August 2012 – Page 2

Friday night videos episode 79

I’m returning to my grooveyard of forgotten favorites for this episode, beginning with Not My Own.

Checking in is Semiblind, with their version of an Eagles classic recorded by Kim.

I recorded this one myself, as the band We Might Collide made its debut with me in the house.

On the other hand, I have no idea what happened to Saints of Chaos. But I liked this song.

Okay, I’m going back to Semiblind but there’s a method to my madness. I have a theme for next week’s episode, I wanted to play these two videos, and they don’t fit the theme.

This is one of my favorite originals I’ve heard from them, although being there was better because the solo was cookin’.

So was this one, which was a unique video I did because it featured just the guitar.

It was recorded in the early spring rather than summer, but as I recall that was a helluva show.

That’s it for this week, so keep on rockin’ the summer!

Shorebird of the Week – August 23, 2012

Greg Lorenzo caught signing autographs before his home debut.

Greg Lorenzo getting ready for his first home game with the Shorebirds.

With the offensive challenges the Shorebirds have faced for most of this year, any ray of hope provided by a guy who’s hitting at two lower levels is tempered by the trepidation of whether his success will translate to a higher level. For Greg Lorenzo, the answer so far is a resounding yes.

In 10 Shorebird games, Lorenzo has picked up a hit in nine of them – a good reason he’s sporting a .368 Delmarva average going into tonight’s series opener at Hagerstown (14-for-38). This success continues a torrid campaign where Greg has hit across three levels, compiling a .316/2/7/.907 OPS mark in 25 games with the Gulf Coast League Orioles before a promotion to Aberdeen, where he hit .317/0/6/.705 OPS in nine games. Considering the 21-year-old Dominican had hit just .232 in 48 GCL games last year, he’s forced his way up the system by hitting well and swiping the occasional base (13 steals in 43 games across all levels.)

Of course, at this point of the season most players have already established the level where their overall numbers will be so the thoughts turn to where they may end up next season. Considering that none of the three outfielders who opened the season in the April 6 starting lineup are with the Shorebirds anymore (and the three who are currently active have fewer than 40 Delmarva games between the trio) the outfield situation looks wide open for next season.

Greg has as much opportunity as anyone to make himself a valuable part of the 2013 Delmarva squad, so the question will be whether he’s going to remain a .300 hitter who can make things happen with his speed or regress to his previous career norm of being a .230 hitter prior to this year. Long-suffering Shorebird fans certainly would like to see a dominant offensive player in the black and orange once again.

The jobs governor? Must be Bob McDonnell (or Rick Snyder)

You know, it’s like a cat cornering a mouse. He paws at it a little and rolls it around, but you know sooner or later the cat will get tired of playing and finally take care of the doomed rodent. Whenever I get an e-mail from Change Maryland, I keep seeing Martin O’Malley’s record as that little squeaky thing trapped in the corner.

The cat’s paw took a nice little chunk out of O’Malley’s self-professed accomplishments the other day, once again noting the abysmal job creation record of Maryland as compared to Virginia as they tied together much of the data released last month:

Maryland has lost 36,200 jobs, while Virginia has lost 12,400 jobs since 2007 according to the latest available numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Maryland is a much smaller state so on a percentage basis of jobs lost there is an even wider difference – four times as many jobs have vanished in Maryland as in Virginia.

(snip)

“O’Malley has no business going on national TV talking about the economy, especially with Gov. McDonnell who is pounding our state into submission on job creation,” said Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan. “Maryland is lucky enough to be one of the biggest recipients of federal government jobs and federal government spending which has kept the bottom from completely falling out of the unemployment rate. But, we have lost 6,500 businesses under O’Malley and our private sector economy is in shambles.”

Governor O’Malley frequently compares Maryland’s employment picture to the entire nation as if states like Michigan and Nevada have common economic attributes. Actually Virginia is the most apt comparison since they are our next-door neighbors, share the border of Washington D.C. and compete directly for businesses and jobs.

Maryland has lost more businesses, taxpayers and jobs than its southern neighbor since O’Malley’s term in office began in 2007. What’s more, Virginia is the largest net recipient of that capital flight from Maryland.

Maryland accounted for the largest migration exodus of any state in the region between 2007 and 2010, with a net migration resulting in nearly 31,000 residents having left the state. Most of these individuals went to Virginia, now home to 11,455 former Marylanders, who took $390 million in earning power from the tax rolls during this three-year period, according to the IRS.

As a percentage of jobs lost since 2007, which in context puts Maryland’s loss at four times that of Virginia, the state saw a decline of 1.39%, while the commonwealth stands at just .33%. In the July preliminary BLS numbers, Virginia’s month-to-month gain of 21,300 jobs was the third-highest in the country, while Maryland’s gain was a measly 800.

Subtract a nation’s capital and add a couple shuttered automakers and Maryland might well be Michigan circa 2010. Both states have a lot of shoreline, too – but Michigan isn’t as restrictive about growth in those areas as we are; in fact, they seem to be moving in the right direction on that front. Moreover, Michigan’s 9% unemployment is down 1.6% over the last year while Maryland only dropped from 7.2% to 7% – and Michigan gained over 21,000 jobs last month, second in the nation.

And if you look at Maryland’s unemployment rate by county, you’ll find the more rural areas of the state like the lower Eastern Shore and western Maryland have unemployment rates comparable to Michigan’s, as does Baltimore City. That’s a component of Martin O’Malley and liberal Democrats’ War on Rural Maryland.

Our governor is one who seems to believe the only valid “investment” is that which is produced from money confiscated by taxpayers, whether they’re through paying increased income taxes, higher sales taxes, or that regressive tax known as money from Maryland’s casinos. (Interesting to note that the predicted gambling revenue is now only around $713 million by FY 2017 – a far cry from the rosy but wild guess that we’d be collecting nearly $1 billion a year by now. In truth, we’ve made less than $300 million.)

By discouraging private investment through punitive taxation and onerous regulation, the governor has belied the “One Maryland” idea he frequently promotes. If you happen to live along the I-95 corridor and/or work for the federal government, you don’t mind paying higher taxes because you’re rolling in clover and the money will eventually be returned to you anyway. But those of us out here in “flythrough country” (so named because people speed on through this area on their way to a beachfront condo) don’t have those luxuries – we have to produce something to make our money, whether it be a chicken, a bushel of crabs, a beanfield, or even a memorable vacation which entices a tourist’s return. We earn every penny government confiscates to promulgate the ineptocracy, whether it’s the one in Annapolis or Washington.

With all that, it’s no wonder a growing number of people want to change Maryland.

Odds and ends number 56

I have a veritable catch-all of little feature items best handled in a paragraph or two, so I’ll get cracking!

First of all is an important update from the state Board of Elections with the ballot language for the seven statewide issues as well as a number of local questions (including four from Wicomico County.)

At first read, it doesn’t appear there’s any effort to deceive people into voting in a counter-intuitive manner (e.g. voting for an issue to repeal a particular law.) It appears that those who want to repeal certain laws would indeed vote against them at the ballot box.

I am a little concerned about the way Question 6 is worded, though. Here’s how the same-sex marriage bill is presented:

Establishes that Maryland’s civil marriage laws allow gay and lesbian couples to obtain a civil marriage license, provided they are not otherwise prohibited from marrying; protects clergy from having to perform any particular marriage ceremony in violation of their religious beliefs; affirms that each religious faith has exclusive control over its own theological doctrine regarding who may marry within that faith; and provides that religious organizations and certain related entities are not required to provide goods, services, or benefits to an individual related to the celebration or promotion of marriage in violation of their religious beliefs.

Of the seven questions the state presents to voters, this is the longest. Actually, if you removed the first clause it’s not a bad law but the part about gay and lesbian couples is a non-starter, which is probably why that language was added – people will say, oh, okay, the churches don’t have to participate. But that’s not the point, and the additional language obfuscates it.

I also wonder why the term “same-sex” wasn’t used. With the possible exception of Question 3, it’s just going to be down-the-line “against” for me. But on a local level, I’m all for two of the proposed changes – not quite sure about the last two questions quite yet.

I’m very disappointed, though, that the term limits proposal for the County Executive did not make it through County Council. Apparently several Republicans don’t have the spine to return the county to a citizen-based power structure, ensuring no individual would run the county for more than eight years. I guess we will have to primary them, won’t we?

Of course, last night the County Council heard testimony about the county’s redistricting plan for a work session today. I happen to think the plan put in place by the Redistricting Committee is quite sound and well thought out because it uses a number of significant natural and man-made boundaries (like U.S. 50) to define districts as well as making change easier in the future.

But scuttlebutt I’m hearing is that a second plan is in the works; one which will be more favorable to certain incumbents on County Council. While it’s true that about 1/4 of the county’s population is displaced by the Redistricting Committee’s plan, the goal is to establish more permanent district boundaries which won’t change as much in future years. One thing I like about the Redistricting Committee’s plan is how it keeps most of the communities together – obviously Salisbury has to be divided into at least two districts based on population and this map puts the heart of the city into either District 1 (the majority-minority district) or District 4. (Since I began work on this post last night, I have learned there is a second plan, drawn up by a county employee. While I haven’t seen it, my impression is that it’s closer to the old map.)

Speaking of elections, this tidbit came to me from Cathy Keim of Election Integrity Maryland. It’s “even better than being a poll watcher” and it goes right to the heart of the problem.

I asked Anthony Gutierrez, our local BOE head, if you have to be registered in the county that you serve as an election judge. He said no. As long as you are a Maryland registered voter, you can be an election judge in any county that hires you. He also stated that Baltimore has a terrible time recruiting enough Republican and non-partisan election judges. The goal is to have one chief judge from each major party at each polling place. If they cannot do that, then they try to get a non-partisan judge. If they can’t do that……then it just has to be two of the same party! This holds for regular judges also.

Being an election judge is even better than being a poll watcher as you are actually running the election. Please bring this up to the GOP that they need to be filling these positions in Baltimore and PG County and maybe other counties. I know that this is a regular problem, so the GOP should already be aware of it, but it never hurts to get people working on a solution sooner rather than later.

In Wicomico County we only have about 38 precincts, so presumably they only need 38 election judges from each party. But if you’re armed with the poll watcher training and are an election judge in a “problem” county it’s indeed possible to give the Democrats fits by insisting the letter of the law be followed.

Apparently they’re not going to follow the letter of the law in Tampa during the Republican convention. If you believe the Accuracy in Media group and writer Tina Trent, agitators funded by radical left-wingers including George Soros are plotting to disrupt the proceedings – of course, they’ll get plenty of press coverage if they succeed. Meanwhile, during the next week there are going to be protests in Charlotte at the Democrats’ shindig (some by unions bitterly disappointed the convention is being held in a right-to-work state) but you won’t hear a peep.

The President’s campaign also has the laughable idea that seeing five years of Mitt Romney’s tax returns are enough. This is part of a missive from Obama ~~For~~ Against America’s Jim Messina:

Friday morning, I sent a letter to Mitt Romney’s campaign manager, asking that Romney release just five years of tax returns. And I made a commitment that, if he does, this campaign would not demand more.

You should add your name. Here’s why:

Right now, our opponent is proposing a $2,000 tax increase on middle-class families with kids in order to pay for tax breaks for millionaires like him.

He’s asking Americans to put him in charge of their taxes, while refusing to come clean about his own.

This isn’t going away because voters deserve better, and everyone but the Romney campaign seems to recognize that.

(snip)

Romney’s refusal to release his returns is raising more questions than he’s been willing to answer.

According to the one full year of returns he has released, Romney paid 13.9% in taxes on his income. Thursday, he said he went back and looked, and has never paid less than 13% over the last ten years.

Now we’re asking him to put his money where his mouth is.

It is absolutely relevant for us to ask how much a presidential candidate paid in taxes, if he sheltered his money or tried to get out of paying taxes at all, why he started — and continues to own — a corporation offshore in Bermuda, why he keeps his finances offshore in the Cayman Islands, and why he opened a Swiss bank account.

(snip)

This issue isn’t going away, and for good reason. Tell Romney to follow 30 years of precedent and release his tax returns.

Next thing you know, they’ll be asking for ten years’ worth. Meanwhile, we don’t have any of Obama’s college records, never mind the whole birth certificate thing. Of course, anyone can Photoshop any sort of “fake but accurate” documents they want, but that’s not the point, either.

I truly don’t give a damn whether Mitt Romney has a Swiss bank account or money in the Cayman Islands. It’s his money and he can do as he pleases with it. And paying almost 14% of his taxes on his income? Just ask an average American who scores a big tax refund check, complete with earned income credit, what rate he or she paid and I’ll bet the answer may surprise you. Sorry, Jim Messina, that class warfare card is no good here.

That’s Obama’s America. And to that effect a movie will be shown locally beginning Friday – showtimes are here, and the trailer is below.

I may have to go see this one, and I am not a movie buff.

I’m going to close with a little encouragement from a fellow blogger – Marianne (aka Zilla of the Resistance) has been through a lot with her late stage Lyme Disease. Well, not only has she found improvement with some of her most painful symptoms of late, she’s also received some cheering news from the Mitt Romney camp as he’s making what Marianne terms a “bold stand” against those medical professionals skeptical of some possible treatments for the disease. (Maryland is one area affected more heavily than most.) Perhaps there’s light at the end of the tunnel for her, and it’s not an oncoming train.

The light at the end of this post is also here, but it’s only the next post down. I encourage you to keep reading.

New entry or publicity hound?

Originally I was going to use this item yesterday as part of the headquarters story, but on second thought I decided it deserved its own headline and post.

In five months beyond the November election, Salisbury voters will decide the fate of three of their leaders: District 1 Councilwoman Shanie Shields, District 2 Councilwoman Debbie Campbell, and Mayor Jim Ireton. I’m under the impression Shields won’t run again; the other two are presumably going to seek another four-year term.

You may recall that earlier this year I profiled a campaign kickoff by local realtor Adam Roop, for a yet-to-be-determined city elected office. But I hadn’t mentioned this effort by political gadfly and blogger Joe Albero – until today.

Joe Albero and his rack 'o shirts.

Now I understand my political advice is generally worth the price paid for it, but it seems to me that having shirts and bumper stickers will build name recognition but not give someone a reason to vote for you. As it stands right now, the website listed on the shirt simply redirects to his Salisbury News website, not a separate campaign site.

I can already see the comment now should Joe deign to add his two cents to this conversation, something along the line of “it’s my campaign, I know what I’m doing, you simply fail to understand my master plan to win this race.” Whatever – as I said, my advice is sometimes worth the price paid for it.

But if he’s as popular as his rhetoric makes him out to be, why would he be wheeling out a nearly full rack of shirts (presumably as a giveaway to supporters?) The shot was taken as he was leaving to go to another event, as Joe said to me.

I have a hard time taking Albero seriously as a candidate until I see a formal announcement and (as a Salisbury voter myself) his ideas on how to improve the city. Several of those I spoke with this afternoon felt similarly, preferring to keep their distance for the time being.

That didn’t have anything to do with the headquarters, nor will the local GOP be actively involved in the Salisbury city races because they’re non-partisan elections. Hence the reason I decided this should be a separate post. But I took the picture since Albero’s space was placed next to the GOP’s at the Farm and Home Show; aside from that, the Wicomico GOP has no official connection to the Albero mayoral campaign – or any other Salisbury one, for that matter.

As I made clear on my comments on the Roop event, the current mayor didn’t kick off his spring 2009 campaign until November, 2008 – after the election of Barack Obama. Aside from perhaps trying to build name identification (and as a fellow blogger who HAS run for office in this county twice, I am quite aware that simply having a website doesn’t necessarily translate into lot of people knowing who you are – that’s why I barely hung on to my seat in 2010) I’m not sure what Albero’s point is, aside from perhaps a publicity gimmick to promote his site. If that’s the case, give him an A for marketing but an F for being taken seriously for future political endeavors.

Bongino gets key endorsement

She may not have the cache she did as little as six weeks ago, but getting an endorsement from Sarah Palin doesn’t hurt with a certain subgroup of voters. Dan Bongino made news today by being the latest candidate anointed by the “mama grizzly.” In a statement actually dated tomorrow, the Bongino campaign relates this Palin statement:

Though political pundits often dismiss conservative candidates running in deep blue states, I don’t believe in ignoring good candidates simply because they’re fighting uphill battles against the odds. In fact, I find such candidates incredibly brave and especially worthy of encouragement. In many cases, they are often the most articulate and courageous new conservative voices out there.

In 2012, we must cede no ground in our effort to win back control of the Senate and secure the House. We must fight every race to make sure we equip our next President with a wise Congress ready to work for all Americans. We also owe it to voters in every state – even the deep blue ones – to support good candidates for office so that they have a genuine choice in November. That is why I’m honored to announce my support for Dan Bongino in his Senate race in the “deep blue state” of Maryland.

Dan is not a politician, but he has spent his career protecting them. He is a decorated United States Secret Service agent who served under three Presidents. Dan has seen what politicians have done to our country, and he’s decided, “If I’m not part of the solution, I’m part of the problem.” He based his candidacy for U.S. Senate in Maryland on a strong commonsense conservative platform, won his primary, and is now fighting an uphill battle against a 45-year career politician who in fact inherited his first political office from his uncle at the tender age of 23 way back in 1967 and has been in elected office ever since.

This is more than just a race of Republican vs. Democrat or conservative vs. liberal. It’s about taking our country back from the career politicians in both parties who have spent us into debt, nearly taxed us to death, enriched themselves, rewarded their cronies at our expense, and have no vision to help the private sector create the jobs we need to get this economy moving again. They are the reason why Congress’ approval rating is at an all-time low. In supporting Dan Bongino, we are offering Maryland voters a clear choice either to continue with the failed policies and crony capitalism of the permanent political class, or to shake things up with Dan Bongino and cast a vote that helps put our country back on the path to prosperity.

It’s not completely out of the blue that Palin would endorse Dan – after all, she mentioned him by name at a Ted Cruz rally in Texas last month.

But the connection comes from another direction as well. Marylanders may recall that back in 2010 Palin made a surprising call in the Republican primary for governor, endorsing upstart Brian Murphy over the establishment choice of retread Bob Ehrlich. And while he’s stayed in the background for the most part, Murphy has served as the Chair for Dan Bongino’s campaign.

Obviously there will be those who fret that a Palin endorsement will be the kiss of death for Bongino and they’ll cite as evidence that, even with Palin’s backing, Murphy received just 25% of the GOP primary vote in 2010. But I would argue that without the Palin endorsement Murphy would have picked up no more than 10 percent of the vote because no one had really heard of him and the Maryland GOP certainly wasn’t giving him the time of day.

Furthermore I would venture to say that, in order to have any chance of success, Bongino needs to nationalize his campaign. It pains me to say this, but the Maryland GOP is lightyears away from having the resources to assist in any significant manner on a statewide campaign; meanwhile, the National Republican Senatorial Committee will likely write off Maryland, believing the conventional wisdom that the state is a foregone conclusion for Ben Cardin. (Well, they may jump on the bandwagon late in the game if Bongino appears poised for victory, so they can take the credit.)

By securing the Pain endorsement, Bongino reinforces his standing by being placed with other conservatives she has backed over the last two years; her most recent success being the aforementioned Ted Cruz. Now that the slings and arrows of being second banana on the national GOP ticket have been shifted to Paul Ryan, Palin can become a little bit like yesterday’s news – losing the constant scrutiny but retaining the passionate backers who can help an upstart campaign, even if it’s in another state. Remember, no one expected Ted Cruz to win in Texas against a sitting lieutenant governor who had the backing of much of the state’s establishment, either.

Besides, if a Republican is going to stop backing Dan Bongino because he received the endorsement of the conservative darling Sarah Palin, he or she wasn’t much of a Republican to begin with. May your chains placed by “our friend” Ben Cardin and Barack Obama rest lightly.

I don’t know if this was the “something very exciting” that Bill Harris mentioned at the Wicomico GOP headquarters opening, but it is pretty big stuff. Congratulations to Dan for getting the nod.

Update 7:30 p.m. Monday: Bongino also received Senator Jim DeMint’s endorsement.

Wicomico County opens GOP headquarters

If it wasn’t made obvious by the sign outside, seeing this inside may clue you in.

That petite pachyderm sits at the entrance of the newly-opened local Republican headquarters, which opened yesterday morning to a crowd of perhaps 200 people all told during the 2 1/2 hours of fellowship and festivities.

They marveled at the large expanse of a former Blockbuster video store now converted for temporary usage as a reception and staging area for the local Republican Party and were treated to remarks from various local campaign representatives and Congressman Andy Harris.

While the lower Eastern Shore probably isn’t going to make or break a national or even statewide campaign due to its dearth of registered voters when compared to the state as a whole, it’s important to have a presence here nonetheless. A volunteer here frees up time and energy which can be spent in more vital areas by enlistees closer to the action.

Prominent among the speakers were the Lunas, as Luis welcomed the crowd and introduced a number of local elected officials and dignitaries. Included in that number were State’s Attorney Matt Maciarello, County Council members Joe Holloway and Stevie Prettyman, and Sheriff Mike Lewis from Wicomico County, Delegate Charles Otto and State’s Attorney Dan Powell from Somerset County, Delegate Addie Eckardt from Dorchester County, and Sheriff Reggie Mason from Worcester County, along with a number of Central Committee members from each of the four counties. Many of them would be in the crowd standing behind those cutting the ribbon.

His better half Bonnie, who serves as the Wicomico County chair for the Romney/Ryan campaign, exclaimed “I have no doubt this will be a fantastic campaign season!” She went on to point out that Maryland has voted for Republicans on top of the ticket as recently as George H.W. Bush in 1988 (after going for Reagan in 1984 as well.)

She also thanked the volunteers who had pitched in to freshen up the old Blockbuster store, a location close by one we used for a headquarters in the last Presidential election in 2008 at the opposite end of the same strip mall. This location is far larger and rivals the size of one we used in 2010, a venue for which we received some financial assistance from the RNC. This one is all a local effort.

“We need to turn this ship around,” said Delegate Addie Eckardt, who followed Bonnie to the podium. While she was speaking about the national scene, she could just as easily been talking about the state situation and arguably even locally. Of course, Wicomico County has an elected Republican majority on its County Council, one which allows them to claim supremacy in county elected officials overall.

But, in my opinion, too often our conservative County Council majority goes wobbly at the most inopportune of times. I guess the best way to turn our ship of state around in Wicomico County would be to elect a conservative County Executive in 2014, but I’m putting the cart ahead of the horse.

Representing Dan Bongino locally was Bill Harris, who came down from Cecil County to represent the Senate candidate. Harris related the fact that Dan was “really moved” by all the support he received at the Delmarva Chicken Festival, which came in part from the dedicated volunteers he has. (Included in that group is Jackie Wellfonder, who’s pictured below at the Farm and Home Show.)

Harris also promised that “something very exciting” is brewing with the Bongino campaign, and we’ll know about it within the next 10 days. Whether that something is promising poll numbers against Maryland’s ultimate do-nothing politician, Ben Cardin, or great fundraising figures, or a debate coming to Salisbury – well, I don’t know, either. Hopefully my friends within Dan’s campaign (or the man himself, since he’s a big fan) will keep me posted.

Representing the state GOP in the absence of Chair Alex Mooney was First Vice-Chair Diana Waterman, who came down from Queen Anne’s County to assist in the efforts. She told us that the Maryland Romney campaign “is one of the best organized in the country.” All that is well and good, but whether Romney has a chance of succeeding in Maryland “boils down to voter turnout.” Not only would it bolster the chances of Dan Bongino and Mitt Romney winning, but a huge Andy Harris victory would discourage Democrats from making a concerted future effort in the First District.

Waterman also commented on the bumper stickers in her hand, noting that she wanted to see them on every vehicle in the parking lot. While it may be an inconvenience to have these stickers on a bumper for a couple months, it was a small price to pay when compared to having another four years of Barack Obama or six years of Ben Cardin, she said.

Returning to the podium, Luis Luna noted that since Paul Ryan was selected as Mitt Romney’s running mate, “excitement is through the roof.” He claimed that $10 million was raised online and 45,000 new volunteers have been added in the week since Ryan’s choice was known. People “recognize Obama has failed,” continued Luna, who also brought up a stark statistic: no President in modern times has presided over a net loss in jobs until Obama.

“Hope has turned to hype, and change has turned to childishness,” concluded Luna.

Our featured speaker was Congressman Andy Harris.

Because he works with the bottom half of the ticket on a regular basis, Andy Harris is in the position to assess Paul Ryan as “the real deal…just a straight-talking guy.”

“No hype, no teleprompter,” said Harris on Ryan, and Andy opined that Ryan was the last person Democrats wanted to see Republicans select. We would provide a contrast to government by illegal appointments and Executive Orders, Harris noted.

Andy also remarked on seeing Senator Ben Cardin at an event he attended earlier yesterday morning in Pocomoke City. “You know he’s worried” about Dan Bongino if he’s in this part of the state, Harris assessed.

Finally it was time to cut the ribbon, although the speechifying wasn’t quite over.

Before the ribbon was cut, Delegate Mike McDermott – a latecomer to the event, having also attended the Pocomoke VA dedication – said of those lined up behind the ribbon, “These folks are all in…to get them all out.”

The general feeling among those gathered was that America was ready for a little R & R.

While it’s not worthy of a post by itself, I should note that I stopped by and sat a spell at the Wicomico GOP’s presence at the Wicomico Farm and Home Show. Tom Hughes (on the left) and the aforementioned Jackie Wellfonder were among my cohorts today.

Jackie logged a lot of hours at the WFHS, and she should be commended for her dedication. I did plug her website to a couple of folks while I was there.

Originally I was going to add my thoughts about a second political aspect to the WFHS, but I think I’ll save them for Monday morning.

Restating the case for an elected Wicomico Board of Education

As you may or may not be aware, our illustrious Secretary of Appointments went off the board once again and chose a Republican member of the Wicomico County Board of Education, one whom we didn’t screen. After sending up the names of three people who we deemed qualified to lead the WCBOE in a proper direction, they chose someone who will be a “yes person” instead.

On Thursday the Wicomico County GOP put out a somewhat lengthy press release, signed by all nine members:

The Wicomico County Republican Central Committee is deeply concerned that the State of Maryland is increasingly seizing control of Wicomico County Schools and ignoring the wishes of Wicomico citizens. Let’s look at a few recent developments.

During the recent General Assembly Session the State decided it can now dictate how much Wicomico County will spend on its schools, regardless of how much our elected Wicomico County Council believes we can afford. If the Council disagrees with the State, the State will simply bypass the county’s General Fund and send money directly to the Wicomico Board of Education.

The members of the Board of Education are appointed by Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley. As a consequence, approximately half of the County budget is controlled by individuals who are not directly accountable to the citizens of the County.

For decades Republican and Democratic applicants for the Board of Education submitted applications to their respective County Central Committees. The Central Committees interviewed their applicants, and submitted their recommendations to the Governor. Yet this tradition has been circumvented by Governor O’Malley, who has regularly ignored recommendations from the Republican Central Committee. Worse, last year we learned the Democratic Central Committee was interviewing and recommending Republican applicants!

Earlier this year the Republican Central Committee vetted six individuals for a school board opening and recommended three well-qualified individuals to the Governor. Kim Hudson wasn’t among our choices, nor did she even submit her name to us for consideration. Instead, Martin O’Malley completely ignored the local input he received. Unbelievably, two people from the governor’s appointments office, who may or may not have ever set foot in our county, conducted telephone interviews with the applicants – and that was the extent of the evaluation process.

It is this complete lack of local input that showcases the absolute imperative for a locally elected school board. The Wicomico County School Board should be directly accountable to the citizens of the county, not to the Governor! Will Annapolis attempt next to decide who should be our Sheriff, our State’s Attorney, or even the members of County Council?

We do not believe the Governor should be making these educational decisions, nor should the political parties’ Central Committees. We believe the citizens of Wicomico County deserve an opportunity to vote in a referendum to determine whether we want to remain one of the few Maryland counties with a Board of Education appointed by the Governor, or if we want to have a Board of Education with elected members. Our Virginia neighbors in Northampton County will have their referendum on this very issue on November 6, but the citizens of Wicomico County will not. Why?

As it stands now, Norm Conway, Rudy Cane, and Rick Pollitt believe our Governor and faceless interviewers can make better decisions than Wicomico citizens regarding the education of Wicomico County’s children. For the past two Legislative Sessions, these individuals and the Maryland Democratic Party have deliberately prevented Wicomico County from conducting such a referendum.

It’s long past time for the people of Wicomico County to rise up and condemn this misuse of political power. The people of Wicomico County need to tell these politicians to stand aside and let the people discuss, debate, and then decide the best course of action for our county.

A referendum to determine what the citizens desire is but the first step in the process. Each of us should ask why the Democrats are opposed to the citizens of our county making such a choice.

(Signed by all nine members of the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee.)

So that’s the “official” response, to which I’m going to add my two cents. First of all, as a press release, this was way too long – it should have been one page. But the points made are still valid.

Of all the Republicans who could have been selected to the Wicomico County Board of Education, practically the last one we needed was the co-founder of that collective group of spoiled brats who bill themselves “Parents in Action.” It’s like handing the WCBOE a blank check and saying, “here you go…we really don’t care what the results of the spending are because all that is wrong with the county’s schools can be magically solved with new, vastly expensive buildings.” If you protest otherwise, you’re branded as being anti-child; they screech “but we can’t draw business without a great quality of life and school system!”

Okay, I’ll bite. Which building will you let fall apart next? Let another one go to pot and the state will help us build a replacement, right? If I’m wrong, prove it by creating a leaner school system and a plan to get the most use out of our educational infrastructure. I’m aware the state won’t pay for renovations but state dollars are still money out of our collective pockets.

But enough about Hudson, what’s done is done. I’m sure she was set hip to the mindset of the Republican Central Committee, which was looking for more of a leader and watchdog on the WCBOE. So she – and apparently a number of others – went on their own through the process, eschewing the established tradition. Obviously for her it paid off; meanwhile the Democrats went ahead and reappointed their previous nominees. Except for the two recently reappointed, the other five are eligible for a second term once their time is up.

We may go through the process next year on our end because the next member whose term expires is Larry Dodd, a Republican appointed in 2008. (I don’t recall if he was one of our choices; John Bartkovich ran the party differently back then.) And it’s more than likely Dodd would be reappointed even if we sent other names to the governor for consideration. If you didn’t like the job he did, well, that’s just too bad. The same goes for the other five on the school board whose terms expire between now and 2016. Just as the rest of the Central Committee, I would rather see the people decide.

Yes, we may have gotten a Kim Hudson because she has a free bully pulpit in the Daily Times. But perhaps our three nominees would have joined her on the WCBOE to push it in a more proper direction. We won’t know, though, until the state gives us the chance to find out. Three people stand in the way of thousands.

Third Friday August in pictures and text

It certainly is the dog days of summer, and for the first time in over a year I found myself at a 3rd Friday celebration downtown. Here are the artists preparing for the event beforehand.

I’ll admit there was a specific reason I came downtown for this particular event, and I didn’t stay for the whole thing as I generally try to do. I also had Shorebirds seats for tonight.

Thus, the crowd pictures I took around 5:30 or so up and down the Plaza may be deceptively small. I know in a couple cases I let people pass to move them out of the foreground.

I’m not saying there was a crush of people on the Plaza, but my (admittedly limited) experience with 3F is that the crowds peak around 6:30 – 7:00 and I was at the stadium by then.

I did have some time to poke around and find out some interesting things, though. For one, the groups you can find at the event are constantly changing. Gone were the roller derby ladies of last year and in were those who want a bike route, dubbed the Orange Route.

If it doesn’t cost me as a taxpayer, knock yourselves out.

Still gone was the Escape Restaurant, which I remarked last year was set up like a ghost eatery with everything still in place at the time.

But the good news might be that a change is on the horizon, an Italian restaurant which may replace the late lamented Flavors of Italy in the hearts and minds of downtown denizens.

It’s worth noting, though, that the best laid plans of mice and men seldom last long – even if they are etched in stone.

Perhaps that’s not the segue John Robinson would be looking for, but as a means of supporting one of my loyal advertisers I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony at his newest venture, Delmarva Crossroads.

As you can see, John had quite a few well-wishers. Most prominent among them were Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton and Council member Laura Mitchell.

Finally the time was near to officially christen the new business venture.

In the front row from the left are Delmarva Crossroads Editor Sarah Lake, Mayor Ireton, Councilwoman Mitchell, Delmarva Crossroads owner John Robinson wielding the scissors, and his wife Tracy.

Inside there were finger foods and drinks, and outside Flannery’s was giving away hotdogs and pop.

Now this isn’t Robinson’s first foray into media, as a few years ago he hosted an hour-long afternoon radio talk show where I occasionally found myself as a guest or a caller. And having read the first edition of Delmarva Crossroads, it seems to be a promising entrant in the local media. I wouldn’t see it wiping out the Daily Times (for one thing, the print edition is currently a weekly) but it can fill a void in Salisbury.

I found this among the most interesting items inside, as opposed to the artwork peppered throughout the first-floor suite. This is in Lake’s office.

I think I do pretty well by that myself with this little old website.

Since there was only one band I saw at the event, it’s not going to get its own Weekend of Local Rock post. But the Muddy Hole Band was playing in the Plaza and I have to say they have a unique instrumental take on some classic rock songs. Imagine Journey’s ‘Faithfully’ with an acoustic guitar, acoustic bass guitar (not a stand-up bass, but a four-string acoustic) and a mandolin – the band from the western fringes of Wicomico County played it.

They had a bluegrassy feel to the music but they kept the crowd entertained from what I could hear.

I have to close with this picture, which is a private joke of sorts. Those who follow Salisbury blogging would understand.

For the rest of you: this has been a public service announcement from the Mayor, who is perhaps Third Friday’s biggest cheerleader. Coming in second place may be John Robinson, whose newsroom will have a front-row seat to the festivities for the foreseeable future.

Friday night videos episode 78

I decided to dig into my personal archives for this episode, hopefully uncovering some hidden gems.

Since my daughter Dani came from there last week I thought ‘Ohio’ (as done by the band Gravy) was a good start. I recorded this 2 1/2 years ago at Seacrets.

Closer to home, one of my good neighbors occasionally plays in Cherrybud. I recorded this at a windy Punkin Chunkin a couple years ago.

I’m just adding this one because I was digging the old bluesy classic.

At the same show was Jason Lee, performing as a solo act.

This one I’m including because I always liked the song, and Semiblind does a good job with it. Love the wah-wah pedal effect with the guitar.

My enjoyment of the original song also goes for this Cult classic, redone by Skip Dixxon and Livin’ the Dream.

I’ll wrap up with this one, which is actually a song I featured a couple weeks back but done in a live setting by Naylor Mill.

Until next week, keep rockin’ the summer!

Shorebird of the Week – August 16, 2012

He wasn’t on our radar screen at the beginning of 2012, a fact not surprising when the sum total of Eric Wooten‘s professional experience was 7 2/3 decent innings in the Gulf Coast League.

But since his July 8 callup, Wooten has performed quite well, picking up a pair of victories in his last three outings and salvaging the one win Delmarva earned in its just-completed Kannapolis roadtrip. His five-inning spot start on Tuesday resulted in just one Kannapolis run as the good guys won 6-1.

Yet the reason the Colorado native and 22-year-old lefty out of Central Arizona Junior College was here in the first place was his utter dominance of overmatched Gulf Coast League batters in June. In 14 GCL innings Wooten allowed seven hits, walked three, and fanned 15 while giving up nary a run. Eric hasn’t been quite that successful here, but is 2-2 with a 3.70 ERA and – more importantly – a 1.03 WHIP based on walking just 4 batters and allowing 21 hits in 24 1/3 innings.

Eric got off to a slow start with the Shorebirds, pitching to a 5.54 ERA in his first six outings. But the last two have righted the ship as he’s allowed just one run and six hits in his last nine innings and hasn’t allowed a walk in August (3 appearances.) He’s come onboard at a time when the Shorebirds’ beleaguered pitching staff needed a boost thanks to injuries and callups.

Obviously the goal for Eric the rest of the way is to secure a spot on a full-season team for 2013. At 22 – he’ll turn 23 during next year’s spring training – this is certainly attainable given his progression over the few professional innings he’s thrown. Most likely he would break camp with the Shorebirds and perhaps would return to a starting role full-time. For a guy who wasn’t picked until the 15th round of the 2011 draft, that would be a solid foundation to build his remaining career on.

Low-key event for a rising challenger

Well, they say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

So perhaps it was a good way to introduce himself to those whom prospective 2014 gubernatorial candidate Blaine Young wanted to influence, as he held a meet-and-greet event in Ocean City earlier tonight. Aside from a couple signs on the wall, this was pretty much the extent of the campaign paraphernalia.

There was a handout I picked up, though – three pages of the “major accomplishments” the Frederick County Commission has achieved since Young came on board. This was likely an attempt to convince backers at the individual county level – which probably explains the timing, given that the annual Maryland Association of Counties summer gathering hit the beachfront resort this week – with the lead item on the first page titled “Budget Impacts.”

While the room was set for perhaps 100, I would say the crowd rarely exceeded half of that at any particular time as guests came and went. As I was told beforehand, this wasn’t a formal event – Young said he “will be talking to people individually as they mingle.” So he held court with an ever-changing group in the front of the room while others conversed in surrounding areas. Perhaps most notable among those circulating around was Harford County Executive David Craig, who’s also (okay, almost certainly also; I’ll leave that 1% proviso) running for governor. Craig and I actually talked a little about the recently-passed gambling legislation, though.

Speaking of gambling, Worcester County Delegate Mike McDermott was also one of the visitors. I told him I wasn’t happy with his vote on the gambling bill, but he pleaded his case as to why he was one of the five Republicans who said yes to O’Malley’s scheme. I’m expecting a more formal missive from him in the next couple days, which I’ll be happy to dissect. I did learn something interesting, though – from what I was told, a number of Delegates changed their votes to be against the bill in the final tally once the result was known. I’ll find out for sure when I do the research since it’s a vote for the monoblogue Accountability Project.

Thus far, though, I have found it interesting just how the three odds-on leaders in the Republican gubernatorial sweepstakes have conducted their campaigns:

David Craig has probably had his organization working the longest of the three, even including an overture to state political bloggers like me almost a year ago. As part of that event I got a thumb drive with everything I need to know about David (still have it, as a matter of fact.)
Larry Hogan is probably the furthest from making the official announcement that he’s in, but if Larry indeed is in the running he has a ready-made social media setup thanks to Change Maryland.
Meanwhile, Young is focusing more on raising both money and his profile – this event and getting 80 volunteers to come to Crisfield two years before the election have done a nice job with the latter, according to at least one veteran political observer (who I’ll leave nameless since we weren’t speaking on the record. But he was on the record here.)

So the meet-and-greet can’t necessarily be judged like other political events. Certainly I’m sure Young would have liked more people to show up, but if those who did got a favorable impression about his campaign then the event achieved its purpose. Later on, when there’s a need for money or manpower, the true measure of the event’s success would be known. And I had a good time catching up with some people I hadn’t seen in awhile while meeting a few nice new folks.

It wasn’t quite what I expected, but any time I can go to Ocean City and relax a little bit I’ll take it. Now I see why MACO does this every year.