Tag: Mike McDermott

2011 Wicomico County Lincoln Day Dinner in pictures and text

Well, the reviews are in – this may have topped last year’s effort as a great Lincoln Day dinner. We had our fair share of red meat, complements of our newly sworn-in Congressman who was featured speaker and we received valuable input on the direction our state party should take from another special guest.

But first we heard from the birthday honoree, who brought a few friends.

Honest Abe was actually flanked by three Union troops, but I could only get two in the picture.

Since my picture of county party Chair and event host Dave Parker didn’t turn out, his standing in the background while Lincoln spoke will have to suffice.

Abe spoke of many things during his remarks: his battles against Black Hawk in the Indian uprisings that plagued the state of Illinois in its early days, the advancement of the tools of war (which far outstripped the tools of healing the soldiers affected by this mechanization of mayhem), and his trip from Springfield to Washington in the winter of 1861. His inauguration occurred amidst a nation undergoing a perilous division, with states openly in revolt.

Yet I’m getting ahead of myself, for even the invocation had something of a political tone. Delegate Mike McDermott was pressed into service by the absence of my Central Committee cohort who usually handles these things, and Mike remarked “this is the one thing we can’t do in the House of Delegates.”

College Republican President Tim Riley did the Pledge of Allegiance, which was a change since I had handled the job previously. I didn’t mind giving up the slot to our event co-hosts, who were a significant portion of the attendees.

If you’ve never come to a Lincoln Day Dinner, the usual format is to have a featured speaker or two. Last year, this was ably handled by the tag team of Bob and Kendal Ehrlich. But in his introduction for guest speaker Eric Grannon, Joe Collins asked what Martin Luther King and those involved in women’s suffrage would say about the state of our party now? The way I see it, obviously were aren’t a monochrome, single-gender organization, nor should we be.

Perhaps with an eye on that, back in December the state party selected a female First Vice-Chair and black Third Vice-Chair. Both were in attendance last night, as Diana Waterman is a frequent guest of ours anyway and Grannon gave us a clear message about the “straightforward but difficult task” of getting Republicans elected in Maryland.

He pointed out that Lincoln had the moral courage to wage a war and end slavery while Ronald Reagan had the moral courage to say the Soviet Union was the “Evil Empire.” Eric also recalled as a young boy – from a welfare family in Brooklyn, no less – hearing Reagan’s message of optimism and self-reliance and being inspired.

That Republican message, continued Eric, was one we needed to convey to what Grannon called “non-traditional” groups. By population, Maryland is nearly 30% black and we can’t win if we concede 30% of the voters to the other side. We have to go to them, but we need not change our principles. We need a plan, not a platitude – he called this a Republican Agenda for Working Families.

Introduced by former SU College Republican president Matt Teffeau, the featured speaker was a familiar face now playing a new role. I’m only disappointed that the voters of the First District realized two years later than they needed to that Andy Harris would be a dynamic voice for conservatism; then again, he plays a much bigger role in the majority than he would have as a minority party backbencher.

Right out of the gate, Andy alerted us: the revolution of 2011 is coming to Washington, D.C. While the Democrats pounded on the message of job creation over their four-year run in the majority, “they don’t get it,” claimed Andy. The “harsh reality” for them is that the private sector creates the jobs.

But Harris also warned us of a “sobering” fiscal future, one where we have a $75 TRILLION “fiscal gap” over the next 75 years. All that we have been promised is $75 trillion more than the revenue we can expect – undoubtedly, this has to change. As he said, “the path back will be difficult.”

Yet there are a number of obstacles in the way of regaining prosperity. Harris divided them into three main areas – regulatory, taxation, and the debt itself.

Andy gave us the example of regulation run amok by pointing out the lengthy process of having dairy farmers exempted from an EPA regulation on oil tanks. Yes, milkfat is considered an oil and if you have a large enough tank preventive measures need to be in place to avoid contaminating the waterways. (Talk about crying over spilt milk!) Even after two years where the EPA promised the exemption, dairy farmers are still waiting for something that should have taken weeks, even with the required public comment period.

On taxes, our Congressman believed we need to give entrepreneurs “an edge” by lowering the corporate tax rate, and, more importantly, eliminating the estate tax entirely.

Harris brought a prop to talk about spending, a copy of The Hill with a headline that blared “Tea Party yanks GOP leash on spending cuts” and a message of not compromising the promised $100 billion in cuts despite the fact the fiscal year is nearly half-over. “100 is 100,” Andy said. He predicted “this week will be rough for Republicans” as Democrats trot out so-called victims of budget cuts. Many of these cuts will come from defunding Obamacare and zeroing out the “czars”, a comment which drew applause from the packed house.

Andy had a little time after his remarks to answer questions, but only received one regarding the PATRIOT Act. Harris revealed that only three provisions of the whole had come up for discussion – the Democrats connivingly had those expire months prior to the full reauthorization to promote a divisive vote. “We will look at the PATRIOT Act” in full come December, including hearings, promised Andy.

After Andy concluded his remarks, we took a few moment to recognize a number of elected officials and honored guests, a group which included those who ran for office in 2010 but didn’t succeed. We also commended both our 2010 Republican of the Year and a new, special category created for the recipient: the 2010 Republican Youth of the Year. Unfortunately, neither were there to collect our accolades.

Ed Nelson was our choice for Republican of the Year thanks to his tireless behind-the-scenes work, while Katherine Gaetano, who was a fixture at the Victory Center making phone calls despite her tender age of 11 at the time, was honored as the Republican Youth of the Year.

Since Delegate McDermott had opened the proceedings with his invocation, it fell to him as well to do the benediction. But he couldn’t resist making a few other remarks about the General Assembly, reminding us that President Lincoln jailed the body so Maryland wouldn’t secede from the Union. “We are fighting the good fight” in the General Assembly, said McDermott, but “there’s an insanity run amok in this state.” Eventually Mike did get to the defined purpose of a closing prayer and the 2011 Wicomico County Lincoln Day Dinner was history.

Yet many participants lingered afterward, and I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Broadus of Protect Marriage Maryland – he’s also throwing his hat into the ring to challenge Ben Cardin in 2012. (He unsuccessfully ran for Congress in the Fourth District in 2010, taking on Donna Edwards.) Broadus will be back in the area for a gathering to discuss the same-sex marriage proposal in Maryland at 7 p.m. on February 22nd at Adam’s Ribs in Fruitland. (The event is being sponsored by the Wicomico Maryland Society of Patriots.)

Speaking of the MSP, Julie Brewington at Right Coast has more pictures of the event as well as remarks on video, including from Andy Harris. Between us, we pretty much have the full coverage.

I’ll leave you with the wisdom of “Maxine.”

McDermott’s state of the state

While he is a freshman in the Maryland General Assembly, Mike McDermott has had to deal with the O’Malley administration for the last four-plus years as mayor of Pocomoke City – he used the experience to move on to his current job.

So I found his response interesting and I asked Mike if I could use it here. (I took the liberty to fix a couple minor grammatical errors in the meantime.) I told the Delegate I agreed with much of it, although I have a few more comments after his.

Today, the full body of Maryland’s General Assembly heard from Governor O’Malley about his vision for Maryland, and his interpretation of the past year. The Governor stated in his speech, “Everything has a cost…” Well, the question Marylanders are asking is, “How much?”

His proposed budget holds our deficit at $1.2 billion while actually increasing spending by over $2 billion. There are several fund raids conducted from the Transportation Trust Fund ($120 million) and the Chesapeake Bay Trust Fund ($90 million) with additional tax increases to replace the raided funds. At the same time, the governor plans to increase our debt through the issuance of bonds. This will further push our debt ceiling to the edge.

We cannot afford bonuses for all state employees ($750.00), nor the five additional paid holidays he is offering. We cannot afford to continue cutting Medicaid reimbursements while, at the same time, taking our enrollment up over a million Marylanders (20% of our population). We simply cannot afford to extend ourselves at a time when the revenues from our citizens are contracting.

Today the governor spoke about the state creating winners and losers when it comes to business and industry. If you are about “green” jobs, you’re a winner; if not, you’re a loser. When the state predicates tax incentives and government backed funding sources to favored industry, it is akin to the king extending the scepter to whomever he wishes. Wind farms may be a great idea, but they need to stand on their own as a business endeavor. When the governor talks about “investments”, he should be talking about the private sector, not tax dollars.

We heard about the governors desire to place a moratorium on septic systems in rural developments, with no regard of the chilling effect this could have on land values, private property rights, and development on the Eastern Shore. He stated that “where we eat, sleep, and live…” is affecting our environment as if this, too, is something the government should control.

The governor stated we were “moving forward”, while his budget anchors us to our indebtedness. He called us a grand “experiment in self government”, while he offers only additional regulations, fees, and taxes on the business community. He says, “It’s all about jobs”, as if the government is the one who creates those jobs. The “ghost of disconnect” continues to haunt Maryland policy.

The bottom line is the governor expressed more visible outrage over the recent power outages in Prince George’s County than he did about the dismal state of our economy, and our failure to address critical budget areas when time was of the essence.

Governor O’Malley wants us to move toward a “knowledge based” economy. Well, that begins with a wisdom based budget, and that was sorely missing from the State of the State Address I heard today.

Obviously McDermott looks at the budget mostly from the standpoint of fiscal conservatism, but the part of O’Malley’s address which stood out to me was the effort to ban the use of septic systems. Yesterday, he bleated about those devices, which:

“…by their very design are intend to leak sewage into our Bay and water tables.

You and I can turn around this damaging trend by banning the further installation of septic systems in major Maryland housing developments. This is common sense, this is urgently needed, this is timely, and for the health of the Bay we need to do what several rural counties have already had the good sense to do.”

That “good sense” is actually law mandated by the General Assembly, and passed over the objection of Delegates and Senators from both parties. In fact, such a ban would essentially halt residential development within the Bay’s watershed unless a municipality extends sewer lines to the new plat. (Of course, that’s the overarching goal of those who advocate so-called “smart growth” anyway.) The state already can’t pay for all those who have septic systems but are forced by regulation to install nitrogen reduction units, even though they promised to help.

So “investment” (read: taxpayer subsidy) in “green” jobs in other countries (where they make components for wind turbines and solar panels) are okay, but home construction jobs on the Eastern Shore are verboten. Is that the way it works, Governor?

Then again, he and the Democrats tend to believe in the “One Maryland” theory while I contend there’s actually at least three: the Eastern Shore has more in common with rural Delaware while the western end of the state has a mindset like the rest of Appalachia. It’s those along the I-95 corridor between Baltimore and Washington who are arrogant enough to believe the rest of the state should be like them – on the other hand, it’s my impression those of us on the Eastern Shore wouldn’t be all that unhappy if the Bay Bridge suddenly collapsed into the Chesapeake. Policy dictated to us from on high in Annapolis doesn’t fly well here – wonder why?

While Delegate McDermott probably already knew all he wanted to know before taking the job, he’s getting a firsthand look at the situation now.

By the way, I was hoping to get a second perspective on Mike’s remarks but haven’t received it yet. I’ll either add the remarks here or make a second post, depending on how I think they’ll work best.

Fire Pelosi tour comes to Salisbury

This morning there was a big red bus out front of the Salisbury GOP Victory Center.

Eventually we saw there were a number of special guests on the bus, and our small city will get a little love from Fox News as well. Bret Baier sat in our headquarters taping an interview with Michael Steele for later broadcast.

Apparently Bret’s aboard the bus for today. But people were excited even if they’re not on the bus, and passers-by were greeted by about a dozen sign wavers – that’s the first picture below.

Overall well over 100 people crammed into our South Salisbury Boulevard headquarters, including practically every local candidate and state party Chair Audrey Scott. As you’ll see in the second picture below, that guy running for governor is also a popular fella to be pictured with. Bob referred to the group as “the James Gang”, playing off the rock band of yore. Bob made sure to point out that “I don’t support Jim Mathias, despite what he may say.”

It was also an excuse for GOP candidates to see and be seen. Marty Pusey was out making her rounds.

Mike McDermott, her fellow District 38B House candidate, was also there but had this high-visibility item nearby as well.

So after the bus made a show of re-arriving, leading to the quip of the day – Michael Steele joked as he was departing that, “I tell my Democratic friends the bus is a little understated, but it gets the job done” – we all crammed into the headquarters building itself to hear what they had to say. When I say crammed, it was pretty crowded.

State chair Audrey Scott, who you may see in the middle of the above picture, served as the emcee.

As I write this, I’m uploading the videos from today’s remarks for a special edition of FNV. But Michael Steele didn’t get right back on the bus after his remarks were through. He also gave a pep talk to the volunteers who jumped on the phones to make the calls we need for victory.

He also had time to tape a quick interview with local radio host Bill Reddish and talk to other reporters.

Michael noted the 2010 campaign, “is unreal…a tidal wave that’s brewing.”

We will find out on Tuesday, but the group here sounded pretty confident of victory.

LORA meet and greet in pictures and text

The sun is setting on this election cycle, but last night a few dozen candidates or their surrogates were out for eleventh-hour campaigning at Black Diamond in Fruitland. The parking lot certainly indicated the location, as did the entrance.

Obviously the local Republicans were ready for this – good job guys!

Yet unlike a number of other forum-style events I’d been at where candidates nearly outnumber members of the general public, this one had respectable attendance. The first picture was taken as I walked in the door, the second perhaps an hour later from the opposite side of the room.

And besides the usual cadre of bloggers covering the event, there was the television and print media as well. I spied Michael James preparing for a WMDT-TV interview and Mike McDermott talking to the Daily Times.

I know the cameraman was standing behind me as I was speaking to Marty Pusey so if you see the back of a big guy in a brown shirt, that was me. Speaking of Marty, she’s part of the best team for District 38B.

Of course, perhaps the better draw was the food. Naturally since LORA (the Local Owners Restaurant Association) sponsored the event, there had to be food!

They also had a cause as LORA was collecting money for their scholarship fund.

While the event was interesting and productive overall, the sentiment I heard was that it should have occurred about two or three weeks ago, not on the eve of early voting. Still, the setup was outstanding as you had as long as you wanted to discuss whatever you wished with the candidates.

One in particular fascinated me so I’ll close with the best (by far) sidebar story among one of the participants.

This woman is Kenniss Henry, and she’s the Green Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate. A month ago she was helping to manage the campaign of the woman originally selected to run for the post, Natasha Pettigrew.

But in September, Pettigrew died from injuries suffered in a bicycle accident and Henry stepped in to replace her; it was a natural progression since Henry is Natasha’s mother. Obviously she’s still grieving over the accident but decided to carry out her daughter’s campaign to its conclusion.

Kenniss is interesting in her own right, though, as we discussed her picking up of the torch and previous interaction with TEA Party members at Washington, D.C. rallies. She noted there’s a lot of common ground between what would be on the surface two passionately differing groups and that she felt at home in their midst, not threatened at all.

Obviously I renewed acquaintance with a number of candidates and met some for the first time. But to me this was by far the best story to tell.

Words to the wise

Just a little something before bed, from Dick Morris:

The danger, here, is not overconfidence, but under-confidence, and that Democratic incumbents who could be defeated will skate to victories. Despite a massive victory in the offing for Republicans, there could be great gnashing of teeth when they see how narrowly some of the icons of the Democratic Party are reelected.

I take this to a local level as well, because I tell people I’m greedy: I want the Eastern Shore of Maryland red from the Susquehanna to the beaches of Assateague. That means we keep the General Assembly seats we have and wave goodbye to Rudy Cane, Jim Mathias, and Norm Conway – men who talk conservative when they are here but vote like good, docile little liberals once they’re back up Route 50 about 100 miles. Democrats should be an endangered species here because what have they done for us?

And before you answer that question, consider what genuflections they’ve had to do to the rest of the state to get our crumbs.

I moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004 convinced it could be a boom area; a place where the rural character could be maintained but the enjoyment of a resort area was easily within reach. We have most of the tools we need to succeed, with the possible exception of a highway or rail system more conducive for moving goods to the markets of the Northeast.

Yet in the time I’ve been here it seems we have gone backwards, and for that I blame the state’s leadership. The concept of ‘One Maryland’ seems to be that of coddling the I-95 corridor at the expense of our more rural areas. Sure, we are a fairly small percentage of the state’s population and probably always will be unless we strike gold under this peninsula we call home. Still, we seem to be stuck in what I call ‘flythrough country’ – the Baltimore and DC slickers fly through on their way to their beachfront condos.

I believe in walking the conservative, limited-government walk as well as talking the talk, and most Democrats I know (there are exceptions, but none of them are running for these offices) can’t do both.

So let me return to that quote. In Dustin Mills, Charles Otto, Marty Pusey, Mike McDermott, and Michael James we have a great team who would stand up for our part of Maryland. It’s sort of amazing that all of them have the potential to learn and grow as state legislators simultaneously under the tutelage of our area stalwarts Rich Colburn, Addie Eckardt, and Jeannie Haddaway, leaving us the potential of a decade or two of solid representation.

Beginning Friday, those of us who claim to be conservative can’t be lured by the siren song of ‘oh, Jim Mathias is such a nice guy’ or ‘Norm Conway is head of the Appropriations Committee.’ As I see it, that and five bucks will get you a sub at Subway. (If those two raised it, chances are it was raised at a big-bucks fundraiser coordinated by someone across the bay anyway.) It’s time for our representation to reflect who we really are, and we are not so easily seduced by the power games being played in Annapolis. Instead, we stand up for principles like limiting government, creating jobs, and allowing us to give each other a helping hand without the nanny state stepping in.

People have had enough, and I want to see the Eastern Shore come home to its conservative roots. It’s time to finish the job Rich Colburn said he began about three decades ago and paint the Eastern Shore all red. We can do better, and given the chance, we will.

Autumn Wine Festival 2010 in pictures and text

Call it the invasion of the politicians. However, it was a well-attended event thanks to the good weather.

I took this photo about 2:30 on Saturday – despite the cooler, windier conditions there were more people who came on Saturday. The first picture below came from in front of the stage around 3:30 Saturday, the next one down was from 5:30 Saturday, and the last 3:15 Sunday.

As you can see, the AWF was a well-attended event. Of course, being an election year that means a lot of politicians were there too. I’m going to start with the Democrats, who were well-represented Saturday because part of their statewide ticket was present.

Along with Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown (center in above photo with blue shirt), Congressman Frank Kratovil was also here to shore up his support. Here he’s pictured with Wicomico County Councilman Sheree Sample-Hughes.

While the lady next to him was much more camera-shy, County Executive Rick Pollitt was also gladhanding Saturday morning.

He was standing next to the Democrats’ tent, which served as their home base for the event. Much like a walkaround in Crisfield, the Democrats did a brief tour around the Wine Festival.

You really can’t miss those nearly day-glo green O’Malley shirts, much as you might like to. But they had their table full of info as well.

Needless to say, there were other Democrats who made time over the weekend to do some campaigning and perhaps drink a little wine. Among that group was County Council hopeful David Cowall (left-center in picture below) along with Orphan’s Court Judge candidate Peter Evans, who was a fixture at the festival.

District 38B Delegate candidate Gee Williams came over from Berlin on Sunday to shake some hands as well.

I didn’t get a picture of her, but also looking for votes was Patrice Stanley of District 37B. And lest you think the GOP didn’t get into the game, here are the two current ladies who represent that district, Addie Eckardt and Jeannie Haddaway. They’re joined by one of my volunteers, Woody Willing.

The other District 37 Republicans were present, too. Here’s Rich Colburn talking to County Councilwoman Gail Bartkovich.

Rounding out the District 37 slate was Dustin Mills (left) with his campaign manager Mark Biehl.

Two other state candidates from District 38 were in the house as well – in the first picture, Mike McDermott made sure to keep a sign with him. Below that, fellow District 38B hopeful Marty Pusey (left) was campaigning with a friend Sunday.

Of course, county GOP hopefuls were represented too. County Council at-large candidate Bob Culver stopped by our tent to say hello. Stevie Prettyman did too, but I didn’t get her picture.

Perhaps topping everyone, though, was this guy, Matt Maciarello.

He didn’t use our tent as a base since he had his own, cleverly bringing to the crowd’s attention some key endorsements.

Our tent was a little more low-key, with part of the reason being the heavy wind – less stuff to chase!

Bob McCarroll and Leonard Jett (pictured) are two of my helpers who I need to thank for their efforts. I also owe a shout of over the last two weekends to Mark McIver (for the tent), Ann Suthowski, Greg Belcher, Woody Willing, Ryan Hohman, Bob Miller, Bob Laun, and the Jesters (Jim, Cindy, and Shawn) for their assistance.

I also had fun with some of the photographic opportunities and wanted to give some free advertising to the people who make GREAT ice cream!

I just liked the way the banners looked from these two. It’s worth noting that the Cygnus tent had a minor collapse with Saturday’s winds; fortunately, no one was injured.

Bottle shots make a nice and colorful still life – these are from Far Eastern Shore Winery.

This one appealed to me because of the round shadow created by the large tent behind me and the perfect sun angle.

Finally, a sun-dappled reminder of the whole point of the event.

Given the attendees present, I think a growing number did and will.

CAR/Chamber forum part 2 (District 38)

By far this was the more interesting of the debates; perhaps it’s because it covered my personal district. But just as a review from my other part:

The group asking was relatively diverse and included local businesswoman Dawn Tilghman, Terrence Lee of WMDT-TV, and Jennifer Cropper-Rines, president of the Coastal Association of Relators (CAR). Susan Parker of the Daily Times served as moderator. After an opening statement, candidates had to answer one question from each panel member and, with six to eight candidates on stage and two minutes allotted, there was really little need to get questions from the audience (hence my first post on the forum last night.)

Because of how the forum was set up, I’m going to evalute each question and answer in turn rather than summarize what each candidate said as a whole. I run the risk of writing this in a more dry fashion via this method but I think it would be more informative. This begins with the opening statements.

Opening statements:

Marty Pusey talked about limiting government and her respect for the other candidates in the race. “I believe strongly in protecting the public dollars,” she stated. Calling the election a “critical point for our country,” she further claimed “our state has an addiction, they raise taxes…we need to send our state to rehab.”

Michael James told the crowd “we need good representation now” and the “budget is in peril.” You raise revenue by creating jobs, and the worst thing the state did was raising taxes. We need a private sector person in office.

Recounting how as a child he built a paper route into a lucrative business, Norm Conway talked about his “work ethic” and how he set a goal to become a member of the House of Delegates.

Adding just a little humor to the proceedings, Mike McDermott talked about how he wasn’t cut out to be a chicken farmer. Instead, he went back into law enforcement and was happy there until he “saw a need” to get involved politically at the local level.

Since he served as Ocean City mayor, Jim Mathias claimed the “stable economic environment” he created helped the town grow. He would “strongly, proudly” represent the lower Shore in the Senate and “make one become 24”, referring to getting a majority in the Senate.

My faith “defines who I am,” said Mike McCready. He also spoke of his work ethic, his agricultural background and experience with MAFOs and CAFOs, and promised regular meetings with stakeholder groups like watermen and farmers.

Gee Williams stated the obvious: “We’re living in extraordinarily challenging times.” Recounting his business experience in the publishing industry and with nonprofits, he ticked off four bullet point items he’d like to accomplish: creating jobs, reducing fees, targeting tax cuts, and streamlining regulations. As a “principled, pragmatic” leader, he tried to paint himself as a centrist: “I reject extremism.”

Charles Otto went over his background and experience with the Maryland Farm Bureau and Farmers and Planters. In a nod to his predecessor, he praised the late Page Elmore by saying “he made a difference” for Somerset residents.

The first question, from Jennifer Cropper-Rines, asked about the possibility of alternate sources of funding for municipalities like a piggyback tax.

Mike McCready stated, “I wouldn’t be in favor of raising it any” and talked about the surplus they had in Somerset.

Similarly, Charles Otto was in favor of “limited” taxes, but the state does play a role.

Michael James would allow it if the voters wanted it, but personally would oppose this. Municipalities needed to watch their spending.

Norm Conway thought municipalities “should have options” through enabling legislation.

To Marty Pusey, “a tax is a tax is a tax.” She would try to have state funding restored first, in order to create as much of a positive business environment as possible and would vote against such measures.

Gee Williams wouldn’t support new revenue streams, since government should live within its means.

Jim Mathias wouldn’t initiate new tax mechanisms, but we needed to build a consensus on taxes with the business community. He also talked about the concept of “local courtesy” and how it would apply to this situation.

More bluntly, Mike McDermott said the power to tax was the power to destroy. Our legislature “understands destruction” but needed instead create a better environment for business.

Terrence Lee used an audience question asking about the education background each candidate had in economics.

In truth, only Marty Pusey and Charles Otto had taken college-level classes in economics, so most candidates cited their real-life experiences.

Mike McDermott talked about balancing his checkbook each month and how Maryland was living outside its means. We had gotten “off track.”

Jim Mathias told us “my degree in economics is the real world” and explained that he vetoed two Ocean City municipal budgets which included tax increases.

Again, Gee Williams spoke of his life experiences running 12 newspapers, working for the State Highway Administration, and various nonprofits. “Life is too complicated” right now and we should lower our expectations until we rebuild the economy.

Besides the college course, Marty Pusey cited her experience with creating budgets and working with the state’s accounting system for doing so.

Norm Conway said that as a youth, “my goal was to make money” – it was real-life economic training. He claimed the state had reduced spending $5.5 billion this term and that his goal was fiscal prudence with social responsibility.

“Maryland’s economics will not work long-term,” countered Michael James. We need to have business profits to create the revenue from businesses that the state needs.

Charles Otto put it simply and eloquently: “You learn to balance a budget when you get a 60 bushel crop and you expected 180.” His more formal economic training came from his agribusiness studies at Virginia Tech.

Mike McCready said that in his life, he set aside 10 percent as a tithe and 10 percent for a rainy day before he even considered which bills to pay. This is “not a time for a weak mind or inexperience” and referred again to lowering Somerset’s tax rate. He also claimed that, “we’re in better shape than the other Lower Shore counties, dollar for dollar” and how tax credits they could afford created or saved jobs at Rubberset and other companies.

Dawn Tilghman asked about the aggressive regulatory climate in the state.

Again talking about quarterly meetings with stakeholders, Mike McCready decried “one size fits all” solutions but supported a concept of the state picking up part of the salaries of people hired off the unemployment rolls. He would work across party lines to find solutions.

Charles Otto believed it was “time to restructure government” and these fines were “extortion.” It was a symptom of a “state government that knows best,” in the meantime “we have problems to solve.”

Michael James warned us we shouldn’t lose local control and needed to eliminate the perception that government is out to get businesses.

It was an “out of line, out of control” situation that needed to be modified, according to Norm Conway. He also blasted as “totally unreasonable” the University of Maryland law school for getting involved in the Hudson farm lawsuit on the environmentalists’ side.

We take away choices every time we pass regulations, said Marty Pusey. Environmental regulations should be “based on real science” and the assault on the poultry industry was “unacceptable.” But my favorite line of the night was when she said for every new law we create two old ones should be removed. That brought a “hell yeah” from me!

Gee Williams agreed with the tenor of the group, saying “they don’t give towns breaks.” While the goals of the Maryland Department of the Environment were noble, the application was unreasonable. “Litigating first and asking questions later is setting back our community,” concluded Williams.

A more educated regulator would help, argued Jim Mathias, yet we need to communicate our strengths and advocated for what we have. Agriculture was a “tremendous asset” to the state, and when we talk about it the governor and his staff listen.

Mike McDermott disagreed strongly, rebutting to Jim that the talk goes in one ear and out the other. Because of one-party rule in Maryland, “we are myopic.” He thought it was funny to hear liberals talk about conservative values. “Don’t tolerate that nonsense,” he said.

Closing statement:

Charles Otto believed part of our problem was the federal government – we are living in a “broke country…it’s time to change.” On the environmental front it was a question of compliance vs. stewardship, and he believed that some of the most recent and draconian regulations needed to be rolled back.

Gee Williams wanted our representative to “sit at the table and not at the back bench.” We needed to elect people who can make government work and disagree respectfully.

“Experience counts,” said Mike McCready, “and being County Commissioner counts for something.” He pointed out that his county was the only local county whose board of education didn’t request a maintenance of effort waiver from the state.

Jim Mathias rested on his “proven record” in securing capital projects and again promised to make one Senator into 24 by working with like-minded Senators.

“This is the election of our lifetime,” Mike McDermott said. “If we don’t see a change (we’ll get) bigger government and more taxes.” It’s not about edifices, but wholesale change from liberal values to conservative values.

Norm Conway “doesn’t consider himself a liberal or a conservative.” He was proud of the credibility he’d earned and believed in One Maryland.

Michael James accused the two incumbent Democrats of “reinventing their records” and asked where they were on sex offender laws before Sarah Foxwell. He promised to follow in the footsteps of outgoing Senator Lowell Stoltzfus.

Marty Pusey expounded on her “unique combination” of experiences and skills, though “we do need a change of culture in Annapolis. She pointed out the low marks business groups gave Conway based on his voting record, and promised to do right by the Maryland Constitution, which she waved a copy of during her close.

One item not used during the first session was the rebuttal. But both Mathias and Conway wanted to rebut Michael James’s assertion they’d voted for tax increases.

Mathias claimed that he’d voted for the House version of one package but it was changed in the Senate before the final vote, when he voted against it. (See below.) Norm Conway added that he voted for the one-cent increase of the sales tax, but half of that was supposed to go to the Transportation Trust Fund – without it, U.S. 113 would not have been dualized nor would future work on Maryland Route 589 (once Ocean Downs is renovated for slots) be on the radar.

Mike McDermott pithily rebutted Conway, noting that over the 40 years dualization of U.S. 113 was discussed they’d done one mile per year, it would already be done.

Michael James wanted to rebut Conway and Mathias, but moderator Susan Parker of the Daily Times denied his request, saying he’d made the original point. Fellow blogger G.A. Harrison commented from the crowd on the unfairness of that ruling but it stood. It ended a forum that became heated and contentious at the end.

My take:

First, as a service to readers, Mathias is correct that he voted against the tax bill (SB2) that became law in 2007. (The fiscal note explains the provisions which changed pretty well.) However, many of the same provisions were present in the House bill (HB2) that Mathias voted in favor of. (It also has a fiscal note.) Conway voted for both versions (along with the sales tax increase of HB5 that Mathias voted against), so his objection came from the substance of the legislative package as a whole.

It’s obvious that we may have a good cop-bad cop scenario here among the Republicans. McDermott and James are very forceful in painting their Democratic opponents as liberals, and here’s why – they are liberals! Just look at their voting records.

But Marty Pusey avoided being as confrontational and that may score her some points. In many respects she’s the most conservative of the bunch and her two-for-one line was my favorite.

Again, the Democrats who aren’t in office did their best to talk about crossing the aisle and bipartisanship, but I liked how Mike McDermott slapped that argument down. There are very few Democrats in Annapolis who give Republicans the time of day, and the limited number of instances where local Democrats are right is akin to a stopped clock being right twice a day – any other time it’s far from reliable and perhaps even detrimental.

There’s a reason that I get day after day of mailings from Jim Mathias explaining how, despite his Baltimore roots, he’s an Eastern Shore conservative at heart (today it’s being against “liberals” and for the death penalty.) Annapolis Democrats wouldn’t be backing him if he weren’t useful to them – they know the score and the fact they need Republicans to have fewer than 19 Senate seats to keep them meaningless. He will be no such thing as a loose cannon.

And Gee Williams will have to be happy with his back bench even if he wins – the real Democratic power in Annapolis represents the urban areas. We all know this.

Indeed, we can do better and last night’s forum showed why we need conservative leadership from the Eastern Shore.

Eight (years) is enough

Yesterday a Howard County Delegate candidate announced he was spearheading a drive for term limits in the Maryland General Assembly; however, he was only giving himself eight years to do so.

A group of six other co-signers flanked Ed Priola of Columbia, who is running in District 13, while nine others committed to signing the Term Limits Pledge electronically as they couldn’t attend the Annapolis gathering. Of the sixteen initial signees, all but one is a Republican and none are currenltly in the General Assembly. “It is my earnest hope to see all of the participating candidates in Annapolis for the legislative session in January, at which time we will form the first Term Limits Caucus and introduce our legislative proposal,” said Priola.

(continued on my Examiner.com page…)

Of local interest is that both District 37A candidate Dustin Mills and District 38B hopeful Mike McDermott signed the pledge electronically.

I used to be against term limits – and there are some good, compelling arguments to state that case – but in this day and age of politics as a profession I think they’ve become necessary. If they are good enough for the executive branch they should be adopted in the legislative branch as well. As for the judicial branch, well, to turn a phrase, for me the jury is out on that one.

But if I didn’t think what Priola was doing wasn’t newsworthy I would have skipped it.

Leading GOP Delegate candidate appealing disciplinary action

Mike McDermott is used to corralling the bad guys after nearly three decades in law enforcement, but an internal Worcester County Sheriff’s Department probe leaves him as the accused party regarding an incident involving one of his service weapons.

It is alleged that McDermott improperly secured a spare service weapon, according to his lawyer in a published report. Worcester County Sheriff Charles Martin placed McDermott on desk duty and stripped him of police powers as of July 22, months after this incident occurred. While a subsequent internal review by fellow members of the Sheriff’s Department recommended McDermott’s police powers be restored, Sheriff Martin has kept McDermott in his deskbound status.

(continued on my Examiner.com page…)

Political season heats up like the weather

Last night I made it to two events which prove the passion is already there for a heated electoral campaign.

A number of candidates made it out to the local AFP meeting last night, which benefitted from not having Salisbury’s answer to “Sideshow Bob” drawing attention to himself and his well-publicized feud with one of the local AFP co-chairs.

An overflow crowd made it to last night's Americans for Prosperity meeting, including nearly a dozen local candidates.

We had sort of an unusual start, as Joe Collins talked about and played the Martin O’Malley radio advertisement which accused Bob Ehrlich of being a friend of Big Oil. He then played Ehrlich’s video response and also introduced the audience to fellow GOP hopeful Brian Murphy through another video.

Joe also addressed one critic as he said, “I’m not going to tell you who to vote for.” Instead we should do our own research and come up with our own comclusions.

A number of candidates then were asked to come up and introduce themselves briefly.

While Mike Brewington told us briefly his campaign was about taxes, Rob Fisher took a couple minutes to introduce himself and tell us he was “outraged” by the scope of government. He definitely took advantage of the “few seconds” asked of hopefuls.

Dustin Mills noted the “state of the state is deplorable” and that Rudy Cane has “nothing to show” for 12 years of service. Fellow Delegate candidate Mike McDermott told us “you deserve better” in Annapolis, while Mike Calpino explained we “need a philosopical change in the government.”

I also found out Orphans Court Judge Bill Smith was seeking another term, which surprised me since I was under the impression he was retiring.

Giving brief reports on Wicomico County and Salisbury City Councils were Matt Trenka and S.J. Disharoon, respectively.

While Trenka spoke about the “success” of getting one night meeting per month for County Council, there was also the disappointment that Council’s budget amendments failed to pass so the County Executive’s budget proposal stood as the FY2011 spending plan for Wicomico County. Trenka also called a letter from Delegate Rudy Cane regarding the Council’s cuts as “inappropriate” because it cast the cuts in a race-based light. “(We’re) not racist, not hateful, just no longer silent,” concluded Trenka.

Disharoon spent much of his time lamenting the spending at the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which may end up costing taxpayers as much as $130 million to repair as promised – the newly-hired engineers were “pretty sure” this would work, explained a dismayed Disharoon. He also stated that annexation “has got to stop,” at least for residential areas.

The featured speakers were Bill Satterfield of Delmarva Poultry Industry and Joe Ollinger, who’s running for County Executive.

Bill Satterfield of Delmarva Poultry Industry speaks at the Americans For Prosperity meeting, June 23, 2010.

Satterfield made two key points during his remarks.

First he explained the economic impact of the poultry industry on Delmarva – the 14,700 jobs which are directly created by poultry producers lead to 100,000 jobs indirectly. Just the feed bill for these birds is $850 million, noted Bill.

Yet legislation which singles out the poultry industry seems to be all the rage in Annapolis and Washington. Laboring under “nutrient management plans” and a “pollution diet” already, the growers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed may find life even harder due to special regulations affecting only them (as compared to other regions like the Carolinas.) But agriculture was the only sector making progress toward the goal of cleaning up Chesapeake Bay – urban and suburban areas were lagging behind.

Ollinger went through a brief biography, some history of his community involvement, and the five planks in his platform (being a taxpayer advocate, pay for performance, safer and more disciplined schools, appointing the Board of Education, and combining the county’s law enforcement agencies.) One thing I didn’t know is that he’d worked in the mid-1990’s on a study to consolidate various county functions, including law enforcement. Joe has also spent nearly a quarter-century on the Mayor’s Roundtable discussion group.

Joe Ollinger, candidate for Wicomico County Executive, makes his pitch before the Americans for Prosperity meeting, June 23, 2010.

He answered a number of audience questions, with the most contentious being the prospect of a school board being appointed by the County Executive vs. elected by the voters. Ollinger saw it as an extension of his function of creating the overall budget, but when John Palmer asked for a show of hands on the issue supporters of an elected school board far outnumbered those in favor of Joe’s approach.

With regard to a “hands-on role”, Ollinger said the incumbent, “missed the boat on what the County Executive’s job is,” using the job to be an administrator rather than as a leadership role.

As far as combined law enforcement, Joe believed that the debate would have to occur as a community; for example, Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton is against the idea because Salisbury prefers its own police force. “I think one law enforcement agency would better serve and better protect the citizens of this county,” said Ollinger.

The key to getting jobs in this county, answered Ollinger to another question, is improving certain areas of our infrastructure (electricity, natural gas, fiber optics, and wireless accessibility) and our school system. While he doesn’t have control over jobs, he does have control over those aspects which attract businesses.

Ollinger also promised to attend more County Council meetings than the incumbent, particularly when the budget was being discussed.

Afterward, those candidates who had attended held an impromptu meet-and-greet. Included in that group were Ollinger along with Congressional candidates Rob Fisher and Andy Harris, Delegate hopefuls Mike McDermott and Dustin Mills, Maryland Senate hopeful Michael James, and County Council aspirants Mike Brewington, Joe Holloway, Mike Calpino, and John Cannon. Karla Graham, who represented Brian Murphy, was also there.

Harris and James were a little late because previous to the AFP meeting was a fundraiser for Maryland Senate candidate Michael James, which featured Senate Minority Leader Allan Kittleman.

It looked like well over 75 people were in attendance for Michael James's fundraiser last night.

Allan stressed the importance of getting 19 Senators – “we fight hard, but it’s just not doable sometimes (with 14 Senators)…(Bob Ehrlich) doesn’t want to be Governor with less than 19 Senators.” It was a case of either being at the table or on the menu.

Current Senator Lowell Stoltzfus, who is retiring, broke his silence on endorsing his successor until after the July 6th filing deadline – “I’m here.” He also related a story Jim Mathias told about himself and his first vote, leading to a question of whether Mathias would follow his principles based on his thought process prior to that initial vote. (It’s nothing new, I’ve heard the story from Mathias too.)

James himself felt the seat needed to be filled by someone “who had created jobs,” noting that under his management the Carousel Hotel had gone from 10 employees to 300. He also harped on a regular theme of being proactive rather than reactive. As for measures to help local business, “one thing we ought to focus on is knocking that sales tax to where it belongs – or lower.”

Conway makes it official

There was little doubt that he would seek yet another term in the General Assembly, but longtime Delegate Norm Conway made it official Tuesday by filing for re-election.

The 68-year-old Wicomico resident is the first to file on the Democratic side as he seeks a seventh term in the House of Delegates. Last week Republican Mike McDermott, mayor of Pocomoke City in Worcester County, filed his papers as a candidate for the district, which covers all of Worcester County and roughly the eastern half of Wicomico. (While Conway has a website, it looks like it’s not been updated to reflect this news.)

(continued on my Examiner.com page…)

AFP continues to build momentum

Despite the naysayers who criticize how the meetings are conducted, the local Americans for Prosperity chapter continues to grow and even attracted its biggest critic last night. He just can’t stay away.

After poking fun at Julie for her previous rendition of the Pledge of Allegiance, we got the meeting underway by looking at Wicomico County voter data. It’s interesting to note that, unlike the state at large, Democrats do not have an absolute majority in registration here, and independents, minor parties, and unaffiliated voters comprise about 1/6 of the electorate. These are the swing voters everyone craves and many lean conservative. “We must drag politicians back from the brink,’ noted WCAFP co-chair Joe Collins, “…tell them what you want.” This coming from a former two-time Perot voter who thought Obama would govern from the center – obviously recent events have made him wiser. (Hey, I voted for Perot once too.)

Dustin Mills spoke briefly for one of our scheduled speakers, Maryland Senate candidate Michael James – James needed to postpone his appearance. Mills noted that Michael was active in the Worcester AFP chapter and is a “strong, strong, strong fiscal conservative” while repeating James’s mantra of being proactive rather than reactive.

Our other featured speaker did appear. District 38B Delegate hopeful Mike McDermott went over his background and family before bringing up the fact that he was elected mayor of Pocomoke City in a non-partisan race and had to build a coalition with Democrats to get things done – it was a “well fought first year and a half.”

Having spent a brief period of time running a chicken farm, Mike thought the lack of support for the agricultural industry from Annapolis was “outrageous” and perhaps MDE needed a budget cut “to get their attention.”

He asked what the country has done with Reagan’s legacy and reminded us that there’s been two generations who haven’t had such leadership – Reagan grew up in the era of our grandparents. As for the roiling, passionate debate we’ve had over a number of topics nationally, McDermott counseled us to “simmer over the summer” and hold on to that passion until closer to election time.

When I asked him about the prospect of working with Norm Conway, he said “I can work with him.” Norm’s a nice guy, but he’s a tax and spend liberal too.

We also need conservatives in the General Assembly to help change the tax system, opined Mike, and told us that “Maryland needs to sell some land” rather than continue to spend Program Open Space money (hear hear!)

Julie returned to the rostrum to go over some ideas for an organizational structure and seek out leadership volunteers. “We are the engine driving change,” she said, but it was getting to be too much for just a few people to handle.

We then had a series of speakers briefly go over being an election judge or poll watcher as well as reports on county and city government and a brief wrapup of state activities by Nick Loffer.

Kim Trenka called the county’s budget problem “a spending problem” and said we need “to challenge our county leadership.” While Rick Pollitt equated our low tax rate with reduced services, Trenka had some ideas on positions which could be eliminated, such as the two at-large County Council members and Pollitt’s public information officer.

S.J. Disharoon saw the city’s freshly revealed budget as having some “strange numbers” and called it “a big sieve…money’s being wasted.” He also criticized Mayor Jim Ireton for leaving the fire chief position unfilled so long and reminded us that Ireton said to him, “I’m going to make government smaller.” Apparently this is more by chance than by choice.

With the absence of Council member Gary Comegys due to illness, Disharoon saw this as an opportunity for members Terry Cohen and Debbie Campbell to “exert their power” – a 2-2 tie vote means measures do not pass. S.J. ended by warning, “if you don’t pay attention…(the government) will fool you.”

Loffer did alert us to an upcoming grassroots training on May 12 at our Brew River location.

As always, the meeting ended with what’s called “vent and purge,” and one observer made the point that we don’t need a family history as much as we need issue-based discussion from candidates – after all, no one is going to stand in front of us and tell us he or she is a scoundrel. However, character is a trait we should know about, yet it also has to be about keeping one’s word. Our job is to keep those in office flying right and place their feet to the fire if they stray.

I’m not sure who will be speaking next time around, but we are trying to get another U.S. Senate hopeful for June.