Category: Baltimore Examiner

Murphy upset at ‘tone deaf’ Maryland GOP

The “other” candidate in Maryland’s Republican primary for governor doesn’t mince words when describing his feelings toward the decision to waive a national Republican Party rule and allow the national GOP to inject money into the Maryland governor’s race.

“The national mood is anti-big government, anti-tax and spend, and anti-incumbent. So what does the Maryland GOP do? They back someone who has a record of being pro-big government, pro-taxes and pro-spending. Are they tone deaf? Do they not sense the mood of the country? If there has ever been a time for a fiscal conservative to win in Maryland, this is it.”

Murphy continued, “Maryland needs to get its fiscal house in order, and we can’t afford to let this opportunity slip away. Voters deserve choices. Isn’t that the point of a primary? Ehrlich and I disagree on nearly everything, and all I’m asking for is an open debate on the issues.”

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Rutledge: I’m not leaving Senate race

Dogged by a rumor that he’s dropping his U.S. Senate bid to run for Attorney General, Jim Rutledge took the occasion to fire back at his opponents. Calling the allegation, “probably the first of many desperate acts that voters will see from liberal opponents,” Rutledge claimed it as a sign he’s winning over Republican voters.

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Rule waiver benefits Ehrlich and Harris

With the consent of three state Republican officials, the Republican National Committee national apparatus has been set loose to benefit two Maryland candidates.

First District Congressional candidate Andy Harris had already drawn national support from the NRCC Young Guns program, but the waiver of a national rule allows pre-primary involvement from the Republican National Committee in his campaign as well as Bob Ehrlich’s, despite the presence of primary opponents in both races.

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Making the point of favortism

While he’s not been a proven vote-getter, Montgomery County Executive candidate (and former U.S. Senate aspirant) Daniel ‘The Whig Man’ Vovak surely has a flair for the dramatic in his campaigns – after all, what other candidate would fight the state Board of Elections over a nickname on the ballot line?

However, I like to use the outspoken Vovak to make my own points. In a release earlier this week, Vovak complained about a lack of support from party officials apparently seeking to find a primary opponent to take him on in September:

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Intriguing panel discussion highlights GOP gathering

This is the separate article I promised yesterday, but I wrote it for my Examiner page.

While the main plot of last weekend’s Republican state convention in Ocean City seemed to be the celebration of all things Ehrlich, an interesting sidebar turned out to be a panel discussion by four members of the General Assembly moderated by state party Chair Audrey Scott. The discussion featured three Senators: David Brinkley (District 4), Minority Whip Nancy Jacobs (District 34), and Minority Leader Allan Kittleman (District 9) along with Delegate Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio (District 37B).

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Maryland Congressional incumbents in catbird seat financially

One idea of the relative strength of a political campaign is the amount of money it’s raised. As we stand six months out from the November elections, it’s no surprise that Maryland’s incumbent members of Congress (with one exception) lead the way in both money in both money raised and cash on hand.

In the lone statewide race, incumbent Senator Barbara Mikulski trails only Eighth District Congressman Chris Van Hollen in cash on hand with just over $2.7 million in the bank. Among her GOP challengers only Eric Wargotz has cracked the six-digit barrier in either cash on hand or total contributions to date, with Wargotz sitting on a small war chest of $118,321. So far Eric’s raised just under $200,000 for his effort, with his closest competition being Jim Rutledge and his total take of $74,709.

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Slinging at the front runner

Now that the Maryland General Assembly session has come to a merciful halt, the eyes of the Maryland political world turn to campaigning rather than lawmaking.

One interesting turn in the race for U.S. Senator comes from looking at the campaign donation records of Dr. Eric Wargotz. When pressed, Wargotz does admit he was a Democrat for a time but there’s a difference between being a rank-and-file party member and financial contributor to the scale of Wargotz.

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Race to the sales tax bottom

In 2007, a special session of Maryland’s General Assembly enacted a slew of tax increases designed to deal with the state’s structural deficit. Among them was a 20% increase in the sales tax rate, which increased from 5 cents on the dollar to 6 cents.

For years, merchants along the Eastern Shore have complained about the disadvantage they labor under because Delaware businesses charge no sales tax. It’s no accident that the seaside resort of Rehoboth Beach has also become a shopping hub. Or take a drive north from Salisbury along U.S. 13 and you’ll notice a number of stores selling big-ticket items located just across the border. While Maryland residents who buy items in Delaware are supposed to remit a tax to Maryland, the law is rarely enforced.

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The lone wolf

In the political world oftentimes a primary election has a prohibitive favorite who, tacitly or not, has the support of party brass. Here in Maryland a recent example on the Republican side was Michael Steele’s U.S. Senate run in 2006, where Steele won 87% of the vote against nine opponents because the GOP establishment was firmly behind him. While other candidates may have been more appealing on the issues, Steele locked up most of the donors through the connections being a party insider provided.

As a party chair who just recently stepped down, Jim Pelura could be considered part of the Maryland Republican Party establishment. But as published reports indicated yesterday, Pelura has chosen to support upstart Brian Murphy for the GOP nomination rather than Bob Ehrlich. Pelura cited the need for “new blood” as part of the reason for his support.

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Offshore drilling unlikely in Maryland waters

Despite the chants of “drill, baby, drill” from thousands of Marylanders upset at surging gasoline prices, the prospects of Maryland becoming an offshore oil producer like states along the western Gulf coast is remote.

While the new plan wouldn’t allow for exploration until at least the latter half of this decade, Maryland’s top statewide elected officials have made it clear they don’t support the prospect of oil exploration off our Atlantic coast.

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