Should Grassroots Conservatives Support the MDGOP?

Today, MDGOP chairwoman Audrey Scott begins her 5 day “Take Back Annapolis and Washington Town Hall Tour” with stops in Annapolis (noon, Conte-Lubrano) and Salisbury (6:30 PM, Wicomico Youth and Civic Center).  The tour criss-crosses Maryland and finishes up Friday in Bowie.

Scott is to be commended for her efforts.  If the MDGOP were a functioning party, I have no doubt that Scott would be an excellent chair.  Sadly, the MDGOP is not a functioning party and has little sign of becoming one in the near future.  Check out successful, conservative, state Republican parties.  They’re NOTHING like the MDGOP.

Why?  Grassroots conservatives have no say in how the party is governed and aren’t particularly welcome.  The party deliberately separates itself from the grassroots by promoting a layered, “big fish in a little pond” approach to governance.  At a recent county central committee meeting one member went so far as to claim that, “They (Tea Party activists) need us more than we need them.”  This fool obviously has never had any real experience in WINNING campaigns.  My money is on the folks that seem to be willing to knock on doors, make phone calls, and write letters.  That ain’t the folks who think that the Republican Party elects candidates in this state.

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Will Bob Ehrlich Sign The Pledge?

Richard Falknor poses an interesting question – Can Tea Partiers Extract a NO NEW TAXES pledge from former Maryland governor and 2010 candidate Bob Ehrlich?  There is no question, we should demand such a pledge before offering our support to Ehrlich.

Typically, I’m not a big fan of tax pledges.  They’re gimmicky at best (even though Grover Norquist may strike me dead).  We don’t know what a Gov. Ehrlich may encounter if he replaces current governor Martin O’Malley in January.  Cutting spending is almost always the preferred approach to fiscal policy, but tying a governor’s hand for four years isn’t necessarily prudent.  Ehrlich could cut (or eliminate) some taxes while replacing SOME of them with a different tax scheme.  However, despite these arguments, Ehrlich needs to commit; and commit now.

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AFP Causing Ruckus About Baltimore County Pensions

Baltimore County councilman Kevin Kamenetz (D) is leaving the council to run for county executive.  If he is successful, and serves two terms as county executive, he will leave office with a pension of at least $108,000!  Perhaps that is why he is pleading with Baltimore County AFP co-chair Steve Bailey to quit talking about the pensions paid to members of the Baltimore County Council.

They say that timing is everything in politics.  For Kamenetz, the old adage is proving true.  No one seemed to whine when former county exec Dutch Ruppersberger bolted for Congress, taking a sizable pension with him.  Unfortunately for Kamenetz, what was once a hypothetical outrage has become real – and the public ain’t liking it too much!

Last fall, councilman Vincent Gardina announced that he would not seek a sixth term.  Gardina, 54, will leave council and collect 100% of his $54,000 annual salary for the REST OF HIS LIFE!  Now, incumbent councilmen like Kamenetz are taking heat for a pension system that was put in place back in ‘50’s (when council pay was $3,000 / year).

Tonight, the Baltimore County chapter of Americans for Prosperity will host a Town Hall forum on pension reform for our county council, county executive and general assembly.  The forum is from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Towson Library, 320 York Road.

Sorry Councilman Kamenetz!  This is an issue that needs to be talked about.  Kudos again to AFP for facilitating an event where average taxpayers can learn more about their government and how their hard earned dollars are being spent.

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Steele Flunks the Test Again

MPPI Senior Fellow Marta Hummel Mossburg tags RNC chair Michael Steele for the rank hypocrisy of his book – "Right Now: A 12-step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda".  While Mossburg hits Steele on many of the right specifics, she should have expounded more on her “Ignatius Reilly” theory of the Michael Steele persona.

Steele’s problem is a simple one – he believes in nothing.  Michael Steele has shown himself willing to pander to almost any audience at the drop of a dime.  He’s conservative.  He’s cool.  He’ll use scarce RNC resources to back an unapologetic left-winger in the NY-23 race.  He’ll take credit for the victories in Virginia and New Jersey, when he had absolutely nothing to do with them (and the RNC’s contribution was an appreciated one of finance and a few bodies).

Michael Steele is the embodiment for why tea party activists, and the conservative movement in general, should look at the GOP as ONLY a means to an end and hold them off with a ten foot poll.  Sure, various state parties (such as RPV) should be looked on as allies.  Some state parties, such as MDGOP, should be viewed as irrelevant except for their easy access to the ballot.

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Should We “Throw All The Bums Out”?

As usual, last night’s Lower Shore AFP meeting was interesting.  Ed Urban of the Wicomico Tourism Board spoke about why the County Council did the right thing by spending $1.5 million of “free money” for a new parking lot at the civic center.  While I don’t thing many folks agreed, the discussion was civil.  Salisbury City Councilwoman Debbie Campbell came to explain how the current council majority AND the Ireton administration are illegally spending tax dollars WITHOUT appropriation.

For me, the most engaging moments came AFTER the meeting was over.  I listened to several good people make the argument that just because someone is an incumbent, they are somehow “tainted”.  This is a view that disturbs me greatly.  Experience is not a crime.  In fact, most societies have considered it a virtue.

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Holloway Uncovers MORE Wasteful Spending at the BOE

Wicomico County Councilman Joe Holloway isn’t very popular with the bureaucrats over at the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE).  He politely asks for information on their spending habits, they attempt to stonewall him, Holloway keeps fighting for the information, the bureaucrats are embarrassed.  At least the taxpayers get to find out how their dollars are being wasted.

Speaking last night at the monthly meeting of the Wicomico chapter of Americans for Prosperity, Holloway gave a brief re-cap of his term on the county council.  Holloway made one thing crystal clear – despite the protestations of people like Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt and several members of the county council, Wicomico County doesn’t have a REVENUE PROBLEM.  Wicomico County has a SPENDING PROBLEM.

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ObamaCare Exposed at Salisbury Forum

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. – George Santayana

Whether it is rationing of care, cost, or who will bear that cost in the form of taxes, history has much to teach us about the proposed Democrat takeover of our health care system.  This was but one important theme discussed in Thursday evening’s health care forum sponsored by Patients First, the Maryland chapter of Americans for Prosperity and its Lower Shore chapter.  Speakers at the forum included Dr. Michael Gloth of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Marc Kilmer of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, Richard Carey of Carey Distributors in Fruitland, Amy Menefee of Americans for Prosperity, Dr. John Bartkovich and Dr. Vladimir Ioffe.

While there were many items discussed at the forum, one theme that was part of Dr. Gloth’s and Mr. Kilmer’s presentations was the truly unknown cost ObamaCare.  As Gloth noted, the true cost of our health care began to be hidden from the majority of Americans with the implementation of the Stabilization Act in 1942.  Since then we have seen the true costs of health care obscured through private health insurance paid for by employers, Medicare and Medicaid.

 

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AFP Turns Out for County Council Meeting

While the agenda for yesterday’s Wicomico County Council meeting may have been light, about 15 members of the Lower Shore chapter of Americans for Prosperity turned out to let their elected officials know that the time has come to make government accessible to the people.  Kudos to chapter co-chairs Joe Collins and Julie Brewington, along with Sally Rogers for speaking up.

As I have mentioned before, this issue (which is near and dear to my heart) has finally been moved to the fore.  Brewington and AFP deserve the lion’s share of credit for this.  We need more citizen participation in our local government.  The best way to get that is for ordinary citizens like you and I to attend city council, town commission, county council or commission meetings, planning commission hearings and BOARD OF ED meetings.  Sure, federal and (to a lesser extent) state issues get all of the media attention.  They’re the ones that tend to get our dander up.  However, it is the local issues that can have the most direct (if not greatest) impact on our lives and the lives of our families, friends, and neighbors.

The proposal I proffered to the Wicomico County Council was fairly simple.  I believe that at least 50% of all regular council meetings plus ALL important or controversial public hearings should be held in the evening.  IF the council decides to move forward on this proposal, they need to commit to do so for at least one full year.

The reasoning behind this is simple.  One of the primary arguments against evening meetings is that when they are held at night, the meetings are just as sparsely attended as daytime meetings.  Fair enough!  However, after untold decades of daytime meetings, the public needs time to become aware of a change to evening meetings.

Here in Wicomico County, it’s time for our county council to make a decision.  It doesn’t need to be studied.  It doesn’t need to be polled.  Decide!  Are working men and women going to have the opportunity to see their local government in action or not?

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Wicomico County Meeting Time Moving to Front and Center

Thank you Julie Brewington.  After lobbying for the Wicomico County Council to move its meeting times from 10AM to the evening, the issue is finally getting some traction thanks to the co-chair of the Lower Shore chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

Ever since December of 2006, when the current council was sworn in, I have lobbied for evening meetings.  Councilman Joe Holloway (R-5) has been attempting to get a majority of his colleagues to agree.  Thanks to Brewington’s statements at last week’s council meeting, the issue has received multiple mentions in the Daily Times.

The argument given against moving the meeting time, which would allow more working citizens to participate in their local government, is that citizens don’t turn up WHEN meetings are scheduled at night (except for controversial public hearings).  Fair enough, EXCEPT …

Holding the occasional meeting in the evening simply won’t help.  If all of the meetings, or even half, were moved to the evening AND done so consistently for about a year, the public would then get used to the fact and hopefully start attending.  Salisbury council meetings, though poorly attended, still tend to outdraw county council meetings.

Another argument is that requiring department heads to attend evening meetings would cost the taxpayer more.  Sorry.  Department heads are on salary and shouldn’t be paid more for doing part of their job.

Thanks again Julie.  Hopefully, you’ll be more successful than I have been.

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Don’t Forget Tonight’s AFP Meeting

Don’t forget tonight’s meeting of the Lower Shore Chapter of Americans for Prosperity!

The Lower Shore chapter of Americans for Prosperity is having a meeting tomorrow evening at 7PM. The meeting will be held at the Greater Salisbury Committee building, 200 W. Main Street, Salisbury.

Park in the parking lot between the Library and the Plaza. You access the building on Camden Street between Channel 47 (WMDT) and the Plaza Gateway building.

If you can, RSVP at 410-251-8884 or americansforprosperitymd@comcast.net

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