Lunchtime reading

I came across a couple posts yesterday which I thought were worthy of mention and comment of my own. The beautiful thing about WordPress is that I can have them open in a new window so you can read these posts I link to then come back and see if you agree with my assessments.

I’ll start out with a post by Richard Faulknor, who writes a fairly new blog called BlueRidgeForum. Yesterday he pointed out GOP legislators he called the “CASA 8”, referring to Republicans voting in favor of the advocacy group for Latino immigrants (legal and illegal) based in the Washington, DC area.

They voted not to withdraw an appropriation of $1 million from the FY2009 budget for this group, despite the budget woes we’re facing and the fact many other deserving organizations will get nothing. Among the CASA 8 was local Delegate Page Elmore, who also cast a vote for the bloated O’Malley budget as I noted as part of yesterday morning’s “Odds and ends” post.

I’m hoping 2010 will be an opportunity for a change in District 38A. If Andy Harris can pull off a win against an entrenched incumbent by playing to the Shore’s conservative base, perhaps a conservative candidate could contest the seemingly moderate Delegate Elmore in the primary. Personally I like to have a choice in the primary election regardless of the merits of the incumbent and in this case an alternative is sorely needed.

Speaking of Senator Harris, yesterday the Daily Times had a front page story above the fold on Republicans who support Democrat opponent Frank Kratovil. The AP piece by Kristen Wyatt focused on one dissatisfied GOP voter, a fact that was not lost on my fellow Red Maryland contributor G.A. Harrison in his Delmarva Dealings post yesterday.

I don’t suspect Kristen Wyatt or anyone else at either the AP or the Daily Times is going to look very hard for a Democrat who would support Andy Harris. I’m sure there’s many out there because conservatives continually win in this area despite the fact we on the Republican side labor under a disadvantage in terms of party affiliation. (By the way, it was also noted in Faulknor’s post that Senator Harris was the Senate sponsor of the budget amendment to strip funding from CASA de Maryland in the FY2009 budget.)

I wrote a few weeks ago about some of the factors in this Congressional race and key among them is the fact that Frank Kratovil is pretty much a blank slate as far as issues are concerned. Certainly the Democrat can talk like a conservative on a number of issues but if he’s going to do that, you may as well elect the true conservative and not a Johnny-come-lately. Frank’s staying pretty silent about other stances on issues which may not resonate as well but with the help of sympathetic media is defining himself rather than allowing Andy Harris to define him. (I’ll define Frank Kratovil – talks tough but would vote with the liberals in Congress at least 70% of the time. If he wins you can make book on that.)

So take a look at what Faulknor and Harrison have to say and feel free to comment both here and on their sites.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.