Mitchell, Otto biggest surprises in primary

There wasn’t a whole lot of drama in last night’s election results around Wicomico County save for the slow pace of counting returns. But by the time all was counted, our fair county had mostly performed as expected – with a couple exceptions. All results are unofficial based on around 600 or so absentee ballots to be counted.

Beginning at the top of the ticket, it was expected that Martin O’Malley and Bob Ehrlich would participate in the ‘grudge match’ for governor and Wicomico’s results fell in line with statewide numbers. The O’Malley/Brown ticket garnered 81% of the Democratic vote in Wicomico while Ehrlich/Kane bested the Brian Murphy/Mike Ryman duo by a 71%-29% margin. Similarly, U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski routed her token opposition with 76 percent of the vote, easily beating Chris Garner’s 11 percent and four others with lesser numbers.

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Election Calendar: September 13-26, 2010

This is sort of a slack Election Calendar simply because the primary election looms and the number of candidates will be cut significantly. Why plan an event if you’re eliminated? I also dropped the September 19 Colburn/Haddaway event at the Red Roost from last week since the RSVP date had passed.

So my usual check this week was limited to those I knew would advance through the primary because they were unopposed.

Tuesday, September 14Primary Election Day, where Republicans and Democrats will select their nominees and local Central Committees. Voting runs from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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District 38A hopeful gathers gun endorsements

AFP co-chair Julie Brewington read from remarks she prepared and preposted on her website.

One can’t quite call her Maryland’s answer to Sarah Palin yet, but District 38A hopeful Julie Brewington is holding her own with the boys insofar as getting endorsements from Second Amendment groups goes.

The most recent ones in her bag come from a coalition of groups including Maryland Shall Issue/Citizen’s Defense League of Maryland, and the Maryland State NRA Rifle and Pistol Association.

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Now for the remainder of my take on this.

I’m certainly glad that Julie is a defender of Second Amendment rights and I have little doubt about her conservative credentials considering who she supports and the body of her work on her blog Right Coast.

But it doesn’t always work that way among people who vote single-issue. For example, the same group which endorses Julie is also endorsing Delegate Joseph Vallario, Jr. (D – District 27A) and Delegate Rudy Cane (D – District 37A). Vallario chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where bills like Jessica’s Law went to die until a vast outcry finally forced him to relent and bring the bill out. Cane regularly votes with big-spending I-95 corridor liberals on economic issues, which outweigh the limited good he does on Second Amendment-related items. (For my money I think Cane challenger Dustin Mills would likely be as good or better for Second Amendment stalwarts and certainly more friendly to our local business interests.)

However, I did notice that the coalition specifically states:

Our vote recommendations are based upon 2nd Amendment positions only. When both candidates would benefit the 2nd Amendment community, we suggest that each voter consider other criteria in the Primary Election. These critia (sic) would include the voter’s personal knowledge of the candidate, candidate’s experience, past performance, and especially the candidate’s “electability” in the November General Election.

I would hope that this coalition comes to its senses regarding other issues once November’s endorsements roll around, and perhaps in cases where there is no primary they simply omit the candidate in question until then.

A list of tax raisers

This is an extended version of an article I feature today on my Examiner.com page. Feel free to read it as I get takes on the proposed “dime-a-drink” tax from three candidates for Delegate: John Hayden, Dustin Mills, and Marty Pusey, along with State Senate candidate Chris Jakubiak. He and Hayden favor the tax while Mills and Pusey are opposed. Then come back for my argument on this.

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John makes some good points, but there are two items he didn’t consider. One is that sin taxes generally don’t bring in the revenue promised, and even the fiscal note for the 2010 Senate bill notes, “to the extent that the tax increases proposed by the bill result in a higher incidence of cross-border sales activity than is accounted for in the estimate, revenues would in turn be lower than estimated. This would most likely apply to the sale of distilled spirits, since these sales are likely to be more price sensitive than the others.” State beancounters estimated the tax would raise over $200 million but if they count on the revenue and it doesn’t come, who will make up the difference? We will.

Secondly, where does the taxation stop? As proposed, this would be a nearly sevenfold increase in the tax on distilled spirits, over sevenfold jump in the wine tax, and raise the beer tax by a factor of nearly thirteen. If passed, Maryland would have the second-highest tax on distilled spirits and highest taxes on wine and beer in the nation. Is that a way to portray being business-friendly?

What makes me even more incredulous is that Hayden would be representing a district where a significant percentage of that tax would be raised – walk into any Ocean City nightspot during the season and you would see hundreds or even thousands of patrons with a drink in their hand. It’s a highly competitive environment and these businessmen don’t need to give consumers any excuse to take their dollars up to Delaware (where drink taxes are also high but lower than those proposed.)

And while John advocates the drink tax, he stops short at raising the cigarette tax.”Any increase (in the cigarette tax) would be an unfair and harshly punitive tax on addicted smokers,” he said. And a drink tax would be different?

But the largest difference may be in philosophy. Where is it decreed that the government needs to pay for health insurance anyway? Hayden argues that the funding for these programs has to come from somewhere, but perhaps the better question lies in the need to have some of these programs at all. There’s no question that some in society need assistance, but does that funding really need to be from the government and does it need to come in a form which enhances Maryland’s reputation as a high-tax state?

It’s worth noting that many of those who signed the pledge are incumbents, but even for this noble cause they couldn’t be bothered to even have a committee vote on the bill last year – probably because they were afraid to back any tax increase in an election year. If they can’t stand up for principles even though the cause is so right in their eyes, why should we listen to them?

Election Calendar: September 6-19, 2010

Early voting is the highlight of this edition, with the actual primary election not far behind. Those who are safely through the primary have some events planned, though.

Monday, September 6 – Thursday, September 9Early voting continues from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. Note that Labor Day is a voting day with polls open at the normal time.

Also on Monday, GOP candidate for Governor Brian Murphy continues the “Refuse to Settle” tour by visiting with parents of homeschooled children at Jim’s Restaurant in Cambridge (9 a.m.), attending the Delmarva Shorebirds game at Perdue Stadium (2:05 p.m. first pitch) and playing a set with ‘Johnny Bling’ at M.R. Ducks at 9652 Stephen Decatur Highway in Ocean City around 4:30 p.m.

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Campaigning as usual bad for one businessman

Onetime TEA Party organizer and Wicomico County Council hopeful Chris Lewis is also a business owner. And while he’s not a complete stranger to the political process, recent events surrounding his downtown Salisbury deli have left a sour taste in his mouth.

It started last week when a representative of Andy Harris’s campaign contacted Lewis about stopping by his deli as part of a business tour through Salisbury’s downtown area. Last Monday the stop was called off, only to be re-added to the schedule the next day on one stipulation – Lewis, who supports Andy’s GOP opponent Rob Fisher, would have to take Fisher’s signage down.

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A campaign weekend in pictures and text

I have a pair of slideshows on my Examiner page which detail the events of this weekend – part 1 is here and part 2 is here.

All in all, it seemed like the Crab Feast was a little flat. Perhaps some of the livelier people were at the Glenn Beck event in Washington, D.C. but it seemed awful subdued to me. Then again, perhaps this is the breather people need before the stretch run to the November election.

Some people questioned why we picked the Beck date, but honestly last winter when we picked the date we had no idea that event was being planned. Our reasoning for having the Crab Feast earlier than our normal late September date was to get the maximum number of candidates involved, and in that aspect we did really well – only a handful of candidates didn’t show.

Sunday’s event was fun in that it was freeform – too bad more people weren’t there. Chris had a good collection of candidates there – everyone from local to state-level people. It was interesting to see the disagreement between Dustin Mills and Rudy Cane when Mills confronted Cane with his own voting record, or lack thereof in that case. (I have the feeling Rudy will really dislike the monoblogue Accountability Project.)

One thing I didn’t mention in the slideshow was the St. Francis carnival on Saturday night. As one might expect, there were a number of political hopefuls there. In 3 hours there I saw both of the Brewingtons (with their kids), Joe Ollinger, Tom Taylor (working the dollar wheel), and Matt Maciarello. He’s a tall guy seeing that I’m 5′-10″.

Kim took this picture of Matt and I at the St. Francis carnival. But we didn't toss any darts.

Election Calendar: August 30 – September 12, 2010

The Election Calendar gets fairly sparse now as candidates prepare for the actual balloting. Most of the action over the next couple weeks is at the ballot box. But there are a few events, planned mostly by those assured of moving on through the primary along with ancilliary organizations.

Wednesday, September 1 – A Wicomico County State’s Attormey candidate forum is slated for 7 p.m. at the MAC Center, 909 Progress Drive in Salisbury (just behind Holly Center off Snow Hill Road.)

Friday, September 3Early voting begins at 10 a.m. Wicomico County’s polling location is the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center on Glen Avenue in Salisbury. Each day’s voting ends at 8 p.m.

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Election Calendar: August 23 – September 5, 2010

Things begin to slow down now as far as events go since early voting now occupies the time horizon. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the best gathering of politicos at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center once early voting begins a week from Friday!

Monday, August 23 – The monthly meeting for the Wicomico County Republican Club will feature three speakers: Julie Brewington, John Cannon, and Charles Otto – all are running for the House of Delegates seat in District 38A. (John Phoebus spoke at the July meeting.) The meeting is held at the Salisbury Chamber of Commerce, 144 East Main Street in Salisbury, beginning at 7 p.m. (Social hour begins at 6:30.)

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Election Calendar: August 16-29, 2010

With just under three weeks until early voting begins and absentee ballots already out, the pace of campaigns is increasing. Toss in forums, fairs, and other events and it’s obvious the stakes are getting higher.

Monday, August 16 – District 38B candidate Joe Schanno will be hosting an informal get-together at the Steer Inn, 10514 Racetrack Road in Berlin. He will be signing the Americans for Tax Reform “No New Tax Pledge” while there. The event runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and light fare will be available.

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Outgunning the boys

There are four men and one woman running to succeed Carolyn Elmore as Delegate from District 38A. But I guess this momma doesn’t wear an apron too much since she gained this particular endorsement:

Kirk Jones, President of the Pioneer Sportsmen’s Association, is pleased to announce the endorsement of Julie Brewington, Republican candidate for the House of Delegates; District 38A on behalf of the Pioneer Sportsmen’s Association.

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C of C forum yields little new information

In the last Chamber of Commerce Friday forum before a two-week hiatus, five local hopefuls gathered to discuss some of the key issues facing Wicomico County. While it’s not likely my admonition had anything to do with this, the attendance was much better as close to 20 all told were in the room, including a number of other candidates.

In order of opening statement the candidates were Melissa Pollitt Bright, incumbent Democrat for Judge of the Orphan’s Court; Bob Culver, Republican challenger for an at-large seat on Wicomico County Council; County Executive Rick Pollitt (a Democrat), Republican District 4 County Council challenger Bob Caldwell, and the lone challenger for Judge of the Orphan’s Court, Pete Evans. It should be mentioned that Melissa Pollitt Bright and Rick Pollitt are cousins.

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