A sound Congressional map

Come this fall, the Maryland General Assembly will take a little time from figuring out devious ways to raise our taxes and usurp a little more of our freedom to finalize Congressional district lines for next year’s elections.

But someone with the Maryland Republican Party came up with a “good government map” which may be the most logical dissection of the state we’ll see in this round. The beauty of it is how well it matches up with existing geographic lines. For example, the First District as the Republicans see it would consist of 10 full counties and just a tiny slice of Anne Arundel County. And instead of slicing our capital county into several districts, the Republican plan would put all but the small section destined for the First District into the Third District. Seventeen of Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City would be in just one Congressional district, while no county would be in more than three (Baltimore County would be split mostly between the Second and Sixth Districts, with a few areas close by Baltimore City placed into its Seventh District.)

An interesting sidebar for local voters (and something of a surprise coming from a GOP plan) is the fact that Andy Harris would no longer live in the district he represents – the Baltimore County resident would be close by the line separating the Second and Sixth Districts. But the map would also probably place Dutch Ruppersberger and John Sarbanes in the same Second District as well as pairing Donna Edwards and Steny Hoyer in the Fifth, so the GOP plan is likely DOA in the General Assembly. Still, the way the Republicans drew the map makes a lot of sense because districts are compact and geographically sound – if they place two incumbent Democrats in the same district, that’s the breaks. I guarantee you the Democrats who run the process will slice and dice the state willy-nilly to create as much havoc among Republicans as possible – gerrymandering with a capital G.

Apparently the state’s residents will get a chance to have their say as well, so now may be the time to come up with a good, sound plan. I think the GOP has succeeded on that count.

Toll hearing July 14

I actually knew about this already, but I was reminded by an interesting source.

A postcard came to my mailbox today, addressed to me or the current resident. The sender: Congressman Andy Harris.

Printed at taxpayer expense, it revealed the hearing would take place on Thursday, July 14 at Stephen Decatur Middle School, 9815 Seahawk Road in Berlin, beginning at 5:30 p.m.  It also restated Andy’s opposition to the “massive toll hike proposal” that “will destroy jobs and hurt rural Maryland families” as well as “hurt businesses we count on for jobs in the tourism, seafood, and poultry industries.” (Yep, that’s the Eastern Shore in a nutshell.)

No question Andy is right, but I guarantee some crank is going to get his panties in a wad because Andy is using his franking privilege in such a manner. Yes, the piece states Congressman Harris’s opposition to the toll hikes, but that was made pretty plain by news reports when the toll increases were announced. So there’s no new news there. He also informs the public about an opportunity to say one’s piece – for all I know, someone who got the card may be all for jacking up the toll over threefold during the next couple years but had no idea a hearing would be held on this part of the Shore. I don’t believe this particular hearing was in the original schedule but was likely added through popular demand and the behest of the Ocean City and Worcester County tourism industry.

Therefore, this is one of the cases where the Congressman is performing his public service and using taxpayer money in a relatively prudent manner. (The card is a simple black-and-white postcard and not a fancy full-color four-page mailing. But it conveys the message just fine.)

In the meantime, it will be interesting to hear how this meeting goes. If my work schedule allows I may just drop in.

The wrong word

From time to time, I get sent links to stories from the Washington Post in my e-mail box in an effort to drum up some internet readership and blogging on various news items. Let’s see if we can pick out the word which doesn’t belong here.

The Washington Post‘s Aaron Davis reports: Growing frustration with illegal immigration, rising public debt and an effective Internet campaign to gather voters’ signatures have put Maryland conservatives on the cusp of a victory to delay and possibly repeal a new law that would give undocumented immigrants in-state college tuition breaks.

Opponents say they are on pace to turn in a combined 100,000 signatures by Thursday, even though state elections officials say they have certified most of the nearly 56,000 needed to suspend the law and send it to a statewide referendum in November 2012. The law had been scheduled to take effect Friday, but it has been suspended while officials await a final tally on the signatures.

The full story can be read here.

Did you catch the word that doesn’t belong?

I read the story, and in every case aside from the very first sentence the Post places the word “undocumented” where they should be saying “illegal.”

If I forget to bring a copy of the minutes of the last month’s meeting to read to the monthly Wicomico County Republican Club gathering I’m “undocumented.”

If I were sneaking across the border in such a manner to avoid detection or overstaying the time on my visa, I am “illegal.”

While I can’t speak for all 100,000 or so Marylanders who have signed the petition to place SB167 on referendum, I would wager that most are quite welcoming to immigrants who come to our country wanting a better life and go about it in the right manner through the proper channels. After all, a century or so ago I believe my great-grandfather did just that. (He was named Michael Swartz too.)

What we don’t like is having those who flouted the law take advantage of the system, too. After all, if they are illegal, how can they be gainfully employed after they complete college anyway? I don’t see them being a benefit to our society.

I think Daniel Bongino was partially correct the other night when he said the first step to immigration reform should be securing the borders. But I’m not completely convinced we can’t deport 12 million illegal immigrants because a large number would deport themselves if they can’t find work. I normally am a pro-business kind of guy, but the Chamber of Commerce is way wrong on the issue of immigration reform – we tried amnesty once and it didn’t work.

Tomorrow is the deadline to submit petitions, and today I sent through overnight mail a couple pages’ worth of names to add to the list. They may not be necessary but these were people who believe the General Assembly made a grievous error when it passed the Maryland DREAM Act. Let them just try and call all of us “racists.” I dare them.

Trust me, I have a lot more to say on the subject.

WCRC meeting – June 2011

If you missed this meeting, you missed an opportunity to meet one of the leading candidates to unseat incumbent U.S. Senator Ben Cardin.

Of course, we went through the usual business of doing the Lord’s Prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, and reading of the minutes, but those who attended were really there to hear from and interact with Senate candidate Daniel Bongino.

With his family and campaign advisor Brian Murphy in tow, Bongino told those assembled that this was his fourth trip to the Eastern Shore in 20 days – however, he was hoping his campaign wouldn’t be broken by upcoming toll hikes for the Bay Bridge. Dan portrayed the meeting as a “job interview…you don’t need me, I need you.”

Dan related that he decided to run for the U.S. Senate with “no Plan B…I left it all on the line for this.” But he got into the race to run an “aggressive” campaign against the incumbent. “The other side is not taking prisoners,” said Bongino.

Citing the three key issues as education, health care, and the economy, Dan laid into the left’s three-pronged philosophy espoused by Cardin. Their agenda items always include a price control mechanism, a third-party payer, and coercion of some sort. There’s little or no market component with government involvement.

Government has created a number of systems, particularly in health care, that are ‘designed to fail,” including the Great Society. “We made poverty comfortable” during that era, and to Bongino that was “a travesty.”

He also answered a number of audience questions on Medicaid, competing against Ben Cardin, the PATRIOT Act, our involvement in Libya, ending the Federal Reserve, and immigration. For these queries Dan had a number of compelling answers.

Bongino gave a short economic treatise on why one is more likely to die if they’re on Medicaid than they are with no insurance at all. When one considers cost and quality in spending other people’s money on other people (i.e. how government works) “the most inefficient way to spend money is government, every time.” And since there is no regard for either cost or quality with a third-party payer system “(Ben Cardin) is going to sell everyone up the river with this healthcare plan, and he knows it,” stated Bongino.

In competing against Cardin, Dan said it’s a matter of not forfeiting the minority vote as Republicans are prone to do – telling him otherwise is “garbage.” Yet the Democrats have done nothing for the minority population, said Bongino. “We’re not knocking on the doors (in minority areas,” he continued, “Let them slam the door in my face…but I’m going to fight there.”

Those of the libertarian persuasion may have a couple objections, but Bongino thinks that “we need the PATRIOT Act (because) to abuse it takes an act of God” and dismisses the idea of ending the Fed: “Every country needs a central bank.” Yet there are provisions of the PATRIOT Act he would like to see sunsetted, and his support for a central bank comes with the caveat that they need to eliminate one part of the Fed’s dual mandate to control inflation and unemployment. We will either default on our debt or inflate our way out of it, said Dan.

On the other hand, Dan doesn’t support the War Powers Act. He questioned why we are in Libya and Afghanistan, saying “our boys” were being killed there as thanks from the people who we were trying to save. “We need our kids back…(the Taliban and tribal supporters) will kill us every minute we are there; they don’t know they’ve been defeated.”

He concluded with conceding that there’s “zero chance of deporting 12 million (illegal immigrants)” but believes we need to secure the border first before attempting any sort of immigration reform.

Afterward, the reaction to Dan was generally positive, save for a few items he knew could rub some the wrong way. “Honest and refreshing” was the verdict from one observer.

And you can decide for yourself as I recorded Bongino’s remarks last night.

Still, we weren’t finished. Dave Parker gave us the rundown on Central Committee happenings, which included recommending two new members to the Wicomico County Board of Education. Not that it may mean much – “Martin O’Malley doesn’t care” about the Republican party’s desires, conceded Parker – but we did our assigned task.

He also talked about the Catholic Conference and their support of the DREAM Act (against the SB167 petition drive.) “(Their flyer) reads like Democratic Party talking points,” asserted Dave. CASA de Maryland with their aggressive tactics at public places where petition signatures are being solicited and other illegal immigrant supporters were “looking for ways to disenfranchise voters,” Dave said. A copy of the petition was passed around, with more signatures being added to those already in.

Shawn Jester informed us the next Lower Shore Young Republican meeting will be August 9 and talk about redistricting.

Julie Brewington made a pitch for a new group called the Constitutional Conservatives for Maryland PAC, which is holding a raffle fundraiser. (Once their website is up, there will be a link to it from my site.)

Other internal business discussed was a membership drive and potential scholarship. We also decided not to skip the July meeting, as has happened previously in non-election years. One suggested speaker was Robin Holloway, who is leaving the Wicomico County Board of Education after two terms.

So, since we decided it would be so, our next meeting will be July 25. While it’s likely Robin Holloway would be our speaker, stay tuned. We have about a half-dozen U.S. Senate candidates to go.

Senate hopeful Bongino featured WCRC speaker

For the first time since Brian Murphy spoke to us last July, a statewide candidate will grace the Wicomico County Republican Club stage – ironically, with a boost from the aforementioned 2010 candidate for governor.

Daniel Bongino is making his first political run a challenging one by running in a statewide race to unseat incumbent Senator Ben Cardin. Cardin defeated former Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele in 2006, keeping the seat in Democratic hands after longtime Senator Paul Sarbanes retired following a thirty-year run.

Featuring the tagline, “we did nothing wrong, government failed us,” Bongino’s key issues appear to be the economy, health care, energy, the environment, national security, and immigration. Certainly he’ll discuss these and other topics Monday evening.

The meeting, as always, will be held at the Chamber of Commerce building at 144 E. Main Street in downtown Salisbury. We gather for a social time at 6:30 p.m. with the meeting beginning around 7:00.

It’s likely that Bongino will be the first of several GOP Senatorial candidates to grace our stage, since six people are currently in the race. However, Bongino is coming off a strong second-place finish in my most recent Senate poll, just behind 2010 nominee Eric Wargotz.

Last chance to sign the petition

In order to have signatures safely into the state by June 30, the forces behind taking SB167 (the in-state tuition for illegal immigrants bill) are holding mass signing events at selected locations around the state.

Locally, there is one signing point for each county:

  • Wicomico: MVA office, 251 Tilghman Road, Salisbury
  • Worcester: 65th Street and Coastal Highway, Ocean City (parked at courthouse parking lot)
  • Dorchester: Cambridge Post Office, 301 High Street, Cambridge
  • Somerset: Westover Post Office, 27741 Fairmount Road, Westover

The initial wave of signatures turned in May 31 yielded over 47,000 of the 55,000 required, but pro-illegal groups like the ACLU and CASA de Maryland are planning to look over signatures with a fine-toothed comb to toss out any that are one scintilla deviant from the official on-file signature. (In other words, they don’t want the people to have a voice. Shame on the ACLU in particular since they should be all about liberty.)

Given the fact our counties combined for just 1,325 of the total we have a lot of room for growth. Hopefully you can make it out there if you haven’t signed yet.

(Hat tip: Ann Corcoran at the Potomac TEA Party Report.)

A meaningless poll?

As you may have noticed the last few days, my sidebar had a poll which asked: if the election were held today, who would you support for Maryland’s GOP Senate nomination?

Well, I pulled the poll earlier today since it had run its course, and here are the results (drum roll please…):

  1. Eric Wargotz, 2,116 votes (44.87%)
  2. Daniel Bongino, 1,711 votes (36.28%)
  3. William Capps, 831 votes (17.62%)
  4. Corrogan Vaughn, 38 votes (0.81%)
  5. Robert Broadus, 10 votes (0.21%)
  6. Rick Hoover, 9 votes (0.19%)

One person wrote in “Bolton”, who I take to mean John Bolton. I didn’t know he was a Maryland resident.

As I’ve said all along, this was far from a scientific poll because I allowed repeat voting – in fact, I encouraged it. To that end, I did a spreadsheet (printed in .pdf form) which shows how the poll evolved over time as I broke out the numbers by timespan. There you can see where repeat votes were racked up for the various candidates, so it’s easy to tell that someone came in and stacked the poll to help out a particular candidate over a span of time. (It made for some incredible page view numbers, too – thanks!)

Yet I think the numbers aren’t all that far off from reality. Let’s look at a few facts here.

In a ten-person primary race last year, Eric Wargotz received less than 40 percent of the vote. His main competition was a political newcomer who quickly became a TEA Party favorite in Jim Rutledge – together they pulled about 70 percent of the vote, with no one else attaining a double-digit percentage.

This is a six-person race at the moment, and Wargotz has just under 45% in this poll. Realistically, that’s close to his base of Republican support from last year and it’s probably good enough to win. Running in second place? Well, he’s a political newcomer who should be able to count on a lot of support from the TEA Party since he has the backing of another popular fiscal conservative in 2010 gubernatorial hopeful Brian Murphy. Daniel Bongino has 36 percent, which roughly parallels Eric’s nine-point win in 2010.

Too, the chief remaining votegetter is William Capps, who probably wouldn’t poll 18 percent in reality but would likely draw a high single-digit number based on a little name recognition. Since there will likely be more candidates in the mix, his overstated number here would probably erode a bit to a more realistic number among the latecomers who may split about 10 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, the bottom three are probably pretty close to their actual base of support since they are perennial candidates who haven’t shown well before.

My theory in doing this poll as I did is that people who are passionate enough to attempt to rig an internet poll to their chosen candidate’s advantage exist in the same relative number as support in real life. In other words, the person (or persons) who voted continually hundreds of times for Eric Wargotz exist in direct proportion poll-wise to those who would do the same for Bongino, Capps, et. al. so the poll may have some relative validity. (And quite honestly, if it drives a few extra people to my website that’s good for me.)

So I wouldn’t be surprised if the support for these people at this early stage isn’t all that far off the mark. I would say Bongino and Capps may be outperforming reality by five to ten points here, but remember there is no “undecided” in my polling to cloud the picture. Toss that group in and almost everyone would lose a dozen points or so.

Suffice to say that the race can’t be conceded to the guy who has the most name recognition (Eric Wargotz) quite yet. It may turn out to be yet another plurality race won by attrition. The early primary will be to Eric’s advantage, of course, but by no means is he a lock for the nomination.

Interviews

Just as a quick programming note, over the next few days I’m going to attempt to have all the Republican U.S. Senate candidates from Maryland agree to a blog interview here.

A few years back, I had a segment I called “Ten Questions” where I did something similar, but this time I’m going to let the conversation go where it may instead of having all candidates answer the same questions. I’m hoping it is more informative about what motivates these six (so far) hopefuls to seek statewide office – some for the second, third, or moreth time. (Yes, I know, moreth isn’t a word. But I like it.)

I’m hoping that the first one of these can be ready by the end of the month, but that’s going to depend on the candidates and their willingness to open up. I look forward to the challenge.

Tomorrow you’ll get one of my favorite posts to do all year. Tonight I spend a little quality time with someone special.

A wild polling ride

As you may have noticed, I’ve placed one of my infamous political polls in the sidebar.

My recollection from when I did this last year was that my polls may not necessarily be the best indicator of public sentiment, but they are pretty good at seeing how passionate backing for a candidate is. For example, I’ve been tracking interim totals over the time the poll’s been up to see the ebb and flow of trends.

I put the poll up late Wednesday evening. When I went to bed early Thursday morning there weren’t a lot of votes yet, but I did find out someone in the Capps campaign reads the site. The totals at that point: Capps 7, Bongino 3, Wargotz 1.

So I woke up Thursday morning and went about my day. Checking in at 4:00 that afternoon, the updated figures were: Bongino 20, Capps 16, Wargotz 1. Someone woke up the Bongino camp, I guess.

But then Thursday evening there was a concerted Eric Wargotz push, so much so that when I went to bed around midnight the revised totals were: Wargotz 63, Capps 25, Bongino 20, Vaughn 3, Broadus 1, and Hoover 1. Someone got the others on the board about 24 hours into the poll (although Broadus was added to the poll on Thursday afternoon.)

The roller-coaster ride continued this morning as the Capps forces went back to work: Capps 160, Bongino 105, Wargotz 94, Vaughn 35, Hoover 5, Broadus 4.

But then the Capps surge stopped and Bongino is trending – as of this moment it’s Bongino 166, Capps 160, Wargotz 94, Vaughn 35, Broadus 5, Hoover 5. In other words, over the last 7 hours all but one vote went to Bongino.

Obviously I don’t do a scientific poll. But as I noted above one thing this does measure to some extent is the passion and organization behind a candidate. I figure that people who are out to stack a poll such as mine exist in proportion to the actual support they have in the population, give or take a few. (I can also tell you it’s making my page load number huge today – normally I get about 1.3 to 1.5 page loads per reader; today it’s about 3.5 per.) So if there’s only 1 person in 100 who would stack a poll for Rick Hoover vs. 40 who would for Eric Wargotz, that’s probably how the poll should work too, more or less. And my readership likely trends a little more conservative than the average GOP voter.

It’s a lot of fun for me to watch, though, and it makes for an interesting post. That’s what counts.

Murphy’s man

After teasing the Maryland public over the last week, 2010 gubernatorial candidate Brian Murphy made it official: he’s not running for the U.S. Senate. Instead, he’s backing a first-time candidate who’s spent most of his professional career in law enforcement and who believes, “we did nothing wrong, government failed us.” If you look at this hopeful’s issue page it reads as a fairly conservative platform both economically and in foreign policy.

Daniel Bongino is a 36-year-old Severna Park resident who has no political resume, but instead has worked for both the Secret Service and the New York City police department over the last sixteen years. It would seem a curious choice for Murphy to be backing this neophyte, but Brian hasn’t played by the conventional wisdom yet and probably won’t be doing so anytime soon.

Of course, the obvious question is whether Bongino will be able to take advantage of Murphy’s backing to vault past the other contenders for the GOP’s U.S. Senate challenger slot. Most figure incumbent Democratic Senator Ben Cardin a virtual lock for re-election for a second term but Daniel joins a fairly diverse field of five Republican contenders; a field which includes 2010 GOP nominee Eric Wargotz. Other Republican aspirants are former District 31 State Senate candidate William Capps, political neophyte Rick Hoover, and perennial candidate Corrogan Vaughn.

Wargotz would have to be considered as the odds-on favorite, but it’s worth noting that Eric only garnered 38% of the vote in a 10-man race last year so a better, well-funded candidate could defeat Wargotz in the primary. (In that primary Jim Rutledge, who had a much smaller campaign war chest but considerable TEA Party backing, finished second with just over 30 percent of the vote.) In theory, the blessing from Murphy, also a TEA Party favorite, could allow Bongino a 25-point base in the primary based on Brian’s support.

If events run true to form, the Republican primary for U.S. Senate next year will attract between seven and ten candidates for the nomination. Some of these will be on the ballot for the umpteenth time and others won’t even file with the FEC because they don’t (or won’t) raise enough money to wage a serious campaign. Given that background and the high-profile support of Murphy, a candidate like Daniel Bongino – even as a first-time officeseeker in a statewide race – will be one to contend with as next April draws closer.

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.

Odds and ends number 28

Have you ever wondered where the phrase ‘odds and ends’ comes from? Me neither, but I use it to describe posts where I have a number of little items which only need a paragraph or two.

Last week I told you about the drive to send SB167 (in-state tuition for illegal immigrants) to referendum. Well, the battle has another supporter in Delegate Justin Ready, a fellow freshman Republican to Delegate Neil Parrott. In an e-mail to supporters, Ready reminded us that:

Perhaps the worst piece of legislation that passed the General Assembly in the just-concluded session was SB 167: The Dream Act, which gives in-state tuition rates (taxpayer funded benefits) to illegal immigrants. It allows them to attend community colleges and the University System at the in-county and in-state rates.

(snip)

We do have an alternative! The Maryland constitution provides for citizens to petition a passed bill to referendum by obtaining signatures. Several of us in the General Assembly have gotten together, led by Del. Neil Parrott from Washington County, to form a petition drive with dozens of pro-rule of law activists around Maryland. In order to put this measure on the ballot in the 2012 election, we must obtain 55,000 signatures from Maryland registered voters by the end of July. We have to obtain about 20,000 by May 31st. However, these petition drives are extremely tricky because the State Board of Elections looks for any excuse to void or disqualify a signature so we estimate that we’ll need about 35,000 by May 31st and probably closer to 100,000 overall.

I think Ready is right on the money insofar as signatures go, but even if they are received the uphill battle really begins as liberals dig out all the so-called “victims” of this heartless TEA Party initiative. Of course, that can be countered by considering who could be aced out of a spot – perhaps a poor minority youth trying to escape poverty? That angle can play well in PG County and Baltimore City.

Speaking of poor legislation, Maryland continues to play Don Quixote tilting at windmills (well, they’re actually turbines) to be built just a few miles off Ocean City. (Oil platforms will spoil the view, but wind turbines won’t? Get real.) In part, this legislation stemmed from a drive to combat so-called global warming just as another push to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative did.

Well, New Jersey may be rethinking its position on RGGI, and a key Senator in that state made it a bipartisan push. Americans for Prosperity shared this news:

When the original legislation paving the way for New Jersey’s entry into RGGI was passed in 2008, it was done so on a bi-partisan basis. Likewise, dismantling RGGI will require support from members of both political parties.

By joining the movement to repeal RGGI, Senator (Paul) Sarlo became the first Democrat to back the effort to kill this Cap & Trade tax and opened the door for more of his Democrat colleagues in the Legislature to do the same. In fact, at (Thursday’s) press conference Senator Sarlo urged his fellow Democrats today to do just that.

Senator Sarlo did not arrive at this decision lightly. But when presented with the indisputable facts about the RGGI scheme — including its lack of transparency, exploitation by “insiders” looking to speculate and profit
on the backs of ratepayers, as well as the devastating consequences for New Jersey’s economy and jobs — the senator made the call to stand up for New Jersey’s economic future.

Now, I’m not sure if New Jersey leaving RGGI would lead to any other states rethinking their position, although one would suspect newly-installed GOP governors and legislators in Pennsylvania and Maine may be most likely to do so. Unfortunately, Maryland has neither a GOP governor or legislature so utility ratepayers will continue to take it in the shorts for the foreseeable future.

Speaking of Maryland politics, we are now less than a year away from the 2012 primary. (At least we will be when this takes effect.) Hopefully they change the 2014 date to the last week in July because late June is too damn early to me. I like the date as it is in September but federal law changes make that impossible. Nothing like Fedzilla sticking its nose into state’s affairs.

Anyway, I got an e-mail from one of the early U.S. Senate candidates on the GOP side (to face presumptive Democratic nominee, Senator Ben Cardin) offering to do a blog interview with me. So I asked the other two candidates that I’m aware of to match that offer – one is already on the ballot while the other will announce around the first of May.

This doesn’t include Eric Wargotz yet, although my suspicion is that he’ll jump into the race before summer. Hey, I’ll interview him too. He knows I always have plenty of questions.

In case you’re wondering, yes, I’m giving short shrift to two Democratic hopefuls. But the contest for both Raymond Levi Blagmon and perennial candidate Lih Young will be to manage to get one percent of the vote.

I think that’s enough grist for the mill. I bet you all thought I was taking another long weekend off from the political but you have to admit we’re in the silly season now. The only real big news seems to be the growing GOP Presidental field but no one is really going to be paying much attention to that until at least the Ames Straw Poll and more likely after Labor Day when things start getting serious. By then we’ll have a decent idea of the contenders and the pretenders.