I don’t know where this will be placed, or when, but this is just another case where an activist group of Republicans takes the bull by the horns and tells the truth.
This is made more interesting when it’s considered that the Kent County Republican Party was usually a no-show at our conventions and, by the number of registered voters, has been playing tag with Somerset County as the smallest Republican county in the state. (Overall, they have about 1,000 fewer registered voters than Somerset.)
But Kent’s jumped back into the state party by re-establishing themselves at our conventions, they apparently had a very successful Lincoln Day dinner last year, and the county party seems re-energized by new appointees (only four members of the seven ran in 2010.) So they’ve obviously made it their priority to establish the message in this campaign, and it’s at a scale which works for their county.
Some may think that the message will be a little bit “in the face” of people, but I disagree. (Otherwise I wouldn’t bring attention to it.) There’s no question the idea of a good Republican Central Committee is to elect Republicans, but in years where local parties aren’t going to have as much impact (because this year is a federal election cycle) it doesn’t hurt to establish a message to fire up the troops. So kudos to Kent County on this one.
I’ve also been made aware that Worcester County will have a message billboard, but I don’t have a good picture of it to show.
At the risk of making this sort of an odds and ends post, I have other items to add. I got this as part of a legislative update from Delegate Tony McConkey:
This week there are two hearings on my bills. The first will be heard in Ways and Means on February 23rd. HB 580 is to change the current method of appointing Anne Arundel County School Board members to a partially elected school board. This bill still allows for some members to be appointed.
Naturally that drove me to see what progress we’ve had on SB99/HB966. While the Senate version has had a hearing cancelled twice, I’m pleased to report the House version has a hearing slated for Thursday, March 15. While I would have preferred an earlier hearing, it’s about a week before last year’s version was heard so there’s an improvement. And note this is the simple up-or-down vote bill we as a Central Committee and County Council wanted. Now it’s time to hold our legislature’s feet to the fire if you care about accountability.
Also, G.A. Harrison alerted me to this about the Maryland Senate:
The Maryland Senate will be debating
SB 241HB438, probably tomorrow. To have a final vote on the bill, which would pass, they need to invoke cloture. Sen. E. J. Pipkin is trying to organize a filibuster to stop the bill. Last year (District 38 Senator) Jim Mathias voted against the bill (the Dems don’t need his vote to pass the bill), but voted for cloture.We need to get as many people as possible to call Mathias’ office [(410) 841-3645] and tell him that a vote for cloture is the same thing as a vote for the same-sex marriage bill. If five (5) Democrats vote against cloture, then the bill cannot come to a final vote.
Besides, we shouldn’t allow Jim Mathias to claim that he’s opposed to the bill while enabling its passage.
It’s likely the Maryland General Assembly will pass a LOT of wretched legislation this year, but perhaps we can secure a victory or two for common sense.