An early morning ride
News from AFP Wicomico:
Some elected politicians still don’t get it, but more importantly there are many “on the fence” votes in Congress that need to hear from you and can be pushed to vote no on the Big Government takeover of your health care.
It seems our congressman, Frank Kratovil, may be flip flopping. To see this story click here.
Tomorrow Americans for Prosperity will be sponsoring a Bus to DC for a rally at 10 a.m. outside of the Senate offices and a visit to our Congressman all for $10, including lunch.
We need to let our voices be heard and let our Congressman that he needs to vote no again on the health care legislation
Contact Tom Cook (apatriotforever@gmail.com) to reserve your bus seat.
The bus will be leaving the Steer Inn on Racetrack Road at 5:30 in the morning, Boscov’s at 6:05 at the Mall in Salisbury, and the old K-Mart Parking lot in Cambridge on Rt. 50 at 6:35.
Truth be told, I haven’t decided yet whether to go because it makes for a long day of not being productive with other things I need to get done (probably wouldn’t be back home until 6:00 or later.) It’s a drawback of these sorts of events to have them at a time where working people can’t easily participate.
But if you are in a position where you can go it’s always worthwhile to meet with your Congressman, plus any others whose ear you may wish to bend. For all his faults voting-wise, it seems that Congressman Kratovil is willing to listen and hopefully he’s going to continue being a “no” vote on this issue.
There will be a good roster of speakers at the event, mostly from Congress – Reps. Pence, Bachmann, Price, Blackburn, Wilson, and Gingrey, along with representatives of the TEA Party Express, 60 Plus Association, National Center for Policy Analysis, and AFP.
Oh, by the way, did you answer your phone this weekend only to find an annoying Organizing For Against America volunteer on the other end? Neither did I, but that was their push according to flunkie Jeremy Bird:
The Final March for Reform is going strong — yesterday, OFA supporters made the phones ring off the hook in Congressional offices on Capitol Hill and across the country. But for every member of Congress, there are eight anti-reform lobbyists swarming Capitol Hill — and the upcoming vote is still too close to call.
So in these crucial, final days, we must make sure the voices of constituents break through the lobbyist attacks. And here’s the plan to make it happen:
As the next step in the Final March for Reform, OFA supporters like you will be gathering at volunteer phone banks across the country. We’ll be calling supportive voters in critical districts nationwide, asking them to reach out to their representatives and express their strong support for reform. A local OFA organizer will be on hand at every event, and no experience is required. (Emphasis in original.)
Gee, I can hardly wait to see what their next step is. But it looks like the people are going to speak tomorrow morning, bright and early.
Maryland GOP: ‘Told you so!’
Unfortunately, sometime awhile back I already used “in the category of ‘duh’” and I didn’t wish to use it again. But, surprisingly, the best-laid plans of Martin O’Malley and Free State Democrats didn’t work, and Maryland Senate Republicans didn’t hesitate to point this fact out:
Final tax data from 2008 now proves what many predicted but had been strenuously denied by Democrats in Annapolis: Maryland’s high income earners are voting with their feet.
In calling a special session for the purpose of passing an historic tax increase less than a year after his election, Governor Martin O’Malley changed Maryland’s personal income tax from a flat rate to a graduated system with a surcharge on high income earners. During this 2007 special session, Republican Senators opposed these tax increases and forewarned that the net result would be revenue losses as this mobile segment of the population relocated their primary residences.
Wall Street Journal editorial writers agreed in a May 2009 opinion entitled “Soak the Rich – Lose the Rich” that described how the misguided budget policy of the O’Malley Administration would lead to outward migration of the very segment of the population that a state wants to keep for a healthy, progressive economy. In response, Democrats in Annapolis produced their own analysis attributing the loss of high income tax filers to the normal slack-off of annual returns.
Now the late filers have completed their returns and final numbers have been tallied. Instead of $106 million of new revenues predicted by O’Malley’s budget office, Maryland saw a decline of $257 million – for a total gap of $363 million. This is just part of the problem created by O’Malley that results in continuing out-year deficits over $2 billion each year.
It’s bad enough business is down for society’s producers, but then they get slammed with a tax increase and figure out that Maryland may not be such a green pasture after all. Why do you think that hundreds of professional athletes, entertainers, and the like live in Florida and Texas? (Hint: yes, the weather is nicer but there are places with even better climates.) Could it be the fact those two are among a handful of states which don’t have a state income tax? (The others are Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming.)
I don’t know if they tried this again this session, but last year some Democrat geniuses tried to introduce a bill that would consider 3 months per year as enough time to qualify for Maryland residency for purposes of taxation. It didn’t go far, but this is how many Democrats think – they can’t bear to have anyone here making more that what they deem as a “fair share.” Playing the class envy card has gotten them this far so they aim for continued success.
In the last three years, we’ve all endured an economy which can best be described as a difficult one. Yet those who were affected by the “millionaire’s tax” are those who most likely still have the means to uproot themselves and move to more tax-friendly states like Florida and Texas. And guess who’s the loser? State government.
The state did just fine without a so-called “millionaire’s tax” as well as their other tax increases until Governor O’Malley came in and wanted to prime the state spending pump. (Governor Ehrlich did so as well with his final budget; until then his increases were relatively sustainable.) Throw in a larger share of federal dollars being required to maintain the state’s appetite for services and you have the situation we are in now. Imagine how Democrats must feel to be forced into the box of having to make cuts in an election year – think they’re not inwardly seething?
We have a choice in November. One choice is to take a hard look at what are priorities are and tailor a leaner, smarter budget to match. The other will be a repeat of 2007, where no tax increase will be taken off the table – we could see increases in the gas tax, income tax, sin taxes, sales tax (and services subject to it), and a whole multitude of other fees and levies.
Being a fiscal conservative, I prefer the former. But part of getting that will be looking past the class envy, a favorite divisive tactic of Democrats everywhere, and deciding it’s time to make a stand for maximizing our freedom.
Obamacare reaches its climax
Well, it sounds like we’re at the tipping point for nationalizing one-sixth of our economy and the question is whether the House will pass the Senate bill or not. Forget reconciliation – there would be no need for it once the House swallows real hard and the dam is broken.
This is a sampling of some of the best action items I’ve seen in the grassroots effort to stop Obamacare. Amy Kremer, writing as part of the upcoming TEA Party Express version 3.0, had these suggestions as a daily schedule:
Wednesday, March 10th: Medical Professionals (you do not have to be a physician) visit local district offices. Be sure to wear your medical attire. Let these offices know that you are not going to sit back and let the government takeover our health care system!
Thursday, March 11th: Veterans go to local district offices. Our veterans are so special. They have a voice like no one else. Veterans, let these offices know that you fought for her once and you are fighting for her again!
Friday, March 12th: Nationwide rallies at local district offices for 1 hour at 12 noon local. Let’s make it a special point for all of us to go during our lunch hour if at all possible.
Monday, March 15th: Make calls. Send Faxes. Send Emails. You can do all of these things during the day and after business hours.
Tuesday, March 16th: Rally in DC and Nationwide at local district offices. Americans For Prosperity also has sent out an alert to honk at 12 noon that day while you are driving in your car.If you can’t go to DC on March 16th, please visit your local district offices to have your voices heard and show solidarity with those in DC. Our sources from the Hill tell us that the vote is likely to happen between March 16th and March 18th. If you are able to go to DC, please RSVP here.
If you are doing a rally at your local office please RSVP here, so we can let others know. This is a team effort, and we are part of your team. Whatever you need, please let us know!
Wednesday, March 17th – Friday, March 19th: If you are in D.C., please visit your Representatives and Senators. If you are not in D.C., please continue to visit local district offices! Make calls. Send Faxes. Send Emails. The calls, faxes, and emails can all be done during the day and after business hours.
Saturday & Sunday, March 20th & 21st: Town Halls for March Madness! In August we had some amazing town halls! They really made people and lawmakers stop and think about this health care legislation. Let’s do it again! Host a town hall in your community and invite your Senator and Congressman. More details on this next step will be available on American Grassroots Coalition within the next day or two. Thanks for your patience. (All emphasis in original.)
Sounds like a heckuva to-do list, particularly when we have a Congressman who’s on record for opposing Obamacare anyway. But it never hurts to remind him, does it?
More on that March 16th event comes from Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity:
On March 16, we’re holding the “Honk Against the Health Care Takeover” event. Here’s what we’re asking you to do. At 12 Noon your time on March 16, drive to your member of Congress’s district office and join a car caravan there, circling your representative’s office while honking against the health care takeover.
Just CLICK HERE for more information and to let us know you’re on board. You’ll be able to print off your very own “Honk Against the Health Care Takeover” sign for your car when you register. Sign up tomorrow, March 10, to receive a free bumper sticker in the mail before March 16.
In addition, you can sign up to be a car caravan leader. You can pick a parking lot near your Congressman’s office and let folks know you will be there to lead them over to the district office. It will be fun to meet fellow grassroots activists and to go over in a caravan to send your message.
Here’s the bottom line. The president is in the midst of his final all-out push for his health care takeover. Yes, his campaign is dishonest and over-the-top. But, to their credit they are refusing to quit this fight. So, we’ve got to beat them in these final days before the House vote.
They’ve put everything on the line for their ideology, as flawed as it is.
The question for us is: will we do the same for our values, our freedoms and our nation?
Knowing what I know about Americans like us, I believe the answer will be a resounding YES.
Again, given the fact we have Congressman on record as a likely “no” vote, I suspect our protest may be a little more subdued than others. But we’ll see.
Even Newt Gingrich chimed in, with this being the money passage from his post on Human Events:
I have even taken heat from fellow conservatives for cooperating with leading Democrats to achieve health reforms we agree on, like greater use of health information technology. In fact, there are even some specific elements of the bill — like payment reform to reward quality care — with which I agree.
However, as someone who has dedicated the last decade of his life to fixing what’s broken in America’s health care system, and has reached across party lines to do so, I regrettably have to say that this bill will do vastly more harm than good.
Here’s the rub, though. Why is it that conservatives and Republicans always have to reach across the aisle to Democrats?
You know, I’m damn tired of bipartisanship when it’s my side being sold down the river. I’ve watched this ship of state founder and draw dangerously close to the rocks ever since Ronald Reagan left office. While even Reagan couldn’t steer it in the proper direction, he at least held to the deepest part of the river and served as an anchor against the slow drift toward tyranny.
Not only is it time to kill this monstrosity of a bill, it’s long past time to reconsider why the government is in the health care market in the first place. One way or the other, entitlements left unchecked will destroy us – either we’ll drive the nation into default and bankruptcy or we’ll be dependent on government like New Orleans was as Katrina lashed the city.
We have a lot of hard decisions to make, but the first one is easy. Drive a wooden stake through the heart of Obamacare and be done with it.
Staying and fighting
Running for governor of your state is a task which takes a full-time effort, particularly if you’re not well-known around your state. That’s the situation Rep. Nathan Deal finds himself in as he strives to become the next governor of Georgia.
To that end, Deal had planned on resigning his House seat next week in order to concentrate on his run for statewide office. Instead, GOP leaders persuaded him to stay and made the hurdle for passing Obamacare that much higher. With a death and two earlier resignations (all Democrats who had voted for the bill previously), the nominally 435 member body was down to 432, requiring 217 votes for passage. Had Deal left as planned Nancy Pelosi’s job would have been made easier by cutting the majority number down to 216 and eliminating a sure “no” vote.
While the conventional wisdom is that the Senate and their reconciliation process is where the bill’s fate will be decided, they conveniently ignore the fact that President Obama and Democratic leaders could double-cross the House by promising them fixes to the Senate bill they’d pass – but as soon as the House passes the Senate bill (with the pro-abortion language, “Cornhusker Kickback” and “Louisiana Purchase” included) you better believe President Obama is going to find the pens to sign it.*
This is why many observers feel the whole battle over reconciliation is a red herring, a feint to distract anti-Obamacare supporters from the real important vote in the House. No wonder Frank Kratovil is making the news a lot more these days.
If the House somehow gets the Senate bill through, the game is over and we are stuck with Obamacare. Well, more precisely we are stuck with the taxes and regulations included therein – the so-called benefits don’t kick in for several years. And what entitlement have we overturned in the last seventy-five years since Social Security?
The ballgame is in the top of the ninth, and the American people need to be the ace closer who gets the save. Let’s get out and win this one!
* I’ve read past practice is that, on ceremonial bill-signings like Obamacare would surely be, the President signs his name one letter at a time with a different pen so that each of those who helped get the legislation through have a memento of the significant event. Talk about your poison pens.
Robbing Peter (and John, David, Mary, etc.) to pay Paul
One criticism I’ve had about Maryland’s budget system is its lack of flexibility. There are a lot of money pots out there besides the General Fund, and Martin O’Malley seems to want to take money out of every one of them to balance his FY2011 budget. This from Americans for Prosperity:
As you know, the Senate Budget & Taxation Committee will be holding a public hearing this Wednesday on SB141. This bill, the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act, will transfer nearly $1 BILLION from the state’s 382 special funds to cover Gov. O’Malley’s budget deficit.
(snip)
One of the funds Gov. O’Malley is proposing to raid is the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF). Started in 1971, the TTF is the account used to pay for road, bridge and infrastructure repairs. It is primarily funded by the gas tax – each time you fill up at the pump, you are contributing to road repair…or so you thought. This year, O’Malley has decided to take $125 million of those taxes and use it to paper over his $2 billion deficit.
Stealing from the Transportation Trust Fund becomes even more problematic next year, because the TTF is already under-funded. When the fund runs dry you can bet that the liberal politicians will want to raise taxes. Senate President Mike Miller has been pushing the idea of a gas tax hike for the last few years.
Another fund that O’Malley has decided to attack is the Injured Workers Insurance Fund (IWIF). IWIF is a low-premium insurer for many businesses who provide workers compensation to employees. It is financed by the premiums each policy holder pays on a quarterly basis.
Not only is the legality of the state confiscating $26 million from a private insurance company in question, but this move will hurt small businesses. Again, when the fund is drained, the premium rates will rise to replace the stolen revenue.
Small businesses are the engine of our state economy – they employ nearly two-thirds of the workforce in Maryland. If we expect an economic recovery with job growth, the government cannot continue to put undue burdens on businesses. The last thing small businesses need right now is to be paying higher insurance premiums or gas taxes.
382 special funds in the Maryland budget? WTF? Anyway, the Maryland Senate Republican Caucus also weighed in:
Entering the 2010 legislative session, there were few remaining reserve funds left to tap. They have all been depleted. O’Malley has exhausted all available reserves except for the Rainy Day Fund. Tapping the Rainy Day could jeopardize the coveted Triple A bond rating which would cause great embarrassment to the administration.
So O’Malley turned to the Injured Workers Insurance Fund to tap a reserve of $20 million. Problem is – the IWIF reserve is not state money. It is not taxpayer dollars. Instead it is overpayments of insurance premiums from small businesses throughout the state.
Then is it legal? A 1968 opinion of the Attorney General’s Office states that reserve funds of the State Accident Fund (IWIF’s predecessor) are not state funds accessible for general purposes. Established as a nonprofit insurance company, IWIF is a quasi-public agency and state use of insurance overpayments as a fund swap would be unconstitutional.
To cover their tracks, the O’Malley Administration has now introduced bills (Senate Bill 507 and House Bill 1008) that would give the Governor authority to transfer the $20 million this year just as long as it’s never done again. Go figure!
So, not only do we have the BRFA bill but now another bill in order to fix things for this year. Sheesh.
The larger question is what we’ll need to do next year to fill in all of these pots. With the federal portion of the state budget now eclipsing 60 percent, one would think that Barack Obama may bail out his cohort if he’s reelected this November. But with these funds come strings and that lack of flexibility will probably preclude O’Malley being able to make up the shortfalls with federal money next year.
Three years ago, Governor O’Malley called a Special Session to address this issue and its result was a number of tax increases which were supposed to correct the state’s structural deficit. However, the increase in the sales tax, cigarette tax, and a (since-repealed) “tech tax” on computer services were counterbalanced by a huge increase on spending which attempted to bring health insurance to thousands more Marylanders.
To the surprise of everyone - except those with a little bit of economic common sense - these new levies didn’t bring in as much money as the so-called experts predicted. In all that’s not so bad, but other previous taxes like property and real estate transfer taxes also declined. Making matters worse (but certainly not unexpected) is the outflow of capital due to the “millionaire’s tax” – again, from the Senate GOP Caucus:
According to an Associated Press article posted at Examiner.com, Montgomery County has experienced a 27% decline in tax returns from high income earners. This decline has contributed to a loss of $4.6 billion in taxable income: “County Executive Isiah Leggett says some wealthy residents who own homes in other states are establishing residency elsewhere. Officials believe the state’s millionaire tax is a factor.”
You think?
Unlike the perception progressives attempt to create about TEA Partiers as people who want to get government services without paying for them (a description more apt for Democrat voters,) most don’t mind paying a fair share in taxes. But what we want in return are efficient services which perform necessary functions, and too often we find that government at all levels fails to deliver on one or both sides of the equation.
If Martin O’Malley truly decided to live within his means, he would gain the intestinal fortitude to make cuts such as the insurance program he started. Obviously it’s a decision which affects a large number of people, but so would increasing taxes and fees. Raising the gas tax, for example, would disproportionately affect poor and middle-class Free Staters and rural residents like those on the Eastern Shore would pay more of a toll than city residents along the I-95 corridor.
One issue sure to come up in this year’s campaign will be fiscal accountability, and while Bob Ehrlich wasn’t the poster child for frugality the state was in much better financial shape when he left office than the potential mess he inherits should he be re-elected for a second, non-consecutive term.
Perhaps a solution would be to bring in some solid fiscal conservatives for the General Assembly in with Ehrlich, hopefully to keep his free-spending tendencies in check. Mark my words, if Martin O’Malley is reelected 2011 will be a rerun of 2007 – a session devoted to raising taxes and killing off whatever recovery the state is scratching out by then.
Friday night videos episode 24
After a week off to recharge the batteries, FNV is back with a good mix of politics and music once again.
Health care continues to be a sore subject in Congress. But while Democrats used the sob story to make their point yesterday, our side adds some facts to the emotion. This comes from the fine folks of Americans for Prosperity:
As I often ask, which Americans are against prosperity?
The health-care summit yesterday was a dud; then again that was the expectation from Republicans like Rep. Michele Bachmann. From the Washington News-Observer:
And the National Republican Congressional Committee added a dash of humor to the “Blair House Project”:
Yet there is other news on the conservative front as well. Last week over 70 conservative leaders got together to sign the Mount Vernon Statement. Here’s what I thought of it
but the players had their say as well. Again from WNO:
Nor have they forgotten foreign policy. Our best UN Ambassador in recent times spoke to WNO about his thoughts on the Obama relationship with the world.
If you follow me on Facebook you know what I’m usually doing Sunday nights at 9:00 – listening to Local Produce on the radio. This remake of “The Legend of Wooley Swamp” (originally done by the Charlie Daniels Band) is done by one of the co-hosts, Bob Daigle, and a couple of his friends. He definitely has an interesting YouTube channel!
The second of two music videos tonight is fresh stuff I recorded last Saturday at the Brumbley Haiti benefit. The sound quality is markedly better, and not just because Not My Own played well. Maybe I’m finally getting this video recording stuff!
That’s a wrap for another version of Friday night videos – hope you enjoyed it!
AFP has ‘action packed’ meeting
Tonight, Julie Brewington was speaking to “my favorite people in the world.” I presume that comes after her family, but that was how she opened up the February meeting of Wicomico County’s Americans for Propsperity chapter.
Now that the group had a regular meeting date and location, over 60 attendees had the opportunity to hear a number of speakers in a briskly moving program. One thing the group wasn’t going to do, though, was send a bus to tomorrow’s Blair House meeting even though the national AFP was protesting at the site.
Yet, noted Julie, “if it weren’t for us, health care would’ve passed in June.” Our focus, though, was going to shift a bit to more local issues since “the only votes that matter are at the city, county, and state level” in 2010. “We have power in local issues,” added Julie later.
The two most immediate concerns were finding volunteers to attend city and county council meetings and helping to organize the Salisbury TEA Party April 15 – we need people with “organizational skills.”
The meeting was then turned over to a number of speakers, first up being Ed Urban representing the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center. He started right out by saying he approached the county years ago with the suggestion that these operations be run like a business and they put him in charge of doing so.
Deftly keeping the conversation away from the recent purchase of five acres to expand the Civic Center’s parking lot (better known to my readers as Pollitt’s Folly) Urban instead spoke about the economic impact the WYCC creates along with other aspects of the county’s tourism, parks, and recreation programs.
The tourism department combined with the Civic Center creates $20 million in “rollover” economic impact. The county’s tourism bureau is supported by a room tax of 6 percent, with 2/3 going to pay for tourism programs and 1/6 to help the WYCC. Parks and recreation essentially support themselves through user fees, with the only county fiscal input being that of paying for the administrators.
But Wicomico County still has to subsidize the Civic Center to the tune of around $227,000 a year (averaged over the last three years.) The Civic Center “can be profitable,” Urban stated, but in order to be so the prohibition on alcohol sales there would have to be lifted. He noted that the site was originally slated to be a ballpark for local children, but that was built elsewhere – yet the no-alcohol clause remained.
Urban concluded his remarks by finally addressing the parking issue, saying that the County Council saw the need for additional parking; the only question was cost. There are only 900 spaces on the Civic Center lot, and any event where more than 2,250 attend would require more space. The developers who owned the land the county bought were threatening to charge $10,000 per month rent. (I’d have called their bluff, figuring that $1.5 million is 150 months’ rent.)
I asked Urban about the lifespan of the arena, given that many similar facilities only last 40 to 50 years. Urban thought that with proper maintenance the design was such that it could last several more decades – he “doesn’t see a 40 to 50 year lifespan.”
Speaking for the opposition, County Councilman Joe Holloway then briefly recounted his reasoning for voting against the purchase. It was “not a wise choice” for a number of reasons; in particular he again criticized the county’s method of land acquisition. Joe also noted the real cost to taxpayers would be $2.6 million when improvements are figured in.
Holloway also warned us that “we’re in trouble” financially because of what’s brewing in Annapolis.
John Palmer, president of the local group VOICE, spoke next. After vowing that “we will be going down to the Civic Center” and analyzing their finances, he got to the root of his presentation. In polling the audience and soliciting what we thought key problems were, the consensus was that Wicomico County didn’t spend money wisely – “unnecessary personnel” and an out-of-control Board of Education seemed to get much of the blame.
We could vote the people in charge out, but that would involve getting good people elected and those are tough to find. Instead, the approach VOICE is taking is that of petitioning for redress – “if you take control of the checkbook I guarantee things will straighten out in the county,” Palmer asserted.
The group has two ideas it would like to bring to voters: one is a prohibition on land acquisition and capital projects without the approval of county voters, and the other is reducing the number on County Council from seven to five by eliminating the two at-large posts.
Personally I don’t care for either idea.
In considering the capital improvements proposal, it seems to me that we have a representative government for a reason. While the idea of a referendum for capital improvements seems excellent in the wake of Pollitt’s Folly, the truth is that this would cripple county government’s ability to act in a timely manner. In addition, there would be the expense of frequent elections to consider as the county buys land and improves property on a regular basis.
As far as the changeover from seven County Council members to five, I don’t see where we save all that much in that the duplicity of services we already have would still exist. Obviously there’s a small savings in salaries, but I prefer the idea of having three Council members at my beck and call (my district plus two at-large) rather than one. The chances of having someone who agrees with my point politically are exponentially better this way, although I admit that since Joe Holloway happens to be my district councilman I have a pretty good advocate of my point of view already.
Palmer’s second-in-command, Johnnie Miller, spoke next – but on a completely different subject. He updated us on legislation he and Palmer have authored called the “Green Watt Program.” Based on a program in Tuscon, Arizona, this voluntary program would create a fund to promote energy efficiency. Miller noted Delaware pays a much larger share of costs for renewable energy projects; up to $31,500 for residential and $250,000 for commercial.
But one commentor made the point about government subsidy, and I think it’s a valid point. While it’s Miller’s business to promote solar panels and the like, it’s obvious that people would likely go another route for energy usage if this subsidy in Delaware (where Miller does most of his business) didn’t exist. Obviously Johnnie means well with his proposal, but if this were done by General Electric or some other large corporation we’d call it rentseeking.
Nick Loffer, representing the state AFP, began his remarks by quoting Governor O’Malley from late 2007 – “we passed a fair, long term solution to our budget problems.” Uuuuhhh, no.
His time at the podium was spent alerting us to the fact that the hearing on the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act (BRFA for short – SB141 to the General Assembly) occurs Wednesday, March 3rd at noon and there would be a bus for those interested in attending the hearing or even testifying. (The bus would leave Salisbury around 9:30 a.m.)
“This is our chance to stop the budget,” opined Nick, otherwise, “a vote for this budget is a vote to raise taxes in 2011.”
Salisbury News blogger Joe Albero was next, and although I found his remarks may have been a bit self-serving he made some valid points. (Perhaps he underestimates the impact other blogs have on the conversation.)
One thing I found interesting – albeit anecdotal, of course – was his claim that Rick Pollitt said, “Joe, that will never happen” when asked if taxpayers would be paying for additional Civic Center parking at the Old Mall site. At the time, a land swap was discussed.
Having gone to Annapolis to watch testimony on sex offender legislation, Albero observed, “things are no different in Annapolis” than they are here. “I could do this (be a Delegate or local legislator),” Joe continued, but “I’m only one voice (out of many).” As commenters on his site, “we have an incredible impact on local government.”
“Things are turning around for the better,” said Joe, but we need to stay united. He relayed the fact that General Assembly Republicans had put up a budget alternative saving almost $830 million, including over $2 million just by putting a salary cap on state officials so none made more than the governor’s $150,000 salary.
The last of the slated speakers was Salisbury City Councilman Debbie Campbell, who told us “really important things were going on” in Salisbury. Mainly she decried a lack of accountability on the part of the city, and spoke of two egregious examples.
The city of Salisbury has accepted a dump truck and is using it – unfortunately they haven’t officially allocated the money to pay for it yet. And if that’s not bad enough, the Council president contracted for and signed two change orders for a $1.8 million housing project called “The Bricks” by claiming City Council approval when she had none, charged Campbell.
In all, said Debbie, the Council was “running roughshod” over taxpaying citizens, and she begged those attending, “please show up and support us.” Joe Collins later intoned that, “we’re lucky to have Debbie Campbell” on Salisbury’s City Council and as an AFP supporter.
Returning to the podium, Julie Brewington talked briefly about the issue of infiltration – the TEA Party movement was so successful that the opposition isn’t ignoring it anymore but trying to destroy it from within. She mentioned the ersatz Tea Party in Nevada, which gave me the opportunity to enlighten the group on the particulars of the situation.
Another observer, S.J. Disharoon, spoke about the lack of dialogue at Salisbury City Council meetings and thought we as a group should press for a rules change to allow more opportunity for the public to interact in a timely manner, not just after all is said and done.
G.A. Harrison related his recent experience with the GOP Central Committee regarding something he found offensive and told those gathered a Republican “has to earn your vote…Conservatives need to take back the GOP.” I agree!
Finally, Bob Harris brought up the two ways a referendum can get on the ballot – either by petition or by vote of the County Council. He encouraged the County Council (since Joe Holloway was still present) to put two items on the ballot – one for disclosure of members of a LLC which does business with the county and the other to start the process of getting an elected school board, to which Joe Holloway replied he “fully supports” an elected board of education too.
These meetings generally turn out to be rather long and a lot is said. But they’re really worth the time to cover because I feel that most of my readership has been crying for leadership on these and other issues and the AFP is attempting to provide it on a nonpartisan basis.
Immigration: divisive issue
In the last few days – as if fending off TEA Partiers and worrying about how new GOP wunderkind Scott Brown will vote isn’t enough – observers see a rift in the Republican Party over immigration.
Two pieces have drawn my attention. One is an article by Peter Slevin in the Washington Post and the other comes through the Center for Immigration Studies as a Backgrounder by James G. Gimpel, who is a professor of government at the University of Maryland. Both look at immigration as an issue which could permanently relegate the GOP to minority status.
But the two pieces disagree on why. Slevin and the Post, no friend of conservative Republicans, blames the hardline stance of TEA Partiers who want the borders secured and illegal immigrants frogmarched out of the country. Conversely, the Gimpel piece simply notes that, “The decline (in GOP voting share) does not seem to be associated with the local Republican Party’s position on illegal immigration.” Instead, the Gimpel study seems to indicate this has more to do with socioeconomic status and the state of politics where newly-arrived immigrants seem to congregate, large urban areas.
I’ve noted before that at the current time it’s better to not lose the base the GOP has by being soft on illegal immigration than cater to a group who is more likely to vote with their meager pocketbooks and support all the government goodies they can get. It’s going to be just as much up to the Latinos to bring themselves out of the ghetto that Democratic policies have placed them in as it is the black population’s own job to get off of the plantation Democrats have placed them on. Those who have immigrated here legally have just as much - if not more - of a stake in stemming the illegal flow as native-born Americans do.
For over 200 years, history has shown that the best way to get ahead in America is to assimilate into its culture. Certainly we can celebrate our heritage (I sure like my Polish cuisine) but the route to success over time has been to emphasize the “American” part of the moniker much more heavily than the “Polish,” “Mexican,” or “African.” In years past, immigrants were eager to shed their old ways and Americanize their first-generation offspring – now we only Americanize them insofar as striving to have them born in the United States to become “anchor babies.”
If a nation is to survive for long, it must have clearly defined borders and be prepared to only allow in those it deems worthy of entry. While I know some of my associates in the political and blogging worlds believe totally in the idea of a free market which includes providing labor, that policy has to have limitations or it will lead to chaos.
Immigrants in our history came for opportunities, and these opportunities only came to those who worked hard and were willing to sacrifice their blood, sweat, and toil. Unfortunately, our system of entitlements has brought forth a different sort of immigrants, and while they remain a few bad apples in a bunch that is still willing to work hard for little financial gain, those bad apples sap the strength of the whole.
But while the TEA Partiers are falsely accused of having a strain of xenophobia, it’s worth pointing out that the Gimbel study shows that ideology trumps race at election time among a larger and larger share of the minority population. Regardless of what the Republican Party does to attract minorities, it would never be enough for liberal Democrats to give them credit for trying. Just as we see in the black population, voting against their self-interest is becoming a problem for Latinos as well, and the immigration issue is just a red herring to the real problem of victimization practiced by poverty pimps of all colors.
Blaming the man for holding you down is a universal language.
The coalition is fading fast
It hasn’t been well-publicized but over the last week three corporations withdrew their membership from the U.S. Climate Action Partnership – Conoco, BP America, and Caterpillar cut ties with the group in the wake of recent questions about the accuracy of the data used to support manmade global warming.
As Myron Ebell from the Competitive Enterprise Institute noted:
In dropping out of the U. S. Climate Action Partnership, BP America, Conoco Phillips, and Caterpillar are recognizing that cap-and-trade legislation is dead in the U. S. Congress and that global warming alarmism is collapsing rapidly. We hope that other major corporations will soon see the light and drop their support for cap-and-trade and other energy-rationing legislation.
These announcements are most welcome, but they do not mean that we can relax our efforts to defeat and roll back energy-rationing legislation and regulations. Many policies and proposals that would raise energy prices through the roof for American consumers and destroy millions of jobs in energy-intensive industries still pose a huge threat. These include the EPA’s decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions using the Clean Air Act, environmental pressure group efforts to use the Endangered Species Act to stop energy production and new power plants, the higher fuel economy standards for new passenger vehicles enacted in 2007, presidential executive orders, and bills in Congress to require more renewable electricity, higher energy efficiency standards for buildings, and low carbon transportation fuel standards.
Worthy of note that the three dropouts are two energy companies and a heavy equipment manufacturer, companies which would likely be in favor of alternative energy if they felt it were a profitable way to go.
Frankly, I was a little surprised to see my friend Jane Van Ryan downplay the withdrawal of two energy companies given her closeness to the situation. Then again, she points out that the unraveling of the climate change hoax is happening on many levels – everything from record cold and snowfall across the country to “hiding the decline” to the legislative failures both she and Ebell point out.
Yet big corporations are keen about shifting sides in a debate when they sense they’re no longer on the winning side. Most Americans don’t mind the occasional recycling program and taking other steps to protect the environment – that is until they feel compliance switches from voluntary to mandatory, as it would for cap and tax and other government mandates. As you’ll see Sunday (can you say foreshadowing?) the Audi “green police” commercial hit close to home because it’s just believable enough to be discomforting.
In the meantime, this may be a good opportunity to reward these companies for their farsightedness and belief in capitalism. Certainly they’re still going to have their lobbyists bending the ears of federal and state legislators, but at least in this way they have determined that government won’t be the solution to the problem.
After one year: feel stimulated yet?
Nope.
Remember when unemployment was 7.6% and not 9.7 percent? That was the rate last February.
And where are the 8,300 jobs promised for our Congressional district, let alone the 66,000 for the state?
Instead, we have fewer people working than the last time when the unemployment rate was 9.7 percent because many have given up on the search – 1.1 million fewer to be exact. Even illegal immigrants are leaving because they can’t find work, not doing the jobs Americans won’t do either.
If unemployment weren’t a big problem, why would Congress continue to subsidize it by extending unemployment benefits to nearly 100 weeks? That’s practically two years.
The only sector which is experiencing growth is the federal public sector. Obviously the First Lady is doing her part by employing 22 assistants, while her husband keeps dozens of “czars” on the payroll.
I thought Rush Limbaugh came up with an intriguing idea last year when the stimulus came out. Take the stimulus money and do two things with it: devote the proportion of it equal to Barack Obama’s vote to his ideas (essentially the stimulus package we have now) and the remainder equal to John McCain’s vote to tax cuts and business-friendly policies, and see which side of this bipartisan compromise did better. Obviously we didn’t get the GOP side so the lack of success all falls on the side of the statists, who keep spending way more money than we have available to us for bailing out favored special interests, unions, and key business contributors on Wall Street.
This is a good timeline to recall just how well the stimulus worked, thanks to Rep. Eric Cantor.
Wicomico County Council approves spending others’ money
In a hardly surprising move, the Wicomico County Council voted to accept the $300,000 per acre price for five acres across to the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center, spending $1.5 million in state money to purchase the land and put up a parking lot. The land had been used for years as supplemental parking for the WYCC anyway, but developers threatened to charge the county monthly rent and County Council chose not to call their bluff.
The vote was 4-3 to accept the offer, with Council President Gail Bartkovich and Councilmen Joe Holloway and Stevie Prettyman objecting. Previous to this vote, the Council did approve an amendment to make the purchase contingent on securing the promised Program Open Space money.
During the discussion preceding the vote, John Cannon asked whether the land was needed, but voted for it anyway based on the business interests behind it. Fellow Councilman Sheree Sample-Hughes termed her support as a “quality of life” issue. For his part, Bill McCain added the “stars are just right” for purchasing the land and spoke about the effort to secure the POS dollars – it was a “great deal.” David MacLeod cited a 3:1 ratio of e-mails in support vs. opposition.
On the other hand, “this is not a win-win situation for the county,” said Prettyman. Joe Holloway cited current economic condidtions as the reason for his opposition. Similarly, Bartkovich noted she could support this in “a better time and place” but for the public “the problem is the price.”
So now we’ve allocated the money to park near a white elephant with several weaknesses – the building is showing its age (built in the late 1970’s after its predecessor burned down in a spectacular fire), its capacity is too small to attract major sporting events and big-name concerts, and due to a legal covenant no alcohol sales are allowed on the site. In a decade or so, once regional economic fortunes turn around, the building will be a relic and the county will have this land – possibly along with another 15 acres adjacent to the newly purchased site at another $250,000 per acre.
Nor is the cost of converting the land from parking to parking factored in – the new purchase means the property needs to be compliant with new state regulations for storm drainage. Overall, the newly renovated site will provide parking for about 500 cars.
Perhaps the lot can be dedicated when it’s finished, and I have the perfect name to adopt for the new additional parking which will be used maybe 50 days a year: how about “Pollitt’s Folly?”
Upping the ante
Well, isn’t this conveeeeeeeeenient (spoken in a Church Lady voice).
Last week I talked about Organizing For Against America wanting 1 million volunteer hours to spread the lies about Obamacare – no surprise they got that goal, which I thought was a little weak considering there’s 13 million on the e-mail list. Here’s their breathless announcement:
In just the last 3 days, OFA volunteers like you have pledged an incredible 4,000,000 (and counting!) hours to support members of Congress and candidates who fight for real health reform.
We can prove to Congress that health reform is good policy and good politics, but we need to go as big as possible. So today we’re setting a new goal: 5 million hours pledged.
If we hit it, the country will know. We’ll be running an ad with the final tally in USA Today, the nation’s largest newspaper. And to make sure your voice is heard where it matters most, we’ll run radio ads in critical states and districts, featuring local voters announcing the pledge total from their area.
(snip)
Beginning soon, we’ll talk to voters state-by-state, district-by-district, about why it’s important to stand with those who fight for progress and reform — and reject those who stand with big insurers to protect a status quo that is devastating our economy, families, and businesses. (Emphasis in original.)
We can rewrite that last sentence to say: Beginning soon, Organizing Against America will go back to lying like a rug to promote our takeover of 1/6 of the national economy by wiping out private health insurance companies.
That and I’ll be listening for those radio ads around here since we’re represented a Democrat who’s been reticent to join the rest of his party, believing (correctly) to do so would be political suicide.
Bet the TEA Partiers can log 10 million hours, but we’re not going to pay for an ad in USA Today to crow about the accomplishment – we’re just going to get to work.
Please note that the opinions expressed on monoblogue are not necessarily those of the Wicomico County Republican Party Central Committee, of which I'm a member. (But they probably should be.)
News from the loony left:
