Astute readers may notice I’ve added a few new links in the last few days, including two this morning.
A few days back I added the Eastern Shore Libertarians site which is essentially operated by recent Salisbury City Council aspirant Muir Boda. While I’m obviously a registered Republican and would like to see people vote that way, as a party we could do quite well in adopting many libertarian planks concerning limited government and – arguably – a more hands-off approach to personal freedom issues (e.g. working against the nanny state of Maryland.) Obviously the reason there is a Libertarian Party is because neither of the two predominant parties address all the issues they hold dear, although I see the Republicans IF they were properly following their platform falling much closer.
This morning I added a new blog in the Free State bloggers section called Subprime Maryland. It’s the voice of Maryland’s chapter of Americans for Prosperity (as I note, are there any Americans for loss? Maybe in Annapolis and Washington.) It’s a statewide blog but has a heavy Eastern Shore influence; in fact, it’s relevant today because the local AFP chapter is meeting tonight at 7 p.m. over at Bayland Aviation at 5279 Airport Road in Salisbury (naturally, adjacent to the airport.)
The other item I placed this morning is the beginning of the Election 2010 area of my website, starting with a link to Jim Rutledge’s U.S. Senate website. With the large number of state races up for grabs, this may eventually become a very large column depending on how widespread an area I decide to cover (for example, the Eastern Shore has three Maryland Senate and seven House of Delegates districts, so that will certainly take up space.)
I have yet to begin work on my legislative scorecard for the General Assembly session just past, so I may not hit my original goal of being done by July 4th. But, one never knows because I only have one session to cover and not three as I did last year in starting the process. It’s something that I will start researching in coming days and readers won’t want to miss when it’s done because voting patterns continue to emerge.
I know you’ll all complain about the last Weekend of local rock post for two reasons: one because I should stick to politics and the other being I didn’t resize the photos like I usually do before I put together the post – so it’ll take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to load. Sorry about that!
In all honesty I could have made this WoLR 25 because many of the photos will fall under that category. But yesterday my lady friend and I sat out in the sun and enjoyed a nice day listening to the music and either renewing acquaintances or making new ones, depending on the person’s perspective and who we met.
Let me throw the pictures on, starting here. There are nine photos.
These were some of the people enjoying the pulled pork and other goodies put out by the McIvers, who graciously served as hosts.
I’m going to do the political pictures first even though the band opened things up. They played a set before the remarks and one afterward so my chronological order isn’t that important.
First to speak was a new political face; his name is Jim Rutledge. One could assert he’s mad as hell and won’t take it anymore because he’s a political novice looking to replace Senator Mikulski – an uphill battle to be sure.
After a somewhat lengthy introduction, he more briefly touched on some of the focal points of his campaign – national security, taxes, and the Second Amendment were some highlights.
We’ve also penciled Rutledge in to speak at our June WCRC meeting, so perhaps more people can hear from Jim when our merry band next meets. You may have seen him yesterday evening at the Hebron Carnival since he planned on stopping by there too.
Page Elmore added a few words in his typical low-key style. I was a little surprised not to see him in his usual red shirt. He’s quite concerned about keeping some of the seats the GOP already has because of some possible changes locally.
Andy Harris isn’t quite in campaign mode yet, but mentioned we are just 17 months and 10 days from the 2010 election. It’s going to be an interesting one given his opponent now has a record – certainly Harris will point out its many shortcomings.
It occurs to me that I forgot to take a “spread” picture so you don’t get to see all the great food we had to partake in. So I’ll just get to the band pictures and wrap this up.
The band is called “The Occasionals” and played a number of classic rock staples – quite well, I might add.
Also, I should complement the guys who did the sound, it was excellent. Okay, perhaps the people across the way had objections but it’s not like the party was an all-night affair. Get a life people!
I spoke to YR head Mark Biehl, who thought the turnout was excellent for a first-time event. Of course, there were lessons to be learned and fine tuning to do for what the LSYRs plan as an annual affair but overall Biehl termed the gathering a “successful” one. There was a 50-50 drawing which brought in a few more dollars and a post-party gun shoot I didn’t attend – all in all, the day (and previous night for those who tended the cooking pig) was quite eventful.
Finally, yesterday after I came back home I found out someone there supposedly had some “choice words” for me when we met. Well, that someone didn’t come up to me and tell them to my face and it’s not like he didn’t have the opportunity so I’ll leave it at that and let both you and I guess what they might have been. Heck if I know, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it either.
Simply put I’m looking forward to promoting and enjoying more LSYR events as time goes on and permits!
Blogging by press release…hey, sometimes others say things as well or better than I can. This comes courtesy of the Maryland Republican Party as a commentary on our state’s continuing revenue shortfalls.
Last week, Comptroller Peter Franchot announced that Maryland tax collections for April fell 16.6 percent below the same period last year and income tax collection fell even lower, at 17.4 percent below April 2008. This is in addition to falling sales tax receipts. Perhaps even more interesting is the news that tax revenue from people making over $1 million has plummeted by over 30%.
“This is another sign of the flawed thinking of Governor O’Malley and the Democrats in Annapolis,” said MDGOP Chairman Jim Pelura. “Whenever you tax something, you get less of it. It’s a basic fact of economics. We warned that this would happen back in the fall of 2007. What made anyone think that people who had the means to move across state lines would hang around to pay higher and higher income and sales taxes?”
“In the fall of 2007, rather than passing the largest tax increase in Maryland history, Martin O’Malley, Mike Miller, and Mike Busch could have resolved our budget issues without taking a bite out of working families and businesses. Instead, they raised every conceivable tax and created a few new ones as well,” Chairman Pelura continued. “Now they are surprised and making excuses for falling revenue but this year’s budget is chock full of more of the same short-sighted spending and band-aid fixes. It’s not just income tax, it’s sales tax and service taxes that hit working families the hardest.”
“This is not just a case of Republicans simply being against taxes or just saying “no”. Rather, General Assembly Republicans have offered serious and substantive proposals to correct our long-term budget issues over the past three years. Governor O’Malley has ignored those good-faith proposals. For this reason, and many others, it is clear that Maryland needs fundamental change in 2010,” concluded Pelura.
I wholeheartedly agree that the GOP has presented a clear alternative to the tax-and-spend policies of the O’Malley regime; however, our more pressing problem seems to be coming up with a formidable candidate to run against Martin. In that respect, the elephant in the room is Bob Ehrlich, since he’s probably the best-known candidate statewide the Republicans have.
While we’re at it, Jim, why not give a nudge to our former Governor and say, hey, Bobby, what do you think you’re going to do next year? Would you mind clearing the field or giving our side a chance to get behind someone else?
The longer Bob Ehrlich takes, the less inclined I am to support him in the primary (and if the party is on the ball, there will be a primary). We need to start getting the ducks in a row because believe it or not we’re less than 18 months away from the 2010 general election.
Perhaps not, but this is a good opportunity to throw our support behind both a number of serious fiscally conservative politicians and an organization backing conservative solutions to the problems befalling our state and nation.
The Lower Shore Young Republicans will be hosting a fundraising cookout on Saturday, May 23rd. All money received will benefit toward the club, helping with growth and future costs. Several local elected officials will be on hand including State Senator Andy Harris, who will be on hand as the keynote speaker. “We are extremely excited to have such a wonderful response from our officials,” said YR President Mark Biehl, “It is events like this, with significant public support, that helps our club gain new members.”
The event will feature live entertainment from the local band, The Occasionals, including a member who performed for Mike Huckabee. Along with the entertainment, there will be an all you can eat arrangement of roasted pig and fried chicken, as well as an assorted of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. While the club is for ages 18-40, the event is open to all ages. “We would encourage everyone to attend, whether they are club members or not, Republicans or not. We are big supporters of non-partisan recreation,” quipped Biehl.
The event will be held at 26144 Nanticoke Road in Salisbury. Ticket prices are merely $15 dollars and are available from any club member, children 12 and under are free. Limited tickets are available, so please purchase them in advance. Questions and ticket inquiries can be directed to lowershoreyoungrepublicans@gmail.com.
I did that to secure my tickets, so I’ll see you there! The weather looks pretty good for Saturday and something tells me the pork will be excellent – as will most of the company.
By the way, I’m told the event starts at noon but the pig will be on the fire Friday evening and tenders will be needed for the overnight hours too.
Half of this will be an announcement and confirmation of an upcoming event and the other half news involving the subject’s probable opponent next year.
Let’s start out with confirmation that Andy Harris will indeed serve as the keynote speaker at a fundraiser for the Lower Shore Young Republicans on Saturday, May 23rd at noon. It will be located at the McIver residence, 26144 Nanticoke Road in Salisbury and the cost for the pig roast, fried chicken, beer, and entertainment (provided by The Occasionals) is just $15 – cheap!
I would have liked a longer press release but I need to talk about format with the LSYR folks.
Anyway, it brings me to a vote that was taken in the House the other day. Once again, Frank Kratovil sides with the special interests and not the people. Sure, let’s allow ACORN more federal money!
Here’s an explanation from Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.
Was Frank (our Frank, not the Barney of Massachusetts) for it before he was against it, or vice versa, or just plain voting the way the party bosses told him to? Heck if I know, but why should ACORN get a dime of federal funding given their track record of corruption?
You may notice I made a couple changes here over the weekend.
First of all I removed the Salisbury city election box on the left hand side since the election is now complete. More importantly though I added a new link under the Eastern Shore blogs on the right.
Don’t Tread On Me! is an outgrowth of the Salisbury Tax Day Tea Party and promises to be a new gathering place for political activists – just don’t tell Janet Napolitano. (You may also notice in the photo up top there’s a guy holding up a camera about center frame wearing a hoodie. That would be me.)
As founder Chris Lewis notes in the second post:
Enough is enough. I am tired of the lies, of the selfish and greedy nature of the politicians who do not listen or care what we have to say. The people who should be sacrificing, are the politicians, not the people. They work for us. it is time to take our country back from the elitist idiots who are screwing up America. This will and must start right here in our local communities. We can no longer be satisfied to work all day, take care of our families, enjoy time with our loved ones and offer our time to local communities and charities; we must now be more active in local, state and federal politics.
Well said, but this sentiment was more succinctly phrased by President Eisenhower in 1954:
Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage.
In either case, it is good to see more and more people waking up to face some of the ills afflicting our nation. And, to the critics who echoed the vapid utterances of Janeane Garofalo about these Tea Party protests being solely about having a black President, take note that the first post-Tea Party act involves…private property rights. That sounds pretty racist to me.
It’s also worthy of note that Chris announced in his first post a run for a Wicomico County Council at-large seat, so perhaps he’s putting his money where his mouth is. Certainly we will hear more about that as the months progress although the start of filing is only about 2 1/2 months away as I recall.
As one who has been slogging in the trenches of political activism in my own little way for awhile, it’s good to have some company in the foxhole. Let’s hope that Lewis has a hit on his hands and Wicomico County gets an activist group of citizens on the right side of the political spectrum for a change.
Yep, I made it – a little later than I would have liked but I managed to roll in while they were still reciting the Bill of Rights. As usual, the captions of the photos help tell the story.
This pretty much summed up the mood of the participants:
Who knew that a phrase from a movie about television, part of the mass media derided by some speakers, would sum up the feelings of those who were present?
And talk about a nasty day weatherwise. I think the event happened to take place on the coldest day we’ll see in April, and certainly one of the wettest.
I took this shot when I arrived about 5 p.m. Some were estimating about 500 people present at the event’s peak, I’d say that guess was only a little optimistic.
But despite the need for umbrellas the crowd was in good spirits.
Here’s another shot of the crowd taken from about stage left looking toward Division Street.
There were even some who were smart enough to work to the downtown traffic. Many speakers had their words punctuated by the horns of passing motorists on Division Street.
Some of the protestors lined up along Division Street for passing motorists’ reactions.
Since some people are going to assume that this Tea Party was a radical right-wing nut idea, may as well toss them a little red meat.
The picture’s a touch blurry but still legible. I didn’t look for the car missing the rear license plate.
Still, there were a number of sharply worded and humorous signs there. It was half the fun of taking pictures.
To be honest I think the answer to this question is ‘no’.Two sets of sentiments I share for the price of one.Nothing wrong with borrowing a little bit of Ronald Reagan every now and then.This may have been the best usage of an Obama phrase in the whole bunch. He sure is on his way to doing so.
There were numerous speakers during the event, most taking two to three minutes. Aside from the Pledge of Allegiance and reading of the Bill of Rights there was no set list of speakers.
One of many speakers who made his feelings known during the Tea Party.
In case you’re wondering, the event organizer was Chris Lewis and he’s in the black and yellow jacket to the left of the speaker in the photo.
This gentleman was a particularly inspiring speaker.
I actually got video of him with my phone…guess I’ll have to figure out how to get it on here.
There was only one overtly political speaker I saw. You might know this guy.
State Senator and Congressional hopeful Andy Harris was on his third Tea Party of the day, having gone to Annapolis and Bel Air as well.
This was another interesting display. I honestly hope they didn’t actually USE all of this but simply brought the boxes to make the point!
Is this an argument for the FairTax or what?
While I think I saw a Daily Times reporter there as well, I was quite disappointed that just one TV station bothered to be live at the event – especially since Channel 47 is just around the corner!
Channel 16 (WBOC) was the only TV station doing live shots from the event.
As one of those who jumped in line to speak, let me tell you I thought it was a very moving experience.
I chose to speak on a subject I’ve touched on peripherally and that is the war on prosperity. A couple posts back I expressed the sentiment in the “Going Galt” movement but in this case it was simply noting that President Obama’s “soak-the-rich” tax scheme was an attack on the American Dream and prosperity in general. As I asked (I’m paraphrasing since I didn’t write the remarks beforehand), “why bother working hard and putting your nose to the grindstone for the tax man to take it away?”
While there were a number of folks in the crowd who were familiar to me (including at least one elected official besides State Senator Harris), the majority were just everyday folks who weren’t necessarily political until today and may not be political next week – they’re just frustrated with the direction our nation is going.
But people like me who have been in the fight for awhile would like to see them stay engaged because this is what America is truly all about – a government for the people and by the people, not dictated to the people.
For those among the 400 to 500 people who braved the cold and rain with their signs, I have a suggestion. Don’t toss out your sign, just stick it in the front window of your home or business. (So what if it got a little wet and runny, as long as it’s still legible.) Let others know which side you’re on and that you still feel you have the right to speak out and present your own petition for a redress of grievances.
We can yet take back our nation, the trick is to keep this fire burning for 18 to 42 months. The job can be completed by November of 2012 if we work hard at it.
I suppose history does have a way of repeating itself.
While a few places have jumped the gun, the majority of tea parties inspired by an on-air rant by CNBC’s Rick Santelli will be occurring on April 15th, the dreaded day of reckoning for many American taxpayers. (This includes one in Salisbury on the steps of the Government Office Building from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.)
One thing that has struck me as hilarious is Media Matters whining about how much coverage these protests already get on Fox News. And this is a problem why? Seems to me we saw a lot of antiwar protests which made much more news than their feeble attendance would suggest they dictated.
It may be foreign to those who slavishly believe Media Matters, but there’s a lot of us who are fed up with government overspending and a lack of not only accountability but just plain humility among those who hold the pursestrings in Washington, D.C. President Obama, at the moment you may “trump us” but don’t count on that being the case after 2010 – I’m not sure you can get out enough government largesse fast enough to buy the votes you need to maintain your hold on Congress.
Still others may dismiss this as a Republican stunt, but as a member of the local GOP let me make clear that we as a party have NO official role in the proceedings. It sure doesn’t mean there’s not individual members who support it and will be in attendance – as I said I plan on being there.
Nationally this movement has attracted a number of heavy hitters. This update comes from a press release I got a few days ago from the Don’tGo Movement, a relatively new grassroots group:
The Tax Day Tea Parties are being held across the country on April 15th to protest the unprecedented wasteful spending by the Obama Administration and certain members in Congress.
(DGM) National Communications Director Juliana Johnson says, “As we get closer and closer to the Tea Party date we continue to grow stronger. We have over 300 cities planning Tea Parties with that number growing every day. If this doesn’t show that Americans are displeased that (sic) I don’t know what will.”
The Tax Day Tea Parties will be occuring in over 300 cities and have an expected turnout of over 150,000 people. The groups sponsoring the Tea Parties are Smart Girl Politics, the DontGo Movement, and Top Conservatives on Twitter. They have the endorsement of Newt Gingrich, Michelle Malkin, Dana Loesch, and numerous other groups.
In truth, the release was to announce that Sean Hannity had promised to cover the Atlanta protest live on his FOX News show that night. Obviously that will make for a spirited affair, and hopefully the Salisbury version will also bring out the local media too. By the way, I don’t believe any of these sponsoring groups is over one year old – all are very recent creations spawned by the monster that is online social networking.
While the long-range forecast is for a cool and showery April 15th, we are talking about Delmarva here. (They’re also predicting a sunny April 16th for the Shorebirds’ home opener – yeah right!) Either way, we can’t let a little rain deter us from making our feelings known.
It also will make for a good photo-op as tea mixes with the rain and flows toward the Wicomico River. Make sure to be there and watch it run.
While I wasn’t necessarily out to get my name in the paper (fortunately there was no accompanying picture) I did want to chip in my two cents regarding the direction of the county budget at the meeting last evening. Apparently the other local bloggers were more concerned about who has particular candidate signs in their yard, but I was very interested in where my hard-earned tax money goes and so were about 80 other people who attended the meeting and had an opportunity to say their piece.
As County Executive Rick Pollitt noted, the budget is still a “work in progress” and depends heavily on both citizen input and events in Annapolis as the General Assembly finishes work on the state budget (as Rick said the budget was “not safe” with the continuing session). This was an “invitation to become engaged in the process.”
With all but one County Council member present (Stevie Prettyman was the absentee) along with State’s Attorney Davis Ruark, Pollitt (who also quipped that “sometimes I wish I wasn’t” County Executive) rolled through a PowerPoint presentation about the budget then opened the floor to comments.
If you’re one of the many longtime readers of my website you’ll recall that last summer I did the first of what I’m envisioning as a continuing look at the voting records of those who Free Staters elected to represent them in the General Assembly. That actually covered three different sessions in 2007 and 2008. (The pages are still there, under “internal links”.)
Needless to say, the 2009 session will be no different but I was beginning to worry that I wouldn’t have a lot of votes to discuss and rate based on my platform of fiscal conservatism and having government stay out of our lives as much as it can.
But while there was some noise about the budget – and certainly there will be a fair share of amendments to consider in selecting a reasonable number of votes to ponder – this session has brought a number of doozies in the personal freedom department.
Let’s take for example the ban on texting while driving. First of all, let me say that I understand trying to text and drive at the same time doesn’t work very well. However, what I can’t figure out is how anyone with half a brain can’t come to the same conclusion and just not do it (I’m lucky if I can text while sitting still and I have a QWERTY keyboard on my cell phone.) Nope, we have to have the nanny state of Maryland come in and give the law enforcement officers another reason to stop drivers, even for READING text messages.
Another traffic law some wanted enforced by Big Brother is speeding, as yet another attempt to fatten local and state coffers by installing speed cameras in more areas came under debate. What, the plainclothes SUV cruisers aren’t good enough?
And then we have the environmental do-gooders who are trying to price those of us with septic systems out of house and home by installing nitrogen reduction systems as part of the package. It sounds like a good idea until one works out the financial implications to either the homeowner (if they pay for it) or state (if financial assistance is granted). Eventually I think the goal is to either have everyone piped into a central wastewater treatment plant (at a cost of billions) or make them move to a place which already is, leaving rural areas as wide swaths of green space. Yet the Bay won’t ever be as pristine as the radical environmentalists wish – at least until we’re not around to pollute it.
Besides the budget, the largest controversy in this year’s session seems to be the revised protocol for applying the death penalty. It was a “compromise” measure where none needed to be, making it all but impossible to place someone on death row short of a confession. If a murderer can eliminate the DNA and video evidence that he did the crime, ten thousand eyewitnesses couldn’t get him executed.
Finally, while this didn’t involve a vote, the Department of Legislative Services decided that the cure to its virus and malware ills was to deny legislators access to Facebook and Myspace. Eventually the DLS relented on the Facebook ban but still one has to wonder what other sites could be blocked. Perhaps a site that rates each legislator and in most cases not too kindly may be high on the list.
It’s a good test for those legislators who work there, let’s have a comment on this post. Maybe I should make it a goal to get myself blocked on the basis of content – that is, content the majority doesn’t agree with because I call absolute corruption in pursuit of absolute power as I see it.
Today was the special election in New York State to fill a Congressional seat vacated when Kirsten Gillibrand was elevated to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. As I write this, the election is too close to call with Democrat Scott Murphy leading by 65 votes through the unofficial count – this doesn’t factor in absentee or military votes, though. (h/t Suitably Flip).
While the registration advantage is to the GOP, Barack Obama won the district in 2008 so this election was seen as a referendum of sorts on the Obama economic policies. Perhaps this special election may have been a factor in some recent Obama Administration decisions on the economy; however it’s apparent that BHO’s current high approval numbers may have helped the Murphy cause.
In any case, this seat is likely not going to have an occupant for several weeks as the closeness of the election will dictate a recount – unless of course there’s some ballots “found” in a safely Democrat area of the district (like that which happened in Minnesota).
If Tedisco manages to pull off the win though, it will make the GOP streak three in a row following post-November wins in Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff – where Saxby Chambliss won handily – and Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, where the first Vietnamese-American Congressman was elected (Joseph Cao). These Republican triumphs weren’t mentioned much in the pre-inaugural hoopla over Obama but may be noticed now – needless to say if Murphy wins the spin from inside the Beltway will be that Obama’s populist economic policies have the stamp of approval from the public.
I can tell you though that hard times will continue unless and until some sanity is brought back to those who run government. Regardless of who wins in New York’s 20th District, sanity is not likely to happen before next year’s election.
Earlier today I received a release from Wicomico County PIO Jim Fineran regarding a Daily Timesarticle by Greg Latshaw on the county’s FY2010 budget; a piece County Executive Rick Pollitt claimed was rife with “important” errors. Here’s a portion of what Pollitt noted:
First, the headline implies that the county has “come up short.” In the release, I said, “I expect county revenues to be down by about $12 Million. That equals an operating budget of approximately $117 Million.” In fact, the county budget will be balanced as is required by the Charter. The budget may be less but it won’t be short. We’ll be meeting payroll and paying our bills as always.
Second, I have unveiled nothing despite what the newspaper story states. The news release clearly states that I shall present my Fiscal Year 2010 budget to the public on April 2nd. I said, “I expect county revenues to be down by about $12 Million.” While this will probably be the case, at this point it is a prediction since I point out in the news release that I am “preparing this year’s budget.” I still have several budget hearings left with county departments, so there is much work left to be done before the public meeting on April 2nd.
Third, at no point in the news release do I state that the projections constitute the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget. All of the language I used indicates what is going to happen…such as “submit budget proposal to the County Council by April 15th” or “details of my proposed budget.”
I anticipate working on the FY 2010 budget “right down to the wire,” so to speak. I am not having the public meeting on April 2nd for fun. I sincerely want to hear what my constituents have to say about my budget and act upon it if appropriate. Also, the financial situation with the State of Maryland is in constant flux and the Legislature is still in session. Decisions may still be made in Annapolis that could impact the FY 2010 budget.
(The emphasis is underlined in the original and bold in my version.)
Perhaps the headline writer sensationalized the story in order to grab the reader’s attention; nevertheless the point remains that, barring a sudden reversal of fortune, Pollitt concedes Wicomico County’s budget will be much leaner in FY2010 than it was in FY2009. The Daily Times also states clearly that the April 2nd budget presentation will fill in the details on how Pollitt plans on trimming the budget.
Rick also doesn’t deny the Daily Times assertion regarding 10 percent cuts in each department, which would lead the reader to assume that the $12 million figure isn’t vastly far off.
