Where’s Frank? – 63 Days to Election

It’s 63 Days to Election Day.  WHERE’S FRANK?

Don’t his constituents have a right to know?

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Frank Kratovil Refuses To Talk With Constituents

First District Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) really holds his constituents in high regard.  He has refused to hold a public town hall meeting with voters for the last year.  His so called meetings with constituents are tightly controlled affairs more akin to campaign events than actually working with constituents.

Now he has gone so far as to REFUSE to talk to a constituent!  Evidently, Frank’s handlers have convinced him that if it isn’t a photo op or it’s not someone handing him a check, then they just aren’t worth Kratovil’s time!

It’s 67 days until the election Frank.  You’re going to have to come out sometime.  The Obama machine won’t be able to put you over the top this year.  You’ll actually have to talk to people.

In the meantime, all we can do is ask:

WHERE’s FRANK?

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Mike (Pretl) vs. Mike (Brewington)

Local lefty stalwart Mike Pretl doesn’t seem to like the fact that Mike Brewington is running for Wicomico County Council as a Democrat.  I really don’t care that much given that I have no intention of voting for Brewington if he makes it through the primary.  As a registered Republican I couldn’t vote for him on September 14th even if I wanted to.

However, I do take issue with a few statements made by Pretl in his Daily Times letter:

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Don’t The Rules Apply to Rudy Cane?

Is it OK for churches to make campaign contributions to political candidates?  How about other non-profits?  I know that it’s not legal, but is it morally right?

If you believe, as I do, that tax exempt institutions like churches, the American Legion, the VFW, schools, etc shouldn’t be able to involve themselves in partisan political activity then you then need to ask yourself – Why don’t the rules apply to Maryland Del. Rudy Cane (D-37A)?  Even if you don’t agree with me, you still need to ask yourself why Cane and the tax exempt interests that contribute to his campaign don’t seem to believe that the law applies to them.

VFW Wicomico Memorial Post 10159

VFW Post 10159 sits at 821 West Main Street just east of the intersection of US 50 and Nanticoke Road.  On top of its building are two billboards, one facing US 50 East and the other facing West Main Street.  As shown in the photo to the right, these billboards act as signage for the VFW Post.

Yet, as the picture at the top shows, the sign facing US 50 has been magically transformed into a billboard for Cane’s re-election bid.  Some might argue that IF Cane paid for the space that this would be legit.  Sadly, there is no evidence in his most recent campaign finance disclosure that Cane paid for the billboard space.  Even if he did, I’m not aware of the VFW post selling that billboard space for other purposes.

VFW Post 10159 is a tax exempt institution.  They don’t pay property taxes.  They are permitted slot machines and other types of gambling provided that they donate a certain percentage of the proceeds back to the community.  They are also forbidden by law from engaging in partisan political activity.

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Kratovil Continues To Hide From Constituents

Where’s Frank?

Rep. Frank Kratovil continues to hide from the voters of Maryland’s First Congressional District.  You would think, that in an election year, an incumbent congressman would want to get out there with the folks that will decide his or her fate in November.  Not Kratovil!

Evidently, Kratovil’s experience with town hall meetings scared him pretty badly.  Consequently, Kratovil has consistently ducked constituent town halls since last summer.  Instead, Kratovil has used a series of tightly controlled photo-ops and press events to make constituents think that he’s out and about the district.  However, if you want to ask YOUR congressman questions you are out of luck.

Kratovil’s DC office claims that all of these “events” throughout the district are open to the public and that Kratovil would answer questions there.  Fair enough – EXCEPT – Kratovil’s staff doesn’t make events public until the day of the event.  They even go so far as to state:

“We send these press releases out to the local media.  We can’t help it if they don’t print it.”

While I find myself in a strange place defending newspapers such as Salisbury’s Daily Times, we have to ask – How can they print that Frank Kratovil will be in the area on Friday if Kratovil’s staff doesn’t send the release out until AFTER Friday’s edition is published?

In addition, why should constituents have to traipse around in a cornfield in order to ask their congressman a question?  Again, Kratovil’s cracker jack staff have an answer – you can send them an email and they will respond.  Sorry guys!  We don’t want some canned response from Kratovil’s staff.  We want to look Frank in the eye and ask him a straight question.  We would then appreciate a straight answer!

It appears to me that Frank Kratovil simply doesn’t want to risk being put on the spot by his constituents.  That’s a shame.

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Candidates Clash At Somerset NAACP Forum

If you were looking for excitement, read no further.  The title, while misleading, is the closest thing to “red meat” you will find in this post.

Tuesday evening, the Somerset Branch of the NAACP hosted a candidate forum at UMES.  In what may have been the most well run example of a VERY LARGE candidate forum (11+ offices, over 40 candidates) that I have ever witnessed, the Somerset NAACP and UMES have set the standard by which all other similar forums should be judged.

Because of the large number of offices and candidates it was difficult to handle many questions or get into specifics.  However, attendees were able to walk away with a good sense the candidates and their approaches to various issues.

In the race to replace Maryland Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus (R-38), candidates Jim Mathias and Michael James provided an overview of who they are.  Unfortunately, because of time constraints we were unable to grab a true sense of the differences between the two candidates – even on the broad strokes.

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Will Wicomico County Put ANOTHER Tree Hugger on the Planning Commission?

On the surface, tomorrow’s Wicomico County Council meeting looks pretty tame.  However, one item does stick out as the proverbial “sore thumb”.  Will the council confirm County Executive Rick Pollitt’s appointment of Jacob Day to the county planning commission?

Day’s appointment came to the council last month, along with another controversial appointment.  The item was pulled from the agenda after it was requested that the appointment be discussed in a work session.

At the council’s last meeting, outgoing councilman Bill McCain (D-At Large) jumped up on a giant soap box and berated some of his council colleagues for not approving Day’s nomination (the second nominee had since withdrawn his name).  McCain rambled on and on about well qualified Mr. Day is and what an important contribution he would make, etc. etc.

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When All Else Fail – The Politics of Fear

Taxes go up in January.  Unemployment is still hovering at 10%.  The economy is still in the tank.  The deficit has soared to an unheard of TRILLION dollars.  What’s a Democrat to do?

Go back to the playbook!  The politics of fear seems to work when all else is failing.

Their policies have been complete failures.  If they run on their record, few Democrat seats are safe.  So ….

During his weekly radio address, President Barack Obama gave us a glimpse into this fall’s mid-term elections:

IF YOU VOTE REPUBLICAN OLD PEOPLE WILL DIE!

Seniors freezing in the cold, eating cat food; that is the image Barack Obama and the DNC want to paint for this fall’s election.  Why not?

As Erick Erickson points out in RedState – it’s a replay of 1994 all over again.  Fortunately, it didn’t work then.  Hopefully, it won’t work now.

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Kratovil Afraid of Constituents?

Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) seems to be afraid of the very same people he was elected to represent.  Last week we asked the question – “Where’s Frank?”.  Well, true to the word of his staff, Kratovil has released a schedule of appearances.

Are there any town hall meetings?  No!  Are there plenty of appearances that are designed to be photo ops for use in the November election?  Yes!

Just as Kratovil is trying to claim that his vote to appropriate $26 Billion to keep more government workers on the payroll is “cutting the deficit” (only in Washington would someone vote to spend billions and then claim that they are saving money), Kratovil is claiming to represent his constituents while only appearing at tightly controlled events more designed to aid his re-election effort than to actually answer questions.  Is Kratovil afraid of his constituents?  It appears so.

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Where’s Frank?

Ever since large numbers of citizens turned out to express their opinions last summer, first term Congressman Frank Kratovil (D-MD) has been, for all practical purposes, MIA.  If you live in Maryland’s First Congressional District and want to ask questions of your (just barely) elected representative you had better make an appointment.

Since constituents scared the you know what out of Kratovil and his staff, last year, Kratovil’s “public appearances” have been a series of tightly controlled events designed to keep the average voter out of reach.

With the House in summer recess, what is Frank’s excuse now?

Yesterday I placed a call to Kratovil’s DC office to find out if my Congressman would be lowering himself by meeting with people who aren’t waving “Re-Elect Kratovil” signs or writing checks to his campaign.  The exchange (which took multiple attempts because Kratovil’s DC staff can’t seem to get to work on time) went as follows:

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