Looking for a little cooperation!

Let’s see…

You have the candidate links I have placed up top in the directory of links on the right side of this page.

You have the Ten Questions, which I’ve asked of each candidate running for federal office in this area. Soon a similar list will be sent to those running locally for state legislative posts.

Well, today I solicited a number of local political leaders from all of the state parties I could get contact info for in Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset, and Worcester counties here in Maryland and Sussex County in Delaware. This included Republicans, Democrats, Greens, and Libertarians for both states, plus a couple other parties in Delaware. There’s also a number of Maryland statewide candidates I did this for yesterday, although that was a bit more difficult. I’d just like to be placed on a mailing list, folks, I’m not necessarily wanting to volunteer for you.

The idea is to put together a political calendar each week, where if there’s a candidate who’s speaking out on the issues, it’s an opportunity for all of you readers to get to see them in person and judge their qualifications for yourselves.

Obviously if you’re a regular monoblogue reader, you’ll know that I’m in the local Republican club. But as I wrote to these folks of other political stripes, just because I am the person who writes the views on monoblogue, I’m still fair enough to allow them to make the news. I’d be interested in getting to see some of the other people who are making the effort to avail themselves for public service – while I may disagree with their views diametrically, I do believe in free political speech.

So I’m leaving it up to those who are the movers and shakers in each area county whether they wish to participate (assuming of course I had their proper contact info.) But come about this time next Sunday (if I’m through with some personal business) I’ll debut the first weekly political calendar for the time period of June 12-20. This will continue up until Election Day of 2006.

If next week comes and I have no responses, then it becomes incumbent upon the loyal readers of monoblogue to ask what these politicians and parties have to hide?

Ten questions for…Allan Lichtman

Today is the debut of what I call the Ten Questions. A few weeks ago, I sent out a mass e-mail (or snail mail) to all those who had filed or intended to file (had websites) for the U.S. Senate (and local Eastern Shore U.S. House) seats that are being voted on in Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. This e-mail contained a brief introduction and the Ten Questions.

To date, I have had two candidates answer these questions. A few days ago, I took all of the Maryland candidates and randomly selected an order for their answers to be published on monoblogue. Through the luck of the draw, Democrat Allan Lichtman got the opening slot.

But he didn’t answer the questions. So I had the dilemma of whether to simply write that he didn’t answer the questions and nothing more, or actually post the questions despite the fact he didn’t answer.

However, after rereading my post announcing the Ten Questions, I see that I promised to reveal them on June 2nd, and that’s today. So Allan Lichtman, you have a nice blog, but you failed to answer my questions. I may decide to be nice and post a late submission, but you’re at my mercy now.

I do want to say that I think the concept is sound, and I’m almost certainly going to come up with a different set of questions on the Maryland House of Delegates and Senate races in Districts 37 and 38 for those candidates. Perhaps a more localized setting will encourage participation – besides, I think the state government should be more important than the federal one anyway. That mailing will likely be in July once the fields are set, since I’m hoping that having the Bozman seat open up will encourage competition in both parties.

But here are the Ten Questions I asked the candidates for federal office. Feel free to ask them of your officeseekers if you read this blog from afar, all I ask is credit me (Michael Swartz) or link to my blog (www.monoblogue.us).

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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.

*************************************

These are the Ten Questions. So far only 2 of the 30+ officeseekers I sent them to have answered. In order to have honest debate in this country on real issues, I’m encouraging all who read this blog to ask them yourselves of those federal politicians who ask for your support.

Maybe if we all act together we can shift the debate from the 30 second commercial to the actual stances these politicians stake out. Even better, after they’re elected, we have them on record with their positions and can hold their feet to the fire once they deviate. If they’re doing it for good reasons, they owe it to the voters to explain the change of heart.

One thing that I’m really happy about in this 2006 election is the number of candidates who are trying to win these elected offices (in most cases.) So it’s time for the debate to begin – who will be our best and brightest public servants?

In print again

Today the Daily Times published my letter to the editor – as usual I hate the way they chopped it up. The editor and I need to have a chat about the proper use of paragraphs. And they always kill the lines I use to heighten the humor or irony in the letter.

This is the version I actually sent to them:

To the Editor:

Normally I’m not in the business of predictions – if I could predict the lottery numbers I’d be a much wealthier man. But one thing that is becoming clearer to me is that if an immigration bill is passed with certain provisions still in the measure, the backlash against Hispanics and Spanish-speakers in this country (legally or illegally) is going to make the anti-Muslim incidents after 9/11 look like a tea party.

Even before this letter was written, word was getting out about some of the less-than-onerous penalties that illegal immigrants will face from this bill. For example, I’d like the government to send me a check for $10,721.09. That would cover the last two years of taxes I paid, less refunds. If an illegal alien is allowed to only pay 3 out of his last 5 years in back taxes, why can’t I? Of course, I filed and paid my taxes in a legal manner.

And it’s not just the “undocumented.” Their employers are exempted from paying taxes that would be due as well. So it’s not necessarily that illegal immigrants would do the jobs Americans won’t do; it’s more along the lines that businesses sure clean up financially by hiring them to do the jobs Americans can do, but where the employers can’t skirt tax laws by hiring Americans!

Worst of all, for those who have suffered from identity theft by having their Social Security number allocated by someone who didn’t have the paperwork to get one the proper way, you get to watch the folks who possibly have ruined your credit escape without punishment. And to add insult to injury, they’ll also get to collect Social Security based on their time here illegally. Who among us thinks that, given the government’s track record on keeping information straight, someone isn’t going to have their Social Security check get based on the wages of the undocumented worker rather than properly credited for decades of better-paid sweat and labor?

Now if I, a born and raised American, attempted to misuse another’s Social Security number, there’s a possibility I could be fined and imprisoned – unless I’m misusing the number of a black Republican running for the U.S. Senate. Then I’d get a slap on the wrist; still, that’s more punishment than these lawbreakers would receive.

Personally, I’d prefer we work on tightening up the borders and actually enforcing existing laws on immigration. But all of this “reform” is a result of chasing the possible voting bloc that would be magically given a right that others who went through the process properly wait years to be granted. There may be 10 million, 12 million, or even 25 million illegal immigrants who would be allowed to vote in upcoming elections. But there’s untold millions who would see this travesty and unleash their power at the ballot box at anyone who’s pandered to the illegal influx just to win the next election.

I’m truly hoping that the backlash I spoke of above is only expressed at the ballot box, but I fear some Americans may seek another way to vent their frustrations.

See how much better that reads and sounds? Then again, that’s why I have this blog, because I’ve learned that editors of actual newspapers love to chop up my letters and make them look like origami sans the beauty.

To me, the immigration issue has become like affirmative action. Unfortunately, there’s an attitude in this nation that states that blacks who attain high positions must have gotten them through affirmative action rather than their own hard work. That’s only true in a minority of cases, but the stigma remains. This also holds true with minority “set-asides”, where a few companies have thrived simply by being owned by a minority, not necessarily by doing good work. That’s just like the old axiom that a woman sleeps her way to the top of the corporate ladder – rarely true, but believed by many nonetheless.

And just like I’d like to see affirmative action sunsetted out of existence, I’d like to see the illegal immigrant problem cease too. But to me that would involve enforcing the existing laws against employers, cracking down on Social Security number misuse once it’s found, and helping the Minutemen build their border fence.

It just takes politicians who have cojones. As Rush would say, a little Spanish lingo there. While the term is appropriate, the action is sadly lacking.

May standings report

A day late, but not a dollar short. Here’s the standings report for my teams through tonight’s contests.

With tonight’s loss to Greensboro, the Delmarva Shorebirds are dead even with the Lexington Legends for first place in the South Atlantic League’s North Division. Lexington was rained out tonight, so they’ve at least temporarily lost their standings advantage over the Shorebirds (the Legends had played one more game than Delmarva, so being even in the loss column was to Lexington’s benefit.) But both teams are 31-20, and I’ve found out that Hagerstown is making up tonight’s rainout. So Delmarva has just 17 games left in the half compared to Lexington’s 18. Additionally, Lexington will get a “ringer” in the rotation for at least one start as Roger Clemens will work himself back into shape with his son Kody, already a member of the Legends. (Unfortunately, the elder Clemens will likely be long back in Houston before the Legends return to Perdue Stadium in July.)

So both teams stand at 31-20, but you can’t count out Greensboro or West Virginia, 29-23 and 28-23 respectively. They lurk just a few games back, with 26-26 Lakewood being the dark horse. Hickory, Lake County (who faded from being first at the start of the month), and Hagerstown round out the North field. Meanwhile, the Rome Braves are punishing the South Division.

This month will be a month of transition for Delmarva’s roster. After the amateur draft is held next week, the rookie leagues start up, and it’s likely a few Shorebirds will be sent down to those teams in Bluefield, WV and Aberdeen, MD while our club is possibly receiving some of the higher draft picks deemed ready for A ball. So some guys you’ve come to know over 50 games won’t be here much longer. It just may be the end of the road for a few.

June’s schedule finds Delmarva starting with 4 games here against third-place Greensboro (the first was the 2-0 loss tonight), then taking a brief trip north to face Lakewood for 4 contests. Coming back home, it’s 3 with last-place Hagerstown before 4 home games once again facing Lakewood. The final series before the SAL All-Star break will find the Shorebirds squaring off with the Hagerstown nine over in western Maryland, quite possibly with a playoff berth at stake.

The rest of June has us playing home and away with both Hagerstown and Lake County. Remember, the standings are refreshed at the All-Star break, so these two second-division clubs will have new life in the second half.

By the way, Lexington will have the 4 games with Hagerstown before spending the rest of the half battling Greensboro 6 times and Lake County for 8 games. So don’t count out the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

Moving to the International League and my former hometown, the Toledo Mud Hens continue to scuffle along with a 25-27 record, 6 games and counting behind Indianapolis in the IL North. It’s back to the reality of Toledo baseball after the dream 2005 season, or so it appears. The Indy club has won 5 in a row to open up that lead over the second-place Mud Hens. Louisville and Columbus bring up the rear of that four-team division, but they’re just 2 and 3 games in back of the Hens now. Toledo has one of the better home records in the IL at 17-12 but they have been dreadful on the road.

Coming into June, they began a 32 game stretch against the IL’s East Division. This month they’ll have 4 game sets at Ottawa (current series) and the three New York teams (Buffalo first, then Rochester and Syracuse on the later trip) split up by a pair of 4 game home sets against Ottawa and Syracuse. On the 26th they start a long homestand against Norfolk, Charlotte, and Indianapolis that concludes their home schedule prior to the AAA All-Star Game being held at Fifth Third Field this year. They go into the All-Star break with a trip to Louisville and Indianapolis.

However, the Hens’ parent club is still kicking ass. The Detroit Tigers came back tonight from 5-0 and 6-5 deficits to beat the Yankees and snap a 4-game losing streak. This win puts them right at the 1/3 mark of the season with a 36-18 record, best in the big leagues. (It’s about freakin’ time.)

With the White Sox losing again at Cleveland, the Tigers regain the 2 1/2 game cushion over the Chicago squad, with the Indians sticking 8 1/2 back. The Twins are 11 back at the moment (playing late in Oakland) and the Royals are 21 1/2 games out in early June. The only Achilles’ heel the Tigers seem to have at the moment is their struggles against other good teams. They’re killing the bottom-feeders but are just 1-6 against the Yankees and White Sox (all at home.)

June will see the Tigers playing more good teams, starting with this weekend’s series at home to Boston. then it’s off for a critical three-game set in Chicago with the White Sox before they play their ’80’s archrivals in Toronto for a 3 game series. (I sort of miss them being in our division.) They return home for 4 with Tampa Bay before heading back out on the road to begin a 15 game stretch of interleague play. They’ll tangle for 3 games at Wrigley against the Cubs and up in Milwaukee, return to face the Cardinals and Astros, then end the month by starting a long roadtrip in Pittsburgh. That trip will also send them back out to the west coast (Oakland and Seattle) to wrap up the pre-All Star part of the schedule.

The next standings report will be a wrapup of the Shorebirds’ first half on June 19th. I’ll save the other two clubs for the major league All-Star break in July.

Shorebird of the week 6-1-2006

Shorebirds hurler Brandon Erbe eyes his target during a recent contest.

This week’s SotW is the hard-luck loser from tonight’s contest, Brandon Erbe. He was outdueled by Greensboro’s Aaron Thompson in a 2-0 defeat. But the 2005 3rd round pick who hails from Baltimore did pretty well, giving up just 1 run and 2 hits in 5 innings, with 6 K’s. For the season, his 3-3 record is deceptive as he sports a fine ERA of 2.25 in 48 innings of work. Two hits tonight means he’s given up just 36 hits in that stretch, and should drop his WHIP under 1. (For non-stat geeks, WHIP stands for walks + hits/innings pitched – basically he’s allowing less than 1 runner per inning, which is outstanding.)

It’s a trend he started last year in rookie ball. While he was roughed up in a brief stint with Aberdeen (1-1, 7.71 ERA in 7 innings spread among 3 appearances), he dominated at Bluefield, fanning 48 in just 23 1/3 innings…in other words, 48 of the 70 outs he achieved were strikeouts. Hopefully his fielders didn’t get too bored. As a whole, his 2005 numbers were a 2-2 record and 4.15 ERA in 30 1/3 innings (with 57 strikeouts!) It was enough to get his feet wet at the professional level, as he made just 4 starts.

My guess is the plan for Erbe is to get him to a certain number of innings pitched this year and shut him down. With him barely being 18 (he pitched last season as a minor in the minor leagues, doesn’t turn 19 until Christmas Day) that arm of his is sure to receive plenty of TLC from the Orioles’ brass. Because of his electric stuff, Erbe has a fairly good chance of seeing the Orioles roster before the decade is out. The Shorebirds fans should enjoy each opportunity they get to see him because I think he’ll be up with Frederick next season.

Wicomico County Memorial Day ceremony

Memorial Day is a lot of things: the unofficial kickoff of summer, a day for most to be off work, and another excuse for retailers to have a sale. And as I’ve only been in Maryland since the fall of 2004, this is the second Memorial Day I’ve spent as a Free State resident. But last year I chose to visit my family in Ohio over the holiday so I missed the remembrances here. While it was nice to be with my folks and my brothers enjoying a great cookout, I sort of missed the solemnity associated with the day.

But this year my parents are preparing to retire to Florida so I opted to stay here for the weekend. In years past, I’ve tried to attend some gathering to honor the veterans. Toledo has a Memorial Day parade and ceremony, but generally it’s held the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and sadly attendance is pretty sparse. One thing I didn’t care for regarding the citizens of Toledo was the small attendance at the Memorial Day parade compared to the thousands who participate in and watch the Labor Day parade. Granted, Toledo is a heavily unionized town, but those throngs should make it downtown twice a year, as Memorial Day in my opinion is vastly more important. Without veterans, we would have neither Memorial Day nor Labor Day.

This morning I attended the gathering held at the Wicomico County War Veterans Memorial.

The site of the 2006 Memorial Day ceremony, Salisbury, Maryland.

The theme of the event was a standard: “Never Forget”. With thousands of veterans of World War II and the Korean Conflict dying every year, and the Viet Nam era servicemen advancing toward retirement age, it’s easier for our youth-oriented society to lose track of the sacrifices they made.

Plaques listing those who made the ultimate sacrifice with Wicomico County ties.

The War Memorial was dedicated in 2003.

This is part of the Wicomico County War memorial. As shown above, it was dedicated on Memorial Day of 2003.

Wicomico County Council President Anthony Sarbanes.

Today’s master of ceremonies was Wicomico County Council President Anthony Sarbanes (shown above.) After observing that to date 1,142,655 American men and women had paid their price for the freedom we enjoy today, he introduced Rev. Tom Bunting, who did the invocation, and the National Anthem, sung by Ronny Cheezum.

After the lowering of the colors by the Wicomico County Junior ROTC, the Gold Star Mothers and the Wicomico War Memorial Committee were asked to stand. Sarbanes also mentioned the elected officials that were present (besides himself): District 38A Delegate Page Elmore, Wicomico County Council members Larry Dodd and Gail Bartkovich, and Register of Wills Karen Lemon. Also spied in the crowd was Wicomico County Sheriff candidate Kirk Daugherty.

Maryland Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs James A. Adkins.

We then heard a Proclamation from Governor Ehrlich exhorting Marylanders to set aside some time today to honor and thank our veterans, read by Deputy Secretary James A. Adkins of the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs.

After Adkins finished, we were given a reading of the Air Force, Coast Guard, Army, Navy, and Marine Prayers.

Ed Tattersall reading the names of Wicomico County veterans killed in action since World War I.

Ed Tattersall then read the over 180 names of county veterans who died to defend our land. Most of these are enshrined on the wall shown above, with a few additions becoming necessary due to Operation Iraqi Freedom. At the announcement of each conflict (World War I, World War II, Korean Conflict, etc.) a bell was tolled.

Ringing a bell to honor our fallen servicemen.

The solemn ceremony concluded with Matthew Wallace playing “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes, the volley of arms by American Legion Post 64 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 194, and “Taps” played by Jim Collins. I noticed another photographer on that side of the ceremony (to the left of the stage, I was to the right) so hopefully the Daily Times will record those moments for posterity.

The Reverend J. Harvey Dixon performed the benediction that finalized the half-hour ceremony.

Some of the onlookers at the 2006 Memorial Day service.

The Patriot Guard, present and accounted for.

Fortunately, we had a nice day and a fair-sized gathering that included members of the Patriot Guard. When I pulled up to the Civic Center, I saw a huge number of cars and thought attendance would be such to befit this event, until I realized that the majority of them were here for a weekend wrestling tournament being held inside. There were a few who ventured outside to see the festivities, which was good to see.

But if you do nothing else today, thank a veteran for his service. Then again, if you see one August 18th (or any other day on the calendar), you should do the same.

One other thing I missed, and I’m sure it happens all over Delmarva this weekend, is the tradition of placing small flags at the gravesites of each veteran buried in the local cemetaries. Getting my news of this event from the Daily Times, I didn’t see any sort of volunteer contact to do these honors. Hopefully for Memorial Day 2007 this oversight will be corrected, perhaps through the local blogosphere. I’d be happy to help that cause.

One thousand words per

For those of you who read monoblogue regularly, I’m sure you’re aware that I like to sprinkle photos in where I can – most of these go with my Shorebird of the Week, but there’s others as well. And for those of you who don’t read monoblogue regularly, I think you need to start! It takes a lot of handcrafting to present news and views from Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Anyway, there’s a few limitations I have to endure in order to make the photos work with the blog, the biggest of which is a 500 pixel or so width limitation. This is so my columns work properly, otherwise the formatting is shot. However, I like to take pictures with the maximum resolution I can with my camera, it’s something on the order of 2300 x 1700. It works okay with my Shorebird pictures because my cropping them makes up for distance to subject, but for landscape pictures and such it’s a disaster.

Now I’ve had people tell me about some of the comments I occasionally get from Dan, a fellow blogger (the guy I jokingly refer to as my leftist archnemesis) but one thing he does pretty well is take landscape pictures around his Oregon home and post them on his blog. With my format limitation, I can’t do that so well.

But today I remembered that I have a Flickr page that I’ve pretty much neglected since I started it a few months back. After a little rearrangement, it’s now a page that has some of the shots I’ve taken around the area…most some of those were taken today on a little wandering trip I took down south a piece (Somerset County).

Since I enjoy taking the pictures but they don’t always “fit” on this blog sizewise or subjectwise, I’m going to link it through my blog and those who enjoy photography can see my shots of our scenery. Hope you like them.

Edit: Also I did have a few additional shots of the Memorial Day ceremony above that I’ll post after June 1st. Being a “free” Flickr member, I can only upload so many shots a month.

Signs, signs, everywhere (gang) signs…

Over the last week or so, and culminating in a public forum last Tuesday, the topic du jour on the local blogosphere was the gang problem in Salisbury and how to combat it. Unfortunately, I ended up missing both sides of the Tuesday gang forum presentation due to work and a previous appointment, but I read in Justice For All? here and here that it was a very good presentation.

With that, I became inspired to make a request to my local elected official, who happens to be the famous (or infamous, if you support the so-called “Dream Team”) Debbie Campbell. It went something like this:

Dear Mrs. Campbell:

In the last few days, there’s been quite a bit of discussion about what to do about the problem of gangs in Salisbury. At the same time, you have been one pushing for more accountability in city government, and by extension, those who own or seek to develop property in the city. It’s a sad fact that only about 1/3 of the dwellings in Salisbury are owner-occupied, right now I’m one of those 2/3 who rent.

But with owning property comes responsibility, and I’ve seen a lot of instances (either in person or on local blogs) where gang graffiti (or “tagging”) is allowed to remain untouched on buildings and structures. I know one element (albeit a minor one) of preventing gangs from establishing their “turf” is to paint over these tags and symbols as quickly as possible after they are applied. Further, leaving these symbols sets a bad example for property maintenance in that locality – one tagged house or outbuilding can start bringing a whole neighborhood down and embolden the “wannabe” youths who may become inspired to join up with a local gang.

I’m sure there are ordinances on the books regarding how landlords and other property owners maintain their property. But something I think should be added is a regulation that owners (or their agents) should regularly inspect their properties and eliminate this graffiti as quickly as possible, or after a period of time the city would fix it and charge the owner to do so. (Preferably the owner would take care of it, I know Salisbury’s city employees are already overburdened.)

While I am certainly in the libertarian camp of those who favor as few restrictions as possible on property use, I also find that the current risk to public safety from gangs does outweigh the right of the property owner to use his property as he desires. Something that does not seem to be shown enough in this day and age within Salisbury (and in many other places for that matter) is pride of ownership, and it’s going to take whole neighborhoods to combat this scourge we are facing.

One caveat: I would like to see this ordinance set with a sunset date, but this is only because I believe laws (at least those subservient to the U.S. and Maryland Constitutions) should be revisited periodically in order to determine their appropriateness for the conditions present at the time. Currently I’m of the opinion that such a law is appropriate, hopefully in a decade it may not be required anymore.

Since I’m no student of the law nor do I have a copy of the Salisbury city ordinances handy, I’ll leave it up to you and/or the city’s legal department to properly word what I’m describing as either a new ordinance or as a supplement to an existing one. But I appreciate your taking a few minutes to read my concern and thank you for your service in general.

Sincerely,

Michael Swartz
(address)

I sent this out on Wednesday, so far no response from Debbie Campbell. That’s a bit surprising, I have spoken to her on one other occasion and thought her rather courteous.

That brings me to another topic peripheral to the gang subject. There was this comment on JFA? in regard to a throwaway line Hadley posted endorsing Mike Lewis for Wicomico County Sheriff (clipped verbatim):

I’ll vote for Mike Lewis before I ever vote for major doris who does nothing but campaign at the expense of the citizens of this county. Pretending to be representing the Sheriff’s Office. Righttttttttttttt.

Like I said, I did not attend the gang forum so I have no opportunity to verify this – however, I did listen to the pair of interviews given on Bill Reddish’s WICO radio morning show and read the account in the Daily Times. Nowhere on those accounts was it mentioned that Major Doris was running for sheriff. She certainly had every opportunity to plug her campaign on the two interviews she shared with Dan Daugherty, but in truth she let him do most of the talking. So I’m assuming that at the gang summits, it wasn’t made obvious that she was in the running for the post.

Now I’ll grant that name recognition is a big part of the political game, but could it be that Sheriff Nelms delegated the task of handling the gang summit to Major Schonbrunner? It’s his opinion that she should take over the job when he leaves after this term, so why not give her the responsibility of putting the event together? Makes sense to me, and it ties in with her current administrative position within the office.

I’ve had a couple opportunities to speak with Major Doris for some length, and both times I’ve found her accomodating and willing to answer questions. If anything, I think she’s quite the low-key candidate and far from political.

As I’ve said before, if you think that the Sheriff’s Department is run well, certainly there are candidates from within representing both parties. If you want to shake the place up, again, both parties have at least one person with a law enforcement background that doesn’t involve the current Sheriff’s Department. But whoever wins is going to have to put up with a gang problem that we need to solve as a community.

I demand answers!

A little while back, I detailed that I was sending ten questions to each person running for federal office in our Delmarva region. With a U.S. Senate seat up for grabs in all three states and three House districts touching Delmarva, this worked out to about 33 different recipients, the majority of whom were running for the open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland.

Well, so far I have a total of TWO responses. Now I suppose I’ll be a little bit more forgiving of those folks in Delaware and Virginia, since they may not realize that folks from there do read monoblogue but the bulk of my readership is here in Maryland. Besides, with those seats not being “open” there’s only a small number of candidates involved (6 between the two states.) And I can’t vote for any of them, nor can most of my readers.

However, with those two states I am oh-for-6. If you count U.S. House candidates, it’s 0 for 12. And it’s not like I asked hard questions…maybe a bit detailed but that’s because I want thoughtful responses.

But I can call out those in my state who have refused to answer the Ten Questions. Let’s start with the U.S. Senate race (in alphabetical order, those who have either filed or have a website showing intent to run.) There are 19 people who fall in this category, let’s start with…

Ray Bly. According to what I read, you’ve ran before (unsuccessfully, of course.) So one would think that you’d know if you’re going to have a website, how about constructing the damn thing? I know you’re not spending the time answering my questions, that’s for sure.

Ben Cardin. What a surprise, a Democrat who’s afraid to answer anything but softball questions. Come on, I didn’t ask you about your lifetime ACU rating of 6 or anything like that. If you’re going to have such left-wing views, at least defend them to me and the readers on the Eastern Shore who you’ll likely ask to vote for you in November. I’m giving you the forum…

Earl Gordon. He’s one of two who did respond. The only problem I have is that the man sent me all 47 pages of his platform and I’ll have to actually work to find where he answered my questions!

Thomas Hampton. Who are you? What are you doing here? Actually, I do like your website in one respect: you have an area that says “if you have ten minutes, check out Key Issues first.” How about if you take an hour (if that) and answer my questions? I can bet that you’ll get more traffic with my website and those who will almost certainly link to it than you’re getting now.

James Hutchinson. As far as I know, you have no website. And since you haven’t answered my Ten Questions, why should anyone waste their time determining what sort of candidate you are?

Anthony Jaworski. I swear, some people just like to see their name on the ballot. My friend, you have zero name recognition. Maybe if you put out your views, you might get to more than an asterisk in the polls?

A. Robert Kaufman. Call me a compassionate conservative, but getting the snot beat out of you by an ex-tenant will get you a pass. Continue to recover on the campaign trail.

John Kimble. First of all, I would think that “kimbleforsenate” would be a much more accurate web name than “kimbleforcongress”. Or are you hedging your bets since you haven’t actually filed yet? Either way, you haven’t answered ten simple questions to my or anyone else’s satisfaction.

Allan Lichtman. To be honest, I really wish this guy would answer the Ten Questions, it would likely be interesting reading because he does have a great blog. Maybe there was a staff disagreement on how many paid people it would take to answer them?

Thomas McCaskill. According to your campaign site, you were the “Principal Co-Designer of the Global Positioning System (GPS)”. So you can’t use the excuse that you lost my Ten Questions, can you?

Kweisi Mfume. My questions do not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, gender preference, which side of the bed you got out of this morning, or anything at all. Just honest questions on likely issues you’d face in the Senate that I’ve not received answers to from you to date.

Daniel Muffoletto. There’s something I would love to have you explain to me, and the Ten Questions would go a long way toward doing so: what the hell is a Green Republican? You claim to be one, let the voters know what the difference is in the format I present to all comers.

Josh Rales. From your own website: I also hope you will not hesitate to contact me with your ideas and questions … I want and need your ideas on how we together can achieve the results that Marylanders deserve.

I did. You haven’t answered them yet. As for my ideas, I have this nice little website that I write in once in awhile, it’s www.monoblogue.us.

Dennis Rasmussen. I actually cannot call him out quite yet – due to a snafu, I didn’t get his contact info until about a week after everyone else’s, so he got an extra week. He (or I should say his campaign coordinator) also promised a timely response, so I’m holding you to that Barbara.

Charles Smith. I mailed the Ten Questions to the post office box he shows as an address. Wonder if they are still there? Hope he’s better at answering his mail should he somehow pull off the victory.

Michael Steele. A black conservative Republican. Well, I don’t care if you’re black, white, or purple, what I care about is not ducking the questions I’ve asked of you and all the others who would be running for this office. Why should I support you and not someone else?

Let me tell you, I’m probably asking a lot fairer questions (and the same ones go to all involved) than anyone with the Baltimore Sun is going to ask. Quit being a gutless frontrunner.

Corrogan Vaughn. On your website you claim, “It is about People and Principles and not about Party or Politics! It is all about our citizens!!” No, it’s about answering my questions.

Daniel “Wig Man” Vovak. Responded the next day, way to go.

Kevin Zeese. I did get an e-mail from him saying that these were good questions and lots of work to answer them all. So I’m assuming I’ll have his answers in the next week.

And I’m not quite finished with my venom, I still have an incumbent Congressman and his challenger to contend with. Some would argue that there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the Republicans and Democrats, and in the First District race, given Wayne Gilchrest’s voting record, they just could be right.

But neither of them has bothered to answer my questions. Right now the race stands between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Granted, neither has a primary opponent – but still, the campaign’s already begun and I’m sure the Maryland Democrats would like to push Gilchrest off the Hill.

Now here’s the lessons I’ve learned so far. Number one, coming up with good questions is hard work. I really tried to be as nonpartisan, “just the facts ma’am” as I can muster. I suppose I’ve succeeded when I have two Republicans who have responded and a Democrat and Green who have promised to.

Number two, the internet and blogs still have a long way to go to get respect. If I worked for the MSM I may have gotten more response so far…but does that mean my questions as an average Free State citizen (who happens to pay for server space and maybe has just a bit of writing talent) are less valid then ones from some reporter paid by the MSM? You never know just how far the answers could go, I’ve certainly done my share of linking when I see something appropriate.

Lesson number three is not really a lesson, just something I’ve thought all along but was hoping to be proved wrong. It appears that almost all politicians are gutless. They have a great time with hand-selected crowds and scripted 30 second commercials that show their warm and fuzzy side, but give them honest questions from a constituent (or an interested observer) and they’ll ignore them as best they can.

Of this group, the only one I have met was Michael Steele, and it was a brief handshake and nice to meet you moment. This was back when he announced his campaign in October – no tough questions, a fairly friendly crowd of mostly supporters, and pretty much a scripted event. I’ve been peripherally involved in politics long enough to see a lot of those – the crowd whoops it up in front of the TV cameras, holds up the signs, and you hope to get some face time on the local TV news and/or a glowing article in the local paper. Both major parties and their candidates are involved in these sort of events, so don’t construe this as picking on Michael Steele. (I certainly wouldn’t throw Oreos at him, at any rate.)

So I hope that this is inspiring to people who want to make a difference and decide to toss their hat into the ring. Yes, I’m likely coming across as insulting to some, but I’m quite frustrated with this lack of response – particularly from a lot of people who aren’t raking in the campaign contributions and don’t have the means for a 30 second commercial. Here’s an opportunity to have some free publicity.

As for the so-called frontrunners, aside from the party apparatus thinking they have the best chance to win, what qualifications do they have? If we send you to Washington, what are you going to do for (or to) the citizens of Maryland? I’m not one swayed by 30 second commercials, I want to know their stance on issues.

Despite the mess our electoral process may be this fall, still the majority of votes will be fairly cast by people who I hope vote for their guy (guess I can say that since the one woman dropped out of the race) based on their thinking through “who best represents my interests?” Please, people of Maryland, regardless of who you pull the lever for, let it be out of substance rather than flash.

I’m just a guy trying to help you out. So a little cooperation from those asking for our votes would be greatly appreciated.

Shorebird of the week 5-25-2006

Last year's Orioles first round pick Brandon Snyder is in the midst of his initial full season as a pro.

When you’re a team’s number one pick in the draft, you have a lot of expectations placed upon you. Just less than a year ago, current Shorebird catcher Brandon Snyder drew all that attention as he went from high schooler in Centreville, Virginia to well-paid pro in less than a month.

And Snyder got off to a pretty good start in his pro career, hitting .291 between Bluefield (44 games) and Aberdeen (8 games). He led all of the Orioles rookie leaguers with 41 RBI between the two stops as well.

2006 has been a little bit more of a struggle for the teenager (he’ll not turn 20 until November.) With a recent stint on the disabled list, Snyder’s been limited to playing in just 24 of Delmarva’s 44 games thus far. His lower offensive numbers also reflect the higher level of competition – he’s now playing against guys who are mostly 2 to 4 years older and more experienced. So a .240 average in 96 at bats isn’t terrible, and he’s kept a little bit of power with 3 home runs and 15 RBI to his credit. In fact, he’s the lone Shorebird who has more extra base hits (12) than singles (11).

Honestly I’m not so sure the Orioles are worried about the offense though. A large part of developing a catcher is teaching him to work with the pitchers and call a good game. And I’m certain that, like most catchers, something Snyder takes pride in is the success of the pitching staff. In that instance, Delmarva’s league-leading ERA should give Brandon something to smile at.

Being picked number one generally means you’re on a fast track to the Show. A few of the 2005 picks are already there or on the cusp of that dream. It’s likely going to take a little longer for Brandon Snyder to get there but the Orioles are going to give him every opportunity to grow into an eventual job behind the dish in Camden Yards. Right now they have Ramon Hernandez doing a four-year stint with the Orioles, but I’m sure in the back of their mind they’d like to see Brandon Snyder assume that role by the end of Hernandez’s contract in 2009.

WCRC meeting – May 2006

Tonight I did double duty so this blog post might just read like meeting minutes, all because I compiled them tonight. I think that’s known as secretary pro tem. Basically I was picked because everyone knows I write the blog post on the meetings anyway. And at least two of my fans were there tonight so I’m up late to get this done!

So I think I’ll copy the meeting minutes direct and place my thoughts within…also you don’t need to know some of the goings-on that a secretary has to record, like seconding and such. So here’s the blog version of our meeting this month.

We did the usual Pledge and invocation, approved last month’s minutes, and found out that our booth at the Salisbury Festival was “extremely successful”, the best performance in 6 years. So the treasurer’s report showed we have over twice our May 2005 balance.

As some of you might know, the Lincoln Day dinner for our corner of Maryland is June 9th, and the speaker will be Maryland Secretary of Business and Economic Development Aris Melissaratos. That’s going to make for a busy weekend, since the Lower Shore Women’s Republican Club has a fundraiser the night before and District 38A Delegate Page Elmore has a fundraiser the next night.

We also found out a longtime member is leaving us to be closer to his grandkids – this will open up a seat on the local liquor board.

Several elected officials were present at the meeting (Sonny Bloxom, Worcester County Commissioner, Phillip Gosnell, the “mayor” of Sharptown (his “official” title is different but same function), and both Gail and John Bartkovich (respectively District 3 on County Council and a GOP Central Committeeperson.) Candidates for office present included Bloxom, Jack Lord, and Michael James (all running for Delegate in District 38B); Ron Alessi for County Executive, George Ossman for Orphan’s Court, and Doris Schonbrunner for Sheriff. If Bonnie Luna had shown we would’ve been 4 for 4 in that 38B race.

At that point, the meeting was turned over to the featured speaker, Michael James. He certainly has made his presence known in the race:

Michael James's sign at Perdue Stadium.

It’s an eyecatching place for a sign if nothing else – figure 200,000 people will go to games this season, and maybe 40,000 to 60,000 will be eligible district voters. And the season works out almost perfectly for the campaign – it’s over just before our primary on September 12 (unless the Shorebirds go deep into the playoffs.)

He is one of those four GOP candidates vying for the two seats representing District 38B, which covers all of Worcester County and the eastern half of Wicomico County. It’s nicely gerrymandered in that I literally live on the edge of the district, one of the few Salisbury city residents to do so. The way the D’s and the courts set this county up as far as delegates go is completely nuts.

James first stressed the reasons why he was running: he cares about the issues, the time was perfect for him to run on a personal level, and he felt that the district was being “poorly represented” by Norm Conway and the late Bennett Bozman. In further remarks regarding Delegate Conway, James noted that Conway “votes how he’s told” and is “fighting for the union bosses” rather than fighting for Perdue employees, for example.

He continued by stating the current delegates voted for higher taxes, against Jessica’s Law (mandatory sentencing for sex offenders), and voted in 1997 to give away $250 million to Baltimore City Schools without any accountability – yet when the state wanted to take over the schools because of poor test results, Bozman and Conway voted against that. In a nutshell, James told the group that our delegates voted with Baltimore City, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County more than they did the Eastern Shore. Those areas are among the “bluest” in Maryland (Kerry carried Montgomery County by 65 points as I recall) whereas we on the Eastern Shore are among the “red” areas along with the state’s western panhandle.

To put it in short terms, James said he stood for common sense, individual responsibility, and smaller government.

Two questions were asked: on who he’d prefer as a Democrat opponent, James was more interested in seeing a contested primary. I’m all for that anyway as a rule, let the voters decide rather than the party bosses (of whatever stripe) in Annapolis. Tonight was supposed to be the night the Worcester County D’s decided on a caretaker for the seat, but the final decision rests with Governor Ehrlich. On slot machines, James favored slots at the horse racing tracks, but with the exception of Ocean Downs. Because of the contentious slots issue, there was a rumor about a year ago that the Ocean Downs track would be moved out of that area and into a more receptive area for slots, either Pocomoke or Snow Hill (can’t recall which, but it would stay in Worcester County – just farther from the “family” vacation spot of Ocean City.)

James did add that he has connections in Salisbury as he graduated from the then Salisbury State University and his first general managing job was at the Sheraton here in town. He also has family members who hail from this area. To conclude, he said that he wanted his children to be able to get jobs here on the Eastern Shore, and the “Wal-Mart vote was a defining moment for me” to run for the job.

Hey, it was a defining moment for this blog too, so it’s not just him!

Then it was back to business for a bit. We had the appeal for members to upgrade their membership to the status of Elephant Club members. Also, there are two openings on the county Board of Education coming this June.

I noted this a few posts back (since I was there), but it was announced to the club tonight that as part of the spring GOP convention, it was decided that the counties of the Eastern Shore will have its own vice chair in the party apparatus. Of course, Wicomico County would like to forward a candidate for that post. I think we are the largest of the 9 Eastern Shore counties, so I’d say we should get the post.

Personally, I think they may need to split the Eastern Shore up into a northern and southern half, and get a sixth vice chair. But it may be population-wise we are the smallest group anyway.

There is no Wicomico County chairman for the Steele senatorial campaign. I know this got mentioned last month, and it seems like it’s hard to get people to step up for that. I already did the leadership thing once and found out I’m a better Indian than chief.

Ellen Andrews, who is also the county chair of the Ehrlich re-election campaign, then had a short presentation on the petition for referendum regarding the early voting acts passed by the General Assembly in 2005, with Governor Ehrlich’s veto being overriden in the 2006 session. About 52,000 signatures statewide are required to place this on the ballot, the goal for our county is 1,100 – currently they are at 178. As stated awhile back, I did indeed sign the petition, and I have two in my possession for additional signees.

Andrews also announced Governor Ehrlich’s campaign would sponsor a night with the Shorebirds on Saturday, July 1st. The $4 per person price includes the game ticket and an Ehrlich T-shirt. The plan is to sit in one section and show a mass of support. That’s actually a pretty good deal, I can do that.

I have one caveat though. Through the years, I have worked on several campaigns and thus have gotten candidate t-shirts. I think I’ve had 7 or 8, and so far the candidates I’ve had shirts for are 0-fer. It makes me feel like Bob Shrum must feel – granted all of these elections were in Toledo, and that city is at least 2-1 Democrat.

We also found out that the state board of elections told our county board that early voting was on regardless of the referendum (which means Linda Lamone is full of crap since I can tell you where the Board of Elections site says otherwise) and the county should be ready for 2,000 early voters a day. (My guess is that the poor inner-city Baltimore folks will have a nice bus trip to Ocean City during “second season”, with a few stops along the way. Just fill out your provisional ballots like this.) Also noted was that the GOP had gained 30 voters in the last month, while the Democrats had a net loss of 2.

The speaker next month will be County Executive candidate Bob Culver. I think we’re now down to a few “major” candidates who we haven’t heard from – we’re departing from what I’m told is custom and having summer meetings this year, that way we can hear from all who want to speak up. So the next few months should be interesting, especially if I have to take notes like I did tonight!

The image worked!

Finally, I found a way to have the title look as I want, all in about a half hour’s work, and four different photos of the image that I originally printed up. Actually the lighting worked out really nice. So the site is coming around to the way I REALLY want it to look. Wasn’t real crazy about the tan colors at first, but it’s grown on me.

I think I’m going to drop about 2/3 of the Amazon ads as well, and maybe go with about 3 or 4 – maybe one with music, the rest with books and “stuff”. Probably change up the art.com sidebar too – it’s time for a bit of a makeover. Also I think I’m going to shorten the pages up some so that maybe it’s only the last 6-8 posts that are shown. It’s because I seem to have “regular” readers and I bet they would rather not scroll down half a mile to read the “Gaggle” cartoon. (Does anyone read that? I think it’s generally pretty funny.) I have at least two local candidates who have told me they read monoblogue, and I’m sure others do too. (Those stealth readers.)

Finally, I left a comment in a comment box a couple posts back but to place it on the main page: I finally found out how to eliminate that annoying problem with the comment box being a mile wide, at least for Microsoft IE. Have no idea if it works for other platforms but Mr. Gates will be happy should he care to comment. I’d like to see a bit more participation…for whatever reason, the spam commenters have decided to cut me some slack for the moment.

Now if I could get more responses to my “Ten Questions”, life would be grand. (Actually, if people would begin to click on my ads and buy stuff, and paying advertisers would knock on my door, it would be cherries and cream – don’t like peaches.) But I’m also thinking of doing that TQ concept on a more local scale later on, and I think that will work out better (hint hint). However, if the initial sendoff for the U.S. Senate doesn’t start showing results, it’s gonna get ugly because I am going to call them out as gutless (and I will name names.)

I know my website doesn’t have a huge number of readers like LGF or Powerline but I don’t focus on national issues either, except to the extent that they may affect the Eastern Shore and Delmarva in general. That’s where my reader base is from by and large. And like I said to each candidate, the internet is such that something I say could be put up worldwide. Fellow Maryland blogger Soccer Dad thought the ten questions were a good idea, so somebody approved.

What I’ve not been able to figure out is why there’s such a great disparity between my “hit rate” and my other stat counter. The hit rate on monoblogue will likely cross the 20,000 barrier this month, it was just under 15,000 as of 5 p.m. yesterday, and anything over 20,000 would be a new high. There were days this week I cracked the 1,000 hit barrier for the first time. But readership is a lot less on my other counter, it’s in the 200-250 per week range. This week should be a new high water mark in that regard, or at least close.

I suppose the hit rate is pumped up somewhat just by me posting, checking the michael@monoblogue.us mailbox, and messing around with the templates and such (which doesn’t count on my other site meter), but I’m not doing more than a few hundred of these in a month – nowhere near 20,000.

One thing that I wonder about as the state of the local blogosphere goes: what’s up with Delmarva Dealings? They haven’t posted in awhile! Hope things are all good with Publius and that cabal.

Brings me to close with an interesting thought I had while sitting at last night’s Shorebird victory. I wonder if any other Delmarva bloggers would like a group outing? We read each other’s stuff but wouldn’t know it if we bumped into one another on the street. (If you’re at a Shorebirds game and see a guy in a Detroit Tigers cap, yep, that’s me. I have fun at the games, particularly on opposing batter strikeouts.)

Longer post than what I expected, but it’s all good. Look for these and other changes coming soon.