It’s backing coveted by many mainstream and TEA Party candidates, but this afternoon upstart Republican candidate for Governor Brian Murphy announced his bid had received the blessing of former VP hopeful Sarah Palin.
“I’m honored to endorse Brian Murphy for Governor of Maryland. Brian is a pro-life, pro-Second Amendment commonsense conservative and a firm believer in the free market and the cause for energy independence.
(continued on my Examiner.com page…)
Yes, you get pictures with this one!
First of all, can you tell it’s election season?
After the Lord’s Prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, minutes, and treasurer’s report was read it was time for the main attraction of the evening – candidate for Governor Brian Murphy. It was before a packed house.
Murphy described a childhood spent being both rich and poor, with a public school education and much of the time spent on the Eastern Shore (in fact, Brian graduated from Easton High School.) After going to the University of Maryland in College Park and spending one summer working in the World Trade Center as an intern, Brian went to work for Constellation Energy.
“I love talking about deregulation,” he said. But noting that the system was set up by lawyers and politicians, he asked, “why am I the only one surprised when it failed?”
After his stint at Constellation, Brian went into business for himself and started the Smith Island Cake Company. Now boasting 21 employees, Murphy claimed, “we created jobs where there were no jobs,” and made the point that, “no government can create a job.” (Sadly, he did not bring samples.) Right now, we don’t compete with Delaware, Brian continued, and there are “no answers” coming from either Annapolis or Washington, D.C.
Turning to a criticism of the budget, Brian recounted that his GOP opponent, Bob Ehrlich, raised the budget 28 percent during his term while Martin O’Malley tried the opposite tactic of raising taxes. “Our budget is broken,” said Brian, “We can’t afford more taxes.” Yet, “no one thought (the budget) was important enough to fix,” Murphy noted. And why is government “invincible?”
And while Ehrlich, “didn’t keep a lot of promises to the base,” Brian said that we can and should easily be able to compete with other states. Being Governor of Maryland “is like cheating…the deck is stacked in our favor” because of the natural and cultural advantages we enjoy.
Brian called running mate Mike Ryman “Kojak without a lollipop” and touted Mike’s experiences as a Marine officer and for the FBI as an asset in rooting out waste.
I also didn’t know that Brian was once a Democrat but like many others “I got evicted” when the party turned radically leftward.
He concluded his remarks by saying, “I’m not here for a career. I’m here for my kids.”
Murphy was kind enough to take questions. Asked about the Arizona SB1070 law, Brian stated his support for the law and touted his endorsement from Frederick County Sheriff Charles Jenkins, but also warned, “I will not tolerate racism.”
I asked him how he could work around the vast amount of our budget tied up in various funds. “Democrats don’t control the purse (if I’m elected),” Brian fired back, and “unfunded mandates are an excuse.” True, Maryland has an executive budget and we’ve already seen a, “duct tape and baling wire” budget as Murphy termed it. One thing I didn’t know is that Maryland has the largest Gross State Product in the country.
On stopping frivolous lawsuits, Brian conceded that, “I can’t make bills” but would promise to use his veto pen on bad ones. (Actually, bills can be introduced on the Governor’s behalf.)
The final question he took was on eliminating the state’s Department of Education. Brian stopped short of advocating its elimination but also opined, “money is not the problem, so money isn’t the solution.” Under his administration, “bad programs don’t get dollars.” He finished by taking a swipe at his two opponents, saying that because they’re lawyers, “I wouldn’t trust those two to run my bakery.”
Before he left, though, he stopped for a quick picture with District 38A hopeful Julie Brewington.
Ironically enough, our next speaker was a lawyer and will have Kendel Ehrlich speak at an upcoming fundraiser. John Phoebus took pains to proclaim he was a “Republican lawyer” who made sure to study the local small businesses he represented. His experience as a small-town attorney would “carry over well in Annapolis.”
While he was excited to be in the District 38A race, he was sorry that it was under the circumstances of Page Elmore’s illness and eventual death. Phoebus called Elmore a “great example” and a “strong voice” for Somerset County.
In some respects, though, Phoebus echoed the statements of Murphy, claiming Maryland was in a “bad position” to compete due to our tax structure. John would work to repeal the O’Malley sales tax increase and eliminate both the corporate tax and “millionaire’s tax.” “(The) anti-business climate needs to change” in Maryland, said Phoebus.
He concluded by touting his, “true conservative values…(that) government should be limited.”
Like Murphy, John answered a few questions.
But the first one, which asked about term limits, may have betrayed those conservative values. Speaking of the need to establish seniority, Phoebus said term limits could be enforced at the ballot box so they were not needed.
He did better on the issue of tort reform, where he thought laws should be set up to encourage mediation and perhaps a modified form of “loser pays” based on Canadian legal rules.
But when asked about a state exclusion from Obamacare, John said “I don’t know enough” about the proposal for a yes or no answer.
A question about the assessment process revealed John’s thought that the assessment process was “out of touch” with the real estate market, with rates, “going up like a rocket but down like a feather.” He thought he could support a cap on assessments but not a revenue cap.
Naturally, the follow-up question was posed about a revenue cap repeal, to which Phoebus responded would be best left up to local voters and not dictated from Annapolis.
Even after two somewhat lengthy speakers, we weren’t done yet. District 38A Delegate Carolyn Elmore, Page’s widow, rose to thank us for the outpouring of well wishes and support. She also proclaimed that, “maybe I’m a lame duck (since she’s not running for a full term) but I can quack loudly.”
Woody Willing repeated his call for silent auction items for the August 28 Crab Feast.
Mark Biehl gave the Lower Shore Young Republican report. The state candidate forum held earlier this month was plagued by low attendance but they would try again anyway August 11 with county candidates. They also have a hog roast coming up September 11 at Leonard Mill Park.
In his Central Committee report, John Bartkovich talked about all the “great candidates” the local GOP has and exhorted us all to help them. He was “most excited” about District 37A hopeful Dustin Mills, who was one of a dozen or more local officeseekers in attendance.
Marc Kilmer related that we will need volunteer assistance in cleaning out the former Hollywood Video location, which will become our local headquarters early next month. The lease was signed yesterday.
Mark McIver gave the report for Bob Ehrlich’s campaign, which will be hosting a fundraiser on August 1st at Palmer Gillis’s Ocean City home.
Ed Nelson, speaking on behalf of Andy Harris, introduced his youth coordinator Daryl Ann Dunigan. She will be working with Eastern Shore college students.
Joe Collins reminded those gathered the local AFP chapter will meet on July 28. Featured speaker will be District 38 Senate candidate Michael James.
Joe Ollinger asked us to put a fundraiser on the calendar, to be held September 22.
Finally, good news from longtime Republican Blan Harcum, who is on the mend and “will see us soon” after a stint in the hospital and subsequent rehabilitation.
The next meeting will be August 23rd and feature the remaining candidates from District 38A: Julie Brewington, John Cannon, and Charles Otto. We may also have the four hopefuls from District 38B.
A Western Maryland blogger and TEA Party activist raises some good questions about Bob Ehrlich (h/t Blue Ridge Forum).
While the TEA Party movement locally may be slowly fading away as a vehicle of protest (no July 4th TEA Party was scheduled in Salisbury this year and attendance at April’s event was disappointingly low) there’s still that simmering resentment at party politics in general and the GOP in particular.
It’s expressed in an undercurrent of backlash among certain conservative voters against Bob Ehrlich and Eric Wargotz, who are perceived by them as the “establishment” Republican candidates. Instead, they’re gravitating toward upstart Brian Murphy in the GOP primary for governor as Murphy doesn’t seem to be ashamed of having conservative views. The same goes for Jim Rutledge (and perhaps one or two others on a lesser scale) for the U.S. Senate nod.
The problem for Republicans is that they have a group who’s been proven willing to fight for goals they believe in, but may be put off by the more centrist candidates. Many TEA Partiers (including myself) draw their inspiration from Ronald Reagan, who was thought by the conventional wisdom and many in blueblood country club Republican circles to be unelectable. They had their way in 1976 and their choice (President Ford) lost the election.
But then 1980 came along and their candidate (George H.W. Bush) lost the nomination to Reagan, who as we know blew out President Carter in the election. When Bush was elected in 1988 on Reagan’s coattails, he caved to the centrists – “read my lips,” anyone? – and lost to Bill Clinton. That happened in part because H. Ross Perot, who was more appealing to conservatives, ran on the Reform Party ticket. (Hey, I voted for him in 1992 as well. But I talked my ex-spouse out of voting for Clinton into voting for him so it was a wash.)
I know many of you see this as ancient history, but there are a lot of people around my age who fondly remember the Reagan years and wonder what happened to that America. I know I do.
Right now, as far as our economy goes, we are in a situation not unlike the situation 28 years ago in which Reagan found himself – high unemployment and a stagnant economy. But with Reagan we were on the upswing from the dismal Carter years and beginning about 1983 we began a roaring era of prosperity. I wouldn’t bet on that given the current administration and their economic prescriptions.
So people are pretty upset – mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore. But the perception has been cleverly placed in people’s minds that the GOP was to blame for the current economic situation. Perhaps they’re right, but it wasn’t conservative economic policies which put us into this malaise – instead it was catering to centrists and liberals who thought only government could dig us out of the hole.
And TEA Party participants believe this as well, so a centrist Republican may say all the right things but not everyone will buy what they’re selling. Once the ballot is set, I’ll be the guy asking the questions.
While it’s not quite “one for you, nineteen for me” yet here in Maryland, one perception among business owners who remain in the state after the last four years of being battered by a sluggish economy and government less than friendly to their interests is that taxes are simply too high.
GOP frontrunner Bob Ehrlich already promised his effort to repeal the one penny per dollar increase in the state sales tax adopted in 2007 while Libertarian Susan Gaztanaga pledges to phase the sales tax out entirely over 8 years, but fellow Republican contestant Brian Murphy is going farther down the anti-tax road.
In a series of press releases this month, Murphy has challenged his two main opponents to refrain from raising taxes, vowed to cap property tax rate increases, and revealed a plan to eliminate the corporate income tax entirely. Taken at face value, one would be led to assume that Murphy would also have to make deep cuts in Maryland’s budget.
(continued on my Examiner.com page…)
As a means of showing contrast between he and his opponent this works well, but I’m not sure this is the race to bring up the subject in much more of a meaningful way than this post. Brian Murphy is pro-life while opponent Bob Ehrlich – eh, not so much.
Maryland’s inadequate regulation of abortion facilities may have contributed to the death (of a young woman from a botched procedure.) Murphy has affirmed his commitment to improve the regulations of abortion facilities to ensure women receive the best possible care. “As the only pro-life candidate for governor of Maryland, I have significant philosophical differences with my opponents, Bob Ehrlich and Martin O’Malley. But I like to think we can all agree that the obvious lack of adequate regulation of Maryland abortion facilities is a disservice to women,” said Murphy.
“It has been said that abortions should be, ‘safe, legal and rare,'” said Murphy. “In Maryland, where abortions are legal, we have no way to know if they are also safe and rare. We must ensure that abortion statistics are made available to the public, while also preserving patient confidentiality. And we must hold abortion facilities accountable for the health of the women they serve. Incidents such as this must be investigated, and Maryland women must be protected,” said Murphy.
Obviously abortion should be one of those state’s rights issues, but the problem lies with the Supreme Court not having the opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade and returning the battleground issue to its proper venue. It’s sure enough that if Murphy wins and can somehow convince a Democratic-controlled General Assembly to pass these laws that they would end up in court and at the mercy of whether a judge is tolerant of the legislature’s right to enact laws or wants to play activist.
Yet it’s not like Brian isn’t pragmatic about the situation here in Maryland – he’s nowhere near taking a step like other states and restricting the act of abortion itself. All he’s proposing is accountability and reporting requirements; then again, it’s more than any other candidate for governor is backing and certainly should bring cheer to Maryland’s pro-life community.
As I detailed yesterday, Brian Murphy wasn’t pleased with the Maryland GOP taking sides in the race for Governor. Last week it was revealed that the leadership of the Maryland Republican Party that represents the party at the national level allowed the waiver of the Republican National Committee’s Rule 11, giving consent to the Republican National Commitee for providing assistance to Murphy’s opponent Bob Ehrlich as well as First District Congressional candidate Andy Harris prior to the September 14 primary.
Today I got a copy of Murphy’s letter to Audrey Scott, Chair of the MDGOP, and one of the more scathing paragraphs is worth passing along.
(continued on my Examiner.com page…)
The “other” candidate in Maryland’s Republican primary for governor doesn’t mince words when describing his feelings toward the decision to waive a national Republican Party rule and allow the national GOP to inject money into the Maryland governor’s race.
“The national mood is anti-big government, anti-tax and spend, and anti-incumbent. So what does the Maryland GOP do? They back someone who has a record of being pro-big government, pro-taxes and pro-spending. Are they tone deaf? Do they not sense the mood of the country? If there has ever been a time for a fiscal conservative to win in Maryland, this is it.”
Murphy continued, “Maryland needs to get its fiscal house in order, and we can’t afford to let this opportunity slip away. Voters deserve choices. Isn’t that the point of a primary? Ehrlich and I disagree on nearly everything, and all I’m asking for is an open debate on the issues.”
(continued on my Examiner.com page…)
You know, it’s really hard to be stuck indoors at a convention in a place with a view like this.
Yep, it was a little windy Friday afternoon when I shot that brief video. This was prior to the first of four seminars I attended as the event was billed as a training convention. Now, because of a scheduling conflict I had to miss the Executive Committee meeting but Kim and I did arrive in time to enjoy the hospitality of various candidate suites – in truth, the partying spilled onto the Princess Royale’s pool deck.
One Senate candidate made the most of his presence there, festooning the venue with signage. It began with this creative use of bumper stickers.
Several balconies had Wargotz’s signage, so it was a good thing Eric had a special one by his suite.
Governor Gary Johnson led the state of New Mexico from 1995-2003, winning an election as an outsider who was told he had little chance of winning (it was his first electoral contest.) Here’s Eric and Gary together – it’s one of two pictures I took (the other will likely be on his campaign site sometime soon.)
I’ll come back to Johnson later. In the meantime, it’s worth noting that fellow U.S. Senate hopeful Jim Rutledge also had a presence there, with a table near the registration desk.
Rutledge did come down on Saturday to meet and greet conventiongoers.
But if the MDGOP was anticipating a lot of revenue from table rental, they had to be sorely disappointed. Aside from Rutledge and the debut of Americans for Limited Government as a presence, not much was to be found on the tables.
This table on Friday night showed the undercurrent of competition.
As I mentioned earlier, part of the idea behind this convention was to conduct training for Central Committee members. I sat in on four seminars: voter vault training, new media, treasurer’s training, and a panel discussion led by Audrey Scott and featuring General Assembly members Delegate Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio and Senators David Brinkley, Nancy Jacobs, and Allan Kittleman. Of the four that was the most interesting, but I learned something new at each and I suppose that was the intent.
I think I’m going to treat the panel discussion as a separate post because a lot of interesting statements were uttered. So let’s skip to lunch and its two guest speakers.
Being introduced by GOP Chair Audrey Scott, who said “we need Bob back to make this a business-friendly state,” Ehrlich pretty much stuck to his stock speech. Most of us knew that “Maryland has been good to us” and “the last grudge match I had was in middle school.”
To Bob, “progress” in Martin O’Malley’s terms was a higher unemployment rate, 3,000 fewer businesses, increases in sales and business taxes, a so-called “living wage,” and gifts to Big Labor – all in all, a poor business climate is O’Malley’s legacy. “You don’t raise taxes on the producers,” said the former governor.
Annapolis is “never out of excuses,” continued Ehrlich, who also said that for us, jobs are “real” and not a “talking point” as they are for O’Malley. The “worst-kept secret” of a second O’Malley term would be the “monumental tax increase awaiting us.” It’s the “politics of getting over” – getting over the next year or the next election. His biggest disappointment was dealing with the schools in Baltimore (and then-Mayor O’Malley) – he accused the Democrats of not stepping up “because it was inconvenient” for them to. Never mind the kids sentenced to a below-grade education.
Addressing the TEA Party movement – a movement which “is serious” – there’s “no doubt” this “pro-opportunity” group wil help us.
While there’s little doubt that everyone in the room supports Ehrlich against O’Malley, I would’ve liked to hear from another man present – Brian Murphy.
We’re not supposed to endorse candidates pre-primary, but by all appearances the Maryland GOP has placed its lot for better or worse behind Bob Ehrlich. Yes, it can be argued that Murphy has little chance but at least he put his name on the line while someone was dithering about which race to run in – if he would run at all. I think we owed him the opportunity to speak, or else be neutral in the race and find a different keynote speaker.
The other speaker isn’t officially running for anything – at least not yet. While the list of current and former governors perhaps seeking the 2012 GOP presidential nomination is long, should Gary Johnson decide to do so we’ll have a pretty good idea of where he stands thanks to his Our America website alluded to above on Eric Wargotz’s sign.
Johnson related his experience as an entrepreneur and being told he “can’t come from outside politics to be elected” to statewide office. But he succeeded by putting “issues first and politics last.”
Perhaps his most noteworthy achievement in two terms as governor was vetoing 750 bills. He used the example of a bill to mandate pets in a store be exercised 2 hours a day, 3 days a week – who would police such a law?
That streak of libertarian thought extended to issues which were received well, like our lack of fiscal conservatism naturally leading to inflation, the “next shoe to drop” being state pension funds, and noting “I was hoping for free-market reform” on health care.
Other issues, though, may have fallen somewhat flat with those gathered, such as taking a “hard look” at the War on Drugs and “squandering our military might” on Iraq and Afghanistan. Regarding drug laws, Johnson noted that 1.8 million are arrested for drug crimes each year and 90% of that is prohibition-related rather than use-related. Instead, we should look at nations like Holland and Portugal and adopt “harm-reduction strategies.”
Gary was definitely thought-provoking, though, and may fit in as a second-tier participant should he begin the process of seeking the GOP’s highest nomination.
After lunch we got down to brass tacks and began the convention proper with Chair Audrey Scott presiding.
I must say, though, this may have been the absolute worst hall I’ve ever sat in for this sort of gathering.
I truly felt sorry for the guests who had to sit in the back, far away from the stage. You can’t tell by the picture but our group was fairly far back; we sat at the outside corner where the room narrowed.
With those surroundings, even Andy Harris didn’t fire up the troops as he could have in nicer circumstances.
Harris did wax eloquent about “taking America back” and stopping the “systematic dismantling of the American Dream” by the “gang in Washington.” To them, electing Scott Brown was “not (a) loud enough message” because they passed Obamacare anyway.
One big flaw with Obamacare Harris elaborated on was that hospitals were unwilling to make new investments because of the uncertainty. “It’s about time Congress admits its mistake (and) repeals health care,” Andy said. Another red meat comment: “when it comes to taxes, we should be the party of ‘hell no’!”
Checking in with the usual reports were our National Committeewoman, Joyce Lyons Terhes, who opined, “Michael Steele is doing an excellent job,” and that, “America is being dismantled before our very eyes.” National Committeeman Louis Pope added that our national fundraising was “right on target” and “the TEA Party is us.” The Republican National Committee is predicting a 30-60 seat House gain and 29 or 30 governorships after this election.
In her Chairman’s Report, Audrey Scott claimed that the “party was in disarray” when she took over but she’d improved both communication and finances during her brief tenure. The recent town hall meetings had gone well “beyond her wildest expectations” and she revealed that a paid Maryland Democratic Party staffer was following her during the latter stages of the tour, recording her every remark. (There was no Democratic staffer at her Wicomico stop. I’m bummed.)
An exciting upcoming event was the annual Red, White, and Blue Dinner, which will feature Mitt Romney as guest speaker.
Yet I have an editorial comment. What was the problem these big donors had with Jim Pelura? They could have opened up their wallets just as easily then and saved the party a lot of headache. Jim must not have been the fair-haired boy they wanted I guess.
Other than that, the business at hand went more or less routinely. Three of us from Wicomico County and another from Montgomery County objected to the adoption of the rules – in my case I suggested to Audrey beforehand that the “compromise” voting system be voted on separately (as they were last fall) and when they did not I objected. So there’s four people who “get it.”
But since the only resolution was to allow the Teenage Republicans a seat at the Executive Committee table the rules were no big deal. Most disappointing was the Voting Committee – who was charged with studying the issue and suggesting a solution – punting the voting system issue down the road. Their excuse this time was that an outgoing convention shouldn’t dictate rules for the next year. Well then, I guess we should rewrite the bylaws every four years then, shouldn’t we? (Actually we did a major revision this term – we just didn’t resolve the voting issue or properly adopt the worthwhile idea of regional chairs. That’s another issue the powers-that-be will find excuses to ignore for another term.)
Okay, my rant is over. For the first time that I recall, the Young Republicans didn’t have a hospitality suite on Friday night. Instead, they capitalized on current events for this idea to bridge the gap between the convention and dinner.
Speaking of dinner, I wasn’t sure about the speaker but political consultant David Winston turned out to be interesting to a numbers freak like myself.
Some of his findings:
Finally, our annual awards for 2009 were given out and we were pleasantly surprised!
Obviously we won one award and as I recall we nominated Matt for his award for his work as head of the Salisbury University College Republicans. Here are the award winners with Chair Audrey Scott.
So I don’t have a completely bitter taste in my mouth for the event. It just looks like the work won’t stop on November 2nd – when I’m reelected to the Central Committee and after we beat the Democrats like a rented mule it will be time to push for much-needed reform for the MDGOP.
Bob Ehrlich surprised a group in Pikesville this morning by telling a questioner at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast that a Senate run against Barbara Mikulski was still “in the mix.”
That news may come as a shock should Ehrlich follow through with a Senate campaign, especially to a group of eleven people: the seven candidates who are already running for the Republican nomination to unseat the four-term incumbent (leading the way are Carmen Amedori, Jim Rutledge, and Eric Wargotz), the three men who explored but dropped out of the GOP race for governor (Mike Pappas, Larry Hogan, and Delegate Pat McDonough), and Brian Murphy, who might have the GOP nod handed to him as the only other active candidate seeking the Republican nomination for governor.
(for more visit my Examiner.com site…)
