Off to the Chicken Festival

In an effort to a) improve my website by meeting some of the local politicians, b) meet and greet potential voters – I’m sure a few from Wicomico County will be there, and c) get out of my apartment and have some fun! I’m heading down to Snow Hill today for awhile just to check it out, particularly the car show!

So I’ll have a camera in my hand. If you’re curious about meeting the guy who does monoblogue, look for the guy in a “Toledo Mud Hens – 2005 IL Champions” shirt. I don’t think there’s too many of those on Delmarva!

Hopefully the rain that plagued yesterday’s events will stay away today, we got our share for sure.

Post-visit edit…I enjoyed my time there except for the mud! The other major bummer was not getting to see the car show that was scheduled, it was scrubbed because of the weather. Guess they really don’t want to drive the cars through the mud too much. But the rain held off by and large, I had a great BBQ’d chicken sandwich and some nice crispy fries for lunch, witnessed with my very own eyes and camera the World’s Largest Frying Pan, and I saw a slew of politicians there.

As promised in my calendar, Jack Lord was at the Chicken Festival with his little tent enjoying the fact it was actually dry. I also saw the remainder of the 38B candidates strolling about (Luna, Lewis, Mathias, Conway) with the exception of Sonny Bloxom and newcomer Bill McDermott, and jawed with Norm Conway for a few minutes about health care (very amicably I may add, I think we just agree to disagree on solutions.) Both Worcester County parties had a small tent there – GOP collecting petition signatures and passing out literature, the Democrats playing host to the two local state reps. In addition, U.S. Senate candidate Josh Rales had a tent there although he wasn’t present. I did tell his volunteers there about the Ten Questions, and have a new address to resend them to. His turn will come up in early August.

It’s early summer and the campaign’s starting to heat up with the weather. While I’m going to be busy with my own campaign, I’ll be out and about taking in the sights of a Delmarva election summer. It should be more interesting than last year’s version.

Oh, and I think I had the “allow comments” feature turned off on the last couple posts because of heavy spam volume – that problem has been taken care of. Akismet seems to be doing a great job.

Ten questions for…Jim Corwin

As I stated back when the Ten Questions were introduced, it’s not just the Maryland U.S. Senate candidates who I was asking them to, but hopefuls for the various local U.S. House seats. Today’s slated person was Jim Corwin, the man providing opposition to Wayne Gilchrest’s bid for another term.

He’s got a great calendar, but no answers yet. Jim, you’ve had the questions for 6 weeks, I think you had time to get to answering them.

By the way, I did get a comment from another Senate hopeful who wanted to submit his answers. It just might be the power snafus that have plagued the Eastern Shore today (mine was out about 3 hours) with the heavy storms slowed the e-mail down. So the offer I made to him still stands.

Now, it will be interesting to see if I get an answer from this person or another who expressed interest in answering when they came out but I’ve yet to hear from since. It seems like the “established” politicians are still afraid to answer them, we’ll see how the upstarts do.

I should also say that if you are a candidate for the U.S. Senate or House who happens to be reading this, or one of their loyal cadre of volunteers, I’m happy to resend the questions so they can be answered. With the backlog of folks who didn’t answer, I can likely slot them in upcoming open spots. (I did it for Allan Lichtman and Mike Schaefer.)

Let’s make this election about the issues, shall we? With Doug Duncan leaving the race for governor, the Maryland U.S. Senate race becomes the main draw for primary voters. I want all of their input.

Duncan drops out

And then there was one.

The governor’s race this fall became very much set this afternoon as Democrat candidate Doug Duncan dropped out. The announcement shocked the Free State political scene, particularly as Duncan revealed he’s suffering from clinical depression, which runs in his family. The Montgomery County Executive was gaining on Baltimore mayor Martin O’Malley in polls among Democrats with an aggressive attack on elements of O’Malley’s record.

So it will become an O’Malley vs. Ehrlich race in June after all. You may recall last fall there was talk among Democrats that a contested primary in September would be bad for the party – they wanted to hold the primary this month instead. Today’s Duncan stunner effectively did that job and enables O’Malley to train all his guns on Governor Ehrlich throughout the last 4 1/2 months of the campaign.

That’s the obvious. But I have other questions that aren’t so apparent.

First of all, what happens to Duncan’s running mate Stuart Simms? There’s speculation that Simms could run for the Democrat nomination for Attorney General, which would make it at least a three-person field that already includes Montgomery County prosecutor Doug Gansler and Montgomery County councilman (and law professor) Tom Perez.

More importantly, where does all the Duncan campaign help go? Hundreds of volunteers and the paid staff are now suddenly thrown out of work in one way or another. While they may have known that it would be an uphill battle for the primary victory on September 12, imagine the disbelief they have that the campaign is over on June 22. Will they bury the hatchet and join the O’Malley team, or go to local campaigns?

Actually, besides the hope that Duncan can get himself back in a healthy mental state (helping in that regard, he’ll not run again for Montgomery County Executive), the one bad thing I see on a personal level is that I’m going to miss one of the best political blogs I linked to. I actually enjoyed reading it – didn’t agree with hardly anything said on it politically, but it was well-written. A lady named Heather Birdsall should get credit for that, she wrote many of the entries.

So let the trickle-down begin. And I’ll need to credit David the Soccer Dad (a fellow MBA member!) from sending me a little note today alerting me to Duncan’s withdrawal. Thanks my friend.

Shorebird of the week 6-22-2006

CJ Smith of the Shorebirds strides into a pitch in a June contest against Lakewood.

This week the SotW honors go to a returning veteran of the 2005 Shorebirds, first baseman CJ Smith. A product of the University of Florida, the Gator was another high pick the Orioles have placed on the Delmarva roster, chosen 4th by the Orioles in 2004. He was drafted high enough and had enough of a profile (being from a nationally known college program) to have his own blurb on the draft board (from mlb.com):

TALL & WIRY. SOME STRENGTH. HAS PUT ON 15 LBS SINCE LAST YR. BUILD SIMILAR TO FORMER ML PLAYER PAUL O’NEILL. SLIGHT SPREAD STANCE, FLEXED KNEES. BALL JUMPS OFF BAT. WILL SHOW SOME PWR. CHANCE TO HIT FOR MORE PWR IN FUTURE W/ SOME ADJUSTMENT. BETTER RUNNER UNDERWAY. PLAYABLE ARM. GOOD ATHLETE. SHOULD HIT FOR SOME PWR. STRONGER THAN LAST YR.

Interestingly enough, he was drafted as an outfielder but he has good size (6′-3″) for a first baseman as well.

What he does need to work on is his hitting. The transition from college to pro has seen the 24 year old suffer at the plate. In 83 games here last year, he had just a .227 average but was a solid RBI producer with 45 knocked in. That total was third on the team, very good considering he had 295 at bats compared to over 400 AB’s for the two players in front of him. CJ’s on a slower pace this year though, with just 10 RBI in 88 at bats and only a .205 average.

But with a name like CJ, he’s almost bound to be a fan favorite. Hopefully with our support he can find the key to improving his batting average to a more respectable number.

And as suggested, several changes were made to the roster at the All-Star break.

The Shorebirds gained three players who were sent down after stuggling with high-A Frederick: pitchers Trevor Caughey and Russ Petrick (who pitched here in 2005) and infielder Ryan Steinbach. Taking their places on the Frederick roster with a promotion were Jon Tucker, Trent Baysinger, and SAL All-Star Jim Hoey.

Meanwhile some Shorebirds who had a tough time here became IronBirds in Aberdeen. That list included pitchers Kyle Schmidt and Luis Lebron (both who were here very briefly), infielders Rob Marconi and Rene Aqueron, and former SotW catcher Brandon Snyder. All three hitters were under .200 at the time of their demotion.

First half Shorebirds standings report

It was a tough finish to the half for the Shorebirds. After battling the Lexington Legends tooth-and-nail through most of May, they fought to a draw in a visit to Lexington in their last May series. That seemed to take the wind right out of the Delmarva nine’s sails though, as they plummeted to a 6-12 finish in the first half while Lexington amassed a 14-4 mark in the same stretch to win the SAL North going away. In fact, the West Virginia Power snuck by the Shorebirds and grabbed second place at the halfway mark.

But as usual in the SAL, everything starts afresh on Thursday. All Lexington’s great finish got them was a playoff date in September, but nothing says they can’t have a poor second half. In the topsy-turvy world of the South Atlantic League, last year’s champion can be this year’s doormat – case in point, the Kannapolis Intimidators, who won the 2005 SAL pennant but frightened no one except their fans with a 20-50 first half mark this season.

So what I’m doing here is a rehash of the first half standings, and adding commentary on each team’s second half schedule. There’s a scheduling quirk in the SAL this season. To avoid scheduling onerous roadtrips for some teams, the league is divided into four groups, which are as follows:

What I’ll call group 1 includes Delmarva, Hagerstown, Lake County, and Lakewood.

My group 2 is the rest of the North Division: Greensboro, Hickory, Lexington, and West Virginia.

Turning to the South Division, group 3 is Asheville, Augusta, Greenville, and Kannapolis.

Group 4 is the Georgia group (almost): Charleston (SC), Columbus, Rome, and Savannah.

The oddity is that Group 1 teams do not play Group 4 teams, so they’ll not have to face 3 of the top 4 South Division teams at all this season, while the Group 2 teams will play all eight South foes in the second half. Obviously the league doesn’t want a 13-14 hour bus trip (such as between Lake County and Columbus) to happen often. So Group 1 teams will have 4 games against just the Group 3 teams in the South in the second half, which as noted turns out to be an advantage.

Here are the standings for the first half along with the strength of their schedule in the second half. To determine that, I simply figured out the games below or above .500 for each remaining team on the schedule – for example the aforementioned Kannapolis team is a factor of minus 30 for each time played, and 44-25 Lexington would be a factor of plus 19 every time.

1. Lexington Legends (44-25, won division by 5 games.)

Second half schedule factor: minus 38 (3rd easiest). They play 4 games against each team in the other three groups, as well as 6 against Hickory, and 8 against Greensboro and West Virginia. They have 35 home and 35 away games.

First half summary: A 14-4 finish featuring an appearance by Roger Clemens boosted the Legends to the first half title.

Key games in second half: They play the South first half champion Rome Braves at home August 2-5 in what could be a championship preview.

2. West Virginia Power (39-30, second place 5 games back.)

Second half schedule factor: plus 32 (5th easiest). Just like Lexington, 4 games against the teams in the other three groups, along with 6 against Greensboro and 8 against Hickory and Lexington. They also are even with 35 home and away games apiece.

First half summary: Improved throughout the half from also-ran to second place club.

Key games in second half: A stretch from August 2-22 where they play 16 of 20 games at home, the lone road trip in the middle to Delmarva. The first homestand features Columbus and Rome, the second against division foes Hickory and Hagerstown.

3. DELMARVA SHOREBIRDS (37-31, third place 6 1/2 games in arrears.)

Second half schedule factor: minus 273 (easiest). As mentioned, they play only the four games each against Group 2 and Group 3 teams, along with 12 against Hagerstown, 15 against Lake County, and 11 against Lakewood. The schedule maker did give them a slight disadvantage of just 33 home games against 37 away from Perdue Stadium.

First half summary: Great pitching throughout, but a batting swoon cost the Shorebirds the first half title.

Key games in second half: They play the top two North teams as well as the second place South team (Augusta) a total of 12 times, all at home. By the way, if you’re sick of seeing Lakewood after 14 home games against them (of our 37 total), we don’t see them here again until the final home series August 28-31.

4. Lakewood BlueClaws (37-32, fourth place 7 games back.)

Second half schedule factor: minus 268 (2nd easiest). Just like Delmarva, only 4 against each team in Group 2 and Group 3. They play the Shorebirds 11 times, Hagerstown 15 times (11 at Hagerstown), and Lake County 12 times. They’re another even 35-35 team as far as road/home goes.

First half summary: After an 0-9 start, they rebounded with solid pitching to grab a first-division finish. Had they not dug such a hole, they may have been playoff-bound.

Key games in second half: A 12 game homestand August 11-22 against Lexington, Hagerstown, and Delmarva.

5. Greensboro Grasshoppers (36-34, fifth place 8 1/2 games back.)

Second half schedule factor: plus 74 (7th easiest). As with the other Group 2 teams, it’s 4 against everyone in the South and 4 against the Group 1 teams. They also have 8 against Hickory and Lexington, with 6 against West Virginia. They have 35 each at home and on the road.

First half summary: The Grasshoppers leaped into contention in early June after taking 3 of 4 at Delmarva, but the strong Lexington finish (at their expense) squashed the Grasshoppers’ hopes.

Key games in second half: Their final seven games (August 29-September 4) are at West Virginia and Lexington.

6. Hickory Crawdads (33-36, sixth place 11 games behind Lexington.)

Second half schedule factor: plus 94 (toughest). The final Group 2 team, they play that schedule along with 6 against Lexington and 8 each against Greensboro and West Virginia. They do get an advantage from the scheduler of 37 home games in the half against 33 on the road.

First half summary: The ‘Dads never really got going, they scuffled throughout the half and pretty much inhabited the second division throughout.

Key games in second half: A July 24-31 roadtrip to Columbus and Rome could drown the Crawdads’ chances for a second half crown.

7. Lake County Captains (29-41, seventh place 15 1/2 games out.)

Second half schedule factor: plus 16 (4th easiest). As with Delmarva and Lakewood, they get to skip most of the Georgia teams and Charleston, SC. They do play the obligatory four each against the Group 2 and 3 teams, along with Delmarva 15 times, Lakewood 12 times, and Hagerstown 11 times. A 35-35 split home to away is on their second half docket.

First half summary: Lake County’s Captains hit a late-winter iceberg at the end of April. After a 14-10 start they sank through the standings as they only won 15 more first half games.

Key games in second half: They finish with 8 road games August 28-September 4 at Hagerstown and Lakewood. Also, they start the second half at home with Delmarva for 4 games.

8. Hagerstown Suns (28-42, last place and trailing by 16 1/2.)

Second half schedule factor: plus 35 (6th easiest). The same deal as Delmarva, Lake County, and Lakewood, with 12 against the Shorebirds, 11 against the Captains, and 15 against the BlueClaws. Having 11 at home against Lakewood helped them have a 37-33 home to away advantage in the second half.

First half summary: Never in contention, but they managed to lay the wood to cross-state rival Delmarva at the end of the half.

Key games in second half: They have 17 of their first 22 games at home to begin the second half. Last season they won the first half title and tanked in half number 2 – so they hope for a reversal in fortune like Delmarva had last year. But there can be no all-Maryland playoff this season.

Just in: The North Division won this year’s SAL All-Star Game 4-0 at Lake County. There were four Shorebirds on the winning North team:

Quincy Ascencion started in left field and batted ninth. He played the entire game, collecting a single in 3 trips.

Brandon Erbe pitched the fourth inning, allowing one hit but striking out 2.

Chorye Spoone got the final out of the eighth inning. His first batter reached on an error and stole second but he got the strikeout to end the South’s inning.

Jim Hoey was selected to the team but didn’t pitch.

Also, the pitching coach for the North was the Shorebirds’ Kennie Steenstra.

So ends post number 150.

Ten questions for…Mike Schaefer

As I alluded to last week, there were two “new” entrants into the U.S. Senate race who had filed late, and I didn’t become aware of their websites until the other day. So now David Dickerson and Mike Schaefer are linked from monoblogue. In addition, both were sent a copy of the Ten Questions and I informed them that, because they didn’t have a “turn” originally I’d place them in at the first opportunity.

Well, tonight was the first opportunity, and Mike Schaefer grabbed the brass ring away from Thomas Hampton by answering the Ten Questions with lightning speed – I got them back the next day. The total of respondents is now five, with three upcoming when their turn comes up (one is a week from Friday.)

Without further ado, here is Mike Schaefer’s answers to the Ten Questions. I think he misunderstood Question #10 but the answer will stand. The only editing I’ll do is for format.

Question #1:

There are several schools of thought regarding the problem of illegal immigrants, or as some would call them, “undocumented workers.” Some solutions offered range from complete amnesty to sealing the border with a wall to penalizing employers who hire these workers. Currently there are competing House and Senate measures – in particular the House bill has spawned massive protests around the country. While I have listed some of the possible solutions, it’s no exhaustive list. What solutions do you favor for the issue?

My campaign demands we think outside the box.

In WWII we prohibited the sending of US dollars to countries we were at war with. And I think with any country as we needed our monetary base at home to remain strong.

We need to promptly ban the sending of US dollars by wire, mail, or personal delivery, from a USA base to a recipient in Mexico. Most of these dollars are untaxed US earnings. And the act of modest-income earners fulfilling their moral equivalent of our athlete’s “Buy Momma a House” with their new-found riches, works to impoverish the Mexico illegals who are struggling to find decent housing, decent food and clothings, and assist their children with the new-found costly lifestyle. We must force those who earn bucks to spend it here, this helps our economy too, and the incentive of the Mexican poor to come to Lama-land and send hom the riches to their loved ones, will VANISH and so will the desire of many to leave their loved ones if they cannot be sending them pots of gold.

Question #2:

Another top-burner concern is the current spike in the price of gasoline. Again, this is a broad issue with many scenarios that can be played out. Possible solutions that have been bandied about in recent days are a temporary suspension of the federal 18.4 cent a gallon tax on gasoline and easing environmental restrictions on gasoline blends (as happened after Hurricane Katrina). Further down the road but possibly affecting prices on the futures market would be the approval of additional oil drilling in ANWR and the Gulf of Mexico. If you were elected, what solutions to this issue would you pursue and why?

Additional oil drilling is a positive, we need to be less energy dependent. Tax credits for purchase of hybrid or electric vehicles need to be increased and promoted. A luxery tax on inefficient new cars is needed, let people buy Hummers but pay a 20% federal luxery tax for any vehicle that does not meet certain standards of efficiency to be set by the states or the feds.

And we need a cap of $2 million on CEO pay, it would be five times the pay of the US President, now 400K. They can have stock options but the $60 million pay taken last year by at least l0 CEO’s earns them prosecution for misapproriaton of shareholder equities. This would not mean much at the pump but the oil companies are prominent among the violators.

Question #3:

Recently the news has featured ethics scandals involving GOP donor Jack Abramoff and former House member Duke Cunningham of California as well as Democrat House members William Jefferson of Louisiana and Allan Mollohan of West Virginia. If elected, what steps would you take to help eliminate ethical improprieties among our elected representatives?

I have known Cummingham for over ten years. He has serious mental blocks and deserves what he got, guess being treated like a hero for all those years before running for Congress made him think he was invincable. Am happy to see this issue be on the front burner. I would double the budget for the Department of Justice’s public integrity unit and have monitoring of all local, county, state and federal officials by random surprise checks and US Attorneys ordered to bring all published or unpublished criticism of official ethnics to the attention of the DOJ public integrity unit for evaluation.

Please see my website. www.mike4senate.net, this is my leading issue. I applaud Nancy Pelosi for pushing the removal of Jefferson from his Committee.

I think pension benefits ought be reduced 50% or eliminated upon conviction, or the actual funds paid in refunded, without intereset, so that the Congress can terminate its relationship with those who dishonor it.

Question #4:

Along that same line, many people have seen the vast sums of money that seemingly are required to run for public office and were under the impression that campaign finance reforms such as those enacted with the McCain-Feingold bill were supposed to relieve this inequity. On the whole, however, the money trail has not ceased even with these laws. How do you favor strengthening these laws to make them more effective, or do you agree with some First Amendment advocates who think these laws should be eliminated?

We should not eliminate these laws. I think they are enforced without common sense sometimes. I was once in a federal campaign and took $25,000 from my stock account, a margin loan against my securities, and considered it a loan to the campaign. The FED pointed out that loans can only be made by banks, not be national brokerage firms, and thus the $25,000 was a gift to my campaign by Charles Schwab & Co., which exceeded the then $1,000 limit and anyhow corporations are prohibited from making any donations. I was fined $3,500 and resented the total abuse of federal statutes to punish an innocent oversight—when the same amount of time should have gone to investigating some chicanery. (Soon after the laws were changed to permit brokerage firms and other non-bank financial sources to make loans to candidates—I warranted thanks for raising the issue). I prefer a level playing field and have considered limited expenditures in any election to a certain multiple of the salary of that office, like Congress(is it $150,000?) races might have a $300,000 limit in primary and $600,000 limit in general. Some of these guys have raised millions; would require that any banked political money exceeding the foregoing limits be returned to sender, or given to a charity, or confiscated by the US. Today incumbents bankroll millions to fighten-off any competition; that is not putlic service. America thinks that a good percent of its elected officials are political prostitutes and you don’t get any argument from me there. Las Vegas and San Diego,Cal. are sending at least two local legislators to federal prison this years, we need more of that. And perhaps we should cut 50% all legislative salaries, the taxpayers would benefit and this would encourage self-made financially independent men and women of character instead of ‘job seekers’ who file for any open elected job which inevidentable pays a lot more than they ever earned in their life. Really!

Question #5:

While the above issues have captured the headlines, our War on Terror (particularly in Iraq) is never far from our minds. It goes without saying that the vast majority of us support our troops; but the question is whether you favor our current approach or something different in terms of sending additional troops, seeking more multinational support, or a complete pullout. Maybe your thoughts are someplace in between these listed or would be considered “out of the box” thinking. What approach would you favor?

We need to give our top military officers, generals and admirals, more influence on the conduct of the war; and Bush needs to cultivate others nations as he has done so very well as to Britain. I am shocked at Congressman Cardin’s call for a timetable for return of all troops by next year, his press release could have been written by al-Zarqawi. His view was repudiated by the Congress the next day. We need to support our President in his military posture but we have an equal obligation to question his judgment, and seek prosecution and impeachment if evidence indicates intentional misconduct. That is why it is important that the Democrats have control of either the House or the Senate so that the conduct of the Bush Administration can come under the looking-glass instead of being protected by the abusive power enjoyed by a Congress and Senate of the same party as the President. We can never know the truth when one party controls the Executive and the Legislative, and by appointments, the Judicial branch.

Question #6:

Related to the above question is the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program. The oil-rich nation claims that this program is for the peaceful use of generating electrical power for its citizens, yet on the other hand its leadership has threatened the nation of Israel with annihilation hinted as being from a nuclear bomb. While the President has the final decision, what course would you advocate he take (a pre-emptive military strike, diplomacy either through the UN or some other way, or leaving them alone as a sovereign nation) and why?

I am not optimistic as to the efficiency of the United Nations, these nations seeing how America has handled inspections problems re: Iraq might now be more open to a USA inspection team doing a credible audit of the capabilities of involved nuclear nations, both friends and foes. The UN cannot compel anything. Frankly if power-generation involves essentially the same nuclear capacity that an attack utilizes, there appears to be no solution, other than having a CIA operative reporting to the US Embassy in each county in confidence, with any discomforting information being shared with the President and leader of each house of the Congress. If the equipped nation is arrogant, or inflexible, then we must seek world opinion(media) incondemnation of that country and its leadership and perhaps termination of economic relationships with sabre-rattlers.

Question #7:

Back to domestic issues. One pillar or goal of the Bush administration was to enact Social Security reform in the second term, but it has stalled because of claims there’s no problems with the program and privatization reforms are simply a way to enable Wall Street to profit. Do you think the Social Security program is fine as it is, or what changes would you advocate happening with the program?

This is the 3rd rail of politics and we can expect little from leadership of either party on this issue. I favor more liberal IRA programs, but so many people do not understans self-saving programs or have the money to fund them annually, and we must help those least able to help themselves. I think the program is working well but would increase the investigation of abuse, there are many dead-recipients whose families continue to cash benefits without any criminal consequences, possibly a payback and that’s it; and I now personally of recipients who cash their check, report it stolen promptly, get a new check issued, and months-later the US cancels the first check and charges it back the innocent business entity having taken it—this is long after the crook has disappeared, thus there is no recourse for the trusting businessperson. The government knows who the crooks are but public policy makes them untouchables. That is wrong, they belong in jail.

Question #8:

Some in Congress have raised the question of “pork” or excessive earmarks because our federal budget always runs in deficit and eliminating these earmarks would be a simple way to help balance the budget. But no Congressman or Senator wants to cut their district’s or state’s project. To balance the budget, would you consider sacrificing some of your district or state’s federally-funded projects or would you prefer measures to enhance federal revenues to meet the gap?

That’s an easy one. We can find county, city, state, or joint-powers agreements, funded with very very low-cost tax free obligations, to finance anything that is a boondoggle; the President needs line-item veto so he can “kill” a number of pork items in any budget. These items are not lost, the community and political leadership then decides (a)level of necessity, and (b)alternative ways to fund it. Do not let West Virginia’s Robert Byrd have anything to do with the budget. He is the king of pork. Always has been, always will be. We need to enhance federal revenues, but do so in order to reduce our staggaring federal debt. This is called fiscal responsibliity, which is in short supply with too many Congresspersons and Senators.

Question #9:

Now to the question of trade. When I go to a store, many’s the time that I see a product is made in China – hence we run a large trade deficit with that nation. President Bush has advocated a hemisphere-wide free trade zone that would add Central and South American countries to the umbrella originally created by the NAFTA agreement a decade ago. Given these items, and knowing also that the number of manufacturing jobs in this country remains flat to slightly lower even in this era of steadily expanding employment, where do you stand – do you see free trading eventually shifting our economy to one mostly comprised of service and technology jobs, or do you feel we should take more steps to preserve our core manufacturing
positions?

We must preserve our core manufacturing so long as it is efficient. Any country importing to the US should have equivalent exporting from the US to their country. It is disheartening to call a US firm’s help-line and be speaking to someone on the other side of the world with limited ability to speak English and not a clue as to the community or state where the caller resides. The government can do it. If I wanted to mail 100,000 political mailers from Canada or Mexico, at cheaper postage, the USPS requires payment of both the US and foreign postage for any mailings exceeding 200 items. I wish this protective attitude existed in other commerical areas of government operations.

Question #10:

This question should present you with the shortest answer. Given that in 2008 either you will be seeking re-election to the House and hoping for some coattails at the top of the ticket, or preparing to work with a new President (for the Senators), if you had a short list of 3 to 5 names you’d like to see seek the job, who would they be? Please note that they do not have to be candidates who are considered to be running for the post at this time.

You overlook that I am not running for the House, my term will be six years and I am up for re-election in 2012, to my 2nd and last term as a US Senator.

Have no idea who will be in Maryland’s political world in 2012. If I had to name three, they would be:

(a)John Sarbanes, assuming he wins a Congressional bid now or before 2012; Democrat.

(b)Marin Alsop, new Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; if she finds a “home” in Maryland, and in 2012 having six years leading our state in a cultural manner—she would be a respected candidate who would perhaps bring harmony to a cacophony of political sounds in the 100 member US Senate;

(c)Marcus Allen, a doctor of chiopractic medicine, who will at that time be a leader in city, county state or federal office, an African-American success story, who would bring credit on Maryland as a Democratic Nominee and who has a great interest in political issues affecting Maryland, health care, and is not the football legend but Maryland is used to great names.

Election Calendar – June 19 thru July 2

A little bit of progress, I did get a few more events. It’s still slow though, but hopefully after July 4th I’ll be starting to see more and more items. There’s just a ton of candidates out there, all running themselves ragged after votes (or so I hope.)

Without further ado, this week I’ll switch up the order and go from most to fewest events.

Worcester County:

It’s definitely the leader right now!

June 19: U.S. Congress candidate Jim Corwin is scheduled to attend the Democratic Women’s Club of Ocean Pines meeting. From the Maryland Democrat Party website, the contact number I have is (410) 641-6196.

Also tomorrow, District 38B candidate Bonnie Luna is scheduled to be at the Maryland Biodiesel Grand Opening in Berlin. Not sure where that’s at, but those close by likely do.

June 20: Another District 38B candidate, Jack Lord will be at the Showell Fire Department. I’m unsure of the nature of the event.

June 23-24: The Delmarva Chicken Festival at Byrd Park in Snow Hill. I have Jack Lord scheduled to be there both days, and Jim Corwin is slated to be there Friday for a 10 a.m. Pocomoke River cruise and at 11:00 the Celebrity Chicken Fry. Actually, I’m going to be there on Saturday to check out the scene myself.

June 25: Thanks to the WCRC website, I now know that Michael Steele will be having a fundraising reception at Occasionally Yours (10514 Racetrack Road) in Berlin, price is $75. This runs from 3-5 p.m.

June 27: See what happens when you have a nice updated calendar on your website? Jim Corwin is scheduled for a Meet the Candidates dinner in Ocean Pines. Not sure what time or where, perhaps I’ll have more light shed on that by next Sunday.

Wicomico County:

June 26: Wicomico County Republican Club meeting, Chamber of Commerce building, 144 E. Main Street, meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. Wicomico County District 5 Councilman Larry Dodd has this on his calendar, as does Jack Lord, as do I. (Look for the guy taking notes, I have a blog post to do!) Speaker is Wicomico County Executive candidate Bob Culver.

July 1: I’m not sure if he’ll actually show up, but it’s Governor Bob Ehrlich Night with the Shorebirds. The game starts at 7:05 p.m. as the Shorebirds face the Lake County Captains, with fireworks to follow. (I’d like to see some fireworks on the scoreboard as well, the ‘Birds struggled for runs on their last homestand.) Contact Ellen Andrews for more info, (410) 742-0927. And yes I’ll be present. Are you kidding me, a GOP function involving a baseball game? Duh. That frickin’ rules.

Sussex County:

June 23: On the Delaware side of the line, their U.S. Senate candidate Jan Ting has a “listening tour” stop scheduled in Georgetown. The info number given is (302) 651-0271.

Yes, NOW we’re starting to get someplace. I counted nine events, last week I had seven with dates. I believe that Jim Corwin’s Choptank Cruise event I alluded to last week is sometime in August so I’ll update accordingly as the time nears. (I think he got the hint! Nice job.)

Next Sunday, I’ll do it again for June 26 through July 9.

Well, that was stupid

First of all, credit where credit is due, Bill Duvall got me thinking about this topic with his post this morning. He was looking at it through the prism of this being Jim Mathias’s possible one-day term in session.

But I’m looking at it for several other reasons. First of all, it shows us where the true interest lies in Maryland government, and it’s not here. Delmarva Power is raising rates 35 percent? Well, that’s the Eastern Shore, who cares? I rent out that Ocean City condo anyway so I’ll raise the rent another $50 a week.

I looked up on BG&E’s website where their service area is. According to their service map, they have operations in 10 Maryland counties, but predominate in 6 – Baltimore City/County, Carroll, Howard, Anne Arundel, and Harford. Looking further, I coordinated those counties with the Maryland General Assembly districts and found that about 63 Delegates and 21 Senators would likely be within the service area. That’s about 2/5 of the General Assembly, and surprisingly to me, it’s not a huge Democrat majority in the House of Delegates (37 to 26.) But in the Maryland Senate those 21 seats split 15-6 Democrat. As it turned out, 13 of the 15 Republicans in the House of Delegates and 2 of the 3 GOP Senators voting for the new deal live in these areas. The exceptions were RINO Delegate Jean Cryor of Montgomery County, our own Delegate Page Elmore (why, Page, why?), and Senator E.J. Pipkin of Queen Anne’s County (a strong anti-BG&E advocate.)

Now you know damn well that the Democrats in Annapolis aren’t going to let Bob Ehrlich take credit for anything. Because the General Assembly couldn’t solve this issue in April, the negotiations that took place changed the proposed 72% rate hike to a more tolerable 21% and deferred payments over the next two years. However, a customer could opt out if he or she chose to swallow the whole increase.

Enter Baltimore mayor and gubernatorial candidate Martin O’Malley. He decided to gamble on getting a special session, and hopefully a deal that Democrats (and his campaign) could crow about. The city sued to stop this increase and forced the special session.

According to the Baltimore Sun, these were the opt-in/opt-out plans previously on the table (notice there was an option):

Opt-in plan (negotiated by Governor Ehrlich and the PSC): July increase of 19.4 percent, customers phased into market rates over 18 months with no more than a 25% increase at one time, a $19 per month fee that would run July 2007-June 2009, and no interest on deferred costs.

Opt-out plan: July increase of 21 percent, remaining 50% or so deferred to February 2007. Payments on deferred costs would start in March 2007, with a 5% interest rate until payoff (about 15 months).

The new plan goes like this: July increase of 15 percent, with remaining increase as early as June, 2007. Instead of the deferred cost being spread out over 15 months, it’s now going to be spread over 120 months, including interest. And for BG&E customers who read this from my fellow MBA members’ links – you are stuck with this deal.

So Martin O’Malley’s gamble got BG&E customers (and only those customers, must be all he cared about) a 6% difference in rates, but almost 9 more years of interest charges in paying the deferral off. For the rest of us, it got a brand new PSC because this measure usurped the role of the executive branch in selecting members and placed it in the hands of the General Assembly – a nice naked power grab.

Oh, and if the governor wants to take this mess to court himself, it’s mandated the case be heard in Baltimore City. There’s some real Ehrlich-friendly judges there. Of course, that has to be done gratis anyway, because also in the bill is a provision forbidding state funds be spent on a challenge!

It’s no surprise then that both the Democrats running for governor are patting their own backs until their arm falls off. Martin O’Malley beams that it was his lawsuit that has saved the day for Maryland consumers, while Doug Duncan gushed, “I urge you once again, as you did with the medical malpractice crisis, to work together to craft a short-term solution that will relieve the fears of Marylanders and build a foundation for a long-term solution to this issue.”

And Duncan is more right than he might know, it is a short-term solution. It keeps the wrath of the voters from falling on the Democrats’ precious majority. All they give a crap about is keeping enough seats in the General Assembly to thwart any Ehrlich actions if he’s re-elected. If Governor Ehrlich is defeated, the refrain of “Happy Days Are Here Again” will echo through Annapolis as the four-year nightmare of a GOP governorship will come to an end, and the redistribution of wealth to build power can recommence posthaste. Well, they would have to wait until January. Minor detail, and besides, why should Democrats follow the Maryland Consitution then? It’s a poor precedent!

Some shoppers buy their Christmas presents in the summer. With their vote this week, the Democrats in Annapolis wanted to assure their Christmas comes on November 8th, when they can gleefully revel in the words of Mike Miller, “(the GOP is) going to be flying high, but we’re going to get together and we’re going to shoot them down. We’re going to put them in the ground, and it’ll be 10 years before they crawl out again.

You ain’t burying my ass, buddy. It’s time to fight.

In print no. 4

This also got pushed back a couple days because of the announcement of my candidacy for Wicomico County Republican Central Committee.

On Wednesday, I was quoted in a Daily Times story on Ben Cardin’s new War on Terror stance. If the link ceases to work, here’s the money quote I gave to reporter James Fisher:

In any case, conservatives who may have been inclined to pick Steele over Cardin or Mfume won’t have second thoughts after Cardin’s speech, said Michael Swartz of Salisbury, who runs a Web log that focuses on state and local politics, www.monoblogue.us.

“I think, in a way, he’s trying to kick Bush when he’s down,” Swartz said of Cardin.“I think he’s wanted to say this for awhile. He might have thought this in 2002, but he sure as heck wasn’t going to say it. Now he can get away with it.”

He actually did quote me pretty well, the only thing is I actually misspoke. I was thinking of when we started the push to topple Saddam Hussein (that actually occurred in 2003), but no matter. The point remains.

Now, as part of my efforts to collect items for the weekly election calendar, I’m now on Rep. Cardin’s mailing list. Here’s a release I got in my e-mail on this subject:

Dear Friend,

More than three years ago, President Bush sent our brave men and women to war in Iraq with no strategy in place to bring them home – and the American people have paid a heavy price. To this day, the President wants to simply stay the course.

I disagree.

I voted against the war in 2002 and today, in a speech at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, I called on President Bush to take a new direction in Iraq. We must immediately start bringing American troops home and we must reengage the international community in Iraq’s reconstruction.

Military experts recommend bringing American troops back home at the rate of 10,000 per month, which would cut our troop level in Iraq in half by the end of 2006. We should be able to bring all American combat troops home from Iraq by the end of 2007. A gradual drawdown will allow U.S. military advisers to continue training Iraqi troops but will put Iraqi officials on notice that the new Iraqi government must soon take full responsibility.

Our troops have performed magnificently under difficult conditions in Iraq, but they can not remain there indefinitely. Most military officials agree that American forces are over-stretched and would be unable to quickly respond to another situation at home or abroad. Furthermore, military recruitment has slowed considerably during the Iraq war.

At the top of the list to come home should be our National Guard units. Many of these units, including hundreds of guardsmen and guardswomen from Maryland, have been overseas far longer than ever intended. They need to come home so they are prepared to respond to local needs.

In order to effectively drawdown American troops from Iraq, we must have the cooperation of our allies in the international community. President Bush and Secretary of State Rice should organize a peace conference to negotiate international responsibilities with allied nations and mend the relationships that were damaged by ignoring diplomacy and rushing to war three years ago. The entire world has an interest in a free and secure Iraq; rebuilding Iraq should be a shared responsibility among allied democratic nations.

More than 2,400 young American men and women have lost their lives in Iraq. More than 18,000 troops have been wounded and more than $300 billion dollars have been spent. It’s time for a change of course.

I hope you will join me in calling on President Bush to begin bringing American troops home.

(at this point he references an item on his website)

Thank you for your trust and support,

Ben Cardin

Well, I don’t know if I can trust him with national defense issues and I certainly don’t support his call to bring the troops home by a date certain. When the job is finished, we will bring the troops home. As I’ve said before, I think we’re closer to the end than to the beginning now. But it’s foolhardy to give the enemy a timetable so they can lay low until the time is right.

Personally, I see no problem with having a forward base of operations in Iraq much as we do in Germany, Japan, Korea, and dozens of other countries. Obviously, that’s up to their government but seeing that we’re going to be dependent on a lot of oil from that region of the world (with thanks to Rep. Cardin on that since he’s a reliable vote against U.S. drilling) it’s clear to me that a forward deployment is a good thing.

Our enemy doesn’t go by a timetable dictated by the next election. They’ve waited many years and generations to have their opportunity to strike back against the Christians and the West. We need to have the same resolve they do and the same goal: to subdue the enemy until he’s no more.

Ten questions for…Michael Steele

This got pushed back a day because of the announcement of my candidacy for Wicomico County Republican Central Committee. But it still didn’t help.

You know, it’s very disappointing when the front-runner for your party’s nomination doesn’t answer simple questions. Unfortunately, he seems content to cruise to the nomination THEN kick his campaign into high gear. Well, I have news for him: I don’t think the voters are in the mood for a campaign solely of 30-second commercials and staged appearances, and with a primary battle shaping up on the Democrat side someone is going to be more battle-tested.

Answer the Ten Questions, Michael.

By the way, when I got the newest updated list of candidates yesterday for the 2006 ballot (with me on it) I found two more people running for the U.S. Senate seat on it. So I will send them a copy of the Ten Questions posthaste, luckily I have e-mail addresses for both.

Announcement

Tonight on monoblogue I’m formally announcing my candidacy for a seat on Wicomico County’s Republican Central Committee. My treasurer, Michael Waldman, and I filed the papers this afternoon with the Board of Elections. Hence, the new AUTHORITY statement in the upper right hand corner. I was told that this will satisfy the requirements for the state. I’m unique in that monoblogue is not exclusively a campaign site like many I link to, but there will be elements of the campaign that will be posted here. This way all who visit know that I’m being above board when it comes to my quest and there’s items pertaining to my race that are posted here.

So why am I running?

This will be a four-year term that I’m running for. My goal in that four years is to help strengthen the Wicomico County Republican Party to a point where they become the larger of the two major political parties in this county. Currently this disparity runs about 18,000 Republicans to 23,000 Democrats.

However, I’m of the opinion that the Republican Party is truly the majority party both in Wicomico County and the Eastern Shore in general. We need only look at what our county contributes to the statewide and national election results. The last even-year election where a Democrat candidate for governor or President carried Wicomico County was 1986, the year William Donald Schaefer crushed a weak GOP opponent. With that success, I feel that the goal of majority status is easily attainable.

In my belief, the most important immediate goal of our party should be to help Governor Ehrlich attain another term. The second 2006 goal is to elect at least one if not two Republicans to the District 38B seats in the General Assembly while keeping our current crop of Wicomico’s Republican representatives in office. The party needs to have at least enough people in Annapolis to enable Governor Ehrlich’s vetoes to stand. Had the GOP held 5 more seats in the House of Delegates this spring, Wal-Mart might well be breaking ground this summer on a new Somerset County distribution center.

And it’s obvious that the GOP slate extends beyond those races, both at a state and local level. Fine candidates are stepping up from all over Maryland to attempt a breakup of the Democrat dominance that has placated the Baltimore/DC region but left the Eastern Shore fuming.

While the main goal of my agenda is to place Wicomico County in the GOP column as far as voters, there is a more in-depth plan I’d like to adopt to begin a wholesale change in our county, state, and national governments.

Those who know me from reading monoblogue these last few months probably understand that I’m a believer in the Reaganesque mantra which states government that governs best governs least. The problem we have is that most of us have grown up in an era where government has become less like a genial Uncle Sam and more like Orwellian Big Brother. Even the Reagan mystique and the Contract with America have only been speedbumps on this road paved with good intentions, but bad results.

I think that those who have the youth, have the future. I’m 41 years old. Assuming it’s still around in its present form, in 21 years I’d be eligible to collect Social Security. In just 9 years I can become an AARP member should I choose to. (Yeah, right.) While a lot can change in 20 years, the problem with my generation is that there’s as many or more who like to belly up to the government nipple and drink to their fill as there are people who agree with me that this madness needs to come to an end, better sooner than later.

One thing I would like to adopt if elected is an open-door policy and outreach to the Salisbury University College Republicans as well as local Young Republican chapters. While they legally wouldn’t get a vote in Central Committee decisions, they certainly could and should attend and offer input. In turn, we as Central Committee members need to do what we can to encourage these interested youths to get involved with the political process. Take advantage of their youthful energy, not just as grunt workers for the same old candidates but give them an opportunity to make a difference. Will mistakes be made? Yes, but it’s better to make a mistake trying to make a positive change than screwing up doing the same old thing.

I’ve done this sort of thing before, but on a much smaller scale. Between 1998 and 2002 I served on the Republican Central Committee in Lucas County, Ohio. While Lucas County (city of Toledo and surrounding suburbs) has 6 times the population of Wicomico County, they also had over 200 on their Central Committee, with many other seats available since the county has about 500 precincts. The area I represented was just a couple dozen blocks.

With so many people holding seats, it was a little bit difficult to change the status quo. Unfortunately, the status quo in Toledo and Lucas County was the Democrat machine continuing to operate almost uninterrupted. So I see a much better opportunity for change in Wicomico County.

In Wicomico County, as anywhere in America, the Republican Party seeks to gain control of government. Saying that, I’d like to see our party win the County Executive post and a majority on County Council as well as the lesser offices, particularly the high-profile Sheriff post. We have a good slate of candidates in 2006. However, part of our job has to be holding their feet to the fire. As a new candidate, for me to win means that one incumbent on the Central Committee has to be bumped out. It’s possible he or she simply may not choose to run and there’s an open seat.

But I’m a believer in contested primaries regardless of office. Just because someone is in elected office makes them no more special than the rest of us. In Ohio, the state GOP used to drive me crazy by annointing candidates prior to the voters getting our say. In this year’s race for governor, once again they attempted to thwart the will of the rank-and-file by throwing their support behind Jim Petro – but the Republican voters chose the more conservative Ken Blackwell as their nominee. In 2010, I would like to see even the Republicans who win election this year pushed to a contest in the primary. A spirited but friendly competition is a good warmup for the real test, when our candidates square off with those Democrats who will likely have the advantages of help from Annapolis and a friendlier media.

This is my platform. I think it’s time for some new blood and new ideas on the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee, thus I’ve placed my hat squarely in the ring. While we’ve had some success doing things the way we always have, I think we should take advantage of the opportunities presented to us right here in Wicomico County and improve things for everyone by promoting candidates with varied ideas on how to achieve a more well-governed county and state.

I’d appreciate your help on September 12 in making the first step toward government that’s more honest, more efficient, and more in tune with the common-sense values I see among those on the Eastern Shore. Don’t just pick the first seven people on the list for Central Committee. Being at the end of the alphabet, I’m going to be toward the bottom of the list, so make a note to look for it. My name is Michael Swartz and I’m asking for your support.

Shorebird of the week 6-15-2006

Brad Bergesen of the Shorebirds pitching in a replica Negro League Baltimore Elite Giants uniform.

The honors for SotW this week go to a gentleman lucky enough to be pitching on a night the Shorebirds wore a special tribute uniform to the Negro League’s Baltimore Elite Giants. But Brad Bergesen has done more than be a good uniform model. Despite a recent bout of illness, Bergesen has pitched relatively well when healthy.

One thing the 2004 4th round pick (another high pick toiling for Delmarva this season) doesn’t do is walk a lot of batters. Last season in Aberdeen Bergesen walked just 14 in 71 innings, this year only 4 free passes have been granted in 35 1/3 innings. So count on Brad to be around the plate. It’s unusual for a young pitcher just a couple years removed from high school to have such good control. However, he is susceptible to giving up a lot of contact, thus his total number of hits given up will likely exceed 1 per inning. So far this season that has held true (44 hits allowed.)

With Bergesen’s 21st birthday not on the horizon until after the season in September, the California native is another of the Orioles’ promising crop of very young pitchers. The late collapse of the Shorebirds, who were eliminated from a possible first-half title with a loss tonight, cannot be laid at the feet of the pitching staff. With several changes to the team’s makeup likely to happen over the SAL’s All-Star break next week, look for Bergesen to regain a spot in the rotation before the end of the season as he recovers from his unusual trip to the disabled list.