Month: July 2013

An oversimplification, and where it may lead

In all the hoopla over the Tawes Crab and Clam Bake this week – along with several statewide race announcements – an item from one of my favorite local political hotbeds was more or less overlooked.

But a few days ago I received an e-mail warning me about a proposed shooting ban in Cecil County. Sponsored by Councilman Alan McCarthy the bill would, in the words of Mike Dawson of the Republicans of Cecil Political Action Committee:

…ban shooting in Cecil County and leave law abiding citizens defenseless against criminals attempting to harm them or their property.

McCarthy defended his position, noting in the Cecil Daily that he had “numerous requests from citizens” about such legislation after the death of a ten-year-old girl on New Year’s Eve from a stray bullet, and pointing out on the Cecil Times website that this was only to “stimulate a discussion.” The council member also added he was seeking the family’s permission to attach her name to the law.

Undoubtedly, what happened in Cecil County was a tragic accident. It surprises me, though, that we haven’t already advanced enough in ballistics and microstamping to determine the origin of the shot which killed Aaliyah Destiny Boyer and file appropriate charges against the shooter. I’m not a lawyer (and don’t play one on TV) but I would think that’s grounds for negligent homicide.

Yet in his diatribe against the proposal, Dawson notes that:

(I)f you are defending yourself on your property against an intruder be sure to think about what direction you’re shooting and get permission from your neighbor first.

I’m sure the burglar will wait for you while you get permission from your surrounding neighbors and double check that you’re not 150 yards from a school!

It’s also pointed out that the law would only affect unincorporated areas of the county, which would tend to have the larger proportion of gun owners.

However, the other aspect which piqued my interest was reading that McCarthy’s proposal was based on a law in Harford County. Obviously that’s David Craig country, so the question whether the law was passed during his term is an important one. But a quick Google search led me to the Harford County code, and the corresponding law section (260-4) was apparently passed way back in 1985. At that time, Craig was still involved with local government so he’s off the hook here.

Perhaps a better question to ask, though, is whether anyone has been charged with violating the Harford County law? Obviously there was a purpose for its introduction, and it’s likely McCarthy had some idea the law was on the books there. But there are thousands of laws which are written but either aren’t enforced or simply not enforceable. Many of those are the same “feelgood” legislation which has a person’s name attached to it.

Because there was no formal introduction of legislation – yet – by McCarthy, the question remains purely theoretical. It doesn’t seem like a law which needs to be on the books because, as opponents point out, it’s the sort of law ripe for abuse by overzealous prosecutors – the sort of plea bargain count dangled by a state’s attorney in front of an otherwise innocent defendant who can’t afford to risk trial on some other charge. No one is concerned about gunfire being too close to a school when an intruder bent on harming you or your family is breaking into your home.

I suppose the lessons we can learn from McCarthy’s law are to have steady aim and shoot for center of mass so stray bullets don’t cross onto someone else’s property.

Shorebird of the Week – July 18, 2013

The Orioles have many varied ways of acquiring talent to try out at the minor league level. Most come through the annual amateur draft conducted each June, while a number are international free agent signings. But few have arrived in the unusual manner George Barber has.

In 2010 the Los Angeles Angels drafted Barber in the 43rd round out of Broward Community College in Florida. He signed and played sparingly for the Angels entry in the Arizona League (on par with the Gulf Coast League where the Orioles have an affiliate.) After hitting just .235 in 7 games over a month’s time, Barber was cut loose the following spring of 2011 and returned to school.

But somewhere along the line the now 23 year old decided to enroll in a school of a different sort called the Xtremeline Baseball School Camp. Last October, George was signed by the Orioles – not coincidentally, Xtremeline is operated by Orioles executive Fred Ferreira. (The same connection also produced the recently-promoted Tucker Nathans as well as others farther down in the system.) And after a little bit of bouncing around – two days with Bowie where George went 3-for-9 in 3 games and a week in Aberdeen where he was 3-for-19 – George arrived on June 27 and has been a lineup fixture since.

Barber is fitting in to date as about an average player: a .246 batting average (15-for-61) with an OPS of .635 thus far. These aren’t numbers which will merit an immediate promotion but can be a building block for success over the team’s last 40-odd games – remember, George had a total of 7 pro games under his belt when he began this season. In essence, he’s in roughly the same situation as a new draftee getting his feet wet in rookie league, except he’s playing in a somewhat more competitive loop. In his case, this is likely a 60-game tryout, with a decision on his fate probable at year’s end. Unlike a high draft pick, Barber has less margin for error.

But you can also figure he’s playing with house money given where he was a year ago. Not many players get a second bite of the apple, so Barber is trying to take advantage.

37th annual Tawes Crab and Clam Bake in pictures and text

As is often the case, it was exceedingly hot, quite humid, and a sprinkle of rain fell on the Somers Cove Marina. But thousands braved all that for crabs, clams, and hot and cold running politicians. This is my story.

On any other summer Wednesday afternoon, one can stand near the Somers Cove Marina and see that sight. But yesterday it looked more like this.

The brand new Craig/Haddaway signs were in evidence, as were a handful of shirts.

However, the pair in question didn’t show up until the event was somewhat underway. Their entrance was rather understated compared to some others, as I’ll show later. I caught them just as they entered the gate.

Fellow GOP contender Delegate Ron George had long been set up by then, with his own tent.

He may have had the best giveaway item as well – ice cold bottles of water stashed in a cooler behind the palm cards and brochures.

Ron proved himself to be a man of many hats. Okay, at least just a woven straw one.

A more modest presence was shown by draft candidate Charles Lollar, who brought his wife Rosha along. Here they pose with Wicomico County Republican Club president Jackie Wellfonder.

Later I caught Charles chatting with host Delegate Charles Otto (left, in hat), who represents Somerset County in the House of Delegates.

Another would-be Delegate making her Tawes debut as a candidate was Mary Beth Carozza, who’s seeking the District 38C seat. She had a few assistants in tow as well as an attractive sign.

She was one of many local Republicans and activists who were well-represented in their tent.

We even had the infamous “pin the tax” sign. Too bad we didn’t have it out where more could see it, but it would have been soaked by the misters thoughtfully added by the Somerset County folks. Did I say it was hot?

Observing all this was state Republican Party Chair Diana Waterman, who indeed was carrying a bottle of water.

Also making a presence was Larry Hogan (right), whose Change Maryland group now boasts a 50,000-strong Facebook following. He was making no indication of a possible political run today, but it’s intriguing that he took the time and came down to Tawes.

Hogan has made the point that his group is not restricted to Republicans; a significant portion are independents and Democrats. And the latter group was well-represented at Tawes, too.

Front-runner and Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown was also casually late, but had a gaggle of young supporters trailing him. He’s sort of obscured in the center of the photo.

Brown’s first stop upon entering the gate?

There were more modest presences from Attorney General (and gubernatorial hopeful) Doug Gansler and Comptroller Peter Franchot, who considered the race for the top spot but opted to seek re-election. (My photo of Gansler didn’t come out well.)

One other Democratic gubernatorial hopeful whose presence surprised me was Heather Mizeur, pictured here with Salisbury City Councilwoman Laura Mitchell.

Her formal announcement must have been a brief affair, as she and a small band of supporters made the trek down to Crisfield. Mizeur told me it was about her tenth time attending – obviously first as a statewide hopeful.

Also carrying the Democratic banner was the State Senator from District 38, Jim Mathias. He had a decent-sized group of supporters who must have been busy putting up a half-dozen 4×8 signs along Maryland Route 413 leading into Crisfield.

Salisbury mayor Jim Ireton (right) was sporting a “‘bury” sticker to represent his town.

I found Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt enjoying his lunch early on.

Pollitt explained that it’s easier to eat on the pavilion side because he would be greeted by more people in the party’s tent. Makes sense to me – same reason I eat a little at a time.

In fact, a large percentage of those enjoying the food were well away from the political. They were being entertained by the DJs on the left of the photo.

A number of other businesses were represented at Tawes as well, although to me the number seemed down from previous years.

Still, lobbyist Bruce Bereano had his corner. Bruce Bereano ALWAYS has his corner, and it’s always full of Annapolis politicians from both sides of the aisle.

It also always has this nice touch and tribute to the late Somerset County Delegate Page Elmore.

And of course, there was the media. Tawes was crawling with them.

In WBOC’s case, not only did they have the remote truck and the flyover by Chopper 16, the ‘Outdoors Delmarva’ crew was there too. Also covering the event was competitor WMDT-TV channel 47, WBAL radio, and reporters from the Salisbury Daily Times and Baltimore Sun, among others I probably missed.

That doesn’t count the alternative media. The Red Maryland crew was interviewing a number of Republicans – here it was Ron George’s head fundraiser Hillary Pennington of Stratgic Victory Consulting.

Brian was also kind enough to query me, so we’ll see if mine made the cut this evening.

Eventually the crowd began to trickle out and another year’s Tawes event was in the books. There was actually a light shower as I was leaving, which didn’t bother me in the least. A lot of fellowship and fun was had by all.

The vibe of the event promises to be different next year. An earlier primary now means that the Tawes event will occur once the major party nominees are known, so it’s uncertain how much time and expense they will invest in the gathering.

One other note of interest: while I did see Blaine Young there this year, the presence he had was minimal. This leads me to believe he may be stepping aside from the gubernatorial race to concentrate on a local run; otherwise he would have had a tent space as he did last year.

Speculation aside, the Crisfield Chamber of Commerce put on another wonderful event – kudos to the volunteers who make the event one the late Governor can indeed be proud of.

The field turns left

There was a lot of excitement in the gubernatorial race on the Republican side yesterday – David Craig formally announced Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio as his running mate and Ron George selected an up-and-coming Republican group for fundraising.

But the potential for a race to out-liberal one another is gaining ground on the Democratic side. We know that Anthony Brown and Ken Ulman have joined forces as one team, but two others threaten to drag that race far to the left. Aside from a formal announcement that’s promised for September, Doug Gansler has made all the moves one would expect from a candidate in the race (and has $5 million or so in the bank); meanwhile, this Tweet came yesterday from MetroWeekly‘s Justin Snow:

In particular, the gay aspect of the race is intriguing: the guy who had articles of impeachment brought against him for unilaterally declaring Maryland would recognize gay marriages in other states (despite clear language in the Maryland Constitution defining it as between a man and a woman) and is rumored to be considering an openly gay running mate takes on a woman who’s been electorally unaffected by her sexual preference, at least in her legislative district.

Yet while these two are trying to outdo each other with a famously liberal special interest group, what will they do to cater to the rest of the Democratic party, let alone independents? Gay marriage may be a settled issue electorally, but what other ideas would these two have to draw voters to the polls? Say what you will about Anthony Brown and the long shadow of Martin O’Malley, but there is a segment of voters who believe our governor has done a good job which makes up a large segment of would-be primary voters.

Is it possible the Democrats could select someone too far to the left, even for Maryland? Only time will tell, and the bloodier the primary fight the better.

Calling the bluff

Back in the early days of my website (and its predecessor) I devoted a lot of space to the foibles of Walmart in Maryland, simply because of the so-called Fair Share Health Care Act Maryland used to try and punish the nation’s largest retailer with. (This piece is an interesting look at how that bill came about. Notice it was Walmart’s largest – and unionized – competitor taking a lead role here.)

But in the last few days the chain’s been back in the regional news as the Council of the District of Columbia approved a bill specific to Walmart as it’s in the midst of building a half-dozen stores in the District. So when the United Food and Commercial Workers union chimed in on Facebook with their approval of this half-baked measure bragging that “The DC Council has just passed the Large Retailer Accountability Act! Here’s to a living wage in DC and and hopefully many more cities to come!”, I felt compelled to chime in:

Those who bash Walmart make the mistake of assuming ALL jobs at Walmart are minimum-wage jobs. So how is it their average wage is over $12 an hour? People are paid what they are worth to the company, and those who make minimum wage are worth that or less to the overall bottom line. Eventually those who stay and do well at their jobs get raises and additional benefits.

If those who propose enacting this law want to be fair, why not just legislate that ALL businesses in D.C. pay $12.50 or more an hour? What, you say that will hurt the mom-and-pop stores and cause them to furlough workers? Thanks for playing.

Businesses are not in the game to create jobs or sell products to the public. They are in it to make a profit. If Walmart can’t make a profit at a store the correct thing to do is pull the plug. If a chain can’t make a profit they go out of business – remember Montgomery Ward?

They tried this same law in Maryland, which was narrowly tailored to Walmart, and it was tossed out in court due to violating ERISA. In the meantime, plans to build a distribution center in one of Maryland’s poorest counties were scrapped.

You may not like Walmart but it looks like they may have called D.C’s bluff.

I have to admit: people indeed have a love-hate relationship with Walmart. I know I do when I do my outside job, since it involves me traveling from time to time to any one of nine local Walmart stores in three states. Sometimes the help is most helpful and sometimes it leaves a lot to be desired. A good friend of mine who works for Walmart would probably tell you the same.

But the fact is Sam Walton’s brainchild exists in the market as the largest player and now America’s largest private employer. (I didn’t know that until I worked on my pieces for Patriot Post last week and read this. Number two is temporary job-placement firm Kelly Services.) In many respects Walmart is also a temporary employer, as I’ve noticed the stores along the coast hire extra people for the summer as well as holiday help, and it wouldn’t shock me if they had five to ten applicants for each open position. So obviously people are willing to work for minimum wage – if that’s indeed what Walmart pays; it can be much more depending on the position – rather than continue to collect unemployment, or they may consider Walmart a step up from their current job.

Yet Washington D.C. is trying – by writing a law so narrowly that it affects Walmart and only Walmart – to accomplish the same goal, except they have a big problem: there are no Walmarts there yet. While it may be somewhat difficult to place new stores in the inner Maryland suburbs, there are already seven Walmart stores within 20 miles of our nation’s capital and room could probably be found for more as needed. In the meantime, residents of the affected areas will have to suffer from a lack of options and at least one major revitalization project is in doubt due to the Walmart law.

Whether the District cuts off its nose to spite its union-stuffed face is still up in the air because D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray is hinting he’ll veto the bill and it passed without a veto-proof majority. This is even though Walmart warned the city it may pull out despite the fact construction on three stores had commenced and they’ve tried to promote their local image through stunts like this one in Maryland. But they can install all the solar panels they want and not get on the good side of a party which owes its allegiance to Big Labor and not the working-class people who can benefit from a career at Walmart.

Perhaps the store can invest some of the money saved by abandoning D.C. into renovating a couple of our older locations which could use a facelift. We’d appreciate the investment if those inside the Beltway don’t want it; in fact, we would find that a refreshing change.

Announcing: the 2013 monoblogue Accountability Project

For the sixth consecutive year, covering sessions since 2007, I have completed my annual guide to the voting record on key issues from the 188 members of the Maryland General Assembly.

There will also be the sidebar link I maintain for future reference.

This guide not only features the General Assembly’s voting records on specific votes in graphical form for easy comparison, but also my take on the bills they voted on this year. Some of the key votes I cover are those on the state’s budget, early voting, and offshore wind, as well as those where foes attempted to petition them to referendum – the (so-called) Firearms Safety Act of 2013, and the death penalty repeal.

I began this project in 2008 as a continuation of the former Maryland Accountability Project, which was a similar attempt to catalogue legislators’ votes that ended with the 2006 session. (Here is a cached version of its website, which is no longer active.) Over the last seven legislative years I have focused on well over 200 votes by the General Assembly. Once committee votes became publicly accessible in 2010 I began adding those as well, giving me a total close to 400 separate tallies over the life of the mAP. This year I looked at 52 separate votes – 22 floor votes and 30 committee votes, or three from each of the ten voting committees in the General Assembly.

So what can you do with the information?

Well, while the mAP is by its nature reactive because it documents events which occurred in the recent past, we can learn from history. While I can count the number of legislators who have attained a perfect 100 percent rating in any given year’s legislative session(s) on one hand, the sad truth is that Maryland has far too many who score 10 percent or less year after year cluttering up the General Assembly. Our job is to learn who they are, find quality opponents for them, and most importantly educate the voters of that district why their legislators are voting against the interests of the people in the district. That’s why the bulk of the mAP is a summary of why I, as someone who favors liberty, would vote in the way I denote in the report.

On the other hand, there is a group I consider the Legislative All-Stars, those who score 90 percent or above or at least lead their legislative body if none reach 90 percent. (Sadly, this has happened on occasion.) If the Maryland General Assembly had those legislators as a working majority we could vastly improve our state’s lot in life.

It’s particularly important that this year’s edition came out early and was indeed a fortunate break that no Special Sessions are anticipated for the remainder of the year. There’s still a little time to get together a campaign against some of these entrenched incumbents of both parties who seem to have lost their way. Many of them will be leaving on their own, but newcomers who would be high scorers on this chart are encouraged to get involved.

Before I conclude, I want to point out that there is a relatively new accountability project which perfectly complements the idea of this one by working during the legislative session. Elizabeth Myers (who I have interviewed before for TQT) runs Maryland Legislative Watch, which works during session to determine the merits of each bill and works to keep bad ones from ever getting out of committee. With over 2,500 bills introduced last session, dozens of volunteers are needed to keep track of them all, grade them on pro-liberty merits, and keep the heat on legislators in stopping violations of liberty from proceeding.

Moreover, they actually just completed yesterday a far larger voting compilation which has every single vote – for example, my legislator’s chart runs 91 pages. It may seem like competition but we actually work together in the respect that MLW provides a lot of raw data and I give context on key issues. The Maryland Legislative Watch data is also useful for showing just how many votes are unanimous and how much of the legislature’s time is devoted to local issues; these are the ones which incumbents generally point with pride at bringing home the bacon.

You can judge for yourselves whether legislators vote the correct way on the issues I present. I simply provide this service to Marylanders as a way of being more aware of how the sausage grinding in Annapolis turned out this year.

Methinks there was something rotten in the state of Maryland, now known as the “Fee State.”

Fun with spam, part 2

A few weeks back I poked fun at the hapless people who have plenty of advice on how to build my business through link sharing and SEO suggestions. They didn’t get the hint, so I decided to make this an occasional series and really ridicule them.

First off, someone’s Maryland site needs help:

Good day!

My name is Marie and I am the site administrator of the site (redacted). I’m emailing you because our site is quite new and we need help from our fellow Maryland blog.

Can you please let me guest post at your website’s blog with the link of our site at my bio at the end of the article. Since your blog is about Maryland news, I can write about that or I can write about any topic you would want me to write.

It would be a pleasure if you would allow me to guest post at your blog. Thank you and I’m hoping for your positive response.

—
If Content Is King, Then Keywords Is Queen…

Number one, who in Maryland uses the salutation “good day”? I think “marie felipe” is somewhere across an ocean.

Second of all, why would I mess up my brand by awarding guest posts willy-nilly? I have had guest posts in the past, but they are germane to the broad subject at hand. Moreover, if you could write about any subject I wanted, it would likely have nothing to do with the site you claim to represent.

But the postscript gives it away. To me, content IS the absolute king and keywords might be the royal taster. Or maybe it cleans out the royal stables. My keyword is integrity. And shouldn’t it be “keywords are queen”? Seems awful plural to me, although I suppose the analogy would have to be extended to “keywords are queens” and that may raise the ire of some special-interest group.

Speaking of keywords, these damn SEO experts still seem to think my Google page ranking isn’t high enough. By the way, aside from redacting the free advertisement I post these exactly as written.

Dear Website Owner,

While searching the web we found that your website does not rank page 1 on google. 85% of users searching the web will never find your website unless you’re ranked on first page of Google, MSN and other major search engines. On the top of this with all these google update animals around ( Penguin & Pandas ) Its not easy to get page 1 and stay there to keep getting business.

Would you be interested If we can help you rank your online business first page of major search engines ?

Our company is on the first page when you search on Google for our primary search term “SEO Company.” We would like to do the same for your web site so you can come up for your main keywords as well? All of our processes use the most ethical “white hat” Search Engine Optimization techniques that will not get your website banned or penalized.

Leave aside the fact this is poorly written and came from an e-mail address with “carolyn” in it but was signed “Billy S.” There is a conundrum they don’t address: how is it they found my e-mail address and website if it wasn’t on the first page of Google? (And yes, Billy/carolyn, Google is always capitalized. Proofreading is your friend, although being actually fluent in English would be a close second for you.) Obviously I have enough of a ranking they felt they had to address the issue.

So why does my website: monoblogue.us needs SEO? (Yes, that’s the way it was written in the subject line.) Hell if I know, so I think I’ll pass on the generous 15-day free trial they offer. So far I’ve done well enough with the 2,700+ day free trial of building my audience from scratch in an SEO-free manner. And by the way, my wager is that they are Page 1 because they sponsored a link. If I wanted to pay I could be on page 1 that way as well.

They didn’t even argue content was king.

Finally, we have this:

My name is Mike and I noticed you talked about sales success and CRM software so I thought you would be interested in this infographic resource on the Success of a Salesman.

The reason why you want to post this (besides the fact that people like visual resources) is because it has a lot of great statistics and information for those interested in sales. For example, searching for information takes up to 24% of a sales person’s time which costs approximately $2.6 billion a year in lost revenue for a Fortune 500 company. Having an infographic like this will bring traffic to your site for years to come.

If you want to post it, all you need to do is copy and paste the text above the graphic. If you have a piece of content that you are trying to get out there please let me know. Also, to return the favor, let me know the URL you post it on so I can build links to your page, increasing your traffic, rankings and authority for that page.

If you have any questions or comments please let me know. I look forward to hearing back from you.

I’m not sure I’ve talked all that much about sales success, but I can pretty much guarantee you I’ve been silent on the subject of CRM software, well, until today that is.

The one thing Mike failed to mention is just how “an infographic like this will bring traffic to your site for years to come.” Now I will admit this seems a lot more legitimate than most offers I receive in that Mike had contact information at the bottom of the e-mail and the company he represents has an internet presence selling – you guessed it – sales CRM software. But I have several pictures and cartoons on my site and all they seem to bring me are spam comments. Yes, they are there to tell a story so they are indispensable but the one he was marketing did not.

And I think I know how I attracted their attention. This is from the company’s PR release announcing its American operations:

At the foundation of the development of the company and the Pipeliner product is a business philosophy based on the Austrian School of Economics.

With my somewhat libertarian leanings I’m sure my site has devotees who favor the Austrian School. This one wasn’t so bad but I simply have no context in which to place their infographic. Now if they want to buy space, we can perhaps work something out.

Maybe the Google search for “libertarian-leaning sites which poke fun at spam e-mailers” struck gold with that one.

A loss of discipline

The original intent of this post was to discuss onetime educator and current candidate for governor David Craig’s thoughts on Common Core, which were the subject of an op-ed in the Washington Times yesterday. We had touched on the subject of education in an interview I did with Craig when he announced his campaign last month, and Common Core has become a whipping boy for those concerned about government intrusion on our children’s lives. Craig points out this phenomenon of an expanding federal role:

It used to be a teacher’s primary goal was to “reach” a student. That will never happen as long as politicians and education bureaucrats in Washington insert themselves between teachers and students. Common Core is a backdoor way of nationalizing education, one based on a notion that children are to be churned out of schools on conveyor belts and into the workforce. It will never work.

I agree with David’s sentiment insofar as it goes, and he brought up much of this in our discussion. It’s also worth pointing out that education is the lead issue on Craig’s issue page on his gubernatorial website.

Unfortunately this passion he shows in his op-ed and interview doesn’t seem to come through there. After explaining his career choice, initiatives in magnet schools, and new school construction, the curriculum receives short shrift:

As Governor, David will leverage his experience in public education to ensure that, at all levels schools are centered on one priority: to prepare children for careers of their choice. Too often, kids are coming out of college and advanced degree programs saddled with debt. The debt burden is so high, that parents and students are questioning whether the programs are worth the price. There must be tighter coordination between the academic community and the job market.

Craig states the problem well enough, but “tighter coordination” is really a platitude. Instead, what’s really needed is tighter competition between public schools, private schools, and homeschooling by allowing money to follow the child.

As it turns out, though, this run-of-the-mill op-ed comes on the heels of an unforced error on the part of the Craig campaign, something for which I will share a little bit of inside information. It’s nothing earthshaking to be sure, but necessary for context.

Let me freely admit up front: I’ve never run a political campaign, so a lot of what I’m saying comes from being a simple observer of how some political operations seem to run like well-oiled machines while others stumble their way to the election – generally those are the losing ones, but there have been a few which managed to overcome missteps.

But I was made aware (and sent a copy) of the op-ed a day in advance, most likely in the hopes of posting and discussion on my website. Among the active campaigns, I probably have the best professional relationship with David Craig’s because I know some of the players from many months back while others made an effort to introduce themselves to me. A little respect goes a long way.

And while Friday is already a little bit of a handicap for news coverage, the fact that David had an op-ed placed in the Washington Times is still good, basic free media for the campaign despite the fact that nowhere in the piece is it stated that Craig is running for governor or would have more to do with the Maryland educational system should he prevail. But those Maryland residents who read the Times probably know he’s in the race to be the state’s next chief executive.

In a perfect world, this op-ed would have been discussed on the social media and maybe drawn more coverage on background. (One could argue, though, that the campaign should have held off on it until August when school is more on people’s minds. We’ll see if the back-to-school sales start this weekend, in which case the timing isn’t so bad.) It would provide a lead-in to a more major series of events slated for Tuesday that most in the Craig campaign were building up anticipation for.

Instead, though, I may be the only person in Maryland paying attention to this op-ed from David because it was absolutely blown out of the news cycle by the announcement that Jeannie Haddway-Riccio would be Craig’s running mate. That, my friends, was supposed to be Tuesday’s big news, which would have given him additional attention coming into the Tawes Crab and Clam Bake down in Crisfield that’s generally the state’s most-covered summer political event.

And when I later found out some of the circumstances of the running mate discussion, my thoughts about a leak? Well, they may not have been officially confirmed but I would bet a stack of money as to how the news got to John Wagner and I am not a betting man.

What you have here is a classic example of giving a heads-up vs. a potentially damaging leak. No, in the long-term scheme of things it’s not a big surprise that Craig named Haddaway-Riccio – she’s an attractive young female candidate who’s worked her way into qualification for such an office. As a local party official I’m glad Craig did it early so we can see how other dominoes fall locally now that the seat has likely opened up. But losing control of the narrative can be a larger problem later on, depending on what comes out of an undisciplined staffer’s mouth. It’s hard enough to find good help in this state, as other candidates have painfully learned.

The Tuesday events will thus be somewhat anticlimactic because there aren’t all that many who pine to hear from the second banana on the ticket, particularly now that the surprise is gone. And who knows? Perhaps that will be a day for one of the competing candidates to make a major announcement of his own, truly burying Craig in the news cycle.

I may not be a campaign veteran, but it seems to me that controlling the narrative and not trying to be the big man on campus would serve the boss best. It’s a lesson I’ve learned in eight years of doing this job, and it serves me well to remember it.

The naked appeal

No, this is a G-rated post. But it was the tagline of a Tweet I received the other day:

I’ve mentioned Rich before in the context of how it is to be a blogger (even part-time as he currently is) and struggle financially. In his case, though, the job he lost was his primary source of income and as a fellow casualty of the moribund building industry I can relate quite well to Rich’s plight. So I looked at his site and read this most recent tale, finding that unfortunately the unemployment insurance system doesn’t apply for him and the initial bottoming out of the recession not only affected his livelihood, but the potential for him to create his own work.

Yet it could be a matter of survival for his former employer as well, as Rich relates:

The really sad thing, is the company I worked for, kept the 2 illegal workers from Peru, instead of keeping an American.  After all, why shouldn’t they?  They don’t pay taxes on them in any shape or form…nor do they pay overtime.  That’s what really angers me.  Why should any American company pay an American citizen, or legal resident, a living wage, when they can pay an illegal worker less than half?  I mean really?  Why bother to hire citizens, after all, we can live off of the dole, can’t we?

The frustration evident there slaps you in the face.

Now I can even tie Rich to my Bob McCarty story from earlier in the week, since he once had an avalanche of attention come his way when he passed along a rumor (from what he considered a credible source) that Barbara Mikulski was retiring as Senator. Unfortunately for both him and us, this turned out to be false – but Rich had thousands of readers for a time.

That spark soon died out, though, and Vail returned to the occasional post and perhaps making a few dollars a month from donations and ads. But now he needs a lot more.

As you may have noticed, I also have a few ads, mostly text link ads now since some of my other former advertisers are struggling as well. So in the spirit of paying something forward I took the ad revenue I received for last month out of my PayPal account and sent it along to him – my rent is paid for the month and I still have a job, part-time as it may be (along with my writing client.) It’s not a lot, but he can use it more than I can.

Maybe someday I’ll get it back in spades, but even if not that’s all right. As he noted:

I had hoped that I might be able to get a single dollar from each person who visited this site, so that I could at least have a faint hope of keeping a place to live…

My original hope was to get people to hit the tip jar for a dollar or two…and help me cover my rent for July. We’ll lose our apartment @ the end of the month, as the management company is very aggressive in going to rent court if you are 2 weeks late.

So I’m spreading the word.

But what really saddens me is that there are probably 500 Rich Vails in our country right now, bloggers who have used their ability simply to put out a “bleg” because it’s their last hope before they’re out on the street. Seeing that Rich and I are about the same age (he’s 50, I’m 48) and remembering the good economic times in America we were both blessed to grow up and live our first 40 years or so in, I have to sit and wonder if this really will be the “new norm.”

To me it’s a generational thing: those who are Baby Boomers will suck all the oxygen out of the economy as they age, while those of us who inhabit what’s known as Generation X will be saddled with the bill, as will our children of the Millennial Generation and so forth. Perhaps their children will get out from underneath the load, but first their parents will have to quit worrying about which Hollywood couples are making up or breaking up and devote some serious thought about real change in this country. (That is, if they can find jobs.)

I lived through what was supposed to be “the worst economy in the last 50 years,” the recession of 1991, and that slowdown put me out of work for a couple months – I was laid off on the very day my ex-spouse and I got the keys to our first house – before I found a job as a CAD instructor at a local college; eventually, my old firm called me back after five months. Before that, I lived in a city which struggled during the 1980s as Detroit transitioned from a city with an unquestioned Big Four automakers to one shellshocked by worldwide competition that was selling a superior product. (Then and now, Toledo also lived and died by the auto industry.) Those were some tough times in the first half-decade or so after I graduated from college in 1986 – it took me six months after graduation to get my initial job in Toledo, as the work was simply not there.

But those recessionary times have nothing – NOTHING – on the pitfalls I have seen over the last five years. I’m not going to sit here and blame Obama, blame Bush, or blame anyone else – I’m just going to ask a question: Does anyone really care about fixing the economy for all of us, or are they simply out to exploit their fellow man in a game of grabbing all they can while the opportunity is there?

I’m seeing way too little of the former and way too much of the latter these days. Don’t know if we need a revival, an upheaval, or a do-over, but this shit can’t stand. So much for the G-rated post, but that’s how I see it.

Anyway, help a brother out if you can.

Report: First GOP ticket is Craig/Haddaway-Riccio

It appears one of our own on the Eastern Shore may be gracing a gubernatorial ticket.

John Wagner of the Washington Post is reporting that Delegate Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio will be selected as David Craig’s running mate next week. While Wagner goes through some of the ramifications of the selection, particularly the gender and generational aspects since Craig is 28 years Haddaway-Riccio’s senior, I also wanted to focus on the local angle as well.

Assuming this is true, suddenly a seat on the House of Delegates opens up in what’s a plurality-Republican two-seat district for a politician from Talbot, much of Dorchester, southern Caroline, or southern and western Wicomico County. Haddaway-Riccio is from Talbot County and her fellow Delegate Addie Eckardt hails from Cambridge in Dorchester County.

Obviously no one is going to announce their intentions before the word becomes official, but you can bet there are a couple politicians from Wicomico County who may covet this opportunity. Democrats only managed to run one candidate for the two seats in 2010 – Patrice Stanley from Cambridge – but with the opening they will surely have a primary battle, as may Republicans itching to move up after a decade of the same representation in District 37. Haddaway-Riccio was appointed to the seat in 2003 after the resignation of Kenneth Schisler, who was selected for the Public Service Commission by then-Governor Bob Ehrlich, while the other District 37 representatives have held office since at least 1998.

If Haddaway-Riccio is indeed the choice and Craig is nominated for the GOP bid, it would mark the third election in a row the GOP sends out a female LG candidate; Bob Ehrlich lost in 2006 with Kristen Cox and in 2010 with Mary Kane. The only Democratic ticket thus far announced is all-male, although current Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown is black and has a white running mate in Howard County Executive Ken Ulman. Other Democrats pondering a gubernatorial run are considering diversity of a different sort: prospective candidate Doug Gansler is rumored to be considering another Eastern Shore resident, openly gay Salisbury mayor Jim Ireton, as his running mate; meanwhile openly lesbian Delegate Heather Mizeur is angling to be the first LGBT statewide nominee in Maryland history.

Finally, one has to ask what Haddaway-Riccio would bring to the ticket as far as legislative experience. Jeannie was the Minority Whip in the House for two years until being ousted by new leadership earlier this spring; however, she remains a member of the Economic Matters Committee and sponsored an interesting assortment of bills this year, with a bill expanding opportunities for small breweries being the lone one to pass muster. Two others for which she served as lead sponsor were vetoed as duplicative to Senate bills by Governor O’Malley.

In my years of doing the monoblogue Accountability Project, I’ve found Jeannie’s record is fairly parallel to her District 37 counterparts, as all have lifetime ratings in the low 70s. Jeannie is not the right-wing firebrand of the House and generally stops short of voting along the staunchly conservative lines of other Eastern Shore delegates like Mike McDermott, Michael Smigiel, or Charles Otto, but instead ranks among the middle of the pack overall.

In many respects Jeannie is a complementary choice for Craig, bringing youth and gender balance to the ticket while compiling a record inoffensive to most, although fiscal conservatives may not appreciate her seeming hypocrisy on bond bills. I’ve suspected for some time she would run for higher office at some point, having put in a decade in the House of Delegates before turning 40, and this seems like a great opportunity to set herself up for that success, whether in 2014 or down the road.

Shorebird of the Week – July 11, 2013

At this level of baseball, where starting pitchers are often limited to four to six innings per appearance, the second pitcher bridging the gap between the starter and closer takes on additional importance. Normally there is no “seventh inning guy” or “setup man” for these teams; instead the role almost becomes that of a secondary rotation featuring three or four pitchers rather than the six-man starting rotation favored by the Baltimore organization.

One pitcher who is absolutely thriving in this role is the Orioles’ sixth round selection from last year out of Samford University, Lex Rutledge. The 22-year-old Mississippi native has done an outstanding job since joining the Shorebirds in May.

I say “outstanding” based on the fact Lex has pitched 35 innings but allowed just 20 hits and 15 walks for a WHIP of exactly 1. That will play at any level, and the 4-2, 1.29 topline Rutledge is sporting backs up the fact he’s been a tough lefty to figure out for the SAL, which is batting just .165 off him and creates 2.65 ground outs for every fly ball out. The sinker is obviously working.

Rutledge was a valued commodity out of high school in Tupelo, Mississippi, so much so that the Milwaukee Brewers selected him in the 26th round of the 2009 draft. Instead, he opted for college baseball and was snatched up by the Orioles in 2012. Yet while he pitched well enough in the Gulf Coast League (0-1 but with a 1.64 ERA in 11 innings) Lex looked nowhere near as dominant at Aberdeen last year, going 0-3 with a frightening 9.49 ERA in six starts – none of which lasted more than 3 1/3 innings. So perhaps relief is a role he’s more comfortable in, although he has started twice for the Shorebirds and posted an incredible 13 strikeouts in five total innings. (His longest stint this season is four innings, pitching in relief.)

As a high draft pick, the question always becomes that of how soon the Orioles will move a player who excels with one of their lower level teams. Since he’s not used as a starter, he can fit into any bullpen role the organization may envision as they’re apparently not moving quickly to stretch him out to be a fulltime starting pitcher. And because he’s getting the outs both via the ground ball and the strikeout (fanning 38 in 35 innings so far) they may envision him as a late-inning reliever down the line. In either case, surely the Shorebirds are happy to have a shutdown guy in their bullpen.

Saying no to the pile of money

It’s not the most exciting read, but a white paper by State Budget Solutions delves into the question of whether states will be able to resist the pile of money dangled by the federal government to adopt Common Core educational standards. Obviously there are states like Maryland which won’t say no to anything handed out by the federal government, regardless of quality or need, but there are a few which have not adopted Common Core or want to reconsider it. The argument made by SBS was that, despite the fact most states have adopted this “voluntary” change in standards, it’s unlikely that all states will have to because a recent Supreme Court decision found that the threat of withholding all Medicaid funding was unnecessarily “coercive”:

In NFIB v. Sebelius, the Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the individual mandate for health insurance. But seven justices also agreed that the federal government was not permitted to expand the joint state-federal Medicaid program by threatening states that it would eliminate all of its financial support for Medicaid that the states had previously received. The Court determined that such a penalty was unconstitutionally coercive.

Because of that decision, as well as a 1987 SCOTUS decision (South Dakota v. Dole) regarding the reduction of federal aid to states not adopting a legal drinking age of 21, it appears the permissible limit of federal reduction lies someplace north of five percent, but Uncle Sam cannot take away all money.

Still, given the fact that federal transfers comprise between 1/4 and 1/2 of a state’s budget – very scary in and of itself – the claim that just 12.3% of education dollars come from the federal government doesn’t mean there aren’t other, more devious ways to punish states for non-compliance. Moreover, local jurisdictions – particularly in Maryland – have a very difficult time declaring their financial independence from the state. Nowhere was this more evident than in the passage of 2012’s Senate Bill 848, which in essence invalidated locally-adopted property tax caps if the state deemed too little money was being allocated to education. The difference in our fair county was a staggering $14 million, and I expounded on this at the time.

This doesn’t address the philosophy of Common Core, which is also controversial and a reason to waive participation, but it makes the case that states can refuse the money dangles before it by Uncle Sam.