Tag: Montgomery County

Ten Question Tuesday: January 8, 2013

Welcome to the debut of my newest feature, Ten Question Tuesday. This interview segment may or may not feature exactly ten questions, but the intent is to learn a little more about those personalities who help shape local and national politics.

Today’s guest needs no introduction to Maryland Republicans. Dan Bongino survived a ten-man Republican primary to easily win the U.S. Senate nomination last April and ran a spirited race against incumbent U.S. Senator Ben Cardin. The entry of independent candidate Rob Sobhani altered the race and blunted Bongino’s momentum; still, as we discuss here there were a lot of lessons to learn and useful information to be gathered for future GOP efforts in Maryland.

**********

monoblogue: The first thing I want to know is: have you even rested since the election?

Bongino: (laughs) For about four hours or so. The day after the election there’s always that feeling of, ah, you lost. There are no silver medals in politics – although there are different degrees of success and failure, of course – there is only one Senate seat and only one person sitting in it. It wasn’t me, and I felt like we worked really hard. But I didn’t take any time off…I had a workout the next day, which was something I wasn’t able to do on a regular schedule during the campaign which kind of cleared my head. My wife begged me at that point to take some time (yet) I don’t think there’s any time to take. This isn’t the time for pity, this is the time to find out what went wrong and fix it. So I haven’t taken any time – I’ve got a number of different things I’m working on right now; it’s a pretty extensive list.

monoblogue: I noticed you have a consulting business; in fact, when I arranged the interview I went through Karla (Graham) and she’s one of your (consulting firm’s) employees.

Bongino: Yeah, I think the consulting business…it was obviously slow, intentionally, during the campaign, because I just didn’t have any time to take it on. So there were things I could do and things I couldn’t do; I immersed myself completely in the campaign. That’s now picked up pretty well for me, we jumped right back in on that.

But we have a PAC we’re starting. Contrary to some rumors spread by some within the party who I think are more aligned with political positioning rather than political philosophy, my campaign didn’t finish anywhere close to in the red. We were actually cash-positive by a significant margin – well over $60,000 and it’s coming in more by the day. You don’t want to finish a campaign cash-positive – or cash-negative – but with us, we were relying on donations. I wasn’t Rob Sobhani, who funded it with my own money, or Ben Cardin, who had a steady stream of donations due to 45 years in politics. I had to rely on the money as it came in, and toward the end, the last four months we were out-raising Sobhani and Cardin combined by really heavy margins. We did not want to run a fiscally irresponsible campaign like our government, so we budgeted our money to be responsible – to ensure we had enough to pay our salaries at the end, to pay off the printing company, the internet management company…it’s like running a business. It came in so heavy in the last week that I think we would up with roughly $70,000 left over, which we’re going to use to fund Republican causes. It’s one of those initiatives now as well.

monoblogue: So basically you’ve become the Bongino PAC.

Bongino: Yeah, you can call it the pro-growth alliance, because it’s going to be a very targeted PAC. Everybody understands I’m a conservative – I don’t think that’s a mystery to anyone – but I want the PAC to focus exclusively on job growth and the economy. I’ve said all along the Republican Party, in my opinion, we don’t have a messaging problem – we have a marketing problem. I could not be clearer on that.

Our message, when you think about it, the President of the United States ran on our message. “I want to cut the deficit and control spending…I’m only going to raise taxes on people who won’t get hurt by it.” These are all messages that the Republican Party uses, that the President stole. Of course, he was disingenuous about it, but it just accentuates my point further that our message won a long time ago. We have a very serious marketing problem, and we have what I perceive in Maryland to be a lack of a short- and long-term plan politically.

When you ask some in the party “what’s the plan going forward?” like you would ask in a business “how will you launch this new product line?”…a business runs on three simple principles: how do you find new products for your markets, new markets for your products, and how do you shut down inefficiencies in your business. You can apply those principles to any business on the planet, including politics. Now we have to find out how we get our message to new markets, because we’re not reaching black voters, we’re not reaching Hispanic voters…I would debate we’re not reaching Montgomery County or Baltimore City voters at all, and we have to do that.

monoblogue: Well, here’s the one thing that I’ve noticed, and this has been true of almost any race statewide since I moved here, and I’ve been here since 2004. We seem to have a barrier of 40% we just can’t break, and the question is: if you have a message that sells, how come we can’t break the 40% barrier? What is the deal where you can’t swing the extra 10 percent plus one over to our side?

Bongino: I see it strategically, there’s a number of problems…it’s a big question. I’ll be talking about this at the MDCAN as well. There is no plan…let me give you an example because it’s easy to say that… Here’s some things we’ve been doing wrong with the swing voters.

The Democratic Party, despite literally a decade with Governor O’Malley – we’re closing in on the end of his term (and) ten years of really consistent monopolized Democratic rule – and I would debate even in the Ehrlich administration as well, and that’s not a knock on Ehrlich; I’ll explain that in a second – that’s nothing to do with him. (Despite the) monopolistic Democratic rule, the Democratic Party in Maryland has managed to out-register voters in contrast to the Republican Party, 400,000 to 100,000. How is that? How is that with BRAC, people moving into the state, frustration with the bag tax in Montgomery County, frustration with the income tax just about all over the state, frustration with the bottle tax in Baltimore City, that we as a Republican Party have had no consolidated effort to register voters at all?

And if you dispute that, I ask you where you saw the plan? Where did you read the blueprint on how to register voters? Now, there are counties out there that are doing a fantastic job, but there is no statewide…St. Mary’s County as an example. Carroll County registered five times as many Republicans than the Democrats have registered Democrats. Harford County, three times. I use St. Mary’s as the blueprint; they doubled the number of registrations compared to Democrats because it was a very consolidated, targeted, guided effort by the Central Committee and the clubs to get a mission done, which they accomplished. So that’s problem number one, registration.

The second problem: we’ve absolutely forfeited the black and Hispanic vote. I’ll give you an example from my campaign: I had actual donors – very few, but some donors – they asked me to not attempt to spend a lot of time in those places, deeming it a “lost cause.” Now they’d been beaten up there before with candidates who’ve gone down there to communities we should be in, and the results just haven’t been there. But that’s not an excuse to give up; because we haven’t found the right formula doesn’t mean we stop searching for the potion. Forfeiting the black and Hispanic vote is political suicide.

monoblogue: I completely agree. And that’s one thing that I know, we’ve paid lip service to that for years and I’ve been in the Republican Party here since 2006. Now there’s one other aspect I wanted to get into, and maybe it kind of goes in with your role as an outsider, but I want to back my readers up to the first time you and I met.

We first met when you came to our Republican club meeting down here in Wicomico County in the summer of 2011, and you brought (2010 gubernatorial candidate) Brian Murphy with you, which immediately piqued my interest because I was a Brian Murphy supporter in that primary.

Bongino: Right.

monoblogue: So given that as a starting point, the other portion of the question is: did that help you…how did it help you raise a national profile? I know Sarah Palin came into Brian Murphy’s campaign at a late date and endorsed him and that probably at least put him on the map – and I noticed she did the same thing with you. There seems to be a linkage between you and Palin because I just happened to hear a little podcast you did on a very Palin-friendly website. Obviously you’ve used Sarah Palin and people like that to build more of a national profile than any other Republican candidate in Maryland…I would say that even Bob Ehrlich doesn’t have nearly the national profile that you do. So how do we leverage that?

Bongino: Money, media, and volunteers are a campaign, so the question is how do you leverage a national profile, which is really just name recognition nationally. How do you leverage that to getting media, to getting extra money into the campaign, into getting volunteers? I think we did that quite well. A lot of…some insiders on both sides took shots at us afterward…saying we’d lost by a good and healthy margin. But I don’t think anybody took into account was the successful operation we’d put together considering we were only funded, really for the last four months, to finish second out of three candidates despite being outspent by a factor of almost 20:1.

Now we did that by using the national profile, and what I think is important and is an operation that has largely been lost on some of us – quite a few Republicans in the state – is a mastery of the media message. I think what our campaign did – and this isn’t me trumpeting my campaign on any kind of pedestal, I’m just speaking to the fact we got a lot of national media – we were very careful to manage the message. We understood the ideas that had punch, and Karla and I had what we called the “hook” – what was an angle to put Maryland on the map, to put this Senate race on the map? In some cases it was my Secret Service experience as a federal agent commenting on “Fast and Furious.” There were other cases, there were scandals, and unfortunately those scandals, I thought, took on a life of their own – Colombia scandal of course – but there was an opportunity there to defend an agency that I loved being a part of. I thought they were getting a bum rap – there were a few bad eggs and I didn’t appreciate that, so we took an opportunity there to defend the Service, that certainly helped.

Here’s a thing a lot of folks forget as well, and it’s one of the most important points here; the most salient that I can take out of this – when you get an opportunity to get in front of a national audience, whether it’s on Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity multiple times – you have to be interesting. Not sensational, not scandalous – interesting. You have to say things that give people a reason to listen, or else you’re just another voice coming out of their car radio. And I was very careful to come in there very prepared about what I wanted to say and what I wanted to speak, so that then led to more media. Media begats more media, it is a virtuous cycle. When we did Hannity, then we went to Beck. When we did Beck, we went to Levin. When we did Levin, we would get on Fox.

monoblogue: It established credibility.

Bongino: Yes, and you get into a cycle, and then the contacts start to see you as a reliable, exciting guest that brings energy to the show and I think we did twelve or thirteen different appearances on Hannity. If you’re interesting, not only does that begat more media but that begats donors. Those donors…the way I would leverage that is if you donated $25 after I did an appearance on Hannity, I’d call you. Sometimes I’d spent half an hour on the phone with people, talking about issues that mattered to them – they weren’t even Maryland citizens. But those $25 donors became $250 donors, who became $1,000 donors, who despite the poll numbers continued to support me. Someone sent me an e-mail, as a matter of fact – I don’t think he wants me to give up his name, but he’s an out-of-state donor – who started very small and wound up donating a substantial amount of money to my campaign. He said, “I’m not investing in the Maryland Senate race, I’m investing in you.” And that’s how we built a database of over 20,000 donors. That’s a substantial list, a very credible list – nationally speaking, not just in Maryland.

And finally, volunteers. When you’re on television and radio it’s an obvious force multiplier. In the case of the Hannity show during drive time you’re speaking to 14 million people. I would always get out the website and we would get people on the mailing list, which grew into 10,000-plus names and 3,000 volunteers. And I would make sure with the volunteers – and I encourage other candidates to do this as well – your volunteers don’t work for you, they work with you. That’s not a soundbite; you have to act that way and portray that on your campaign.

When I would ask volunteers to show up for a sign wave, which a lot of people didn’t like the approach, they have no idea what went on in the back end. We would sign wave, and I had consultants who had never won anything telling me, yeah, that’s a waste of time. What they didn’t understand was, on the back end of our website I could analyze how many people went to our website after we’d go to a neighborhood and sign wave with twenty or thirty people – the exponential growth in volume in donors, volunteers, and traffic to our website was usually singularly located to that area I was the day before sign waving. But the genius consultants didn’t know any of that. I’m glad they don’t because they recommend other people don’t do it.

…I would show up with the volunteers, this was a really hot summer. We had something like a month straight of 90-degree weather; I’d show up there in my suit and I would stand out there an hour and a half, breathing in smog in Montgomery County, waving at cars as they came by with the volunteers who understood that it wasn’t just talk. I would talk, I would ask them about their families and how things were going, and it became a family atmosphere where it wasn’t just banter…that’s how we did that, leverage that whole model into something I think very special.

monoblogue: I think you would be a very good speaker on just getting media attention, and how to be interesting in front of the media. That’s something a lot of our candidates could use because we’re trying to get elected here. We have a message, but we need – that is the missing link. It’s hard to be interesting to people sometimes – it’s not always my strong point either.

Bongino: I’ve been watching a lot of our locals; some are very good and some of them I’ve watched, I think there’s a tendency to speak to a canned soundbite with the fear that, if you get off this script, you’re going to say something you don’t want to say. I would say if that’s the case you shouldn’t do media – you shouldn’t. You can win without it, you can do print interviews, but – not to knock him now – Rob Sobhani was the perfect example. I mean, Rob Sobhani essentially stopped doing serious live interviews at the end because every time he got on the air he would say something ridiculous – you know, the famous “I hit the jackpot” quote…the DREAM Act, he would say four or five different things, sometimes not realizing that obviously these interviews were going to be broadcast and cataloged and people would catch him on it – you have to go out there and be confident you’ve done your homework and you’re ready to go.

monoblogue: Here’s one thing… I’m curious about this, and I know I’ve seen media about this since the election. (Regarding) 2014, and I know – I’ve been in politics long enough to know you don’t want to rule anything out or commit to anything at this point. But is there something that you would not necessarily rule out, but you would favor as far as an office to run for?

Bongino: I’ve got a list together that a couple of trusted confidantes on the campaign and I are going through – best options, worst options, me being a business mind and a rational maximizer like any good economist would be – do a cost/benefit on each and a cost/benefit’s not just for me, but it’s for the party. I’ve said over and over that I don’t want to run for something that I think would be good for me but bad for the party; I think that would be hypocritical. But, yeah, there’s a number of things I’m looking at – I mean, I don’t think it’s any secret that the Governor’s race, the (Anne Arundel) County Executive race, there’s some other options out there as well that I’ve been considering. And there’s also the option of not doing anything electorally but staying involved in the process through the PAC. I’m writing now for Watchdog Wire, and I do pieces on RedState that are getting some really good traction, so there’s that possibility as well.

I really don’t know, but I’m going through the numbers and at the presentation at MDCAN I’m doing I’m going to be very deliberate, too, about what needs to get done numbers-wise because I don’t know if some of the candidates running now for some of these positions understand how difficult a statewide race is going to be. Not unwinnable – I ain’t never believed in that, and I believe in fighting the fight – but a statewide race in Maryland right now is going to be very, very tough, and it’s going to require a lot of money, a significant media profile that can bypass our local media, and a number of volunteers that is just going to be absolutely unprecedented.

monoblogue: Well, that makes sense because there is not a big, broad base of experience in the Maryland Republican Party on how to win a statewide race. The only person that’s done it in the last 40 years is Bob Ehrlich, and he lost two of them after he won one. So he’s not exactly got a great track record, either.

Bongino: Right. And one of the more disturbing aspects – and I’m not talking to the candidates we have now for governor, I’m talking about some others…you look at the Rumsfeld book, the “known knowns,” “known unknowns,” and “unknown unknowns” – the unknown unknowns are always the most dangerous thing because you don’t even know what you don’t know. I was very aware of that when I ran, I had no political resume and was very careful to start slowly. That’s why I got in so early, because I knew there were intra-county dynamics, there were party dynamics, and I wanted to be careful to avoid any significant controversies that would derail a campaign.

I’ve spoken to some who just don’t seem to understand that there are things going on in the state that they’re just completely not aware of…I’ll give you an example: I was at an event, one of them, it was in Montgomery County, and a woman walked in who was a very prominent, active Montgomery County Republican – donor, hosts events, is a terrific person – and he looked at me and said, “who’s that?” And I thought to myself, “wow, that’s not a good sign.” (laughs) It was one person, and I’m certainly not going to extrapolate too much from it, but that’s not the first time that happened.

I’ll bring up some specific county dynamics – the compressor in Myersville, that was a big deal. Water contamination on the Eastern Shore; I didn’t know about that, (it’s a) big deal. SB236 hurting the farmers: (another) big deal. The fact (some candidates aren’t aware) that there are farms in southern Maryland: a big deal…The fact in Calvert County, we have some struggles getting votes in Waldorf. These are things that a statewide candidate – you’re not going to have time anymore to learn this. I mean, I was two years out and I didn’t have a primary. These are things I’m more than happy – even if I decide to run, it’s not in my interest for any of my primary opponents to do poorly at all. I would be more than happy to share this information, and I mean that. I’m looking to do what’s best…if I did decide to run I know I can win on my merits and I don’t need to win by hoarding information. There’s just so much going on around the state and it’s not like Oklahoma (where) there’s just really a breadbasket of issues and that’s about it. Maryland is not like that; there are very regional problems; natural gas in western Maryland. These are all very important things and they need to know it all.

monoblogue: It’s not exactly “one Maryland” like our governor likes to claim.

Bongino: No, it’s not.

monoblogue: That’s a good place to wrap this up. I appreciate the time!

**********

Honestly, I could have spent another hour on the phone and there were other items I didn’t check off my list. But this lengthy read will have to do for now. Perhaps when Dan makes up his mind about 2014, I can arrange a return visit.

Next week’s guest will be Jonathan Bydlak, who heads the Coalition to Reduce Spending. It’s a recent addition to the advocacy groups which inhabit Washington, but professes a more unique angle and focus on their pet issue. Look for it next Tuesday.

More convention fallout

In the nearly 48 hours since I put my two part convention coverage to bed, there has been quite a bit of interesting reaction to what I wrote and the events of the confab in general. Much of it emanated from the left side of the political spectrum, including a ‘progressive’ blogger from Maine with his take on the Brent Littlefield incident I related.

Gerald Weinand, who writes the website called Dirigo Blue, sniffled in his e-mail to me that:

I assume that you understand that it’s not difficult to “infiltrate” a twitter stream – you simply have to use the hashtag everyone else is using. And since the one used by the Maine Dems for their convention last June had been advertised at the #mepolitics hashtag, both Brent Littlefield and Jason Savage would have seen #MeDemConvo.

Here is my write up of Littlefield’s little game with Gov. O’Malley. Feel free to cross post it at your blog, or link to it. I think you’ll find that O’Malley handled it very well indeed.

Well, Gerald, you have your link and I know enough about Twitter to be somewhat conversant in the lingo. But if you consider O’Malley spitting out angrily that Maine Governor Paul LePage “worship(s) the false idol of tax cuts” as “handled it very well,” please continue to exist in your dream world. Hijacking a Twitter thread is quite fun, and certainly the Democrats in attendance didn’t handle it so well if you believe Brent Littlefield.

In reading the comments on Dirigo Blue, the one which pined for Maryland to annex Maine got me to thinking: we’ll trade you governors in a heartbeat and even throw in a few members of the General Assembly to be named later, like when I wrap up the monoblogue Accountability Project.

Another Maryland leader who was the subject of some speculation was Alex Mooney, Chair of the Maryland GOP. While the effort to oust him got nowhere despite those who thought he should resign, one guy who may have a little egg on his face is another liberal blogger, David Moon of Maryland Juice.

Just prior to the convention Moon ran with a story which told anyone who bothered to listen that Montgomery County GOP chair Mark Uncapher was seeking the top spot if Mooney were to leave via a no-confidence vote (like Jim Pelura did three years ago). When that didn’t happen, Moon blamed the source:

In the comments below, Mark Uncapher denies that he is seeking to displace Alex Mooney. Our source may be full of it, or perhaps the mission may be aborted. We may never know.

Yet the most interesting parlor game may be figuring out the “Deep Throat” who passed the information on to David Moon. As he describes the “anonymous source” and how the allegation came to light:

In a private conference call with Frederick and Howard County Republicans and Audrey Scott, Mark Uncapher said he wanted the state chairman job. I was at the meeting.

Of course, that story could be the most crimson of herrings but it’s intriguing someone is willing to put that sort of dirt out on our side, is it not?

Yet one thing I found odd and a departure from recent convention history: this time Montgomery County wasn’t the center of attention. Instead it was a county 1/10 the size which captured the bulk of the unrest in the proceedings.

Whether it’s because I find the politics in Cecil County so interesting or because I get to hear so much about it from friends and fans, Cecil County receives a fair amount of attention on this website. We all now know that newly inaugurated Cecil County Executive Tari Moore changed her political party to unaffiliated, leading to a resolution being placed before the state GOP convention and eventually tabled. One take on this move was to foil the “Smipkins” (i.e. allies of District 36 Delegate Mike Smigiel and District 36 Senator and Senate Minority Leader E.J. Pipkin) who control the Cecil County Republican Central Committee – had Moore stayed a Republican they would have selected the list she would choose her successor from and insured a struggle to enact her agenda, according to writer Nancy Schwerzler.

But the other side of the story was presented by Cecil County Council member (and primary foe of Tari Moore) Diana Broomell, who wrote on her personal website:

Tari Moore’s move to renounce the Republican Party in order to hijack control of the new Cecil County Council insures special interests will now effectively control both the Executive and Council side of our new Charter form of government.  Where are the checks and balances if the County Executive controls both the Legislative and Executive side of government?

Diana was also kind enough to share some of her background and respond to a post I did several months ago on the Cecil County primary.

Perhaps it’s time for Cecil County Republicans to remember the 80 percent rule. As long as you can agree with Tari Moore (or, conversely, with the “Smipkins”) 80 percent of the time, the chances are pretty good that a conservative agenda is being furthered because they probably both would work toward the same ends on most issues. Yet given the choice between E.J. Pipkin and Andy Harris (as this battle by proxy played out) I think I would tend to favor Andy’s side of things because over time Harris has proven to be more conservative.

But Cecil County residents have an advantage very few other Maryland residents do: for the moment, they are represented almost entirely by Republicans. There aren’t many places as solidly in the GOP camp as Cecil, so they need to set an example for the rest of us. Leave the petty power struggles to the other party – while the results can be painful in the end, it’s still a lot of fun watching them get it wrong time after time.

2012 Maryland GOP Fall Convention in pictures and text (part 1)

Yes, this puppy is going to need to be a two-parter because I have photos a-plenty.

I can start with the first thing I did after checking in and getting a little freshened up: the host county had their reception for arrivals.

There were also advertisements for the evening to come.

I’ve often wondered what guests who happen to be here for other purposes think about all of these advertisements – and how many of them drop in for the free food and drink, sort of like wedding crashers.

Previously I have characterized the conventions after an electoral loss (which have happened all too frequently in Maryland) as wakes. But this one had a little less bitterness and a little more of a hopeful tone to it after we admitted our side indeed took a shellacking. After all, as Andy Harris noted during a surprise appearance at the Executive Committee meeting Friday evening, “we have to remember where we were three years ago.”

Of course, when Harris said that “we’re going to expose the President for what he is…he doesn’t get it,” I had the thought those of us who already knew that couldn’t get the message through the thick skulls (or entitlement-addled psyches) of the voting public. But we carried on and Harris stated unequivocally, “I’m going to hold firm – no new taxes,” adding that “Democrats are the ones who tax the middle class.”

Andy’s closing message was that we needed to lay the groundwork for 2014.

On the other hand, MDGOP Chair Alex Mooney knew we had a lot of grievances to go around. “Be prepared for a long meeting,” he warned Executive Committee attendees. “These things need to be aired out.” As it turned out, I’m told their affair lasted almost three hours.

Yet Mooney echoed what we all knew: “It was a disappointing year top to bottom.” For example, he “never thought in a million years” Question 6 would pass, but it did. We have to “look hard to ballot questions” in the future, Mooney continued.

But Alex also looked ahead to 2014 opportunities.

Both National Committeewoman Nicolee Ambrose and National Committeeman Louis Pope spoke before the group. While Ambrose chose to defer most of her report, which was to assess the success of the “Super Saturday” program this fall, to the general meeting Saturday afternoon, Pope bluntly called the time since the election “a tough 3 1/2 weeks.” Yet he also snapped back at critics who questioned his role at the national convention, saying there are “some factions (that) continually want to divide us.” Fighting among ourselves throws us off track, said Louis.

He also reminded us about an upcoming event at this very facility: the Reagan Presidential Ball on February 9, 2013. “One thing this party needs is fundraisers to be solvent,” Pope concluded.

It was then time for committee reports, and the unrest began from the youth.

Brian Griffiths of the Maryland Young Republicans gave us a rundown of what the MDYRs had done within the state during this election cycle before tartly noting, “I wish the officers and others would make that effort.” That was in reference to several MDGOP-sponsored bus trips to Ohio and Virginia. I happen to agree with Brian, particularly in hindsight.

Equally critical was the College Republicans’ Fiona Moodie, who saw a “vast disconnect” between the College Republicans and the main party message.

A few county Chairs were also more critical of the 2012 effort than others. In announcing he was stepping down on December 31, John McCullough of Dorchester County told us that we have one of two choices: either we target (and change) the media, Hollywood, and the schools or “we let everything collapse and we rebuild on the other side.” Preparing his young family for whatever hits the fan was more important than being part of the MDGOP at this time, said John.

Sandy Terpeluk of Kent County was impressed by the effort to get the ballot initiatives to the voters via petition, but agreed with Brian Griffiths that we should have stayed home and made more of an effort to defeat O’Malley’s laws. Her message was that we need more of an organization for these types of ballot issues.

After the county chairs gave their reports, the meeting moved into closed session and I went to see just what was going on. Turf Valley has perhaps the best room ever for an Executive Committee meeting, since it was set up like a college classroom and I could have easily liveblogged it had I known, but it had perhaps the worst setup for hospitality suites since they were in two different parts of the facility. To get from one side to the other, you had to return to the lobby and get to the other elevator.

Since I had to go back to my room to drop off a few items, I started on my side of the facility and dropped in on Maryland’s leading elected Republican.

Andy looked very relaxed, don’t you think? I stopped by his first because he wasn’t staying too late. But he had some scrumptious desserts as always.

Another guy with dessert was Delegate Tony McConkey, whose suite had plenty of Hostess products. On this I’m going to use a photo taken by my good friend Maria Ialacci since for some reason mine didn’t come out – camera issues.

But perhaps the liveliest pair of suites on that side of the facility were the ones hosted by Strategic Victory Consulting and the Montgomery County GOP. Since I ended up returning there to wrap up my long evening, my narrative will work back to those because, in the meantime, on the other side of the Turf Valley hotel, there were also dueling rooms let by two candidates for Governor.

Blaine Young had an entire ballroom, complete with finger food and open bar. At last I had something good and substantial to eat.

I thanked Blaine for my time on his show, but the room was crowded with a number of people who believed his more conservative message was the right way to go in 2014.

On the other hand, David Craig’s hospitality suite was more modest and featured…hotdogs.

I actually don’t recall speaking to David while there. Someone else there was trying to ply me with spiked snowballs, which with a liberal dosage of vodka and cherry flavoring were actually not too bad.

The nascent Charles Lollar draft effort seemed to have an insignificant presence at Turf Valley and, as Joe Steffen of Global Rhetoric writes, Larry Hogan’s Change Maryland group was conspicuous in its absence this time.

In his assessment Steffen also relays his dealings with 2012 U.S. Senate candidate Dan Bongino, who I ran into going between sides of the building. He was nice enough to pose with my fellow blogger (and Bongino worker) Jackie Wellfonder.

Once I got upstairs I came across a group trying to flex its political muscles at Turf Valley. This was the dual suite of the Maryland Liberty PAC.

Their message and fundraising choices were obvious: pro-liberty is the way to go.

You may have noticed the podium in the first picture. The idea behind the suite was to feature a number of pro-liberty speakers (including Dr. Greg Belcher from here in Wicomico County); alas, I arrived too late to hear any of the speakers. In fact, I would have to say their party was dying out as I tardily showed up.

But two things I noticed about the hangers-on: they weren’t all familiar faces I was used to seeing at MDGOP conventions and most of them were rather young. I’m not a great judge of age but I would peg the average age of those I saw at about 25 to 30. These were the activists who were energized by the message of Ron Paul and may have felt betrayed by the actions of the national Republican Party. While they returned this time, I would be wary about losing their support once again.

Whether that was the “disconnect” Fiona Moodie of the College Republicans spoke out on or not, the fact I heard a few people disparagingly speak about the “Ron Paul people” as I was going from place to place shows that there’s still a clique mentality in our party rather than the “big tent” philosophy we try to sell.

As I talked about earlier, there were a different group of younger Republicans working their best efforts at political capitalism. One lively suite belonged to Strategic Victory Consulting, and the hook was an addictive purple drink they called the SVC. They also had elephant-shaped food.

The SVC suite had some interesting people and props; in the background of this picture you can see the professional photography setup.

In my first go-round through the suite the online Red Maryland Radio Network was doing a live broadcast. From behind the bed and clockwise were Andrew Langer, Greg Kline, guest Hillary Pennington, and Brian Griffiths (standing.) Hillary Pennington and fellow SVC leader Kristen Shields also do their own online radio show called Purple Elephant Politics, so I’m thinking Hillary knows the drill.

Those photography props made for interesting pictures later on.

From left to right in this one are Julianne Grim, Ryan Miner, Kristen Shields, and aforementioned blogger Joe Steffen (aka the ‘Prince of Darkness’ during the Ehrlich era. Thanks to him and Hillary Pennington for setting me straight on names and faces – definitely not my strong suit in most cases and really bad after a couple concoctions.)

The other rocking suite was the Montgomery County Republicans’ one next door.

They had karaoke going on, and we found out Anne Arundel County Councilman Jerry Walker and National Committeewoman Nicolee Ambrose can sing – in this case, the duet ‘Summer Nights’ from ‘Grease.’

Me? I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. And by the time I had ate, drank, been merry, collected a few business cards, found a few of my fans, and spoken to a whole host of people at and around the various convention suites and lobbies, it was getting past 2 in the morning. So I was finally off to bed in order to try and be up for breakfast and what promised to be an interesting convention proper.

You’ll find out my observations about Saturday in Part 2 tomorrow.

Taking a waiver off the table

To me, this is a confusing request Rick Pollitt has made. In a letter released today, he told the state to not bother giving Wicomico County a Maintenance of Effort waiver for the next budget year:

Wicomico County Executive Richard M. Pollitt, Jr., announced today that he has notified the Maryland State Board of Education that he is withdrawing the county’s application for a waiver of the Maintenance of Effort (M.O.E.) standard for funding public education for Fiscal Year 2012. Pollitt was to lead a Wicomico County delegation to Baltimore to appeal to the State Board for a waiver on May 24, but the withdrawal negates that presentation. Wicomico is the last of the six counties that initially filed for the waiver to take this action.

In a letter to the State Board, Pollitt said, “Withdrawal of the requested waiver does not indicate that Wicomico County will reach the M.O.E. level of funding in the next fiscal year. In fact, it will not.”

Under normal circumstances, if a county funds its local school system to the level designated as Maintenance of Effort, it receives millions of dollars in new State aid. However, as a reflection of the current state of the economy, no additional State funds are at risk next year for failure to meet M.O.E.

Pollitt noted that there is currently a legal challenge involving the Montgomery County Board of Education and their county government where the Board claims that M.O.E. is mandatory upon the counties and the only way to avoid funding M.O.E. is through the waiver process. “We, along with the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo), are watching that case with a great deal of concern as a ruling favorable to the Montgomery Board could be devastating to county fiscal policy. I believe the major risk to failing M.O.E. is the loss of additional State money. With no new money at stake, the exercise is moot.”

Recently, the Wicomico County Board of Education, by a tie vote, declined to endorse the county’s application for the waiver. Pollitt noted without the support of the local educational community, gaining the waiver would have been unlikely. Pollitt was successful in receiving a waiver last year but then had the support of the local school system.

Pollitt concluded, “providing adequate funding for the superior education of our young people is the most serious challenge we face. While I deeply believe that most Maryland jurisdictions have a strong commitment to do the right thing for our children; the precarious state of the economy, further exacerbated by an antiquated system of public school funding, points to a troubled future for local school funding and I have called on the State Board of Education to join with MACo, local boards of education and the Maryland General Assembly to work vigorously to develop a better plan for funding public schools.”

I suppose I can see the point if the question is moot, but it can’t be determined whether the point is moot until the court decides the Montgomery County case, can it? Perhaps leaving the request in may have been a better move. Sure, there’s no state money at stake – for now.

But more interesting to me is the tie vote at the Board of Education. Since there are seven members of the board, my question is who abstained, who voted to seek the waiver, and who voted against the deal. All I know is that it was a 3-3-1 split.

So apparently our ball is in the court of the court deciding the Montgomery County case. If things don’t go Wicomico’s way we may have another fiscal emergency come up later this year as the county scrambles to cut other areas to feed the beast that is our Board of Education.

Update: I’m told the three “no” votes were Don Fitzgerald, Ron Willey, and Michelle Wright, with Robin Holloway abstaining.

The glove picked up

We didn’t want a war, but I guess we’re going to get one anyway:

The Maryland State Republican Party on May 7th, 2011 adopted a new voting formula for party business under which counties with a combined population of 200,000 people can outvote counties with 2.5 million people.

Under this new voting formula adopted by the state party at its Spring Convention in Ocean City:

  • Anne Arundel, with 28 times the Republicans as Kent County now only has only 4.5 times the vote for party business as Kent.
  • Baltimore County, with 30 times Republicans as Kent County, now only has only 4 times the vote for party business of Kent.
  • Prince George’s, with 12 times the Republicans as Kent County, now has only has only 1.6 times the vote for party business of Kent.

The change continues the state party’s retreat toward focusing only on the state’s few majority Republican areas.

This is only the latest example of a continuing phenomenon.  Last year the state party leadership declined to run a candidate for Attorney General.  Before that, a prior State Party Chair undermined our Republican legislative leaders with his feud over legislative policy and strategy.

Montgomery Republicans reject this strategy of retreat.  We believe that marginalizing Maryland Republicans only to more rural areas just makes Martin O’Malley’s, Mike Busch’s and Mike Miller’s fondest dreams come true.

Out of necessity the Montgomery County Republican party will follow its own distinct, separate course.  We can do this because of the long standing strong support of our Republican donors and activists, which we appreciate.

Montgomery Republicans are committed to presenting voters with a conservative governing alternative based on a belief in personal responsibility, faith in free markets and support for limited government.  We will continue to build the organizational infrastructure to support candidates who advance these views.

Montgomery Republicans will also continue to work with other Maryland Republicans who share our commitment to a competitive statewide Maryland Republican Party.  These include the Republican House Caucus Slate Committee and many in jurisdictions such as Baltimore City, Carroll and Prince Georges.

Mark Uncapher,
Chairman, Montgomery County Republican Party

So Mark still hasn’t gotten over his defeat, which tends to pick on Kent County as they are the smallest county in Maryland. Personally, I was happy to see the Kent County Republican Party reborn and fully represented at the convention for the first time in my memory (never mind the additional kudos for their thinking outside the box and having Brian Murphy speak at their Lincoln Day Dinner.) And I can say that even though Kent County voted completely against my motion to have the change in the threshold required to bring up and pass bylaw changes become its own separate discussion – despite my best efforts to argue the point since they were sitting directly behind us. On that front, Montgomery County was a key ally on my side, as were Prince George’s, Carroll, Dorchester, Garrett, and Howard counties.

But Mark is still in the wrong, particularly when not everyone in his own county has an equal vote on the Central Committee.

It’s worthy of note that he didn’t cite his own county’s case. Consider he had a resolution passed a couple conventions ago, back when the voting controvery started, expanding his county’s delegation to the maximum 48 members allowed. While the extra bodies and help may have been useful during the 2010 election, the sad truth is that MoCo was happy with 19 Central Committee members and its huge voting share until it was discovered that the former LCD voting system that gave them their massive advantage (because votes were distributed proportionally based solely on the number of registered voters) was only being used because no one had thought to challenge the rule allowing it. Thanks to Jim Pelura and his selections to the Rules Committee for that fateful convention a couple years back, the LCD voting system – which was loathed by the small counties because of the insignificant role they were allotted in party affairs – was scrapped because we challenged the old way of doing business. Of course, MoCo was fine with doing things as they’d always been done, even as it risked a mutiny by the smallest dozen or so counties.

Speaking strictly in terms of our county’s self-interest, the idea of one person, one vote in party affairs works out as pretty much of a wash as far as we are concerned – we end up with 9 of what potentially could be an even 300 total members in attendance this fall once Caroline County expands to a nine-member Central Committee later this year. (For all intents and purposes, we end up with 3% of the vote from either calculation.) Looking at this at a regional level, the Eastern Shore counties could conceivably vote as a bloc and control exactly 1/4 of the vote; a total of 75.

By the way, with respect to the complaint Mark Uncapher cites, that ‘1 person, 1 vote’ formula would be similarly disproportionate in terms of population in our case since we on the Shore are less than 1/10 of the state’s total population – but MoCo was fine with that particular disparity because they would hold the largest share as a single county.

The biggest advantage to the formula voted on at the convention, and more importantly inscribed into our bylaws, is that the largest county has no more than 4.5 times the pull of the smallest. It forces counties to work together for common goals and makes it possible that those seeking office outside the center of the state have a chance. (I think the best indication of this will come when we vote for the 10 at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention in Tampa. The Eastern Shore could well vote as a bloc and send several of those ten – hint, hint.)

When there’s such a target-rich environment of Democratic foibles out there and a significant array of good choices running for both the Oval Office and against the seven dwarfs Maryland has up for re-election next year – they’re better known as Ben Cardin and Maryland’s six Democratic members of Congress – I fail to understand why some continue to fight this battle. We on this side of the Bay were kicked around for several years on the regional chairs concept and voting reform, but when the rubber met the road we did our share for the Maryland Republican Party. Ask Andy Harris and Mike McDermott how they like their new seats (and ask Jim Mathias if he liked pretending to be to the right of Ronald Reagan during campaign season. It wasn’t the devil that made him do it.)

I can guarantee one thing, though. There’s a very good reason that most of the state voted against Montgomery County – even when it wasn’t in their interest in doing so. Frankly, we are tired of arguing about voting.

We gave the old set of bylaws three years before attempting to tinker with it, so why not leave the voting system go for awhile and see how things shake out? There was some serious business left on the table after our powwow because we took much of the time arguing about voting, so why not free that time up in the next go-round?

Perhaps the next shakeup should come in the Montgomery County Republican Party. I daresay it’s fortunate that the so-called ‘star chamber’ didn’t pass muster in this convention because we may have seen its first use once Mark Uncapher went public with his complaints.

Elected officials discussion a highlight of convention

On Saturday morning some of us who attended the MDGOP Spring Convention got to hear a quartet of our state’s elected GOP officials review some of the maelstrom that is Maryland politics; in order of appearance it was Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold (pictured at podium,) Harford County Executive David Craig (right at table,) Senate Minority Leader Nancy Jacobs (center at table,) and Minority Leader in the House of Delegates, Tony O’Donnell (left at table.)

John Leopold began his remarks by commending President Obama for his role in Osama bin Laden’s untimely demise, but noted President Bush had a “key role” as well. And, even though Obama’s fortunes will be buoyed by the killing of bin Laden, the “lingering flu” of the economy will be the number one issue in 2012. “The Republcan nomination is worth having,” contended Leopold.

John is well-known for his hardline stance against illegal immigration in Anne Arundel County, and he believed the fight over in-state tuition for illegals could be “an enormously helpful issue” for the party. “Democrats don’t understand illegal means illegal,” Leopold stated.

But, in looking at another issue near and dear to Marylanders’ hearts, Leopold stated his belief that the economy and environment “are not mutually exclusive” as issues. There was a balance to be found.

In the case of David Craig, his remarks looked at items on the county level, as they dealt heavily with the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO for short.) While MACO is “supposed to be a nonpartisan organization,” the reality is it will be run by Democrats for the foreseeable future and will be a cheerleader for Martin O’Malley and his bigspending ways.

David saw the struggle as one of daring Republicans to make tough choices at the county level. “They want to make local Republicans raise your taxes” by shifting the cost of items previously paid for by the state to the local level. And even state revenue proposals stack the deck in favor of certain parts of the state – for example, Craig told us the proposed 10 cent per gallon gasoline tax would be distributed 7 cents to the state, 1.5 cents to Baltimore City, and 1.5 cents to the 23 counties.

Nor is it just monetary, as David described the new PlanMaryland initiative as a “takeover of local planning issues.”

Senator Nancy Jacobs is part of what she kiddingly termed “the dirty dozen” – one of just 12 Republican Senators in Maryland. Still, she commended the close relationship between the Senate and House caucuses in fighting Democratic initiatives. “We voted together this year,” said Nancy. Even Mike Miller “has been extremely nice to me.”

One key fight will be redistricting, which is a “major concern.” We need to attend the public meetings on the issue and attempt to rectify a situation where 31% of the legislators are Republican but represent about 46 to 48 percent of the electorate which votes Republican at the top of the ticket. It will be part of a Special Session which will likely see bids to raise the gas tax and expand the sales tax to services.

As for the recent session, Jacobs assessed it as “a pretty good year,” although they spent “too much time on social issues.” Instead, “we need to get much more involved to attract business” to the state.

Finally, Tony O’Donnell assessed his political career in Latin. I’m no Latin scholar, so I’ll give the English translation: “I came, I saw…time flies.”

O’Donnell had one key message to party leaders: stop conceding 30 to 40 seats to the Democrats each election by not contesting them. He was already recruiting for 2014; we should “engage (potential candidates) now.” Tony vowed, “we’re no longer going to concede seats to the Democrats.” And although he was a bit confounded by the party’s convention infighting, saying we needed to minimize wasting energy, O’Donnell was optimistic. “We have great opportunities,” considering we gained 6 House seats in a year where the top of the ticket lost by 14 points.

His final thought: “we have to govern effectively at the local level.” If the state’s Republican House leaders can construct a budget plan with $621 million in cuts, it can be done at the appropriate local level as well.

Overall, I thought it was a great discussion. Afterward I handed Senator Jacobs back her camera (she recruited me to take pictures for her) and asked whether only Congressional seats would be handled in this redistricting session, or if all seats were up. (All seats are under discussion, she advised me.)

But there was one thing missing from this discussion, and I noticed it Friday night as well. Even though the House Republican delegation sponsored a hospitality suite (obviously I saw many from the state delegation there, including local Delegates Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, Addie Eckardt, and Charles Otto) there was one key delegate absent from the weekend’s events: the host delegate, Mike McDermott. Obviously he may have had work or family business to attend to, but I think it was a clear missed opportunity to introduce a powerful voice (literally) for conservatism to state rank-and-file Republicans.

Another missed chance was that of introducing order to the bylaws. Because a time limit was insisted upon, we definitely tried to bite off more than we could chew by attempting to revamp something years in the making. Sure, the voting method debate was messy and acrimonious, but we can move beyond that fight now. (More on that below.)

The trouble now is that we left the process only partly done, and installed no easy fix to patch the holes. (Luckily, the existing bylaws allow the Chair to create ad hoc committees. Guess what? We need one!) Had I been more on my game Saturday, I would have realized that as I stood at the microphone waiting on all the motion business that I thought had been previously taken care off to be resolved before I introduced mine. Oh well, opportunity lost.

But as I flip through my handy-dandy steno pad to see the pages of notes I took (much of which will be shared privately with the remainder of my Central Committee as they deal with the contents of the seminars I attended) I have some other observations worth noting.

  • We spoke a lot about volunteers. Well, we have a ready-made cadre – it’s called the TEA Party! I was glad to see a number of MDCAN participants but we could always use more.
  • It wasn’t as gray as previous conventions; lots of young folks were there. Maybe someday I’ll be the old man of my own delegation, but that’s up to how things shake out in 2014.
  • I was glad to see Kent County well-represented; they’ve often missed out entirely on previous conventions. Maybe it’s because their votes count now?
  • Speaking of our upper Eastern Shore friends, Kent County had a very successful Lincoln Day dinner. Their speaker? Brian Murphy. Sometimes going ‘off the board’ and taking a chance pays off. They also seemed to be a delegation full of ‘new blood.’
  • One final quote from Nancy Jacobs: “If you are a business, you are the cash cow for Maryland.”
  • Ahead of the curve: one of the training seminars used the same video I highlighted last week. It is a useful training tool, and proves political strategy isn’t exactly secret. The hard part is execution and winning the battle of ideas.
  • You know, I thought I was at least a little hip to new technology but the New Media seminar I attended scared me because I had never heard of half the tools they discussed!

Finally, let’s talk about what we accomplished.

I am quite aware that there is a small group among Maryland Republicans who aren’t pleased with the results of this convention. Obviously I had a vested interest in something of mine coming to fruitition as well, but once the party was over and my quest had failed (since it never came up for discussion) my life went on because I still have a lot of dragons to slay whether we reform the Rule 11 procedures or not.

Maybe I was a little harsh in making the “big boy pants” statement, but let’s face this fact: Montgomery County is still a key player in the state party. Coming from a smaller county I’m well aware that we need to make a decent showing in MoCo to win statewide – or win about 70-75% of the vote in the rural areas; it’s an either/or proposition.  For example, Bob Ehrlich got 38% of the MoCo tally in 2002 when he won – but he got a shade under 37% in 2006 before falling to 31% last year. While it’s a valuable area, MoCo wasn’t the be-all and end-all of GOP success. It was the rest of the state where Ehrlich won and lost.

So let’s put the voting method behind us for awhile, as we on the Eastern Shore were encouraged to place the regional chair concept a few conventions back after we’d worked hard for it. Unfortunately, those changes we managed to make to the bylaws will mean we have a lot more work to do on them – it’s a hole we dug for ourselves regardless of the voting results.

As Republicans, we have a lot of work to do. Yes, once I figure out how the procedure will be to submit it I’ll bring back the Rule 11 issue for a vote because I think we need the discussion and I don’t want to waste all the effort on attracting TEA Party interest by making decisions like these up to a powerful few. Those who advocate other bylaw changes are encouraged to do the same if there’s demand. (As far as I’m concerned you can skip the “star chamber,” though.)

In fact, as far as goals for the convention went, all I got was this lovely tote bag.

But I won’t go sulk in a corner or threaten to take my ball and go home. Rest assured I will continue to fight for what I believe in, and revel in the fact that any coalition of like-minded counties now have the opportunity to enact needed changes.

MDGOP 2011 Spring Convention in pictures and text

As I lamented this time last year, it’s hard to have an indoor convention with this sort of thing going on right outside. Maybe it was a few degrees too cool for taking an ocean dip, but the ambience was certainly present.

There are some who arrived home last night and perhaps needed a calming scene like that, but I’ll get to that in due course. Let’s talk about the new leader of the band.

In his report Friday evening (which I can share because there was other press in the room, or so he said) Alex Mooney conceded fundraising was “harder than I expected” but he was still making several calls a week. On that front, Newt Gingrich would be lending a hand for the Red, White, and Blue dinner – a date still needs to be finalized for that. Alex also commended a number of people for stepping up and having house parties, but cautioned party regulars that they shouldn’t read anything into who the featured guest is (he used a recent event with Mike Huckabee as an example) because the idea is to raise money for the party and not a campaign.

Speaking of the Presidential race, there wasn’t much talk about that at the event. Only one candidate had anything there placed by a supporter.

On the other hand, Friday night was filled with statewide candidates trying to gain a foothold in their races. I caught up to Corrogan Vaughn – who formally announced yet another U.S. Senate bid at the event – before he changed into more formal clothes.

Another Senate candidate who hosted a hospitality suite was Thomas Capps, with the stylish green stickers marking the location.

Capps is pictured here with MDCAN’s Tonya Tiffany.

Yet another name being tossed into the 2014 mix is onetime gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan. Will he try again?

I don’t think he was discussing that with Central Committee member Karen Winterling. Instead, he was in charge of a popular Change Maryland suite.

In fact, poolside was the place to be.

However, the host county wasn’t left out as they had their suite upstairs.

But hospitality suites weren’t the only way groups made their presence known. Down in the lobby we had the opportunity to sign the referendum petition for SB167. In his Chairman’s Report to the Executive Committee, Mooney believed “we need to use that petition to referendum more often.”

The advertising was even mobile, as I spotted this car Friday afternoon as I arrived.

Another group was comparing the upcoming General Assembly Special Session to a circus.

They even asked for predictions on what would occur this fall. I think I checked almost every box.

But Friday wasn’t all play. We had an afternoon seminar before the Executive Committee meeting, and while many attended a reception for 2010 candidates there were others plotting strategy, like the group backing this concept.

I was spending a good portion of that time with my Rule 11 resolution co-sponsor Heather Olsen trying to guess what would happen during the Saturday convention.

But allow me to backtrack a little and discuss Bob Ostrom’s report to the Executive Committee, for he was the chair of the bylaws committee formed in our last meeting. And while he was “extremely pumped” about the debate which was sure to occur – he believed it would continue to be “informative” and “helpful” – others worried about the effect certain changes would have on their organizations. For example, both the Teenage Republicans and College Republicans were lobbying for an Executive Committee vote while others thought the Maryland Federation of Women should be stripped of theirs.

Yet we were told by Bob to “keep it in perspective,” as our next priority would be the fight over redistricting.

Unfortunately, after a series of informative seminars (including an elected officials discussion I’m saving for a future post) we had to meet for the convention. Obviously this was the calm before the storm.

Early on, Montgomery County planted its flag, both figuratively and literally.

The idea of the agenda was to go through a series of reports while the Credentials Committee made sure we had the requisite number of participants. So we heard Chris Rosenthal give a mixed bag of a Tresurer’s Report – hey, at least the line of credit is paid off.

Then it was Joyce Terhes’ turn as National Committeewoman, and she warned us “we can’t fight about bylaws…bylaws don’t win elections.” That sentiment was echoed by National Committeeman Louis Pope, who told us “we have one job, to elect Republicans…all that defers from that takes up resources.” And even as Alex Mooney in his brief Chairman’s report talked about a plan for victory on the local level which was based on the Wisconsin plan, we were about to discuss…bylaws.

Well, actually we had to get through the rules first. As in previous practice, we adopted rules in three parts: the noncontroversial Special Rules 1-6 went first, and were approved by a voice vote. After that, it got tricky.

Special Rule 7 was a lengthy rule which limited the time for the convention to three hours, the order in which bylaw changes were proposed, and the voting method to be used. There was a motion to strike Section C (the time limit) but it failed on a voice vote despite my objection. Because I objected to the time limit, I was probably the only one to vote against adopting the rule in the subsequent voice vote – but when you have principles, you follow them through.

But the Special Rule 7 uproar was nothing compared to Special Rule 8. Since Montgomery County had seemed to adopt a strategy of talking the voting method to death – and had almost 50 people who could have spoken against it – the motion to limit debate was the penultimate vote on the matter. It needed a 2/3 majority (ironically, using the one man, one vote system) and it passed 178-87 – almost exactly the 2/3 needed. After the question was called, Rule 8 was passed 189-76 and all subsequent votes used the modified voting system.

So we moved on to the bylaws after clearing out a resolution allowing Caroline County to expand its Central Committee to nine members.

Next up for consideration was what was deemed housekeeping measures, which renumbered the existing bylaws and added provisions termed “non-substantive” – except I felt that the final provision of that, which affected the threshold for approving bylaws in the future, deserved its own discussion (plus I wanted to leave the existing language in since I knew my Rule 11 amendment wouldn’t be heard because of the three hour time limit.) The group unwisely defeated my common-sense move 352-176 (the numbers hereafter are rounded from the decimal places.) They then limited debate by a 452-101 count.

So I was stuck with this so-called “housekeeping” provision, thus I voted against its adoption once we limited debate. Still, it passed 457-68.

But there was yet another twist. In an effort to create both something of value for the time spent and perhaps hasten my bylaw change, a motion was made to adopt the seventh item in line, which was the voting provision. This would enshrine it in the bylaws and make having to adopt it as a rule no longer necessary.

As you can imagine, Montgomery County was up in arms and attempted the same stalling tactics. The vote to limit debate was 443-82 and passage was assured by a 425-98 count as the meeting dissolved into confusion over just what we were voting on – Montgomery County had tried other procedural tricks to run out the clock, but eventually they failed.

Once it was over, they immediately began complaining about their fate to Alex Mooney.

Now, I could be cruel and tell MoCo to “get over it.” But the real result of yesterday’s events was to break up the gang of just a few counties which could run things. While their power is diminished to a degree, the voting results now simply mean large counties need to have buy-in from the smaller ones to get things accomplished, while smaller counties can now have some chance at their own coalition given enough broad-based support (and that’s not a given as Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore often part ways on things.)

And we have a lot on the table. Obviously they never got to my Rule 11 amendment, and since the bylaws committee ceased to exist after the meeting was adjourned, it appears that mine and any other proposed changes will have to go through the normal channels – submitted to the secretary and approved out to the floor by the appropriate committee. So the “star chamber,” the fate of MFRW’s vote on the Executive Committee (and the prospective votes of the other affiliated organizations), and a number of other changes which were hotly debated in Ocean City – well, guess what? We may be discussing them all over again come this fall.

True, these things don’t elect Republicans. But now that we have a voting system in place, let’s focus our efforts on getting the bylaws done this fall because the Spring 2012 convention will have its own election for Delegates to the National Convention. (I just might run again.)

I can’t say this convention was a success personally, but I’m really hoping that Montgomery County collectively puts on their big boy pants and adjusts to its new role as a teammate rather than a power broker. They still have a lot more say than most others, and a lot of work to do within their own borders.

MoCo first – Maryland next?

This came to me from a source at the Washington Post who occasionally feeds bloggers interesting items:

The Montgomery County Council approved a 5-cent bag tax Tuesday that will go into effect January 1, a move environmentalists hope will revive a stalled effort to pass a similar tax statewide. The tax will apply to paper and plastic bags at thousands of merchants. Among the few exceptions are paper bags from restaurants and pharmacy bags holding prescription drugs.

Officials say the tax will raise about $1 million a year, some of which will fund free reusable bags for the poor and elderly. The money will also help fund cleanups of streams and rivers, although backers expect bag use — and tax receipts — to drop quickly.

Sadly, all but one member of the MoCo County Council voted for the additional tax. The lone dissenter, Nancy Floreen, stated “It’s just another regressive tax that (adds) to the cost borne by our most vulnerable populations.” She’s right about that, and I’ll bet I’m right in asserting there will be jobs lost because of the tax, which won’t just apply to plastic bags but to paper as well. If you figure 8 to 10 plastic bags per grocery trip, it’s another 40 to 50 cents extracted from the pocket of MoCo shoppers.

I’ve already discussed the state’s most recent effort to enact a bag tax, and of course those tax sponsors were thrilled to see Montgomery County take the lead on the issue. They figured it would make it more likely the state will pass a similar measure, either in this fall’s Special Session or next year in the regular meeting.

While the stated aim of the tax is to reduce the amount of bags available to clutter up the landscape, it wouldn’t be a MoCo measure without a wealth redistribution effort, as part of the proceeds will go to securing cloth bags for the poor and elderly. Do the elderly get carts to carry these heavier, larger bags too?

This will be a boon for one group, though – grocers and retailers in areas close by Montgomery County. That’s why the push will be on to make this tax statewide; we can’t have people escape taxation by moving around to more advantageous locations for shopping. It may not raise nearly as much as the recently-passed alcohol sales tax or the proposed gasoline tax, but again government wants to reach into our wallets and essentially make a loser out of a politically incorrect industry which serves a need.

Don’t forget: our local government may be thinking about a different revenue grab than the nickel per hundred property tax debated Tuesday night. Speed cameras are on their agenda next month so let me remind you what they’re really looking for. It’s all about our Benjamins, baby.

Another falls for the ‘green energy’ scam

And to think, if I didn’t have Martin O’Malley as a Facebook friend I wouldn’t have noticed this. We’ll see how long that lasts before I’m defriended! Then again, just because I didn’t vote for him either time doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have a say in state affairs, particularly when a dose of common sense is needed.

It all stems from an article by Erin Cunningham in the Gazette detailing a Montgomery County resolution on wind turbines. The Montgomery County Council (all Democrats, of course) unanimously approved a measure calling on the Maryland General Assembly to “pass legislation requiring the state’s Public Service Commission to direct public utilities to enter into long-term contracts for offshore wind power.”

Gee, a little more government interference in business – just what the state needs! </sarc>

Needless to say, Governor O’Malley was thrilled about the news and asked a question on his Facebook page:

I believe that wind power and other alternative energy sources will help our state move forward in a sustainable way. Do you think it is important that we invest in clean, green sources of energy?

After reading about 50 or so mostly deluded sycophants and hangers-on, it was time to set them straight as I often like to do.

Sure, the wind blows a nice, steady speed all the time and the sun comes out 12 hours each and every day. Wait, you’re telling me that’s not true?

There’s a reason we depend on coal and natural gas to create the electricity we need – they are both RELIABLE sources. And, contrary to popular belief created by those with an agenda in both the press and in government, both are in plentiful supply. In fact, there’s a nice supply of natural gas locked under the hills of far western Maryland.

Instead, your administration would rather shake down energy producers and distributors with a phony carbon-trading scheme (RGGI) that simply serves as a device for wealth redistribution while propping up the ‘green’ energy industries with a subsidy to artificially make these other sources come to a competitive price point.

In a time where our budget needs to be prioritized and the burden on job producers needs to be lightened, these so-called ‘investments’ probably aren’t the best use of tax dollars. If the person from Dorchester County thinks wind power is that important and would be such a good investment they should be happy to pony up $40,000 and not rely on the state for a handout.

It’s also worthy to note that Cunningham’s article says Montgomery County gets 25 percent of its electricity from wind power. Perhaps someone should compare price and verify if that’s a prudent use of tax dollars?

I have little objection to the state making an effort to assist local property owners who wish to use alternative sources of energy (although I wouldn’t consider it a funding priority in these lean budgetary times) but I recall one expert in the field who would prefer to streamline the process and invested his own funding before getting a dime back from the state of Maryland. The state is in the position to make it easier and less expensive if they so desire.

My larger objection comes from the state mandating how the energy required to produce electricity needs to be harnessed. There are two good reasons we rely on burning coal and natural gas, as I alluded to in my comment: they are relatively inexpensive, quite efficient, and sources are fairly reliable. (They would be moreso if Washington scrapped its wrongheaded approach to energy exploration.)

Seems to me the usage of windmills as power providers in rural areas ended over a half-century ago once the government decided to force utilities to bring electricity to sparsely populated areas and farmers found being wired into the grid to be much a more reliable means of power – so the government getting its nose under the camel’s tent is nothing new! Where were the environmentalists objecting then?

I guess everything old is new again. In the meantime, how about terminating the program of wealth transfer and allowing instead utilities to invest in stupid stuff like improving infrastructure and building new power plants? Now THAT would be moving Maryland forward!

State bails out Wicomico County (for now)

First the release:

Following a 9:30 A.M. appearance (yesterday) by Wicomico County Executive Richard M. Pollitt, Jr. and Director of Finance Patricia Petersen before the Maryland State Board of Education in Baltimore, the Board voted 8-to-4 in favor of granting a waiver on the county’s Maintenance of Effort requirement for education funding. The Wicomico County Board of Education will now receive an additional $1.5 Million in state funds.

Upon receiving the news of the positive vote, Mr. Pollitt said, “Against all odds, we were able to persuade the Board that Wicomico County would not be able to provide its required share of funding to our K-12 school children in next year’s budget.  I suggested to them that they could mitigate the impact of county cuts somewhat by granting the waiver.  We are delighted that the State Board agreed and that our school program will receive the extra funding.”

Of Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City, only Wicomico and Montgomery counties sought the MOE waiver.

But the long-term answer isn’t going to begging hat in hand to the state because as you may recall the waiver was denied last year – luckily the BoE “found” the money to keep itself running with its full budget. Instead, we need to adopt a two-pronged solution to addressing this problem long-term.

One part would be to minimize the budget where possible, starting with lopping off a top-heavy administration. Perhaps the idea of lengthening the school day but shortening the school week so fewer bus trips are required is worth exploring. And I don’t think increasing the class size is a bad idea, either. Why not see where private schools succeed while public schools fail?

But the second part of the solution lies in the state of Maryland. Someone needs to stand up to the court which dictated the funding formula to our state (and led to the Thornton Commission law) and ask the plaintiffs (a group which included ACORN) to prove that more money equals a better result. Put them on the defensive because their “stunning victory” is burying the average taxpayer.

The problem with having to deal with Maintenance of Effort (as I understand it) is that education spending can NEVER go down – the amount of money required is equal to the previous year’s. In cases where funding for the next year is dependent on the spending for this one, nine times out of ten (and maybe even 99 of 100) the agency or bureau will spend money at the end of the fiscal year on wasteful items just for the sake of spending it and not losing its allocation.

As we’ve proven with this recession, throwing money at a problem does little to solve it but instead discourages innovative thinking. Yes, Wicomico County dodged a bullet this time but the long-term solution is to disarm those who are robbing the taxpayers blind.

Friday night videos – episode 33

Since I didn’t do this last week, I have a lot to choose from among what the internet has offered me – an abundance of stuff. Let’s begin with this one, which features the script GM should’ve really followed in its recent commercial.

Now this is a real commercial. If Maryland elected a Secretary of Agriculture I would hope he’d do a commercial half as good.

Speaking of Maryland, Montgomery County guaranteed itself more hard times by enacting a carbon tax. Watch this county councilman call the opponents ‘astroturf.’ But wouldn’t astroturf then be taxed because of its carbon footprint? Doesn’t matter, we’re all going to get it.

Perhaps the next scenario will soon occur in Montgomery County (and probably serve them right.) In the meantime, it’s yet another witty campaign spot from Vermont.

After last Tuesday’s big Kentucky win, Rand Paul was feeling pretty good about himself. Check out this call out.

I’ll say the same thing about Frank Kratovil – please, please, President Obama, come down here to the Lower Shore and campaign for flip-flop Frank. That oughta be a good time.

On a more serious note, one Maryland businesswoman detailed her struggles for a Bob Ehrlich campaign spot.

Just let her do the talking, Bob.

Hey, do you see a pattern here? Must be an election year, huh? Here’s a guy who doesn’t have to worry about that anymore – he can live on his generous pension and endorse Democrats now. Thanks Wayne.

Okay, enough politics. I wanted to find something to crank up so this should fit the bill. 13:1 does ‘Judgement Day’ at a show in Philly.

I’ll leave you with that, see you next week.