All politics is local – Page 180

Election Calendar – June 19 thru July 2

A little bit of progress, I did get a few more events. It’s still slow though, but hopefully after July 4th I’ll be starting to see more and more items. There’s just a ton of candidates out there, all running themselves ragged after votes (or so I hope.)

Without further ado, this week I’ll switch up the order and go from most to fewest events.

Worcester County:

It’s definitely the leader right now!

June 19: U.S. Congress candidate Jim Corwin is scheduled to attend the Democratic Women’s Club of Ocean Pines meeting. From the Maryland Democrat Party website, the contact number I have is (410) 641-6196.

Also tomorrow, District 38B candidate Bonnie Luna is scheduled to be at the Maryland Biodiesel Grand Opening in Berlin. Not sure where that’s at, but those close by likely do.

June 20: Another District 38B candidate, Jack Lord will be at the Showell Fire Department. I’m unsure of the nature of the event.

June 23-24: The Delmarva Chicken Festival at Byrd Park in Snow Hill. I have Jack Lord scheduled to be there both days, and Jim Corwin is slated to be there Friday for a 10 a.m. Pocomoke River cruise and at 11:00 the Celebrity Chicken Fry. Actually, I’m going to be there on Saturday to check out the scene myself.

June 25: Thanks to the WCRC website, I now know that Michael Steele will be having a fundraising reception at Occasionally Yours (10514 Racetrack Road) in Berlin, price is $75. This runs from 3-5 p.m.

June 27: See what happens when you have a nice updated calendar on your website? Jim Corwin is scheduled for a Meet the Candidates dinner in Ocean Pines. Not sure what time or where, perhaps I’ll have more light shed on that by next Sunday.

Wicomico County:

June 26: Wicomico County Republican Club meeting, Chamber of Commerce building, 144 E. Main Street, meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. Wicomico County District 5 Councilman Larry Dodd has this on his calendar, as does Jack Lord, as do I. (Look for the guy taking notes, I have a blog post to do!) Speaker is Wicomico County Executive candidate Bob Culver.

July 1: I’m not sure if he’ll actually show up, but it’s Governor Bob Ehrlich Night with the Shorebirds. The game starts at 7:05 p.m. as the Shorebirds face the Lake County Captains, with fireworks to follow. (I’d like to see some fireworks on the scoreboard as well, the ‘Birds struggled for runs on their last homestand.) Contact Ellen Andrews for more info, (410) 742-0927. And yes I’ll be present. Are you kidding me, a GOP function involving a baseball game? Duh. That frickin’ rules.

Sussex County:

June 23: On the Delaware side of the line, their U.S. Senate candidate Jan Ting has a “listening tour” stop scheduled in Georgetown. The info number given is (302) 651-0271.

Yes, NOW we’re starting to get someplace. I counted nine events, last week I had seven with dates. I believe that Jim Corwin’s Choptank Cruise event I alluded to last week is sometime in August so I’ll update accordingly as the time nears. (I think he got the hint! Nice job.)

Next Sunday, I’ll do it again for June 26 through July 9.

Well, that was stupid

First of all, credit where credit is due, Bill Duvall got me thinking about this topic with his post this morning. He was looking at it through the prism of this being Jim Mathias’s possible one-day term in session.

But I’m looking at it for several other reasons. First of all, it shows us where the true interest lies in Maryland government, and it’s not here. Delmarva Power is raising rates 35 percent? Well, that’s the Eastern Shore, who cares? I rent out that Ocean City condo anyway so I’ll raise the rent another $50 a week.

I looked up on BG&E’s website where their service area is. According to their service map, they have operations in 10 Maryland counties, but predominate in 6 – Baltimore City/County, Carroll, Howard, Anne Arundel, and Harford. Looking further, I coordinated those counties with the Maryland General Assembly districts and found that about 63 Delegates and 21 Senators would likely be within the service area. That’s about 2/5 of the General Assembly, and surprisingly to me, it’s not a huge Democrat majority in the House of Delegates (37 to 26.) But in the Maryland Senate those 21 seats split 15-6 Democrat. As it turned out, 13 of the 15 Republicans in the House of Delegates and 2 of the 3 GOP Senators voting for the new deal live in these areas. The exceptions were RINO Delegate Jean Cryor of Montgomery County, our own Delegate Page Elmore (why, Page, why?), and Senator E.J. Pipkin of Queen Anne’s County (a strong anti-BG&E advocate.)

Now you know damn well that the Democrats in Annapolis aren’t going to let Bob Ehrlich take credit for anything. Because the General Assembly couldn’t solve this issue in April, the negotiations that took place changed the proposed 72% rate hike to a more tolerable 21% and deferred payments over the next two years. However, a customer could opt out if he or she chose to swallow the whole increase.

Enter Baltimore mayor and gubernatorial candidate Martin O’Malley. He decided to gamble on getting a special session, and hopefully a deal that Democrats (and his campaign) could crow about. The city sued to stop this increase and forced the special session.

According to the Baltimore Sun, these were the opt-in/opt-out plans previously on the table (notice there was an option):

Opt-in plan (negotiated by Governor Ehrlich and the PSC): July increase of 19.4 percent, customers phased into market rates over 18 months with no more than a 25% increase at one time, a $19 per month fee that would run July 2007-June 2009, and no interest on deferred costs.

Opt-out plan: July increase of 21 percent, remaining 50% or so deferred to February 2007. Payments on deferred costs would start in March 2007, with a 5% interest rate until payoff (about 15 months).

The new plan goes like this: July increase of 15 percent, with remaining increase as early as June, 2007. Instead of the deferred cost being spread out over 15 months, it’s now going to be spread over 120 months, including interest. And for BG&E customers who read this from my fellow MBA members’ links – you are stuck with this deal.

So Martin O’Malley’s gamble got BG&E customers (and only those customers, must be all he cared about) a 6% difference in rates, but almost 9 more years of interest charges in paying the deferral off. For the rest of us, it got a brand new PSC because this measure usurped the role of the executive branch in selecting members and placed it in the hands of the General Assembly – a nice naked power grab.

Oh, and if the governor wants to take this mess to court himself, it’s mandated the case be heard in Baltimore City. There’s some real Ehrlich-friendly judges there. Of course, that has to be done gratis anyway, because also in the bill is a provision forbidding state funds be spent on a challenge!

It’s no surprise then that both the Democrats running for governor are patting their own backs until their arm falls off. Martin O’Malley beams that it was his lawsuit that has saved the day for Maryland consumers, while Doug Duncan gushed, “I urge you once again, as you did with the medical malpractice crisis, to work together to craft a short-term solution that will relieve the fears of Marylanders and build a foundation for a long-term solution to this issue.”

And Duncan is more right than he might know, it is a short-term solution. It keeps the wrath of the voters from falling on the Democrats’ precious majority. All they give a crap about is keeping enough seats in the General Assembly to thwart any Ehrlich actions if he’s re-elected. If Governor Ehrlich is defeated, the refrain of “Happy Days Are Here Again” will echo through Annapolis as the four-year nightmare of a GOP governorship will come to an end, and the redistribution of wealth to build power can recommence posthaste. Well, they would have to wait until January. Minor detail, and besides, why should Democrats follow the Maryland Consitution then? It’s a poor precedent!

Some shoppers buy their Christmas presents in the summer. With their vote this week, the Democrats in Annapolis wanted to assure their Christmas comes on November 8th, when they can gleefully revel in the words of Mike Miller, “(the GOP is) going to be flying high, but we’re going to get together and we’re going to shoot them down. We’re going to put them in the ground, and it’ll be 10 years before they crawl out again.”

You ain’t burying my ass, buddy. It’s time to fight.

In print no. 4

This also got pushed back a couple days because of the announcement of my candidacy for Wicomico County Republican Central Committee.

On Wednesday, I was quoted in a Daily Times story on Ben Cardin’s new War on Terror stance. If the link ceases to work, here’s the money quote I gave to reporter James Fisher:

In any case, conservatives who may have been inclined to pick Steele over Cardin or Mfume won’t have second thoughts after Cardin’s speech, said Michael Swartz of Salisbury, who runs a Web log that focuses on state and local politics, www.monoblogue.us.

“I think, in a way, he’s trying to kick Bush when he’s down,” Swartz said of Cardin.“I think he’s wanted to say this for awhile. He might have thought this in 2002, but he sure as heck wasn’t going to say it. Now he can get away with it.”

He actually did quote me pretty well, the only thing is I actually misspoke. I was thinking of when we started the push to topple Saddam Hussein (that actually occurred in 2003), but no matter. The point remains.

Now, as part of my efforts to collect items for the weekly election calendar, I’m now on Rep. Cardin’s mailing list. Here’s a release I got in my e-mail on this subject:

Dear Friend,

More than three years ago, President Bush sent our brave men and women to war in Iraq with no strategy in place to bring them home – and the American people have paid a heavy price. To this day, the President wants to simply stay the course.

I disagree.

I voted against the war in 2002 and today, in a speech at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, I called on President Bush to take a new direction in Iraq. We must immediately start bringing American troops home and we must reengage the international community in Iraq’s reconstruction.

Military experts recommend bringing American troops back home at the rate of 10,000 per month, which would cut our troop level in Iraq in half by the end of 2006. We should be able to bring all American combat troops home from Iraq by the end of 2007. A gradual drawdown will allow U.S. military advisers to continue training Iraqi troops but will put Iraqi officials on notice that the new Iraqi government must soon take full responsibility.

Our troops have performed magnificently under difficult conditions in Iraq, but they can not remain there indefinitely. Most military officials agree that American forces are over-stretched and would be unable to quickly respond to another situation at home or abroad. Furthermore, military recruitment has slowed considerably during the Iraq war.

At the top of the list to come home should be our National Guard units. Many of these units, including hundreds of guardsmen and guardswomen from Maryland, have been overseas far longer than ever intended. They need to come home so they are prepared to respond to local needs.

In order to effectively drawdown American troops from Iraq, we must have the cooperation of our allies in the international community. President Bush and Secretary of State Rice should organize a peace conference to negotiate international responsibilities with allied nations and mend the relationships that were damaged by ignoring diplomacy and rushing to war three years ago. The entire world has an interest in a free and secure Iraq; rebuilding Iraq should be a shared responsibility among allied democratic nations.

More than 2,400 young American men and women have lost their lives in Iraq. More than 18,000 troops have been wounded and more than $300 billion dollars have been spent. It’s time for a change of course.

I hope you will join me in calling on President Bush to begin bringing American troops home.

(at this point he references an item on his website)

Thank you for your trust and support,

Ben Cardin

Well, I don’t know if I can trust him with national defense issues and I certainly don’t support his call to bring the troops home by a date certain. When the job is finished, we will bring the troops home. As I’ve said before, I think we’re closer to the end than to the beginning now. But it’s foolhardy to give the enemy a timetable so they can lay low until the time is right.

Personally, I see no problem with having a forward base of operations in Iraq much as we do in Germany, Japan, Korea, and dozens of other countries. Obviously, that’s up to their government but seeing that we’re going to be dependent on a lot of oil from that region of the world (with thanks to Rep. Cardin on that since he’s a reliable vote against U.S. drilling) it’s clear to me that a forward deployment is a good thing.

Our enemy doesn’t go by a timetable dictated by the next election. They’ve waited many years and generations to have their opportunity to strike back against the Christians and the West. We need to have the same resolve they do and the same goal: to subdue the enemy until he’s no more.

Announcement

Tonight on monoblogue I’m formally announcing my candidacy for a seat on Wicomico County’s Republican Central Committee. My treasurer, Michael Waldman, and I filed the papers this afternoon with the Board of Elections. Hence, the new AUTHORITY statement in the upper right hand corner. I was told that this will satisfy the requirements for the state. I’m unique in that monoblogue is not exclusively a campaign site like many I link to, but there will be elements of the campaign that will be posted here. This way all who visit know that I’m being above board when it comes to my quest and there’s items pertaining to my race that are posted here.

So why am I running?

This will be a four-year term that I’m running for. My goal in that four years is to help strengthen the Wicomico County Republican Party to a point where they become the larger of the two major political parties in this county. Currently this disparity runs about 18,000 Republicans to 23,000 Democrats.

However, I’m of the opinion that the Republican Party is truly the majority party both in Wicomico County and the Eastern Shore in general. We need only look at what our county contributes to the statewide and national election results. The last even-year election where a Democrat candidate for governor or President carried Wicomico County was 1986, the year William Donald Schaefer crushed a weak GOP opponent. With that success, I feel that the goal of majority status is easily attainable.

In my belief, the most important immediate goal of our party should be to help Governor Ehrlich attain another term. The second 2006 goal is to elect at least one if not two Republicans to the District 38B seats in the General Assembly while keeping our current crop of Wicomico’s Republican representatives in office. The party needs to have at least enough people in Annapolis to enable Governor Ehrlich’s vetoes to stand. Had the GOP held 5 more seats in the House of Delegates this spring, Wal-Mart might well be breaking ground this summer on a new Somerset County distribution center.

And it’s obvious that the GOP slate extends beyond those races, both at a state and local level. Fine candidates are stepping up from all over Maryland to attempt a breakup of the Democrat dominance that has placated the Baltimore/DC region but left the Eastern Shore fuming.

While the main goal of my agenda is to place Wicomico County in the GOP column as far as voters, there is a more in-depth plan I’d like to adopt to begin a wholesale change in our county, state, and national governments.

Those who know me from reading monoblogue these last few months probably understand that I’m a believer in the Reaganesque mantra which states government that governs best governs least. The problem we have is that most of us have grown up in an era where government has become less like a genial Uncle Sam and more like Orwellian Big Brother. Even the Reagan mystique and the Contract with America have only been speedbumps on this road paved with good intentions, but bad results.

I think that those who have the youth, have the future. I’m 41 years old. Assuming it’s still around in its present form, in 21 years I’d be eligible to collect Social Security. In just 9 years I can become an AARP member should I choose to. (Yeah, right.) While a lot can change in 20 years, the problem with my generation is that there’s as many or more who like to belly up to the government nipple and drink to their fill as there are people who agree with me that this madness needs to come to an end, better sooner than later.

One thing I would like to adopt if elected is an open-door policy and outreach to the Salisbury University College Republicans as well as local Young Republican chapters. While they legally wouldn’t get a vote in Central Committee decisions, they certainly could and should attend and offer input. In turn, we as Central Committee members need to do what we can to encourage these interested youths to get involved with the political process. Take advantage of their youthful energy, not just as grunt workers for the same old candidates but give them an opportunity to make a difference. Will mistakes be made? Yes, but it’s better to make a mistake trying to make a positive change than screwing up doing the same old thing.

I’ve done this sort of thing before, but on a much smaller scale. Between 1998 and 2002 I served on the Republican Central Committee in Lucas County, Ohio. While Lucas County (city of Toledo and surrounding suburbs) has 6 times the population of Wicomico County, they also had over 200 on their Central Committee, with many other seats available since the county has about 500 precincts. The area I represented was just a couple dozen blocks.

With so many people holding seats, it was a little bit difficult to change the status quo. Unfortunately, the status quo in Toledo and Lucas County was the Democrat machine continuing to operate almost uninterrupted. So I see a much better opportunity for change in Wicomico County.

In Wicomico County, as anywhere in America, the Republican Party seeks to gain control of government. Saying that, I’d like to see our party win the County Executive post and a majority on County Council as well as the lesser offices, particularly the high-profile Sheriff post. We have a good slate of candidates in 2006. However, part of our job has to be holding their feet to the fire. As a new candidate, for me to win means that one incumbent on the Central Committee has to be bumped out. It’s possible he or she simply may not choose to run and there’s an open seat.

But I’m a believer in contested primaries regardless of office. Just because someone is in elected office makes them no more special than the rest of us. In Ohio, the state GOP used to drive me crazy by annointing candidates prior to the voters getting our say. In this year’s race for governor, once again they attempted to thwart the will of the rank-and-file by throwing their support behind Jim Petro – but the Republican voters chose the more conservative Ken Blackwell as their nominee. In 2010, I would like to see even the Republicans who win election this year pushed to a contest in the primary. A spirited but friendly competition is a good warmup for the real test, when our candidates square off with those Democrats who will likely have the advantages of help from Annapolis and a friendlier media.

This is my platform. I think it’s time for some new blood and new ideas on the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee, thus I’ve placed my hat squarely in the ring. While we’ve had some success doing things the way we always have, I think we should take advantage of the opportunities presented to us right here in Wicomico County and improve things for everyone by promoting candidates with varied ideas on how to achieve a more well-governed county and state.

I’d appreciate your help on September 12 in making the first step toward government that’s more honest, more efficient, and more in tune with the common-sense values I see among those on the Eastern Shore. Don’t just pick the first seven people on the list for Central Committee. Being at the end of the alphabet, I’m going to be toward the bottom of the list, so make a note to look for it. My name is Michael Swartz and I’m asking for your support.

Ten questions for…Ray Bly

And everyone says “who?”

Well, according to my records of those who have filed their candidacy papers for the U.S. Senate seat, he’s there. And I sent him the Ten Questions like everyone else. But no word. In fact, the political portion of his website has been “under construction” for at least a couple months.

So, once again, it’s up to me to fill a little space. Right now, I’m batting .250 on Ten Questions, 1 for 4. I have Allan Lichtman’s answers up and three others’ sitting in a folder awaiting their turn. Looks like only 4 people truly want your votes and will answer questions to get them. The big guns just play those 30 second commercials.

I was going to use this space for the Virginia election results, but I think I’ll do that separately above.

Election Calendar – June 12 thru 25

This will be my first crack at establishing a local political calendar, subdivided by county.

Obviously I don’t have a lot yet, but that’s because the ball begins to roll slowly. Once I get a calendar or two in the pipeline I think things will go more efficiently. Prior to starting this I attempted to put an e-mail address on the mailing list of as many state and local candidates as I could easily do. Additionally, I sent a blanket e-mail to whatever local party chairs (both major parties and minor ones) that I could get an address for, asking for their cooperation.

For today’s version, I’ve pretty much perused the candidate websites. Some of them have calendars that are up to date, others do not. In the future, I’m hoping that the local parties will see this as an opportunity to get their candidate appearances more known to the public.

I plan to provide an updated calendar each Sunday night through Election Day, except for the Sunday I will be on vacation (coming up in August.)

Wicomico County:

Believe it or not, I have no events for Wicomico County in the next two weeks. Surprises me too.

Worcester County:

June 15: District 38B candidate Jack Lord will be at the Worcester County Farm Bureau. I assume this is a meeting of the Farm Bureau.

June 16 and 17: Jack Lord will also be at the Cypress Festival in Pocomoke. (If you haven’t guessed, he’s very good about having a calendar of events. Thumbs up Jack!)

June 20: Jack Lord will be at the Showell Fire Department. I’m unsure of the nature of the event.

June 23 and 24: I doubt he’ll be the only politician there, but again Jack Lord has scheduled himself to be at the “Delmarva Poultry Industry Festival” (aka Chicken Festival) at Byrd Park in Snow Hill.

June 25: This is an unconfirmed event, but I’m told that U.S. Senate candidate Michael Steele will be at the Four Corners Community Center in Berlin between 3 and 5 p.m.

Somerset County:

I have no event information at this time for Somerset County. Had this started a week earlier, I could have given Page Elmore’s event a plug here.

Dorchester County:

I do not have a date for this yet (perhaps someone up Cambridge way can help me, hint hint) but apparently U.S. House candidate Jim Corwin will be at the Dorchester Democrats’ Choptank Cruise. This is according to an e-mail update I got from the campaign (see how this works?)

Sussex County:

June 12: U.S. Senate candidate Jan Ting is scheduled to be at the Sussex County Republican meeting. Unfortunately, that’s all the detail I have.

June 17: Jan Ting will also appear at the College Republican fundraiser in Lewes. The Inn at Canal Square is the locale, from 6-8 p.m. I did not get info on the cost of the event.

********************

Again, if you are a candidate (or on their committee) running in these counties and have the scoop on events, WEBSITES (so I can link to them) or other helpful info I’d love to know about it. You can contact me at michael@monoblogue.us and I’ll give you a special e-mail I’m using for these campaigns. Basically it’s so I don’t get a lot of spam – so far it’s working.

In turn, I’ll try to keep our little corner of Delmarva posted on these events. Next calendar will be next Sunday and will cover June 19 through July 1.

5,000 plus words on the Crab Feast

Main course for a lot of diners today.

Sometimes the pictures tell a story. There wasn’t a whole lot said today at the event of profound political importance. It was simply an opportunity for residents of District 38A (and interested observers like myself) to eat a lot of good food and open their wallets at a live auction.

A view of the diners at the 2006 Crab Feast.

I took this photo about a half hour into the event. The place actually was teeming with folks by the time the auction started. It was funny, the last 3 items auctioned off were 3 bushels of steamed crabs that were left over. That’s not much considering the amount they started with.

Petitions for a referendum on early voting.

Of course, this petition drive was continued at the event. But I’m not sure it’s “The Governor’s petition” as much as it is an effort to overturn a purely partisan and ill-conceived act. The dirty little secret is that separate legislation has already made early voting de facto by making absentee ballots “shall issue” regardless of reason.

Delegate Page Elmore addresses the feast goers.

As I said at the start, there wasn’t much said at the event. Just two politicians spoke…Lowell Stoltzfus was simply the MC, and Page’s remarks were finished in less than 5 minutes, basically a thanks for coming out, eat hearty, and bid high at the live auction that was to commence after he spoke. By the way, the auctioneer was Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Lewis Riley. I think he also did Senator Stoltzfus’s picnic auction last fall.

If you have a yard in District 38A, this would look good in it.

So today wasn’t a big push for votes. If you wanted a yard sign, though, feel free to take one. According to Maryland law, yard signs are legal anytime on private property, but not in state highway right-of-way.

I didn’t catch all the high bids because of various conversations I had, but from what I had heard I’m thinking the live auction raised over $4,000 for the 27 items and lots up for bid. He actually had several interesting things, lots of golf packages, three different groups of Orioles tickets, and football tickets to the Redskins, Ravens, and University of Maryland Terps, among other items. Next year I’ll have to bring my checkbook if the house hunting I’m starting now has bore fruit.

And if you’re wondering, I’m not a crab eater. (I realize that might be sacrilege to the Eastern Shore, but I’m from the Western Shore – of Lake Erie.) But whoever made the pork for the sandwiches – mmmmm, was it good! And I ate just enough to tide me through dinner. Looking at those trays of crab, I figured folks were done for the day after all that.

So tomorrow I’ll hopefully get a calendar of events started so all the monoblogue readers can do their own meet and greet with the local and state politicians. It’s off to a slow start but I’m sure the ball will roll before too long.

Tri-County Lincoln Day Dinner 2006

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, actually the storm blew through a few minutes before festivities began but undaunted the combined Republican Central Committees of Worcester, Somerset, and Wicomico Counties held their 2006 Lincoln Day Dinner this evening at the Salisbury University Commons.

Having not been to the SU main campus, I managed to park in a lot several hundred yards away. But I have to tell you, SU does have a nice campus, one of the better ones I’ve trod through. That aside, I arrived for the event and started seeing familiar faces in the crowd. I also saw the interesting items placed on silent auction:

Items on the silent auction table.

As it turned out, if you can see the tan-colored book on the back table, I ended up being the successful bidder on it. I’d taken a picture of it but I couldn’t crop the picture to suit my format. However, I did get a good shot of the inscription page, which was signed by our Congressman:

The book I bought, signed by Congressman Gilchrest.

Oddly enough, I paid less than cover price for it, so someone took a bath and I profited (as did the Somerset County Republican Club, who got the auction proceeds.) Boy I love capitalism.

And so does our main speaker, Maryland Secretary of Business and Economic Development Aris Melissaratos. In and of itself, his life story is a good rags-to-riches tale. The native of Romania emigrated from Greece at the age of 13 with his family, studied hard and went to school, and began a long career in business with Westinghouse. Governor Ehrlich picked Aris for the post at the start of his term in 2003.

While a lot of his speech touched on the talking points Governor Ehrlich made in his Cambridge stop, Melissaratos also said that there’s “no bad news about the Maryland economy, just bad news in Maryland politics.” This was in reference to the many veto overrides that have occurred during Ehrlich’s term. After just 2 veto overrides in the previous Democrat terms, the GOP governor has seen over 30 of his vetoes slapped down by the Democrat-dominated General Assembly. In Melissarato’s words, the General Assembly had the “wrong priorities.” Time after time speakers during the dinner reminded the gathering that the Republicans need either 5 Senate seats or 14 House of Delegates seats (or both) to achieve a vetoproof minority; in other words 1/3 plus one of each legislative body.

The Secretary continued that the goal of the Ehrlich administration in term number two would be to continue working on a “One Maryland” economy which would be strong and diverse. He claimed that 9 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions (23 counties and Baltimore city) had unemployment rates under 3%. Part of this outstanding record was the 1/4 of the state economy provided by Maryland’s proximity to the federal seat of government. Further, being close to the nation’s nerve center would assist Maryland as they strive to become the IT center of the world for both civilian and military purposes.

With all those jobs comes the need for housing, and one thing Aris spoke of glowingly was a program the state has to assist first-time homebuyers. In fact, speaking about transportation improvements he’d like to see, Melissaratos opined that it would be nice to see workers be able to live in inner-city Baltimore and revitalize those neighborhoods yet be able to quickly get to jobs in the DC area.

And there were several nods to our corner of the state. One balancing act Aris spoke of that the Ehrlich Administration had successfully performed was “keeping farmers happy but cleaning up the bay” as well. He also talked about visiting Pocomoke and Crisfield earlier during the day, speaking glowingly of revitalization and change in those two towns, as well as good things happening in Salisbury.

The final point Melissaratos drove home was an appeal. While he “(didn’t) want to name names…certain chairmen need to be punished for the Wal-Mart vote.” To us on the Eastern Shore, this hits home – 800 to 1,000 good jobs haven’t materialized because of the Fair Share Health Care Act that solely punished Wal-Mart and may have stopped their planned Somerset County distribution center in its tracks.

In actual order, two incumbent Delegates spoke before the Secretary because they had to leave early for another engagement. But for narrative’s sake, they’re all lumped together.

We started out with Addie Eckhardt, one of the Delegates from District 37B. She went through a laundry list of legislative accomplishments and called for more helpers for the GOP side of the General Assembly. Her 37B counterpart Jeannie Haddaway more briefly spoke that she was glad to precede the Secretary because he would be “a tough act to follow” and lauded his achievements.

After Melissaratos spoke, District 38 Senator Lowell Stoltzfus took to the microphone. He remarked that the “Democrats made sure of several things” like no action on the so-called “Jessica’s Law” aimed at child predators and stopping the state takeover of failing Baltimore city schools. On the other hand, they spent hours hearing testimony regarding the hiring and firing practices of Governor Ehrlich and whether it was politically motivated.

Wicomico County’s other Senator, Richard Colburn, decided to spend his time speaking of his opponent. He said that Maryland is like America in miniature, so in his case it followed that his opponent (Democrat Hilary Spence) was “Hillary Clinton in miniature.”

District 38A Delegate Page Elmore noted that if a Democrat wins the governor’s chair, it would be doubtful that much of the Eastern Shore delegation would be invited to the second floor, a reference to the governor’s office in the State House. Because the Eastern Shore was “becoming a Republican area” it was essential that Governor Ehrlich win another term.

We then heard from a statewide candidate. As it turned out, Comptroller candidate Mark Spradley was at his first campaign event since announcing his run today in Annapolis. Unfortunately, my photo of him didn’t turn out because it would have been illustrative. You see, he’s another of the Democrats’ worst nightmares: like Michael Steele, a conservative black Republican.

(Talk about fast action. I spoke to him last night and he said his website would be up this morning – indeed it is. You know that was the first question out of my mouth.)

He started out by saying that Free Staters “deserve more from the Comptroller’s office” and that the state needs to function more like a business financially. One of his pet issues: “Undocumented workers should pay taxes.” On the other hand, he wanted to help increase Maryland’s #24 national ranking in percentage of owner-occupied homes by pushing for a rollback in property taxes and a cut in closing costs.

Since the hour was starting to grow late, we heard briefly from each of the four contenders for the two Delegate spots in District 38B.

Bonnie Luna lauded Secretary Melissaratos’s message, Sonny “38B as in” Bloxom went through his experience and record as a Worcester County commissioner, Jack Lord portrayed himself as “the working man’s candidate”, and Michael James decried our “poor representation”, especially the Wal-Mart vote that was “for the unions.”

To wrap up the speaker portion of the program we got Governor Ehrlich’s regards, delivered by Deputy Chief of Staff Mary Beth Carozza. Then local elected officials and candidates were recognized from each of the three counties.

I had an interesting group at my table, split among Worcester and Wicomico County people. Worcester County Central Committeeman Larry Schrawder, the aforementioned Jack Lord and his wife, and Wicomico County Sheriff candidate Wayne Lowe and his better half all shared my table and were good company.

If memory serves me correctly, next year it’s Somerset County’s turn to host, although I was told the last time it was their turn it was actually held in Ocean City. But tomorrow I’ll be in Crisfield for Page Elmore’s event. As we speak, I’m sitting here setting my camera for better shots!

Looking for a little cooperation!

Let’s see…

You have the candidate links I have placed up top in the directory of links on the right side of this page.

You have the Ten Questions, which I’ve asked of each candidate running for federal office in this area. Soon a similar list will be sent to those running locally for state legislative posts.

Well, today I solicited a number of local political leaders from all of the state parties I could get contact info for in Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset, and Worcester counties here in Maryland and Sussex County in Delaware. This included Republicans, Democrats, Greens, and Libertarians for both states, plus a couple other parties in Delaware. There’s also a number of Maryland statewide candidates I did this for yesterday, although that was a bit more difficult. I’d just like to be placed on a mailing list, folks, I’m not necessarily wanting to volunteer for you.

The idea is to put together a political calendar each week, where if there’s a candidate who’s speaking out on the issues, it’s an opportunity for all of you readers to get to see them in person and judge their qualifications for yourselves.

Obviously if you’re a regular monoblogue reader, you’ll know that I’m in the local Republican club. But as I wrote to these folks of other political stripes, just because I am the person who writes the views on monoblogue, I’m still fair enough to allow them to make the news. I’d be interested in getting to see some of the other people who are making the effort to avail themselves for public service – while I may disagree with their views diametrically, I do believe in free political speech.

So I’m leaving it up to those who are the movers and shakers in each area county whether they wish to participate (assuming of course I had their proper contact info.) But come about this time next Sunday (if I’m through with some personal business) I’ll debut the first weekly political calendar for the time period of June 12-20. This will continue up until Election Day of 2006.

If next week comes and I have no responses, then it becomes incumbent upon the loyal readers of monoblogue to ask what these politicians and parties have to hide?

Signs, signs, everywhere (gang) signs…

Over the last week or so, and culminating in a public forum last Tuesday, the topic du jour on the local blogosphere was the gang problem in Salisbury and how to combat it. Unfortunately, I ended up missing both sides of the Tuesday gang forum presentation due to work and a previous appointment, but I read in Justice For All? here and here that it was a very good presentation.

With that, I became inspired to make a request to my local elected official, who happens to be the famous (or infamous, if you support the so-called “Dream Team”) Debbie Campbell. It went something like this:

Dear Mrs. Campbell:

In the last few days, there’s been quite a bit of discussion about what to do about the problem of gangs in Salisbury. At the same time, you have been one pushing for more accountability in city government, and by extension, those who own or seek to develop property in the city. It’s a sad fact that only about 1/3 of the dwellings in Salisbury are owner-occupied, right now I’m one of those 2/3 who rent.

But with owning property comes responsibility, and I’ve seen a lot of instances (either in person or on local blogs) where gang graffiti (or “tagging”) is allowed to remain untouched on buildings and structures. I know one element (albeit a minor one) of preventing gangs from establishing their “turf” is to paint over these tags and symbols as quickly as possible after they are applied. Further, leaving these symbols sets a bad example for property maintenance in that locality – one tagged house or outbuilding can start bringing a whole neighborhood down and embolden the “wannabe” youths who may become inspired to join up with a local gang.

I’m sure there are ordinances on the books regarding how landlords and other property owners maintain their property. But something I think should be added is a regulation that owners (or their agents) should regularly inspect their properties and eliminate this graffiti as quickly as possible, or after a period of time the city would fix it and charge the owner to do so. (Preferably the owner would take care of it, I know Salisbury’s city employees are already overburdened.)

While I am certainly in the libertarian camp of those who favor as few restrictions as possible on property use, I also find that the current risk to public safety from gangs does outweigh the right of the property owner to use his property as he desires. Something that does not seem to be shown enough in this day and age within Salisbury (and in many other places for that matter) is pride of ownership, and it’s going to take whole neighborhoods to combat this scourge we are facing.

One caveat: I would like to see this ordinance set with a sunset date, but this is only because I believe laws (at least those subservient to the U.S. and Maryland Constitutions) should be revisited periodically in order to determine their appropriateness for the conditions present at the time. Currently I’m of the opinion that such a law is appropriate, hopefully in a decade it may not be required anymore.

Since I’m no student of the law nor do I have a copy of the Salisbury city ordinances handy, I’ll leave it up to you and/or the city’s legal department to properly word what I’m describing as either a new ordinance or as a supplement to an existing one. But I appreciate your taking a few minutes to read my concern and thank you for your service in general.

Sincerely,

Michael Swartz
(address)

I sent this out on Wednesday, so far no response from Debbie Campbell. That’s a bit surprising, I have spoken to her on one other occasion and thought her rather courteous.

That brings me to another topic peripheral to the gang subject. There was this comment on JFA? in regard to a throwaway line Hadley posted endorsing Mike Lewis for Wicomico County Sheriff (clipped verbatim):

I’ll vote for Mike Lewis before I ever vote for major doris who does nothing but campaign at the expense of the citizens of this county. Pretending to be representing the Sheriff’s Office. Righttttttttttttt.

Like I said, I did not attend the gang forum so I have no opportunity to verify this – however, I did listen to the pair of interviews given on Bill Reddish’s WICO radio morning show and read the account in the Daily Times. Nowhere on those accounts was it mentioned that Major Doris was running for sheriff. She certainly had every opportunity to plug her campaign on the two interviews she shared with Dan Daugherty, but in truth she let him do most of the talking. So I’m assuming that at the gang summits, it wasn’t made obvious that she was in the running for the post.

Now I’ll grant that name recognition is a big part of the political game, but could it be that Sheriff Nelms delegated the task of handling the gang summit to Major Schonbrunner? It’s his opinion that she should take over the job when he leaves after this term, so why not give her the responsibility of putting the event together? Makes sense to me, and it ties in with her current administrative position within the office.

I’ve had a couple opportunities to speak with Major Doris for some length, and both times I’ve found her accomodating and willing to answer questions. If anything, I think she’s quite the low-key candidate and far from political.

As I’ve said before, if you think that the Sheriff’s Department is run well, certainly there are candidates from within representing both parties. If you want to shake the place up, again, both parties have at least one person with a law enforcement background that doesn’t involve the current Sheriff’s Department. But whoever wins is going to have to put up with a gang problem that we need to solve as a community.

WCRC meeting – May 2006

Tonight I did double duty so this blog post might just read like meeting minutes, all because I compiled them tonight. I think that’s known as secretary pro tem. Basically I was picked because everyone knows I write the blog post on the meetings anyway. And at least two of my fans were there tonight so I’m up late to get this done!

So I think I’ll copy the meeting minutes direct and place my thoughts within…also you don’t need to know some of the goings-on that a secretary has to record, like seconding and such. So here’s the blog version of our meeting this month.

We did the usual Pledge and invocation, approved last month’s minutes, and found out that our booth at the Salisbury Festival was “extremely successful”, the best performance in 6 years. So the treasurer’s report showed we have over twice our May 2005 balance.

As some of you might know, the Lincoln Day dinner for our corner of Maryland is June 9th, and the speaker will be Maryland Secretary of Business and Economic Development Aris Melissaratos. That’s going to make for a busy weekend, since the Lower Shore Women’s Republican Club has a fundraiser the night before and District 38A Delegate Page Elmore has a fundraiser the next night.

We also found out a longtime member is leaving us to be closer to his grandkids – this will open up a seat on the local liquor board.

Several elected officials were present at the meeting (Sonny Bloxom, Worcester County Commissioner, Phillip Gosnell, the “mayor” of Sharptown (his “official” title is different but same function), and both Gail and John Bartkovich (respectively District 3 on County Council and a GOP Central Committeeperson.) Candidates for office present included Bloxom, Jack Lord, and Michael James (all running for Delegate in District 38B); Ron Alessi for County Executive, George Ossman for Orphan’s Court, and Doris Schonbrunner for Sheriff. If Bonnie Luna had shown we would’ve been 4 for 4 in that 38B race.

At that point, the meeting was turned over to the featured speaker, Michael James. He certainly has made his presence known in the race:

Michael James's sign at Perdue Stadium.

It’s an eyecatching place for a sign if nothing else – figure 200,000 people will go to games this season, and maybe 40,000 to 60,000 will be eligible district voters. And the season works out almost perfectly for the campaign – it’s over just before our primary on September 12 (unless the Shorebirds go deep into the playoffs.)

He is one of those four GOP candidates vying for the two seats representing District 38B, which covers all of Worcester County and the eastern half of Wicomico County. It’s nicely gerrymandered in that I literally live on the edge of the district, one of the few Salisbury city residents to do so. The way the D’s and the courts set this county up as far as delegates go is completely nuts.

James first stressed the reasons why he was running: he cares about the issues, the time was perfect for him to run on a personal level, and he felt that the district was being “poorly represented” by Norm Conway and the late Bennett Bozman. In further remarks regarding Delegate Conway, James noted that Conway “votes how he’s told” and is “fighting for the union bosses” rather than fighting for Perdue employees, for example.

He continued by stating the current delegates voted for higher taxes, against Jessica’s Law (mandatory sentencing for sex offenders), and voted in 1997 to give away $250 million to Baltimore City Schools without any accountability – yet when the state wanted to take over the schools because of poor test results, Bozman and Conway voted against that. In a nutshell, James told the group that our delegates voted with Baltimore City, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County more than they did the Eastern Shore. Those areas are among the “bluest” in Maryland (Kerry carried Montgomery County by 65 points as I recall) whereas we on the Eastern Shore are among the “red” areas along with the state’s western panhandle.

To put it in short terms, James said he stood for common sense, individual responsibility, and smaller government.

Two questions were asked: on who he’d prefer as a Democrat opponent, James was more interested in seeing a contested primary. I’m all for that anyway as a rule, let the voters decide rather than the party bosses (of whatever stripe) in Annapolis. Tonight was supposed to be the night the Worcester County D’s decided on a caretaker for the seat, but the final decision rests with Governor Ehrlich. On slot machines, James favored slots at the horse racing tracks, but with the exception of Ocean Downs. Because of the contentious slots issue, there was a rumor about a year ago that the Ocean Downs track would be moved out of that area and into a more receptive area for slots, either Pocomoke or Snow Hill (can’t recall which, but it would stay in Worcester County – just farther from the “family” vacation spot of Ocean City.)

James did add that he has connections in Salisbury as he graduated from the then Salisbury State University and his first general managing job was at the Sheraton here in town. He also has family members who hail from this area. To conclude, he said that he wanted his children to be able to get jobs here on the Eastern Shore, and the “Wal-Mart vote was a defining moment for me” to run for the job.

Hey, it was a defining moment for this blog too, so it’s not just him!

Then it was back to business for a bit. We had the appeal for members to upgrade their membership to the status of Elephant Club members. Also, there are two openings on the county Board of Education coming this June.

I noted this a few posts back (since I was there), but it was announced to the club tonight that as part of the spring GOP convention, it was decided that the counties of the Eastern Shore will have its own vice chair in the party apparatus. Of course, Wicomico County would like to forward a candidate for that post. I think we are the largest of the 9 Eastern Shore counties, so I’d say we should get the post.

Personally, I think they may need to split the Eastern Shore up into a northern and southern half, and get a sixth vice chair. But it may be population-wise we are the smallest group anyway.

There is no Wicomico County chairman for the Steele senatorial campaign. I know this got mentioned last month, and it seems like it’s hard to get people to step up for that. I already did the leadership thing once and found out I’m a better Indian than chief.

Ellen Andrews, who is also the county chair of the Ehrlich re-election campaign, then had a short presentation on the petition for referendum regarding the early voting acts passed by the General Assembly in 2005, with Governor Ehrlich’s veto being overriden in the 2006 session. About 52,000 signatures statewide are required to place this on the ballot, the goal for our county is 1,100 – currently they are at 178. As stated awhile back, I did indeed sign the petition, and I have two in my possession for additional signees.

Andrews also announced Governor Ehrlich’s campaign would sponsor a night with the Shorebirds on Saturday, July 1st. The $4 per person price includes the game ticket and an Ehrlich T-shirt. The plan is to sit in one section and show a mass of support. That’s actually a pretty good deal, I can do that.

I have one caveat though. Through the years, I have worked on several campaigns and thus have gotten candidate t-shirts. I think I’ve had 7 or 8, and so far the candidates I’ve had shirts for are 0-fer. It makes me feel like Bob Shrum must feel – granted all of these elections were in Toledo, and that city is at least 2-1 Democrat.

We also found out that the state board of elections told our county board that early voting was on regardless of the referendum (which means Linda Lamone is full of crap since I can tell you where the Board of Elections site says otherwise) and the county should be ready for 2,000 early voters a day. (My guess is that the poor inner-city Baltimore folks will have a nice bus trip to Ocean City during “second season”, with a few stops along the way. Just fill out your provisional ballots like this.) Also noted was that the GOP had gained 30 voters in the last month, while the Democrats had a net loss of 2.

The speaker next month will be County Executive candidate Bob Culver. I think we’re now down to a few “major” candidates who we haven’t heard from – we’re departing from what I’m told is custom and having summer meetings this year, that way we can hear from all who want to speak up. So the next few months should be interesting, especially if I have to take notes like I did tonight!

Odds and ends no. 5

Yes, it’s that time again. Just little stuff that won’t fill up a post by itself but I think is important.

First of all, it seems like our little area is getting some play politically from national figures, for whatever reason. Yesterday, Chief Justice John Roberts was in Cambridge to speak to a group of Maryland lawyers at their convention.

Then, according to the “Evans-Novak Political Report” from Wednesday:

The commencement speech at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is obviously seen as McCain reaching out the right for his ’08 presidential effort, but the truth is that he is reaching out everywhere. McCain, who likes to keep his weekends sacred at his Arizona retreat, will be at Dewey Beach, Del., Saturday for a fund-raiser by Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.), leader of the House Republican moderates. (emphasis mine) McCain is unquestionably the early front-runner for the nomination.

What that doesn’t tell me (nor does Mike Castle’s website, it’s linked under the “Let the people decide” column) is just how much this little shindig would cost to attend, although chances are it’s way too rich for my blood. And besides, Castle is way too moderate for my liking.

And then we have this. Recently Marine Cpl. Cory Palmer was killed in action fighting the War on Terror in Iraq. This Seaford native is supposed to be laid to rest on Sunday.

But the funeral will not be without controversy as the fringe religious zealots of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas have been granted a permit by the city of Seaford to picket for 45 minutes during the funeral. It’s one of many such protests the group and its leader, the Rev. Fred Phelps, have mounted throughout the nation as part of an anti-homosexual crusade. Because of the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy, funerals of our fallen have become targets for Phelps and his cult-like church family.

Actually, the suggestion given in the linked story was a good one – simply overwhelm the protests by a sheer number of people in attendance. I was thinking more along the lines of anyone who happens to drive a tractor trailer and would be willing to risk a parking ticket just park right in front of the protesting group.

The sad thing about it is that, in a family’s time of grieving, their son’s funeral is turned into a circus. Almost as bad will be the dutiful media coverage, which I’m sure is 90% of the reason the Westboro clan continues these activities.

It’s sort of odd to me that we don’t see a lot of “celebrity” starpower despite being relatively close to the nation’s capital. But sometimes I think we’re (by chance or perhaps by choice) the “flyover country” of the east coast. It’s an area where agriculture and aquaculture rub elbows, and because of that we have sort of a Midwest sensitivity with a touch of Southern redneck influence and a dash of New England maritime – an interesting mix of folks. Eventually the “come-heres” will gain a little bit of influence, but there’s probably still a generation or two left of that old-line Eastern Shore mentality remaining.

However, if I were an “old school” denizen of the Eastern Shore, I’d worry much less about the folks who come from the I-95 corridor and much more about the folks streaming in from below the Rio Grande corridor. Those who refuse to assimilate to our American way of life are by far the bigger threat.

You know, we should have thought of the overwhelming use of people a little earlier, perhaps during the “May Day” fiasco. Perhaps this is why we don’t see as much of the hoi-polloi here on the Eastern Shore. Could it be that the wealth of common sense exhibited by the common folk here is a turnoff to them?