it, doesn’t that make them a little bit inflexible and unequal like Shari’a law? Meanwhile, the contributors who left seem to be learning from their Democratic colleagues in Wisconsin and, instead of standing up for their beliefs, they run away. Of course there’s a difference between passing laws and running a website but it seems like they folded their tents in an awful hurry.

Anyway, that’s my take on the situation. I know Melanie used to be a fairly regular commenter here until the ‘birther’ controversy began, and if she wants to come back she’s welcome. She’ll just need to understand that I want to know why all this information is off limits for Barack Obama when, for example, she can gleefully call Newt Gingrich a “wanker of the week” for having affairs that some enterprising news reporter dug up and publicized. Why the double standard?

As for Progressive Delmarva, well, its demise means I have one less local blog to read. We’ll see how long the hiatus lasts.

Will ‘NozzleRage’ return this summer?

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday about gas prices and something in the conversation reminded me to look and see what I posted during the gas price crisis of 2008.

One of those posts was on a group called NozzleRage, which debuted with the humorous Zucker brothers video featured therein. (I’ve also learned a little about HTML since then so I turned off the ‘autoplay’ feature that the post originally had.) Later, I found out that NozzleRage was a front of sorts for the Center for Security Policy, a group seeking to have the government mandate flexfuel vehicles – but the group fizzled out anyway as prices retreated from their high point.

(It’s also when I gained a valuable acquaintance and go-to person on energy policy, my friend Jane Van Ryan of API.)

I like to look forward on my site, but there is value in having a historical archive of over 2,400 posts as I do. It’s going to be interesting to see what kind of push there is for something along the line of the “drill here, drill now, pay less” campaign that got Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions group on the map.

And while local tourism didn’t bottom out as feared in 2008, it’s worth recalling that unemployment wasn’t as high as it is today and many people who still had assets like home equity loans and lines of credit to fall on no longer have that luxury. Sure, when you consider that even at $4 a gallon that a round trip from New York City to Ocean City would take up only $64 in gasoline (16 gallons at 30 miles per gallon) it may not seem like a lot compared to $2.50 per gallon – the real difference comes in the inflation caused by increased transportation costs, and people may not be as able to weather those shocks financially as they were three years ago.

Considering that much less is being said about the pain at the pump this time around, Americans may be learning to adjust. But they shouldn’t have to.

McDermott: gay marriage update

A number of amendments have been voted on and killed by the House of Delegates. District 38B Delegate Mike McDermott explains:

On Wednesday morning, the House began the debate on Senate Bill 116 which seeks to legalize gay marriage. This was the Second Reading of this bill and this is the time when the House offers and debates amendments to a bill. Several amendments were offered by both sides of the aisle. They addressed the following areas of concern:

Amendment 1 (543121/1) would address certain religious exemptions for adoption services and social service programs. It was simple and would have recognized the need for these objections for deeply held convictions. It was defeated on a vote of 58/79;

Amendment 2 (483026/1) would have provided for exemptions for religious held convictions as pertaining to training by teachers and participation by students in K-12 public school programs. This would address homosexual sex education and make provision for teachers, parents, and students not to participate in this type of training. It was voted down 54/86;

Amendment 3 (873228/1) would simply change the title of the bill to the “Same Sex Marriage Act” as opposed to its present title (Civil Marriage Protection Act). It was argued that the name was very deceiving and would continue to misdirect people when the bill goes to referendum. This amendment was defeated 52/85; and

Amendment 4 (223923/1) was offered by a democrat member and would require a statewide referendum be conducted prior to the law taking effect. This reasonable attempt was also shot down on a tight vote with a couple of democrats speaking out on the floor. The vote was 63/72.

With these amendment defeats, the bill remains intact and will next appear for Third Reader and a final vote.

I must say I was very disappointed, particularly with the failure of amendments 3 and 4. The House is clearly divided and I have never seen good legislation pass under these circumstances. Clearly the ruling party’s leadership had been whipping their caucus and twisting arms to secure these votes. On the amendment votes, many of the delegates chose not to even vote! That was more shocking that all the rest. What a colossal failure of courage and conviction. This same legislative body debated slots and agreed to let the people decide “this monumental issue”, and then fails to think the people of Maryland should weigh in on the definition of “marriage”? What an outrage!

The final outcome remains unknown and both sides are working hard. As a result, I strongly encourage citizens to participate in the process with a focus on the House Democrats. You can hear the debate in full here.

One thing McDermott didn’t mention – but is quite important – is that these amendments are likely failing because, if the House and Senate do not pass identical bills SB116 would have to go to a conference committee where passage is doubtful. Simply put, with a backlog of other work developing the gay marriage bill may not be reconsidered before sine die on April 13.

The final vote is likely to occur tomorrow, although supporters concede they may be a few votes short of the 71 required to pass a full House delegation. Look for a bid by supporters to convince those opposed not to vote, lessening the number needed for passage. They could even resort to trickery like a late-night vote if necessary.

Salisbury Council field set

After all the absentees and provisional ballots have been counted, the six contestants who presumably advanced by last Tuesday’s initial results indeed held on. The battle for the sixth and final spot went to Bruce Ford over Joel Dixon by a 307-302 count, his largest margin.

The sole change in the order was Terry Cohen moving ahead of Tim Spies to become the top vote-getter.

Here is the final order of finish:

Terry Cohen, 608 (18.63%)
Tim Spies, 604 (18.5%)
Laura Mitchell, 486 (14.89%)
Muir Boda, 446 (13.66%)
Orville Dryden, 343 (10.51%)
Bruce Ford, 307 (9.41%)
Joel Dixon, 302 (9.25%)
Michael Taylor, 168 (5.15%)

The remaining field now has just less than a month to either hold their top-3 position or try and move up. As it stands, the key battle is between third-place Laura Mitchell and fourth-place Muir Boda – either of the other contenders need to pick up well over 100 votes on April 5th to pass Mitchell and grab the last spot.

Final turnout was 1,226 voters, or 10.64% of eligible voters. This compares to 13.7% in the last similar election (2007.)

Hopefully Dixon and Taylor, who were both worthy candidates, will consider another run in 2013 or 2015. A 2013 run would place them against incumbent Debbie Campbell should she choose to run for a third term, while 2015 would see this same situation of three seats open.

A couple upcoming events:

Tomorrow (March 10): East Main Street Neighborhood Association Forum, 6:30 p.m. (Epilepsy Center, 688 East Main Street.)
Sunday, March 13: All-You-Can-Eat Chicken and Dumpling Fundraiser for Laura Mitchell, 4-7 p.m. at Sage Diner (917 S. Salisbury Blvd.) – $20. Advance registration required.

As I find out more I’ll share.

Should he stay (home) or should he go (for Senate)?

As of yesterday, it’s been 19 weeks since Dr. Eric Wargotz was crushed by 26 points in his election matchup against Senator Barbara Mikulski. However, Eric carried 12 counties and managed to do somewhat better than 2004 nominee (and now State Senator) E.J. Pipkin, who lost by 31 points and carried only 7 counties.

But now Wargotz may have his sights set on a (presumably) more vulnerable target in Maryland’s junior Senator, Ben Cardin. (After all, Cardin ‘only’ beat Michael Steele by 10 points in 2006.) Yesterday he debuted a Facebook ‘event’ dubbed “Help Eric Wargotz decide to enter the Maryland US Senate race 2012.” Still, given the fact he’s occasionally updated his election Facebook page since his loss my suspicion was that he was bound to give it another shot regardless.

Moreover, Eric will have a few additional advantages this time around – name recognition with voters, experience gained from a recent statewide run, and (most likely) a fairly shallow primary field. The biggest name considering a 2012 campaign is Delegate Pat McDonough of Baltimore County, who thought about a run for Governor last year but this time may opt to challenge Second District Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger. Last year’s chief Senate contender, Jim Rutledge, is more inclined to wait for 2014 opportunities as rumor has it.

So it looks like Eric will be hitting the campaign trail once again; obviously those who have responded to his Facebook are urging him to go for it. (As if anyone would tell him, nah, skip this race.) Barring any big names out of the Maryland General Assembly jumping into the race, it would appear that Wargotz would be the odds-on favorite for the GOP nod once again.

Too good to pass up

Because the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is so worried about having to defend 23 seats (especially since a number of incumbents are throwing in the towel) they are pulling out all the stops to win – by soliciting slogans for a catchy car magnet.

After I saw the solicitation, it seemed like deja vu all over again to me and I was correct – they ran a similar contest in 2007 during the waning days of Bush’s presidency. Back then I had some catchy ideas, and I was sure with a little thought I could come up with something a lot less lame (and more truthful) than:

We’ve Got Your Back, Barack
Repeal Republicans in 2012
Had Enough Tea?
Brick by Brick, We’re Building a Firewall
Hey GOP? You’re Firewalled!

How about something like:

2012: Like 2010, Only Better
Hey Senate: You’re Next
Make DC Democrats an Endangered Species
Serve Senate D’s a Cup of TEA
Barack Obama: One Term Blunder

You know, I kinda like that last one. Anyway, the cheap sons-of-bitches don’t even offer a prize for winning aside from saying “your words could end up on T-shirts, tote bags … the possibilities are endless.” I’m sure they thought the spigot of union campaign cash was endless too, but we in the TEA Party are working on that.

So just like Democrats in Maryland have dropped almost everything else to pander to a particular small but vocal constituency group and try to slide gay marriage into law, the DSCC is working on the important stuff here. Maybe the message from the rest of us should be, “You Cut Your Budget Or We Cut Your Job.”

Give Maryland workers true freedom!

The timing on this couldn’t be better, as the Madison protests and associated labor strife have put the power of Big Labor on display. Yet in reality the effort to make Maryland a right-to-work state like its neighbor Virginia culminated with the introduction of HB743 on February 10, before the Madison protests broke out days later.

However, this effort truly started two years ago when the so-called “Fair Share Act” was passed and signed by Governor O’Malley. It changed a standing prohibition on unions charging non-members a service fee for representation, and that effort bore fruit for Big Labor last month when just over 5,000 members of the 23,000 member AFSCME union in Maryland voted to ratify a new three-year contract which included a service fee provision. Since that group of 5,000 or so was 89% of the members who could be bothered to vote on the pact, it passed – and slapped a service fee of up to $400 on both union and non-union workers. If all 23,000 members were maxed out, this would be a $9.2 million bonanza for AFSCME – as it stands they still should rake in seven figures, with a significant portion of that ransom surely going for political purposes.

Yet one key difference between Maryland and neighboring Virginia is that right-to-work law Virginia employers enjoy. Without the advantage of a closed shop, unions in the commonwealth have found it a much tougher go and political results reflect this fact: Virginia has a Republican governor and Republican legislature. While having closed shops in a state isn’t necessarily a death knell for Republican chances – both Ohio and Michigan have a heavy union influence in their urban areas but both elected GOP legislatures and chief executives last fall – it certainly presents less of a barrier if unions are kept honest by the open shop.

This afternoon is the hearing for HB743, and we can be sure that Big Labor will have its place at the table.

Yet the battle really isn’t all about politics; it’s about the role labor unions now play in our government. This has become especially true over the last half-century as the once-dominant private-sector unions have withered away and most union organization occurs in the public sector. In the case of public-sector negotiations, it’s akin to two wolves debating a sheep over lunch: one wolf is the public-sector union and the other is the government, with taxpayers being fleeced in their role as sheep. When a group of taxpayer-paid employees negotiate with another group holding the power of taxation, it’s no surprise that both groups can find mutual benefit by picking the pockets of hard-working taxpayers.

Opening the shops is a good way to starve the beast and make the union sell itself on why they should collect dues from each and every worker for the services they do provide in negotiating wages and benefits and standing up for the worker when unfairly targeted by management. If they stayed out of the political realm and returned to their proper role as collective bargainers, their perception may improve.

But when a huge pot of money is collected, the tendency is for less-than-honest people to skim a little off the top and the tendency for less-than-principled politicians is to accept every dollar of ill-gotten gain they can get for the perpetual re-election campaign. It’s the problem we seem to have in many areas of the country, and Maryland can take a positive step in the right direction if the majority party would break their chains and stop serving their masters in fleecing taxpayers.

A time to protest, part two

Forgot one from over the weekend:

Tell Maryland politicians that you cannot afford more money out of your pocket by attending our Rally Press Conference this Wednesday March 9th on Lawyers Mall in Annapolis at noon.

This weekend Baltimore County AFP members were at gas stations waving signs and getting their fellow neighbors to sign AFP’s petition in opposition to the gas taxes.

Will you join fellow AFP members in encouraging fellow Marylanders to take action against this awful bill that will hurt struggling families and businesses?

Attend our rally and bring a homemade sign telling Annapolis politicians that Maryland cannot afford another tax! (Emphasis in original.)

Yes, it’s an Americans for Prosperity event, and this battle in Maryland is one pitting two industry groups against each other as those in the construction industry who favor the tax – presumably so they’ll have a larger pot of cash with which to fix roads – take on the trucking industry, where an additional gas tax affects their bottom line. Those eighteen-wheelers don’t get terribly great gas mileage, and they’ve already made their feelings known with their own protest last week, timed to coincide with the hearing on this and other fuel-tax related bills. Of course since a significant portion of consumer goods are transported via truck, increased costs to them simply get passed on to consumers through higher prices.

The problem with the construction industry’s perspective on this new tax is that the Transportation Trust Fund is a frequent target of Governor O’Malley’s budget fixes. If he would stay away from tapping the fund, there would be plenty more to distribute around for road repairs without the tax hike.

Secondly, part of the current gas tax we pay goes to subsidize mass transit and build items like bike paths, which don’t help the morning commute or travelers too significantly. It’s all part of the liberal effort to wean us out of our cars because they’d rather have control over how we move about. Imagine how much traveling we could do and the impact on consumer prices if gasoline were returned to the 35.9 cents I remember it being before the oil crisis hit in 1973. It was back in the days where pumps were only built with two digits in the price-setting mechanism. (Yep, I’m that old.) I know we’ll never see those days again – heck, the taxes are already more than that price – but at least we can keep two-dollar a gallon gas from being a memory for the kids growing up today.

And, while the state has little to do with this aside from Governor O’Malley trying to scare unwitting dupes with the prospect of Gulf-style oil spills off Ocean City or in Chesapeake Bay, part of the effort needs to occur about forty miles down the road in allowing more drilling for oil and natural gas. Don’t let ’em fool you – we have plentiful domestic supplies of both and shallow-water drilling has a admirable track record of safety.

But first things are first – we need to hold the line on the gas tax and restore sanity to the budget.

Elected school board inches closer to reality

Thanks to all but one of Wicomico County’s elected Delegates, the prospect of the straw ballot required for an elected school board here is one step closer to reality. The bill was read in the House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee Friday and was assigned to be HB1324. In simple language, it proposes that the voters of Wicomico County will face the following question on the ballot next year:

“Do you favor changing the method of selection of the members of the Wicomico County Board of Education from appointment by the Governor to election by the voters of Wicomico County?”

While there is a backlog of items to consider and the late introduction of the bill meant it had to pass through the Rules Committee, we hope that the state can take a brief amount of time and allow this bill passage. Thanks to all five Delegates for acting as co-sponsors and hopefully allowing the will of the people to be heard.

The first real move

With apologies to Fred Karger, Herman Cain, and former Louisiana governor Buddy Roemer, the GOP field will be getting its first heavyweight. Today Newt Gingrich announced his own Presidential exploratory committee.

Over the last year I’ve watched a failure in leadership, and have spent a lot of time thinking and praying about taking the first step. I am writing you to ask for your advice, as Callista and I consider whether or not I should run in 2012.

What I need to do right now is listen to and learn from people all across America. I need to be certain that if I run, my candidacy will have the support it will need to make a positive difference for our nation. However, I can’t do it alone. What I am hoping you will do is help me and support me during this exploratory process.

I have asked a lot from you over the years. In return you have humbled me by demonstrating your talent, energy, and financial sacrifice that reflect how deeply you and others like you, care about our nation. You are an indispensable part of helping me decide what to do next, and I have to tell you, I need you now more than ever before. If I run, this will be the single biggest challenge we’ve ever faced together.

With Newt joining this not-so-crowded field, this will likely mean a slew of the other probable contenders will be making their own decisions shortly (as in by month’s end) so as not to let Gingrich get too much of a lead in fundraising and exposure. In particular, those who are considered among the field’s lesser lights will likely need to jump in shortly while someone like Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney could wait a bit longer.

Since a couple other legislators (Indiana Rep. Mike Pence and South Dakota Sen. John Thune) have taken a pass on the race, Gingrich could be one of the few Washington insiders to make a run. However, most of his Beltway experience of late has come as a political gadfly as the last election he won came back in 1998. He served in the House for nearly 20 years and was Speaker of the House from 1995-98.

The 67 year old Gingrich will also be a generation removed from the incumbent, although several other contenders are also in their sixties (including the three aforementioned with exploratory committees.)

So now the chess game can begin as the other pieces will be placed on the board and arrayed against the Barack Obama re-election machine.

A time to protest

In this civil (or perhaps uncivil, for as Axl Rose says, “What’s so civil ’bout war anyway?”) war around our land, the one which has progressed beyond ballots but thankfully not yet to bullets, it seems we’re as divided as we have been in any recent time. Even in Maryland, which is written off as a hopelessly single-party state, there’s a rear-guard action which requires the attention of the status quo in power.

For example, even though the same-sex marriage bill passed a key hurdle in the House of Delegates by narrowly passing the House Judiciary Committee on a 12-10 vote, there’s still hope that the correct course of action will be taken and the House at-large will defeat the bill, since the pro-gay forces have no guarantee they’ll get to the magic number of 71 Delegates needed to pass the bill. To that end, Robert Broadus of Protect Marriage Maryland is seeking a daily protest this week in Annapolis:

We are arranging a PROTEST in front of the Maryland State Capitol Every Day Next Week!! If unions (and) teachers can protest in Wisconsin over union benefits, we can certainly protest in Maryland over marriage!! I am asking ALL of you to please come WHEN you can.

We must now redouble our efforts. Are there enough people who care about this issue in MD to sustain a week long PROTEST here in Annapolis?

Maybe, maybe not. But this fight will drag on for at least the next few months as opponents have vowed to place the bill to referendum. In a Presidential election year, a referendum vote may hinge on black turnout as that community tends to oppose gay marriage and President Obama will presumably be on the ballot for re-election.

And then we have the mother of all protests next Monday, the 14th. Dubbed the “Rally to Keep the Promise” by its organizers, the Maryland State Education Association, it’s certain the usual big-government apologists will be there. And there’s nothing like a little class envy to fire up the troops:

We’re rallying to ask the General Assembly to prevent devastating cuts to public education and the retirement security of educators, police, health care workers, librarians, and many more hard-working Marylanders.

These cuts will threaten the quality of our public school system and the quality of the public services that we depend on everyday.

As Maryland recovers from the recession brought on by the excesses of Wall Street, we urge legislators to keep their promises to Main Street and provide great public schools, great public services, and a great future for Maryland.

What about their fiduciary promises to taxpayers and the solvency of the state? There is a point where taxation works to negative results like job losses and capital flight. And – how does revamping teacher retirement affect the classroom in the here and now? Their job should be to teach children, not worry about contributing a few more dollars toward their retirement. In that respect, welcome to the world most of the rest of us share.

The principle of bargaining between those who receive taxpayer funds to run operations and who receive taxpayer funds to perform a service leaves one side always a loser – the taxpayer. It’s why those of us who are Taxed Enough Already (a.k.a. the TEA Party) are calling for a stop to the madness. We’ll be represented in Annapolis, too, and although our numbers may be smaller we’re not going to be quiet and allow our representative to be bullied. Governor Walker is on the right track, and although it’s going to be a long 3 1/2 years until we can rectify the problem here we’re setting out to do just that.

Step one is cutting the piggishness of Big Labor down to size.

Going bald for the cure

Updates 3-9-11: Joel Dixon didn’t win, so he won’t miss a campaign day. He informed me the event has been pushed back to a 6 p.m. start time.

I know Joel Dixon is on the bubble for a City Council seat and would have to work hard to jump three spots even if he does pick up the 2 votes among the last absentees to be counted to pass Bruce Ford.

But sometimes there is a cause greater than politics, and a few days back he asked me to pass this on – I figured I’d do so about two weeks prior to the event. Looks like he’ll miss a day of campaigning if he indeed moves up to sixth place.

[gview file=”http://monoblogue.us/files/DESBaldFactSheet.pdf” width=480 height=620]

Note the event ~~begins at 4 p.m. so it’s more of a late afternoon start, although presumably it~~ will last well into that Friday night. So join Joel and others in this effort!

(On a blogging note – the WordPress plugin is called Google Doc Embedder. Made my life a little easier!)