Michael

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.

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.

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!

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.

Shorebird of the Week – August 9, 2012

The name would sound vaguely familiar to mid-Atlantic baseball fans and yes, Roderick Bernadina has a cousin who plays for the Washington Nationals. But Roger, who is eight years Roderick’s senior, hasn’t been an overnight success in the big leagues as he’s bounced around between the Nationals and AAA for each of the last five seasons. Similarly, Roderick has gone from Aberdeen to Frederick to Delmarva over a whirlwind eight weeks, landing in Delmarva July 28.

But the younger Bernadina has lately shown some offensive prowess hitherto unknown over his brief career, where his overall average was barely holding the .240 mark before this season. It’s sort of a small sample size, but in 10 games since joining the Shorebirds Roderick is 13-for-37 (.351) and has a couple doubles to his credit as well.

Perhaps Delmarva is where the 20-year-old (as of tomorrow) belongs, since he had done a reasonable job at Aberdeen this season (.259/0/14/.631 OPS in 30 games) but struggled with Frederick, going 1-for-12 in 3 games there. Interestingly enough, Roger spent three seasons in the South Atlantic League with Savannah (2003-05) and had similar numbers to Roderick’s before picking up steam at the higher levels of the Expos/Nationals organization. Given that history, the Orioles may be just as patient with the younger cousin.

The quickest inductee

Normally I don’t comment a lot about Oriole transactions, but this one is worth pointing out.

When Manny Machado – the wunderkind 20 year old who was the #3 pick in the 2010 baseball draft – makes his debut for the Orioles (as he was called up after tonight’s win over Seattle) it will smash the record for quickest ascension from Shorebird of the Week to the Show previously held by Kyle Hudson. Perhaps the only guy with a shot at breaking it would be Dylan Bundy.

I’m sitting here working on the next Shorebird of the Week, who oddly enough has his own big league connection. Who is it? Find out later tonight.

Troopathon blog results are in – sort of

Just over two weeks ago I helped promote the 5th annual Troopathon, which eventually exceeded its $250,000 support goal and languishes barely short of a revised $400,000 milepost with just over $390,000 collected so far.

But there was also a blogger’s contest held as part of that event, and I wondered how my team, the Hot Air Steamers, did. As you can see by the medal now prominent in my sidebar we finished in second place to the Connecticut-based Greyhawks team, which have now won the competition three years in a row. (No shame in that.) I believe the missing link to our five-person team may have been the former site No More Sheeples, which seems to have gone inactive – others among us were Hot Air (of course), Maggie’s Notebook, and The Lonely Conservative.

In third place came a team called the Anti-Jihadists, which boasts sites like Creeping Sharia (which I linked to), Jihad Watch, Atlas Shrugs, and several others.

One piece of information I have asked for but haven’t received are the totals from each team, although through a little digging I found out Rush Limbaugh chipped in $150,000 by himself. (Put the guy on our team next time!)

Also from what I’ve been able to figure out, this year’s contest was a little shorter than last year’s so blog totals may have been less than impressive – for example, the Greyhawks raised $19,000 last year (out of about $30,000 total) as the winners but the contest went for over a month before the actual event. This year’s rendition didn’t begin until around the end of June, so we had two weeks to collect. Whatever the totals, though, every little bit helped.

And I’m still pleased to add this medal to my site as a year-round reminder that Troopathon will be there to support our soldiers for as long as they stay in harm’s way.

The Maryland gambling pitch

With the question of a possible Special Session to address gaming hanging over our collective heads, I think it’s time to share something I received in my snail mail.

This was addressed to me as a member of the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee and was penned by Vance Ayres, who is the Executive Secretary/Treasurer of the Washington DC Building Trades Council. The letter reads as follows:

Dear Michael,

We’re the Maryland Building Trades, representing skilled trades throughout the state. We support a new destination gaming site in Maryland for one simple reason: it will put 8,400 people to work – the largest new union jobs program in the country.

But why are we writing to you, a leader in Wicomico County? Because new destination gaming is important to Wicomico County. The new destination gaming is estimated to yield at least $223 million in gaming taxes and millions more in state and local income and sales tax.

By law, the gaming taxes are distributed through the Education Trust Fund. In a stabilized fiscal year, Wicomico County’s annual share will be $4,890,000. And in times of budget crisis, the gaming taxes make sure the State meets its existing commitments to Wicomico County without cutting services.

If the legislature doesn’t act now, Marylanders will lose the chance to vote on competitive gaming until 2014. Our state will not get table games until 2015, and no destination gaming until 2017 or 2018.

Maryland can’t wait for new jobs. Our schools can’t wait for new revenue. A 3 year delay would cost the state nearly $1 billion. This includes lost gaming taxes and state and local taxes. It also includes the $120 million the State wastes on government-owned slot machines, paying twice the going rate.

A 3 year delay would cost Wicomico County $14,670,000 in stable fiscal years, and costs the state its funding source for this amount in unstable years. Either way, delay is bad for the State, bad for Wicomico County, and bad for our public schools. Delay helps no one except our existing operators. We need to put the interests of Maryland public schools ahead of the interests of Maryland Live.

Maryland gaming needs to become competitive now. According to a study produced by Union Gaming Analytics LLC, we annually send $620-$830 million of Maryland tax dollars to West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania to support their schools and help keep their taxes low. These states hope Maryland continues with its infighting.

Enclosed is a recent column in the Baltimore Sun by Martin Knott, a prominent Maryland business leader and chairman of the Maryland Economic Development Corporation, describing why the Maryland legislature needs to act now.

Marylanders want the legislature to act now. A recent poll showed that 84 percent of Marylanders want the right to vote on this issue this fall.

Please add your voice to the effort to put Maryland taxpayers and Maryland public schools first. We need to act now.

Sincerely,

Vance Ayres
Executive Secretary/Treasurer
Washington DC Building Trades Council
(Representing over 25,000 Construction Workers and their families)

Oh, so NOW Big Labor wants some help from Republicans? Should have thought of that a couple years ago.

Well, actually all of this should have been thought of about 6-8 years ago when the General Assembly tried and tried to get video slots passed under Governor Bob Ehrlich. But Democrats didn’t want to give him a victory to run on in 2006. Instead, they waited until Martin O’Malley was inaugurated but legalized slots in perhaps the most convoluted, ill-thought way possible: as I pointed out at the time, the inherent weakness in the approach voters approved in 2008 was that technical changes like adding a sixth location or table games could only be made within the narrow window of a statewide election.

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s the fact that the General Assembly – controlled by the Democrats unions love to support – botched up both the preferred budget process AND changing the slot machine rules in the frenetic final hours before sine die.

But all this is forgotten as the unions promise big money for Wicomico County if we support this changing of the law to benefit one entity at the expense of another – while the unions get their cut, since I presume only union contractors would be able to bid on the construction project based on what’s said in this letter about a “union jobs program.” (Talk about starting out on the wrong foot with me.) And there’s no lack of irony that Martin O’Malley is finally supporting a tax cut – but only for a very, very select few well-connected friends of his. What whining do we hear about lost revenue now?

Yet when I go through the letter I have no shortage of questions.

First of all, who came up with the $223 million revenue number from “destination gaming?” Does it account for the loss of revenue from other casinos? I’ve heard scuttlebutt that Ocean Downs is losing $2.5 million a year, so how is opening another Maryland facility featuring table games going to help them? Would Ocean Downs and the others already in operation be able to put in table games right away, or would they have to wait until this sixth casino opens? (I have never been inside Ocean Downs so I have no idea if their building can handle table games to begin with.)

Nor do I buy the contention that Wicomico County will get nearly $5 million a year from this for education, or anything else. Another weakness of the current gaming law is that the share of 48.5% to education would almost certainly decrease if the tax cut to casino owners is passed. As I understand it, at present the house’s cut is 33% while 48.5% goes to education, 9.5% to local horse racing purses and facilities (the original reason they wanted slots, to “save the horse racing industry”), 5.5% to local impact grants, 2% to the Maryland Lottery for costs, and 1.5% to the Small, Minority, and Women-Owned Businesses Account. So who gets cut if the rate goes to 40% for casinos? What about 45% or 50%?

Another item to ponder: why would it take so long to build a facility? If you’ll notice, the time line for destination gaming with a 2014 passage is 2017 or 2018 – so even if this goes through I would have to presume no new Prince George’s facility is finished until 2015 or 2016. A lot can change in three years, but in my (admittedly limited) experience with casino gambling I seem to recall at least one Detroit casino (Greektown) had a temporary facility to get up and running before building a more grandiose palace. Why isn’t this planned for the PG casino?

And I found this an interesting tidbit: the same Union Gaming Analytics the writer relies on for his information came to this conclusion in a recent Las Vegas Sun story by Steve Green about the firm:

And in the United States outside of Las Vegas, (Union Gaming Analyst Bill) Lerner expects gaming revenue to grow in the “very low single digits” as the U.S. casino expansion story frequently involves cannibalization of existing business as opposed to growing markets. (Emphasis mine.)

So we may steal a little bit of business back from West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, but I suspect the new Prince George’s casino will take the most from existing Maryland facilities. Yep, that’s just brilliant because then those operators will want their own sweetheart deals and the state will have to give in.

Here’s what we should do. If we are going to have a Special Session related to gaming, I want them to put before the voters a Constitutional amendment proposed to voters that would work something along the line of rescinding the 2008 Constitutional change, effective April 30, 2013. That would give the General Assembly 90 days to work out a new gaming law that would allow the state the flexibility it needs to adapt to changing conditions via the legislature. If they can’t do that and want to argue like spoiled children, I frankly don’t care if the casinos shut down on May 1.

I can tell you right now that any changes to the state Constitution that give one entity a better deal than the others or don’t address this absolutely asinine weakness in state law that makes it difficult for casino operators to invest in improving their facilities are pretty much dead on arrival with me. Just like many other things this Democratic-controlled General Assembly has done since I moved here in 2004, they have made a complete muckery of gambling in Maryland.

It’s time for the adults to take over.

Conservative Victory PAC latest to endorse Timmerman

Because this story is relatively short for me on Examiner (just over 250 words) and there’s a long lag in between the time I placed it on that site and here, I’m just going to go ahead and reprise it in full.

Perhaps it’s a symbolic gesture, but the Conservative Victory PAC announced on Tuesday their wholehearted endorsement of Eighth District Congressional hopeful Ken Timmerman.

CVPAC president Chuck Floyd conceded the “massive financial advantage” Van Hollen has in the race – the incumbent has $2.2 million on hand, and has remitted thousands of dollars to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – but asserted that “Marylanders are just beginning to learn the truth about Van Hollen’s brand of machine politics and crony capitalism that is driving hard working businesses out of state or into bankruptcy.” Floyd spoke at a fundraiser for Timmerman, who indeed has a significant financial disadvantage because he had only around $50,000 on hand through June compared to Van Hollen’s $2.2 million, which is unusually high even for a sitting Congressman.

However, the Eighth District may not be the walkover people think it will be since a significant amount of conservative voters were added during redistricting. And there’s a lot of grassroots organizing experience in the Conservative Victory PAC fold as many of the members of their Board of Directors are veterans of Jim Rutledge’s 2010 Senate campaign. That campaign relied heavily on grassroots support as it was well-outspent by eventual GOP nominee Eric Wargotz yet received 31% of the vote in a crowded Republican field. Apparently this crew knows how to work on a shoestring budget.

So while the fundraiser may not have brought in a lot of money, the backing of the army of Rutledge supporters could turn out to be the most important result of the evening.

********

This is the video I included. We’ll see how it works, since I normally use the old embed code.

I had one other thought. Ken Timmerman isn’t someone who has to run for Congress. Come on, the guy is a successful author.

(Actually, I forgot I had this picture. Probably should have used it on Examiner.)

So why would someone of his stature go through the trouble of running for office for the second time? (Ken also ran for U.S. Senate in 2000.) You’d have to ask him (or read his thumbnail bio) but it’s people like that who I think should be elected, as opposed to political hacks who have held elective office for most of their adult lives. (Case in point: his opponent Van Hollen, who started in the Maryland House of Delegates way back in 1991 at the age of 32 and has held some political job since. And that doesn’t count Van Hollen’s previous experience as a political staffer.)

In fact, if you look at those who are on the state GOP ticket this time, there’s an interesting mix of veteran politicians and newcomers to the scene. Admittedly, Nancy Jacobs and Tony O’Donnell are longtime members of the General Assembly, but they didn’t begin their lives in the political arena – Jacobs was first elected at the age of 47 and O’Donnell was 33. Even Roscoe Bartlett and Andy Harris were rather seasoned when first elected to office, winning at the ages of 66 and 41, respectively.

The point is that they experienced life outside politics before running for office, and that’s the way it should be. Ideally, a legislator would be a citizen who becomes successful in life away from (and despite) politics, serves a handful of years, and then departs rather than spend decades in a position. I understand this places me in a precarious position of hypocrisy since I would support Roscoe Bartlett in his race over a political newcomer in John Delaney, but philosophy is important as well and Bartlett won his primary fair and square. Unfortunately, sometimes people go for the familiar name.

Obviously this took me pretty far afield from my original post but sometimes I think of ways to improve things, even after they’re put to bed. So it is with this post.

Cardin: Senate inaction an “accomplishment”

If President Obama wants to run against a “do-nothing Congress” this cycle, perhaps he should be reminded of what one of his leading liberal supporters said in a Bloomberg interview:

There were efforts made to really move in the wrong direction, and we were able to block a lot of very damaging bills to our environment, to health care.

That, friends, is none other than Ben Cardin. If I were to guess, the bills Cardin is referring to as “moving in the wrong direction” encouraged vital energy exploration and transport and returned health care to more of a market approach. The only damage which would have been done was to liberal pride as they find out once again conservative ideas work, every time they’re tried.

And while the House has approved hundreds of bills to help out working American families, the Senate has killed off all but 54 bills and threatens to plunge America off a “fiscal cliff” by repealing the Bush tax cuts on hard-working business owners, not to mention other tax increases slated to occur as part of Obamacare beginning in 2013. (Don’t try to play the class envy card here, because I won’t accept it. If anything, the tax system should be flatter.)

So it may behoove Dan Bongino and his supporters to tell Maryland voters that if a “do-nothing Congress” is considered part of the problem, it’s their Senator who’s up for re-election that’s embracing the obstructionist approach. Frankly, I’m tired of the conservative side being blamed when it’s Democrats who seem to be bottling up the process in the Senate – it seems to feed the bad habit of President Obama ruling by fiat via Executive Order.

While I know Barack Obama doesn’t like the Constitution because of its “negative liberties” he still took an oath to uphold it, and the idea is for him to lead by convincing the legislative branch to enact policies he wants. Obama had two years with a mandate and a Congress in his favor; obviously the backlash against his (so-called) accomplishments from the people was significant. Aside from convincing people our argument was the correct one, that’s not the fault of conservatives – liberals had every opportunity to state their case and to vote as well. To paraphrase the words of Barack Obama, “we won.”

And now it’s up to our side to win some more. If Ben Cardin wants to take credit for an obstinate Senate which won’t allow bills to help Americans who simply want to make themselves a better life, be my guest. It goes to show what 46 years in politics will do to someone.

Promises, promises

You know, I hate to say this because I’m generally not one to talk badly about people – but why is Pat McDonough even mentioning the idea of running for Governor in 2014?

I received this press release from him yesterday evening, from which I reprint the following (it’s the meat of the story) verbatim, with emphasis of original included:

DELEGATE PAT McDONOUGH KICKS OFF STATE-WIDE TOUR PROMOTING DEFEAT OF IN-STATE TUITION REFERENDUM.

DELEGATE McDONOUGH WILL DELIVER REMARKS AT NEWS CONFERENCE TO LARGE GROUP OF SUPPORTERS ENTITLED, “STOPPING MARYLAND’S DECLINE.”

Since Delegate McDonough and his team have been contacting Republicans and others around the State to organize his state-wide tour, people have been enquiring about his future intentions.  Some have speculated that Delegate McDonough may be interested in running for Governor.

The 2016 election will showcase, for the first time, an open seat for the state’s highest elective office.  Delegate McDonough, a three-term legislator, displayed an interest in the Governorship in 2010, but announced he would withdraw if former Governor Robert Ehrlich entered the election.  Mr.  Ehrlich did eventually enter the Governor’s race.  Keeping his word, Delegate McDonough withdrew and supported Ehrlich’s bid.

Delegate McDonough would be the only Baltimore area Republican entering the race since all of the potential candidates mentioned are from other parts of the state.

Delegate McDonough said, “2014 is too far in the future to speculate. Right now, I am interested in helping to defeat in-state tuition.”  (Delegate McDonough was the Honorary Chairman of the state-wide petition campaign to place the Dream Act on the ballot).

“I intend, at this time, to seek re-election to the House of Delegates,” concluded Delegate McDonough.

So…you’re going to gather a “large group of supporters” and begin a statewide tour to oppose the DREAM Act (while, coincidentally, promoting yourself), not to mention (oh wait, yes you did mention it) you’re the only Baltimore-area politician who would be considering a bid for Governor – even though you’re simply running for Delegate “at this time.” (Isn’t Harford County, home of David Craig, just next door to Baltimore? I may not be from Maryland but I can read a map enough to know the counties are adjacent.)

This from the guy who in 2012 originally was going to run for the Second District Congressional seat, balked, considered a U.S. Senate run, and then punted to simply backing the DREAM Act petition to referendum while doing a statewide tour. Shades of Carmen Amedori!

Until I see his name on the Maryland State Board of Elections ballot summary, it’s hard telling just what Pat will do besides grab as many barrels of ink as he can while doing it. It’s getting harder and harder to take him seriously, though, particularly when whoever wrote his release makes the elementary mistake of talking about the 2016 election when Maryland next votes for governor in 2014.

Then again, that’s the next time one of Maryland’s two U.S. Senate seats becomes available after 2012 so maybe Pat’s covering the bases yet again.

Putting O’Malley on the ballot

With the recent blowup of the Change Maryland study I’ve written about a few times over the last couple weeks, it’s clear that Governor Martin O’Malley has been installed into the state’s political conversation to such a degree that we’re forgetting two key facts: one, he’s a lame-duck Governor, and two: he’s not anywhere on the 2012 ballot. Those who bemoan the fact that Democrats are running against George W. Bush two elections on (because President Bush hasn’t run for anything, even dogcatcher, since 2004) may want to consider the fact that Martin O’Malley, while representative of the typical liberal tax-and-spend philosophy, isn’t the opponent in any of these 2012 state races and each of these contests has its own dynamic.

A good example of this is Dan Bongino’s campaign, which has attempted to tie incumbent Senator Ben Cardin and O’Malley together by portraying the Senator as a mute observer of the Maryland political scene as well as the Obama re-election campaign, which IS on the ballot. (By the way, Bongino has some choice words as well about the Obama tactic of insinuating Mitt Romney is a felon.)

But there is a political reality at work when it comes to placing O’Malley as a surrogate on the 2012 ballot. The only way to really know whether O’Malley’s missteps will hurt the Democratic cause this fall is to see polling data on his approval rating, which earlier this year was pegged at 55% in a Washington Post poll and 53% in the Maryland Poll by Gonzales Research. (A useful item in the Maryland Poll is their historic polling, which showed O’Malley’s approval dipped into the upper 30’s in early 2008 after the passage of multiple tax increases the previous fall. But obviously all was forgiven by re-election time in 2010.) If O’Malley’s policies remain popular, such a negative approach toward him may backfire with voters who aren’t paying a tremendous amount of attention yet and only read the spin on his frequent Sunday morning guest appearances.

We know that MOM has been raked over the coals but good from the Change Maryland study as well as bad jobs reports and the ineptitude of the end of the regular General Assembly session this spring. We can add the tax increases passed in the first Special Session and the poor handling of proposed gambling expansion via another on-again, off-again Special Session which may occur to the chalk marks on O’Malley’s negative ledger.

Unfortunately, at this point it’s difficult to tell just how bad of a summer the Governor has had because there aren’t any major polls out there which peg O’Malley’s approval, and I’m not privy to any internal campaign polling to clarify this approach. Obviously if Governor O’Malley is in the same range as he was in early 2008, tying him into other Democratic candidates may work; otherwise, it’s simply repeating the approach of solidifying a base that should be pretty well sewn up by now. I believe that’s the analysis our side gives when we see Democrats blaming George W. Bush for the nation’s ills even though the former President has been quietly living civilian life since January of 2009, so it should probably apply to Martin O’Malley until we see more conclusive proof that the negatives are there to use as an anchor to other candidates.

Notwithstanding the handful of county races or whatever issues survive the all-but-certain judicial process to be placed on a statewide ballot, there are ten key races in Maryland and eight of them feature Democratic incumbents. (That’s eight members of Congress including the six Democrats, the U.S. Senate seat, and Presidential race.) We all know that these incumbent Democrats have run away from their records for the most part because, except in certain limited quarters, who would want to be associated with such a record of failure as that wrought by the man at the top of the ticket? Their only tactic seems to be blaming Bush and lying about how bad things were under his watch – I’d take 5% unemployment right now, how about you?

So I’d really be interested to see just how much this month has affected Martin O’Malley’s approval rating before going all-in on including him with the remaining races to be fought. Having said that, though, because Change Maryland is an organization concerned with the state of the state, I think MOM is fair game for them and I’d be disappointed if they didn’t question his tax-and spend record and its effects on the state’s economy.

If they’ve driven his negatives up to 2008 levels, using it in campaign 2012 may not be a bad play – but let’s see some evidence of that first.