Kratovil’s Special Interest Pals Want to Throw Seniors Under the Bus

You know Frank Kratovil.  He’s the “moderate” Democrat.  He’s the “Blue Dog”.  Frank loves to hug trees.  Frank also attacked his opponent in last year’s election because Andy Harris was the beneficiary of grassroots money from groups like The Club for Growth.

What Frank Kratovil doesn’t want you to know is that he was a tool of left wing special interests last year and now appears to be going to the highest bidder.  Case in point – Big Pharma.

You’ve probably seen the commercials; asking you to call Kratovil and thank him for “saving children’s health care”.  Guess who paid for those ads.  PhRMA, the lobby for Big Pharma.

Listen to President Barack Obama brag about the pharmaceutical industry supporting ObamaCare.  Now ask yourself why.  It’s simple, the Obama administration made a deal with Big Pharma to keep their share of cost reductions capped at $80 billion.

How did they do that?  Big Pharma and Obama agreed to throw Grandma under the bus.  Under Obama’s agreement with Big Pharma, Grandma can no longer order her prescriptions from Canada.  Big Pharma also won’t be subject to price controls for certain drugs under Medicare Part D (I’m opposed to price controls, but that’s another post).

Big Pharma loves Frank Kratovil.  We have to wonder if Frank will be voting to hammer our seniors.

H/T – Del. Mike Smigiel

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AARP – Another Lefty Lobby

We recently did a post on the Maryland League of Conservation Voters (MLCV) and their decision to rate Maryland legislators on EARLY VOTING.  We posed the question – What does early voting have to do with environmentalism?

Today I received an email from the Maryland chapter of AARP asking me to email my senators in support of “Cap and Tax”.  For those of us at that certain age in life, AARP offers lots of great benefits; discounts on travel, insurance, etc.  However, I become increasingly dismayed with groups that claim to be supporting certain issues and then use our dues money to promote left wing causes like “Cap and Tax” and ObamaCare (last week AARP hosted a “Tele-Town Hall” that did told every left wing lie possible about Obama Care).

Something tells me that AARP supports early voting too.  What has that got to do with being a senior?  We vote in high numbers already.

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Open Government – A Chance for Bipartisanship?

Can the battle for transparency in government spending be a truly bipartisan effort? Soren Dayton and Matt Stoller seem to think so. It’s a genuinely intriguing idea.

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Let’s Sell Those Conventions!

Soren Dayton over at The Next Right explains how the Democrats have gutted their own “ethics reform” rules in order to keep the special interest money flowing at this year’s conventions. I’m sure they would have made sure that the new rules wouldn’t apply to the GOP convention if they only had more time.

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Kratovil Goes After Special Interest Money

While the story in this morning’s Daily Times might be filed under “Better Late Than Never”, we have to appreciate a few nuggets provided by Gannett’s local outpost. We all know that 1st District Democrat congressional candidate Frank Kratovil has been targeted by the DCCC. This means money and other support. What I found interesting was where he’s earning his money from.

To kick off the new relationship with the people who will rule over Kratovil IF he is elected, the DCCC put together a little soirée hosted by Patton Boggs. Patton Boggs is one of Washington’s largest lobbying shops.

I find it interesting that Kratovil criticizes his opponent, Maryland Sen. Andy Harris (R-7) for taking money from the Club for Growth. However, the Club for Growth’s money comes from small contributions given by citizens like me who support lower taxes and less economic regulation.

The money that Kratovil will be raising through the DCCC will be large contributions from lobbyist and special interest groups that want big government contracts or want a larger government to affect greater control over our lives.

I’m sure Frank will be telling us that he’s a man of the people.

cross posted at Red Maryland

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Bi-Partisan Justice

Former Maryland Sen. Thomas Bromwell has reached a plea agreement that allows him to plead guilty to charges of accepting payoffs in return for publicly funded contracts. Typically such agreements require that the guilty party assist in any ongoing investigation of other related public corruption.

Not in this case. Typical Democrat backscratching, right? No! This is a federal case, with a U.S. Attorney appointed by a Republican President.

What gives?

Technorati Tags: Maryland, politics, marylandpolitics, corruption, justice, crime

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Is Rick Pollitt Complicit In O’Malley Tax-Hike Scam

As you know, I’m not a big fan of Maryland Sen. E. J. Pipkin (R-Queen Anne’s) and have been a supporter of Wicomico County Exec Rick Pollitt, despite his membership in the wrong party. One area that Rick and I have disagreed on is his insistence on publishing a “shadow budget” – a budget showing the impact of NOT having a revenue cap.

Now it appears that MACO (the Maryland Association of Counties) is crawling in bed with Martin O’Malley and encouraging members to publish “shadow budgets”, a la Rick Pollitt, to help give O’Malley cover in the series of tax hikes we all know are coming.

Is Rick Pollitt complicit in O’Malley’s tax-hike scam? I hope not, but time will tell. IF we see Rick fall in line with MACO’s lobbyists and attempt to shill for O’Malley’s tax increases then we will know.

I’m hopeful that Rick will rise above the fray not participate in this farce.

Technorati Tags: Maryland, Wicomico, politics, marylandpolitics, wicomicopolitics, “Maryland politics”, “Wicomico politics”, fiscalpolicy, “fiscal policy”, taxation, “shadow budget”, “Martin O’Malley”, “Rick Pollitt”, MartinO’Malley, RickPollitt, budget, “tax increase”, taxincrease

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What Is Your Vision for the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress?

When the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress was originally proposed by County Executive Rick Pollitt the idea was to have a grassroots organization where ordinary citizens from all areas of Wicomico County could come together and discuss ways to solve common problems. This was a great idea. Unfortunately, what is currently being proposed is anything but a grassroots organization.

Take a look at the proposed articles of incorporation. The proposal is to have an organization that is set-up to raise money from foundations, hire staff, and basically become a Washington-type “grassroots lobby“. A “grassroots lobby” is almost always a far cry from a grassroots organization. I am sure that steering committee co-chair Mike Pretl will argue that incorporating the WNC is just a legal mechanism to shield directors, officers and members from liability as well as being a vehicle to help the organization to raise money. This argument would hold some water until you examine the draft by-laws. Read more

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What Is A Grassroots Lobby?

A grassroots lobbying organization is a bit of an oxymoron. The real (rather than stated) purpose of most grassroots lobbies is to push the agenda of a few individuals (usually the Officers or Board) while claiming to represent hundreds, thousands, or even millions of individuals.

How can they do this? It’s simple. You sign up a large number of individuals as members. Try to keep contact between the real grassroots membership to a minimum, by only hosting the one required annual membership meeting. Have rules that are difficult for the membership to nominate officers or directors that were not put up by the nominating committee. Tell the membership about all of the great things that you are doing for them, while trying to hide the real agenda that the Board and / or Officers have been promoting. Read more

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Big Labor Coercion

Yes, I’m a conservative. Yes, I’m a Republican. I’m also a big believer in unions. I do not however believe in force or coercion in getting people to join unions. MonoBlogue serves up an excellent post on the latest attempt by the Dems in Congress to force people to join unions.

Currently, employees may elect to have a union represent them via a secret ballot. Little Tommy’s crew want to take that right away.

If you are interested in more information on this issue, check out the National Right to Work Committee. These folks, while denounced as anti-labor by the Big Bosses running today’s unions, have a long history defending a worker’s right to decide whether or not to join a union.

Technorati Tags: unions, righttowork, BigLabor, secretballot

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