text:
Tag: Neil Parrott
Thank goodness the election is over, notwithstanding events in Georgia and Florida. I even got around to tossing out the political mailings.
So now we get a little break, although there's one recent piece of interesting Maryland political news: an announcement in the wake of the Fourth Circuit's edict that Maryland redraw two of its Congressional districts to re-enfranchise Republican voters who were gerrymandered out of the Sixth Congressional District, a district that became much less compact and contiguous because Martin O'Malley and Maryland Democrats wanted to create a Congressional seat for onetime State Senator Rob "Gas Tax" Garagiola. To achieve that goal, they shifted the district southward to cover a large portion of Montgomery County – the fact that it covered Rob's State Senate district was just a coinkydink, of course – excising Republican-rich swaths of Frederick and Carroll counties from the Sixth District and placing them in the MoCo-dominated Eighth Congressional District. By next March the districts are supposed to be redrawn, presumably back close to their pre-2012 configuration.
Seeing that, an opportunity has arose for my two-time monoblogue Accountability Project Legislator of the Year Neil Parrott to run from cover by forming an exploratory committee, perhaps doubling the mAP LoY delegation in Congress as he would presumably join Andy Harris in the House. Add to that, in an unrelated story, reigning and two-time mAP Top (Blue) Dog Jim Brochin trying to pay off campaign debt with a "bipartisan" fundraiser, and you can tell it's the silly season of politics.
Aside from those above diversions, politics tends to slow down quite a bit. Sure, there may be an issue or two that emanates from the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress, but for the most part things are buttoned up during the holidays only to be ramped up as we return to normal after the new year.
As it works out, this post-election hiatus provides for me a chance to catch up on a couple other things. One (which is really sort of a navel-gazing set) is contemplating my annual Thanksgiving message for personal thanks and the "state of the blog" anniversary post as monoblogue becomes a teenager this year, with all the moodiness and angst to go with it – although the last couple years have foreshadowed that to a great degree.
The second is updating my Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame. Fortunately or not, the early Thanksgiving gives me a little extra time to do it as I generally take the page down on that day so I can update it in time for the first Thursday in December, which falls a full two weeks after Thanksgiving this year. I have five players to add, but with a number of trades made I also have some photos to update. I can't keep using the Zach Britton, Manny Machado, and Jonathan Schoop photos I've had for years because they've suited up elsewhere.
So I may not be posting much before Thanksgiving, in part because I also want to work on a different website: the one I'm creating for my book. (I've had the domain name for a few months now, so it's time to make it active.) Maybe my anniversary here will also be the debut there.
It's time for a few mental health days.
Author MichaelPosted on November 12, 2018 Categories Campaign 2020, Maryland Politics, Personal stuff, PoliticsTags Andy Harris, Eighth Congressional District, James Brochin, Martin O'Malley, Neil Parrott, Rob Garagiola, Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame, Sixth Congressional District, The Rise and Fall of the TEA Party
The deal with 'misinformation'
Over the last week or so we've been treated to some of the most furious backpedaling we've ever seen. I don't know if it's the same elsewhere in the state, but the Eastern Shore delegation has been taking an earful from constituents about a bill with the innocuous title "Public Safety – Extreme Risk Prevention Orders." But that's not the bill's original title: as first introduced it was "Seizure of Lethal Weapons – Lethal Violence Protective Order." Unfortunately, the bill still deals with seizure and arguably does little to promote the safety of the public.
Arguing there "has been some misinformation" about this bill, three members of our local delegation (Chris Adams, Carl Anderton, and Mary Beth Carozza) issued a joint statement vowing that if certain defects aren't fixed, they won't back the bill when it comes back from the Senate. Of course, that makes the assumption that the majority in the Senate won't just pass this unmolested and dare Governor Hogan to veto a bill many in his party detest. (Hint: he won't. It may not be graced with his signature, but he won't veto it.)
We'll come back to Hogan in a moment, but in the last few days since the vote we have heard many excuses from the GOP, most of whom voted for the bill. It doesn't take the cake of Delegate Barrie Ciliberti co-sponsoring the bill then changing his vote to be against it (unless that change is made for some arcane parliamentary maneuver) but much of the blame has come from being "misinformed" or being "led to believe" Second Amendment groups were behind this. There is an argument to be made that there is so much information being thrown at these elected officials (with this year's docket exceeding 3,000 bills to be considered over a 90-day period) that mistakes can be made, but then one has to ask: what else are they missing? "You know, the bill sounds good, and it IS public safety…"
It should be noted, though, that the Judiciary Committee in the House did a complete bait-and-switch on this one, perhaps seizing on the hot-button topic of the Parkland shooting. HB1302 was completely gutted and replaced by the Judiciary Committee that the original sponsor (Democrat Geraldine Valentino-Smith) doesn't sit on. That event happened between the initial introduction and the House hearing, but the bill was marked up in committee on March 12. It passed by a 12-4 vote, and notably several Republicans did not vote on the bill in committee: Delegates Susan McComas, Neil Parrott, and Deb Rey were excused, and Delegate Trent Kittleman abstained. The other four (Joe Cluster, Paul Corderman, Glen Glass, and Michael Malone) voted against it; however, Cluster and Glass were absent from the third reading vote and Malone voted in favor of the bill. Of those on the Judiciary Committee, only Corderman and Parrott voted no.
It's patently obvious to me that the House Republicans were trying to appeal to the so-called popular opinion that everything gun-related is bad. They read the tea leaves and newspapers and everywhere you turn you're being assaulted with anti-Second Amendment propaganda. Yet out of our local District 37 and 38 delegation, the only Republican with a really difficult race is Mary Beth Carozza and that's because she's opted to try and advance to the Senate. (Valid question: will this vote tip the scale to another NRA endorsement for Democrat Jim Mathias? Ask the liberals in District 38 how they like his receipt of NRA money.) The other Republicans either voted no on HB1302 (Charles Otto) or have stiffer opposition in the primary than they do for the general election – Adams and Mautz have two primary opponents but only one Democrat is in the race.)
Yet this brings up another point about the top of the ticket. Last night I did a bit of research and remembered the 2014 election – you know, that one Larry Hogan shocked the state and won? Well, a significant part of the reason was carrying the suburban counties like Anne Arundel, Baltimore County, and Frederick with over 60% of the vote (collectively, since he was 59% in Baltimore County) and blowing out Anthony Brown in the rural areas with anywhere from 65 to 82 percent of the vote. That made up for soft numbers in the D.C. region and Baltimore City.
The problem Larry Hogan has this time around is twofold, and has a little bit of irony to it: for a Republican to succeed nationally in the cause of limiting government he has to put a chill in Maryland's economy. Thanks in no small part to the Trump administration, Larry Hogan will be lucky to get 35% in Montgomery County – compared to 36.7% last time. That may not seem like a lot, but out of 300,000 votes losing a 2% share is 6,000 votes.
You can argue, that's fine, he won by 65,000 the first time. But what if his reversal on the fracking ban costs him 10% of his vote in Western Maryland? The three westernmost counties combined for about 70,000 votes last time and were a significant portion of his victory margin. That could be another 7,000 votes. Taking a similar share from an Eastern Shore upset at his Second Amendment stance and early cave on phosphorous regulations could be another 10,000 votes lost. Without touching the suburban counties, we've eroded 1/3 of his victory margin and the rest may come from Democrats who decide to stay loyal and vote for their candidate. (Fortunately for Hogan, the Democratic field seems to all be trying to leapfrog left of each other so turnout may not be as great as the Democrats think they will get. The biggest break Hogan has received in this cycle was not having to contend with either John Delaney or Peter Franchot, either of whom would probably have easily won the nomination against this field.)
Simply put, there are a lot of people who held their nose and voted for Larry Hogan the first time in the hopes he would govern as a conservative. Well, they were surely disappointed and the fear is that they just stay home this time around: why bother voting when you have the same results regardless of which party is in charge, they say. Perhaps it's an information silo I reside in, but I often see people claiming they won't vote for Hogan this time (meaning they'll likely stay home or skip the race) but I never hear of a Democrat who voted for Brown being convinced the Republican is doing the job and will get his or her support. Most Democrats I hear from already voted for Hogan last time.
So this gun bill has really exposed some fissures in the state GOP, and the party brass has to hope their electoral hopes don't fall through the cracks.
Author MichaelPosted on March 21, 2018 March 21, 2018 Categories All politics is local, Campaign 2018, Culture and Politics, Delmarva items, Maryland Politics, National politics, Politics, State of ConservatismTags Anthony Brown, Barrie Ciliberti, Carl Anderton, Charles Otto, Christopher Adams, Deb Rey, Geraldine Valentino-Smith, Glen Glass, Jim Mathias, Joe Cluster, John Delaney, Larry Hogan, Mary Beth Carozza, Michael Malone, National Rifle Association, Neil Parrott, Paul Corderman, Peter Franchot, Second Amendment, Susan McComas, Trent Kittleman1 Comment on The deal with 'misinformation'
The final hurdle
This is sort of a programming note for those who are interested.
Over the last week on social media I was detailing some of my findings as I went through the votes for the monoblogue Accountability Project. There was a Delegate who was racking up an impressive record of consecutive correct votes; alas, his streak stopped at 15. Anyway, I have completed the tallies and over the next few days will write up the "awards" segment.
However, one thing I cover in my summary is the disposition of bills and that depends on Governor Hogan. On Tuesday he will sign the last batch of bills he plans on making into law and hopefully will present veto statements for others which won't. You may recall he was supposed to sign a group of them on April 28 but the Baltimore riots forced a postponement. It means come Tuesday Larry might have carpal tunnel from signing so many bills because he's doubling up the batch. This means I should be ready for release on May 18, since I like to put things like that up to begin a week.
Speaking of veto statements, this also allows me to bring up the idea that MDPetitions.com (the brainchild of Delegate Neil Parrott) is urging people in a last-ditch effort to veto three bills. As it turned out, they were all votes in the monoblogue Accountability Project and for all three the correct vote was against passage – so I join that call to veto the following bills:
SB 416/ HB 838 – Insurance Mandate for same-sex wedded couples to get In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatments
SB 743/ HB 862 – Modified Birth Certificates for Sex Changes, No Surgical Change Necessary
SB 340/ HB 980 – Convicted Felons Voting without Completing Their Sentences
I go into the reasons as part of the mAP, although on the IVF and birth certificate issues Cathy Keim and I have already explained our opposition.
As regards my writing partner Cathy, she is on a little hiatus for family time. So if you miss her pieces – and I've noticed she's made quite a few fans over the short time she's been associated with this site – don't fret because she should be back in the saddle over the next couple weeks.
Once I get through that I have a couple more pet projects. And you thought I'd take it easy on the off year.
Author MichaelPosted on May 9, 2015 Categories Bloggers and blogging, Cathy Keim, Delmarva items, Maryland Politics, Politics, State of ConservatismTags Larry Hogan, MD Petitions, monoblogue Accountability Project, Neil Parrott
Redefining marriage wasn't enough. Now some in Maryland want to redefine birth.
By Cathy Keim and Michael Swartz
The twin byline is present because Cathy came to me with her thoughts on these bills, writing up a post quoting Delegate Parrott at some length along with some of her thoughts. I liked the direction of the piece, but thought I could add more and she was amenable to the changes. So here you go.
Recently Delegate Neil Parrott sent out a newsletter that had some information about two "shockingly bad bills" that are about to pass in the General Assembly. We had both heard from Robert Broadus with Protect Marriage Maryland about the first bill, but Delegate Parrott alerted us both to the second bill. Both have more or less passed under the radar in a session which has focused more on the budget, gubernatorial appointments, and environmental regulations.
In his message to constituents and other interested observers, Delegate Parrott stated:
Two shockingly-bad bills…are on their way to passing.
HB 838/SB 416 is going to cause your health insurance rates to go up, when Maryland already has some of the highest health insurance premiums in the nation. This bill forces Maryland insurance companies to cover the cost of expensive In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatments ($12,500 each time) for same-sex married couples.
Our high insurance costs in Maryland are primarily due to the great number of insurance mandate laws already in effect, and this new bill will simply make the problem worse. Governor Hogan and I both support leading Maryland towards more fiscally-responsible laws and policies, and the voters overwhelmingly agreed in the last election. However, the majority of Delegates and Senators still voted to create more complex and unnecessary insurance mandates in our flawed health system.
Under current Maryland law, a husband and wife must donate their own sperm and egg to be eligible to receive insurance benefits for IVF treatments. If the couple requires a donation of an egg or sperm, IVF treatments would not be covered under current Maryland law. Under this new law, a same-sex couple would obviously need to get a sperm donor to have a child. This is a very unequal situation.
Same-sex couples have been allowed to adopt or have children, but many studies have been done that confirm that children born into a family with a mother and a father do the best in all measures – economic, social, educational, and emotional. Not only does this law create an unequal and less-stringent requirement for same-sex couples, but our insurance premiums will also be paying to have a child brought into the world to a situation where they will most likely be statistically worse off than other children. By passing this law, we are intentionally putting a child into a "family" where a father will knowingly be absent.
This sort of social engineering and fiscally-irresponsible law-making, solely for the pleasure of adults without any regard for the children that will grow up in these situations, is reprehensible. What homosexuals cannot do naturally, the General Assembly has now mandated must be provided by all insurance plans, creating a false sense of equality, with little to no regard for the children who will be negatively affected.
This leads to the concern of what could come next if this bill is passed. Will the General Assembly pass a mandate requiring insurance companies to cover the costs of hiring a surrogate to carry the child for male, same-sex marriages? (Emphasis in original.)
As Cathy wrote Sunday, our culture is under attack to redefine and destroy every institution that has sustained us as a nation since our founding. Marriage and our families are worth defending. The progressives only exist to tear down. We are the ones that believe in ideals that are true and good and have stood the test of time. When this country is a faint memory, the family will still exist. They may destroy our culture, but they cannot destroy truth. The family is the basic building block of society. Despite the malice and ridicule heaped upon the traditional family with a father, mother and children living and growing together in love, the family will still survive.
Delegate Parrott has made the case, as Cathy has before, that children do best when raised in a home with a married mother and father. Why should the state pay to circumvent this?
Senator Jim Mathias and Delegate Sheree Sample-Hughes both voted for this bill. When somebody says the Eastern Shore is conservative, just remember to check how Senator Mathias and Delegate Sample-Hughes vote.
The second bill that Delegate Parrott wrote about was HB862/SB743, which as Delegate Parrott notes:
…allows people to rewrite history. It would allow someone who gets a note from their doctor saying they are transitioning from male to female or from female to male to literally change the gender on their birth certificate. The new birth certificate would not even indicate that it has been "Amended," as is the case when an individual decides to legally change their name. The change would not require that the individual has had a sex-change operation, but just relies on hormone therapy and how the person feels at the time. The change caused many of the legislators who work in law enforcement to question how they could even solve crimes given these false records. For example, suppose they are looking for the DNA of a male, but all they have is a female suspect.
Changing factual birth records without leaving a record of the change could have significant and harmful consequences for our society and is simply irresponsible policy.
Senator Mathias also voted for this bill as did Delegates Carl Anderton, Jr. and Sample-Hughes. Needless to say, we're both disappointed with Delegate Anderton's vote as he represents us in Annapolis. We would have expected this out of his predecessor, but Carl was supposed to be different.
At this point in time these bills are on their final step to passage, and it seems like the skids are being greased as the House versions of the Senate bills are passing without any amendments – this is important because no conference would be necessary.
Yet besides the many objections Delegate Parrott raised, both bills also raise a number of ethical questions about child rearing. Regardless of who has to pay for in vitro fertilization, there's also the ongoing concern about the rights of the third party which needs to be involved with any same-sex attempt at creating progeny – either the surrogate mother for a gay couple or the sperm donor for the lesbian pair.
And much like the Hobby Lobby situation with abortifacient drugs, there's a legitimate question of whether a religiously conscientious business should be forced to cover this procedure since it involves two partners of the same gender. It's a situation which becomes quite complicated and I feel this is needlessly so.
As for the birth certificate bill, it would be more palatable if there was a notation of amendment. A law such as this may open the door to parents who are trying to raise a child as if it were the opposite gender (such as this recent case) to amend his or her birth certificate as a minor.
We believe that gender is not a mistake, nor was it an error that a person of each gender was required to create a new life. Even with in vitro fertilization, there's no escaping the need for a male to do his part and a female to be the willing host for the embryo.
While there is an element of humanity in the selection of gender, I think I speak for Cathy when I say we believe that it was our Creator who made the ultimate decision as to whether we were male or female. Taking hormones, undergoing genital mutilation surgery, and identifying as someone of the opposite gender doesn't change the fact one was born with the chromosomes and genitalia of a particular gender in all but a few extremely rare cases. It's what the birth certificate should reflect.
However, it's likely these bills will pass the General Assembly, so we call on Governor Hogan to use his veto pen on these ill-considered measures. And it's all but certain these votes will be among those I use for the monoblogue Accountability Project later this spring.
Author MichaelPosted on April 7, 2015 April 7, 2015 Categories All politics is local, Cathy Keim, Delmarva items, Maryland Politics, National politics, Politics, State of ConservatismTags Carl Anderton, health insurance, Jim Mathias, Larry Hogan, Maryland General Assembly, Neil Parrott, Protect Marriage Maryland, Robert Broadus, same-sex marriage, Sheree Sample-Hughes2 Comments on Redefining marriage wasn't enough. Now some in Maryland want to redefine birth.
Truing the vote: Maryland bills of interest
By Cathy Keim.
I received a mass email from Delegate Neil Parrott a couple of days ago and he mentioned a Voter ID bill that he was introducing this session. I decided to check out what voter integrity bills were listed so far. There were three that were particularly interesting to me.
The first one concerns Voter ID (HB1017) and is sponsored by Delegate Neil Parrott. Among the co-sponsors are our own local delegates, Mary Beth Carozza and Charles Otto. Its summary reads:
Requiring an election judge to establish a voter's identity and verify the voter's address if the voter seeks to vote a regular ballot; requiring an election judge to qualify a voter by requesting the voter to present a current government-issued photo identification; requiring an election judge to authorize an individual to vote a regular ballot; allowing a voter who is unable to present a specified form of identification to vote by provisional ballot under specified circumstances; etc.
It is just common sense that we should know that the person voting is who he says he is. While this is less of a problem in Wicomico County where the election judges are likely to know you by name, it still encourages the citizens' confidence in the system when they know that IDs are checked. The bill includes a provision for the citizen that forgets their ID to still vote provisionally. They can provide the ID after the election.
HB1076 concerns proof of citizenship to vote and is also sponsored by Delegate Parrott. The summary reads:
Requiring individuals who apply to register to vote after June 30, 2015, to submit proof of United States citizenship; providing that individuals who are not citizens of the United States are not qualified to be registered voters; requiring an applicant for voter registration to submit specified documents or information to prove United States citizenship; etc.
Currently, when a person registers to vote in Maryland, the Voter Registration Form has a two-part question:
Are you at least 16 years old? Yes No
Are you a U.S. citizen? Yes No
IF you answer NO to either question, do not complete this form.
It clearly states in bold letters to not proceed if you are not old enough or are not a citizen. That is the only thing that keeps a non-citizen from registering. The local board of elections cannot check an applicant for citizenship and now the Washington Times reports:
President Obama's temporary deportation amnesty will make it easier for illegal immigrants to improperly register and vote in elections, state elections officials testified to Congress on Thursday, saying that the driver's licenses and Social Security numbers they will be granted create a major voting loophole.
But don't worry:
Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts Democrat, said he doubted illegal immigrants would risk running afoul of the law — which could get them deported — just to be an insignificant part of an election. (Emphasis mine.)
Never mind that we have an elected public official denigrating the responsibility of each citizen to vote. How can he be sure that it is an insignificant number? It could certainly be enough to swing close elections, especially on the local level. Every illegal vote cancels out a legitimate vote.
The final bill of interest is HB253, sponsored by Delegate Pat McDonough. The summary reads:
Requiring the State Board of Elections to execute a memorandum of agreement to participate in the Interstate Crosscheck Program for purposes of identifying possible duplicate voter registration records and instances of individuals who voted more than once in the same election; requiring the State Board to utilize the data obtained through the Interstate Crosscheck Program for specified purposes; etc.
This bill makes great sense. We have our own local evidence that some citizens break the voter laws. Wendy Rosen was the Democrat candidate for Congress in Maryland's 1st Congressional District in 2012. She had to withdraw when it was discovered that she had voted in both Florida and Maryland in the 2006 and 2010 elections. She pleaded guilty and reached a plea agreement for five years of probation and a $5,000 fine for her illegal voting. It is unlikely that this would have been discovered had she not been a high profile candidate.
No matter how valid the concerns of the citizens of Maryland that their elections are not being protected by reasonable precautions, the Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee are likely to agree with another Democrat quoted in the same Washington Times news article:
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's nonvoting member of Congress, accused Republicans of an effort at voter suppression.
"The president's executive order gives immigrants the right to stay — immigrants who have been here for years, immigrants who have been working hard and whose labor we have needed," Ms. Norton said. "The Republicans may want to go down in history as the party who tried once again 100 years later to nullify the right to vote. Well, I am here to say they shall not succeed."
This is the usual method that is used to avoid addressing the real concerns of voter integrity. First, Ms. Norton says that the immigrants have been here for years and that they have been working hard – neither of which are necessarily true, then tops those with the winning claim about needing their labor. We have millions of Americans out of work and yet we need illegal immigrants to do those jobs? Then she switches gears to decry the Republicans as the party who wants to nullify the right to vote. Excuse me, but wasn't it the Democrats that were in charge when black citizens were being excluded from voting by Jim Crow laws?
Since the voter fraud deniers cannot come up with valid reasons not to secure our voter integrity, they just lie about our history.
It is unlikely that these voter integrity bills will pass because there are too many people in power that are committed to blocking any and all reasonable measures. That alone should make you wonder why?
Author MichaelPosted on February 16, 2015 February 15, 2015 Categories Cathy Keim, Maryland Politics, PoliticsTags Barack Obama, Charles Otto, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mary Beth Carozza, Maryland Board of Elections, Neil Parrott, Pat McDonough, Voter ID, Wendy Rosen1 Comment on Truing the vote: Maryland bills of interest
Let the campaigning begin
Now that the General Assembly has made it to sine die, the transition to regular campaigning can begin. Certainly there will be posturing over one issue or another, and there are rumblings that the "bathroom bill" and perhaps even marijuana decriminalization could be placed on the ballot. But for better or worse, the General Assembly has completed its work for the year, and at least 37 members out of the 188 will not be back – many are retiring, but some are seeking other local or statewide offices.
So for those who are looking for greener pastures, as well as the 150-odd who are willing to serve another term – with many among them trying to move up from the House to the Senate – the campaigning can begin in earnest. Only seven Senators (three Republican, four Democrat) have a free ride to re-election, barring a late write-in entry. Two Democrats running for the House of Delegates will enjoy the same freedom, and both will be newcomers – Will Campos in District 47A (Prince George's County) and Sheree Sample-Hughes from right here in Salisbury. Both had opposition, but the one filer against Campos was disqualified and incumbent Delegate Rudy Cane from District 37A withdrew from his race, leaving it for Sample-Hughes.
Some in difficult races have been chomping at the bit to go out there and press the flesh, along with once again having the chance to raise funds. An e-mail from Delegate Neil Parrott greeted me this afternoon in my e-mail box, and certainly many others were making plans to raise some dough.
While he didn't serve in the General Assembly, Larry Hogan is making a push to look good on his initial campaign finance report. Messages like this have been appearing on his Change Maryland Facebook feed:
Thanks to the generous support of engaged and informed Marylanders like you, we are EVEN CLOSER to hitting our fundraising goal before tonight's finance report deadline! We have less than TWELVE HOURS to hit our goal – Can we count on you to help us get there? Any contribution you can afford, whether it's $5, $50, or $500, will make a big impact on our campaign and could be enough to put us over the edge to reach our goal!
Of course, since they're not letting on exactly what the goal is, I highly doubt they'll actually fall short. Yet what would be success in fundraising? Back in January, it was revealed that David Craig raised just under $250,000 in 2013 after a similar performance in 2012. Since we're closer to the election, I would have to assess success as whether Hogan raised the amount required to qualify for matching funds, which would come pretty close to matching Craig's total 2013 take. Since Hogan has media up already with a cable television buy, it's likely he's raised at least $200,000.
(It's worth pointing out as well that Hogan is slated to appear at our Lincoln Day Dinner on Saturday, as are Ron George and Charles Lollar. Jeannie Haddaway will pinch-hit for David Craig, who has another engagement. So if you're coming you can ask the tough questions, although we don't plan this as a debate.)
For us, the event will serve as a kickoff to the serious campaigning to come since it's likely we'll hear from a number of Republicans who are running, even if we have to drag out the egg timer to make sure they keep things short for our featured guests. If we let all of the District 37B aspirants go, we'll be there all night! (Yes, that was supposed to be funny. You are allowed to laugh.)
After all, not that I'm trying to hurry it along by any stretch of the imagination, we're just 30 weeks away from the November election (and 11 weeks from the primary, which I have a vested interest in.) Lots of time for good things to happen.
Author MichaelPosted on April 8, 2014 Categories All politics is local, Campaign 2014, Delmarva items, Maryland Politics, Politics, State of ConservatismTags Change Maryland, Charles Lollar, David Craig, fundraising, Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, Larry Hogan, marijuana, Maryland General Assembly, Neil Parrott, Ron George, Sheree Sample-Hughes, Will Campos1 Comment on Let the campaigning begin
So what is the New Fair Deal?
If you are one of those who follows conservative grassroots activism, it's likely you may have heard about the New Fair Deal rally being held in Washington tomorrow afternoon to coincide with tax day. While it will certainly be a modest event by the standards of other TEA Party rallies such as the 9/12 rally in 2009 or various Glenn Beck-led gatherings since, organizers believe a few thousand will attend with many staying around after the speeches to buttonhole various members of Congress about this new legislative program aimed at reining in government.
But the better question is: what is the legislative program? The four planks can be summarized as follows:
No corporate handouts
A fair tax code
Stop overspending
Empower individuals
The eight Congressmen who will be authoring the legislation in question, some of whom are among the most libertarian Republican conservatives in Congress, are Reps. Jeff Duncan and Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Doug Lamborn of Colorado, Tom McClintock of California, Mike Pompeo of Kansas, Dr. Tom Price of Georgia, and Reid Ribble of Wisconsin. Mulvaney, Pompeo, and Price are among the speakers tomorrow at the event, which will also feature Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, Senator Mike Lee of Utah, activists Rev. C.L. Bryant, Deneen Borelli, Julie Borowski, Ana Puig, and Maryland's own Dan Bongino. Borelli is featured in this video decribing some of the features of the New Fair Deal.
"The New Fair Deal is a four-part legislative package that ends corporate handouts, closes loopholes in a simple tax code, balances the budget, and empowers Americans with the choice to opt-out of Medicare and Social Security," explained FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe. "Individual freedom, economic empowerment and equal opportunity are the ultimate fair deal for Americans. No more pitting us against each other while politicians and big business pick winners and losers in the marketplace at the expense of everyday individuals," he added.
It goes without saying, though, that the devil is in the details. For example, ending corporate subsidies is great for avoiding the next Solyndra or Ener1, but my friends at the American Petroleum Institute would argue that the tax package for oil exploration is vital to the industry's success. They may have a point, so perhaps the best solution is to prioritize which subsidies would be axed first and which ones would have more of a transition. Being a fairly mature industry, it may take somewhat longer for the oil and natural gas companies to deal with these changes, as well as the sugar farmers who were targeted in the video. I could see a time window of three to five years for these industries, but green energy? Cut them off yesterday.
As far as a "fair tax code" I honestly don't think there is such a thing, particularly with the proposal of a two-rate system as specified. I like the idea of a "skin in the game" tax where everyone has to pay at least 1 percent (for someone making $20,000 a year that's $200 – not a back-breaker if you know it's coming) but I disagree with the progressive rate change from 12% to 24% at $100,000. If we are to have a flat tax, it should be one rate regardless of income. Why would I take the overtime which would push me from a salary of $98,000 (and an $11,760 tax bill) to $101.000 only to have that and much more – since the tax bill would steeply jump to $24,240 – entirely eaten up by taxes? I understand the populist idea of the secretary paying less than the billionaire, but the solution proposed would be ripe for complication because of situations like the above. I'd rather work on repealing the Sixteenth Amendment and creating a consumption tax, which would be the most fair of all because one can control their level of consumption to the greatest extent.
Another area which suffers from being too broad is the concept of "overspending." Even if you cut off all discretionary spending tomorrow we would still have a deficit. Yes, we do need to eliminate the concept of baseline budgeting posthaste but we also have to lose the mindset which makes people fear their budget will be cut if they don't spend their full allocation. While thousands and thousands of federal workers are superfluous to the task of good government, we have to educate the public as to why they need to be let go – you know the media will be portraying them as victims just like they tried to make a huge case that sequestration would be devastating.
Of the four planks presented, though, I really like the idea of the last one as expressed – the power of determining your own retirement and health care needs. In just 14 years I will be eligible for Social Security, but to be quite honest I don't expect a dime from it because the system will be bankrupt by then in my estimation. (My writing was intended to be my "retirement" but real life intruded a little more quickly than I imagined it would.) The same goes for Medicare. If I had the choice, I would tell the government to give me back the money I paid into Social Security and Medicare – let me decide how to invest it best. This legislation may well allow me that option, although I suspect it will be tailored more to those under 40 who still have plenty of time to weigh all their retirement choices.
(Remember, though, I am on record as saying "Social Security should be sunsetted." Nothing they can propose would eliminate that stance.)
The key to any and all of these changes taking place, though, is to remember none of this happens overnight. As it stands right now, the earliest we can make lasting national change in the right direction is January of 2017. Moreover, these Congressional visionaries and any other allies we may pick up along the way will be standing for election twice before a new President is inaugurated – and if the Republicans nominate another milquetoast "go along to get along" Beltway moderate who doesn't buy into this agenda, the timetable becomes even longer.
But there is an opportunity in the interim, though. What statement would it make if Maryland – one of the most liberal states in the country according to the conventional wisdom – suddenly elected a conservative governor and confounded the intent of the heretofore powerful liberals in charge by electing enough members of the General Assembly to foil their overt gerrymandering attempts? No doubt it's the longest of long shots, but let the liberals think they have this state in the bag. Wouldn't it be nice to watch them fume as a Governor Charles Lollar, Larry Hogan, Blaine Young, or Dan Bongino is inaugurated – this after the stunning ascension of Speaker of the House Neil Parrott and President of the Senate E.J. Pipkin? Those who survived the collective hara-kiri and cranial explosions throughout the liberal Annapolis community would probably be reduced to bickering among themselves and pointing fingers of blame.
Our side often points to Virginia as a well-run state, but I think there are even better examples to choose from. Certainly there would be a transition period, but why not adopt some of these ideas as well as other "best and brightest" practices to improve Maryland and create a destination state for the producers as opposed to the takers?
If this sort of transformation can occur in Maryland, I have no doubt Washington D.C. would be next in line.
Author MichaelPosted on April 14, 2013 Categories All politics is local, Business and industry, Campaign 2014, Inside the Beltway, Maryland Politics, National politics, Politics, State of ConservatismTags American Petroleum Institute, baseline budgeting, Blaine Young, Charles Lollar, Daniel Bongino, Doug Lamborn, E.J. Pipkin, FreedomWorks PAC, Jeff Duncan, Jim Jordan, Justin Amash, Larry Hogan, Matt Kibbe, Medicare, Mick Mulvaney, Mike Lee, Mike Pompeo, Neil Parrott, New Fair Deal, Radical Green, Reid Ribble, sequestration, Sixteenth Amendment, Social Security, Tom McClintock, Tom Price1 Comment on So what is the New Fair Deal?
No referendum on death penalty? Why not?
I didn't catch this Washington Examiner article when it came out, but perhaps I can make up for lost time.
According to Delegate Neil Parrott, the person who spearheaded the petition and referendum effort for several bills in the last election cycle, there's no grassroots effort to kill the death penalty repeal bill through a referendum. This is perhaps true to the extent that there aren't specific groups tied to the issue like there were for illegal immigration or the preservation of traditional marriage, but there are thousands of individuals who believe that Maryland should maintain the option of executing criminals who callously take a life in a premeditated fashion. I happen to be one.
Frankly, I'm saddened Parrott is rolling over that easily – if he believes that the death penalty is something worth preserving as an option he should stand on those beliefs. If the petition doesn't draw enough interest, so be it – apparently Maryland has spoken and it's wrong once again. Just pray none of your loved ones are ever hurt or killed by someone who now knows the worst punishment they can face is being supported by Maryland taxpayers for the rest of their lives behind bars. Three hots and a cot for them, a lifetime of suffering for the families of crime victims.
But then the question comes up – what if Parrott looks at the poll numbers and believes there's no use in fighting the O'Malley gun bill, either? Of course, there IS a grassroots movement interested in preserving the Second Amendment rights of Americans – even those living in Maryland – but we could lose that referendum so why bother? (Yes, that was a facetious question.) Nor is there an organized grassroots movement for maintaining the very right to go to referendum as it stands but one would hope he's willing to fight the effort to make that all but impossible too.
It's very disappointing to see him say this after we heard from Parrott at our MDGOP Fall Convention and elsewhere that mdpetitions.com had these ambitious plans to expand their efforts based on the failure of having the resources to counter the liberals' demagoguery and deceit when it came to several 2012 ballot questions. And what happened to "we won by getting them on the ballot?"
This is also important to Maryland voters because those who voted to make these disastrous policies the law of the state will be on the ballot at the same time. I still believe the reason gay marriage was passed last year was that they knew it would be on the ballot and wanted to not be on the docket in the same election as that referendum. (Remember, the traitorous GOP Delegate Wade Kach sold out his vote in return for an amendment to make the effective date January 1, 2013 – after the referendum he knew was sure to come.) Moreover, the death penalty repeal was originally intended to be referendum-proof through the inclusion of a small appropriation; proponents knew it wasn't very popular with the public.
Frankly, I would be quite happy if the death penalty never had to be used again because people finally learned how to deal with their personal issues in a non-violent way. Unfortunately, I know there are evil people in the world who make the conscious decision to murder and I believe there needs to be a punishment befitting those who forfeit their right to live among the rest of us in civil society by carrying out their plans and being convicted beyond the shadow of a doubt by a jury of their peers. Maryland will no longer have that option.
I know the other side tries to equate the death penalty as carried out here with the policies of less savory nations around the world which also routinely execute people. But the argument is a red herring because these other countries don't have the safeguards for the accused that we do, so dismiss it out of hand.
Surely there are over 56,000 people in Maryland who believe we should keep the ultimate punishment on the books. Bring me a petition and I'll sign it and be happy to try and distribute it. I believe in the right to life, and certainly it's a sad commentary on our society that most of those in the Maryland General Assembly who voted to spare those convicted of first-degree murder their lives feel no compunction or irony in allowing a mother the "choice" to end an innocent life in an execution chamber called an abortion clinic.
Author MichaelPosted on March 22, 2013 March 21, 2013 Categories All politics is local, Campaign 2014, Delmarva items, Maryland Politics, National politics, PoliticsTags death penalty, Maryland Politics, MD Petitions, Neil Parrott2 Comments on No referendum on death penalty? Why not?
New House of Delegates GOP leadership could be on tap
A story by John Wagner which ran online at the Washington Post website earlier this week suggested that changes could be in order for Maryland House Republican leadership, with an election held after this year's session ends in April. In his piece, Wagner suggests the caucus could be leaning toward Delegate Leroy Myers, Jr. (R – Washington) as the new Minority Leader and Delegate Kathy Szeliga (R- Baltimore County) as the Minority Whip. They would replace current Minority Leader Delegate Tony O'Donnell (R – Calvert) and Minority Whip Delegate Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio (R -Talbot). O'Donnell has held the Minority Leader post since 2007, while Haddaway-Riccio took over as Whip in 2011. One Delegate who wished to remain anonymous confided that 22 Delegates are on board: "Enough to do it," said the Delegate.
Leadership struggles in Maryland's perpetual minority are not uncommon; most recently, in the summer of 2011, Mark Newgent at Red Maryland reported on an uprising featuring Delegates Nic Kipke (R – Anne Arundel) and Michael Smigiel (R- Cecil). At the time, the disagreements stemmed from a perceived lack of fiscal conservatism, with Kipke being quoted as being encouraged to run by a "contingent of delegates from the Anne Arundel County, the Eastern Shore, and Western Maryland." It just may be the same restive group wishing for change this time, but just like I pointed out when I criticized Kipke's anemic record of conservatism, the same can be said about Delegate Myers.
In looking at his overall record, Delegate Myers lags behind a number of other conservatives in the General Assembly. For example, he has often voted for Governor O'Malley's budgetary plans as well as a number of other steps toward a Radical Green agenda, such as solar energy portfolio standards and overly broad coastal buffer zones. He's also missed a large number of votes over the years for various reasons, including his son's 2009 death in a motorcycle accident which occurred as that session was reaching its close.
Nor has Myers been an outspoken advocate for conservative causes, which makes the prospect of support from the body surprising unless that bid is coming from the more moderate members.
On the other hand, conservatives who are unhappy with O'Donnell's leadership have a number of good, outspoken leadership choices:
Delegate Neil Parrott (R – Washington) is best known for his leadership on the petition drives which brought three ballot questions to the voters in 2012. Although none succeeded at the ballot, the petitions motivated tens of thousands of voters to vote in the election; for example, opposition to both Question 4 and Question 6 outstripped the 971,869 votes cast statewide for Mitt Romney.
Delegate Michael McDermott (R – Worcester) has developed a reputation as a fiery orator, one who can speak extemporaneously on a number of subjects. Chief among his initiatives this session is a bill to repeal the Sustainable Growth and Agricultural Prreservation Act of 2012, better known as the "Septic Bill" or "Tier Map Bill." McDermott was considered enough of a thorn in the Democrats' side that his district was redrawn to place both him and Delegate Charles Otto (R – Somerset) in the same single-member district.
Since both Parrott and McDermott were elected in 2010, members may want a more veteran presence as leader. If they want one with a lengthy and solid conservative voting record, they could choose Delegate Warren Miller (R – Howard), a member since 2003. In this term he is primary sponsor of both a right-to-work bill and enacting a statewide E-Verify program.
While the current situation suggests there's "enough to do it," April 30 is a long way away. A lot can change in that time: deals can be made, Delegates get cold feet, or leadership reads the writing on the wall. Whether any or all of these happens remains to be seen, but it's probably best that any leadership struggle waits until after the session to occur.
Author MichaelPosted on February 14, 2013 Categories All politics is local, Delmarva items, Maryland Politics, Politics, State of ConservatismTags Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, Kathy Szeliga, LeRoy Myers, Maryland General Assembly, Maryland GOP, Michael Smigiel, Mike McDermott, Neil Parrott, Nic Kipke, Radical Green, Tony O'Donnell, Warren Miller2 Comments on New House of Delegates GOP leadership could be on tap
2012 Maryland GOP Fall Convention in pictures and text (part 2)
When I last left you in my narrative, I had just gone to bed after several hours of fun and carousing with many people, some of whom had names and faces I sheepishly admit I couldn't keep straight. But I think I can get all of these right.
My alarm I'd set for 6:30 never went off so I was a little late for breakfast, and regrettably only caught the end of Ken Timmerman's remarks. He used a Biblical parable to conclude, saying "we are coming from the desert" and in the process of "picking our Moses for 2014."
"Organize, organize, organize…never, never, never give up!" exhorted Ken.
He was the lead-in for Delegate Neil Parrott, who's pictured above. His remarks centered on what's in the future for MDPetitions.com.
Thanks to the passage of Question 5, Maryland now has the "distinct honor" of having the most gerrymandered Congressional districts in the nation, Neil claimed. But in all of the questions, Neil pointed out in his experience that having someone at the polls influenced the results in our favor to some extent. We could have used more poll workers, said Neil.
We also could have used more money to spend as we were well outspent on each issue, particularly Question 6. Proponents also shrewdly changed the message; for example, Question 4 was made to not be about illegals but about kids. And because the petition was done last summer, the "passion wasn't there" against Question 4 after a one-year lapse while proponents had the money early on to quietly spread their message.
"What we need to do is reinvent ourselves," said Parrott, claiming we had winning issues but no campaign. In the future – and there were at least a couple bills which would probably require a petition to attempt to overturn coming out of this year's session – there had to be a four-pronged strategy for victory: get the petitions out, defend them in court, challenge the biased ballot language (Question 5 was a good example of this, said Neil), and run full-fledged campaigns.
A more full-fledged campaign might be more like those on either side of Question 7, as the campaigns for and against expanding gambling spent twice as much on that issue than Bob Ehrlich and Martin O'Malley combined for in their 2010 gubernatorial campaign.
One other item Delegate Parrott touched on was a privacy bill for petition signers, which he'll reintroduce this session.
While the groups went off into their individual seminars, I wandered around the Turf Valley facility where I found tables for the aforementioned MDPetitions.com and the similar effort to keep the petition process from being made more difficult.
Right behind the MDPetitions table was a large-scale and signed copy of a "no confidence" resolution sponsored by Baltimore County Chair John Fiastro, Jr.
I also peeked into the convention hall where the action would begin after lunch.
Yep, placed in the back again. But this room was well set up for such an event because it was wide but not deep. Eventually my only complaint would be that we needed a second projection screen for our side of the room because the county signposts would be in our line of sight of the one provided.
Others were also skipping the seminars to work out issues, such as the Maryland Young Republicans. From the snippets I overheard, they were working out details of their own upcoming convention June 1st in Montgomery County.
Before we met for the convention we had to be nourished, so lunch featured speaker and "unusual political consultant" Brent Littlefield.
Littlefield focused mainly on running the campaign of Maine Governor Paul LePage in 2010, noting that a political campaign was "not just tactics, but strategy." He explained how he microtargeted certain blocs of voters to effectively compete in a seven-person primary where his candidate was outspent 21 to 1.
As for 2012, Brent told us the message was lost, but there was still a reason we're all here – we believe in certain principles. But we have to expand our circle of influence, not just talk to friends.
Brent also related an amusing Twitter incident he helped to bring about involving Martin O'Malley and his trip to Maine, leading O'Malley to call Maine Gov. Paul LePage a governor who "worship(s) the false idol of tax cuts." It was great because he took the fight directly to the enemy, infiltrating their own Twitter feed.
It's worth exploring as well that the Pledge of Allegiance at lunch was led by two-time Congressional hopeful Frank Mirabile. By itself it's not newsworthy, but Frank took advantage of Alex Mooney's invitation for further remarks to note the average age in the room was "well above what we need to be" and that we had to break out of our comfort zone. Obviously he had to do so to campaign in portions of his district.
That snippet brings me back to the Maryland Liberty PAC suite and the younger people I saw there. The convention hall could have used some of those younger folks with energy – as one example, I'm 48 and I'm one of the younger members of our Central Committee. Let's not drive the youth away.
I'll step off my soapbox now, since this point in the narrative is where the convention fun begins. And like the Executive Committee meeting the previous night, it began with a special guest.
"It's good to be around friends for once," said Dan Bongino. But he wanted to take a few minutes to thank us for our support and ask how we can fix this moving forward. "We can win this," Bongino concluded.
But to win it will probably take a little more money than party Treasurer Chris Rosenthal said we had. And while we had whittled down our line of credit significantly during the fourth quarter of this year, Chris told us "we're not out of the weeds." This year will feature a "tight, but conservative" budget for party operations.
Chair Alex Mooney was pleased to see the full workshops, but again cautioned in his report that this meeting could be a long one. We have "things to discuss and air out," said Alex. He related the story of the bitter RNC meeting he attended where several new officers were elected, a process which took multiple ballots for each. Yet at meeting's end, there were no "bad sports."
"If you don't intend to walk out after this meeting and fight the Democrats, then walk out now," said Alex. I didn't see anyone leave so I guess we can turn our guns in the right direction – outward.
As Alex said, there is reason for optimism going forward. And it seemed like he understood that the petition process needs to be followed through on, saying that getting them to the ballot was one success but we need to "take the next step."
We then had a presentation from party Executive Director David Ferguson on the goals established for this year: financial stability, a modern political infrastructure, successful petitions, and planning for 2014. Something about that presentation I found interesting: of the petition signers for each question, only 59% of those opposing in-state tuition for illegal aliens, 72% of those who opposed the gerrymandered Congressional districts, and 52% who signed the petition against gay marriage were Republicans. Questions 4 and 6 had fairly bipartisan opposition, at least at the petitioning stage. We can build on that.
But now, said Ferguson, "our job is to take out every Democrat in 'red' counties." As I look at that task, it means we work on solidifying the 18 that support us now and start to erode our advantage in the five which most heavily vote against their self-interest as time goes on.
He also announced a new program in the works based on the national "Young Guns" program. It will be tailored not just to candidates, though, but to Republican organizations as well. "Our money should go back to your candidates," concluded Ferguson.
The legislative reports on the Senate and House, respectively, were given by Senator E.J. Pipkin (above) and Delegate Tony O'Donnell (below).
Pipkin was proud to address the "irate, tireless minority," and took advantage of our attention to once again call Martin O'Malley the "2 billion dollar man." That's how much working Maryland families pay extra each year thanks to the tax increases O'Malley and Democrats in the General Assembly passed over GOP objections. And while Republicans put together a balanced budget each year – one which doesn't require any tax increases at all – it's ignored by the majority party. They "won't stop digging the hole," said Pipkin. Instead, they want to raise the gas tax – not to fix roads like they might claim, but because $4 billion has been promised to expand the Red Line and Purple Line.
"We provide a different vision for Maryland," explained Pipkin, one which provides a state where you want to live and not a state you want to leave.
Tony O'Donnell started out his remarks with a movie review – go see "Lincoln." It made him proud to be a member of the Republican Party. After seeing the infighting end in an effort to pass the Thirteenth Amendment (over Democratic opposition, he slyly added) he realized once again that "Maryland is worth continuing to fight for."
Tony alluded to his own Congressional campaign, pointing out he had received 95,000 votes and that was the highest vote total for a Fifth District Republican since Larry Hogan in 1992. O'Donnell believed that "we can go to 50 seats (in the House of Delegates) – we can go to 60 seats." One mistake from 2010 he didn't want to repeat was having to recruit candidates in the summer before the election. It was a team effort to find 141 House of Delegates hopefuls, but we had to "let no seat go unchallenged." (In the 2010 election, Democrats got a free pass for 34 seats – almost half of what they needed for the majority.)
Nicolee Ambrose spoke in her first National Committeewoman's report about the Super Saturday program and lessons we could draw from it. While it had its successes, we needed to rebuild our campaign infrastructure and focus on targeted voter contacts with a eye toward long-term outreach as well.
For 2013 she suggested the Super Saturday concept work more toward voter registration. Other projects on her wish list was IT training for local party leaders (something the RNC is willing to do) and ramping up a grassroots committee which Faith Loudon had volunteered to head up.
Louis Pope was far more blunt and expanded on his "painful" theme from the evening before by revealing some of our losses: Obama won single women by a 67-31 count, Hispanics 71-28, blacks 93-5, and Asians 73-22. He also garnered 60% of the under-30 vote and a majority of those who made under $50,000. Obama "changed some of the issues on us," said Pope. Instead of the jobs and economy, it became the (so-called) 'War on Women.'
"We've reached a turning point," said Pope, who believed the one silver lining we had was that we've "reached the bottom."
After all these external political reports were concluded – a process which took nearly two hours – we then turned to several internal committee reports. For the first time in several conventions, though, we had no prospective bylaw changes so the newly created Bylaws Committee could simply note that fact and alert us at the county level that some possible revisions may come at us next spring.
Similarly, the Nominations Committee had no report. So it was up to the Resolutions Committee to provide the day's final drama.
Interestingly enough, the order Resolutions Chair Andi Morony presented these in was supposed to be least to most controversial, but the very first resolution presented by Cecil County Chair Chris Zeauskas drew heavy debate. This was a resolution condemning newly elected Cecil County Executive Tari Moore for changing to unaffiliated status; a resolution which contended, among other things, that her election "was obtained through deception and false pretenses."
And while proponents of the resolution – not just in Cecil County, but in other Republican circles – believed Tari Moore had "sold out" Cecil County Republicans, there were those who noted her principles hadn't changed but the stalemate which exists between her and some of the four remaining members of the Cecil County Council (all Republicans) could only be broken and her agenda implemented if she was allowed to select her own replacement. Meanwhile, this was described in one media report as a proxy battle between Republicans E.J. Pipkin and Andy Harris, with Pipkin in favor of demanding Moore resign and Harris confident of her return to the GOP fold after her replacement is selected.
Once several had spoken on both sides, a motion was made to table the resolution. With our weighted voting system and the fact I couldn't tally the vote as it was going, I can't give you the split in actual bodies but the motion to table passed by a 285-230 voting margin. Thus, the resolution was killed for this convention, although it could theoretically return in the spring.
After careful consideration, I voted to table the resolution; however, our county split 6-3 in favor of tabling. The reason I decided to do so was figuring that she was trying to stand by both conservative principles and trying to better Cecil County. There's little chance a Democrat or liberal would be put into office, but if she does select one I would be more inclined to support a similar resolution in the spring. Call it a "wait and see" approach for yet another item which could divide the overall party over a county issue.
Resolutions two and three were both very easy to pass and worthwhile to do so. The second introduced condemned the passage of Senate Bill 236 and its resultant attack on property rights, while the third was a Resolution of Commendation for Carroll County Commissioner Richard Rothschild and his battle against the UN's Agenda 21. Both were introduced by Scott DeLong of Harford County and both passed by unanimous voice vote.
The final resolution was the one I showed the mockup of earlier; authored by Baltimore County Chair John Fiastro Jr., it advised our three Republican National Committee members to oppose the re-election of RNC Chair Reince Priebus.
That also drew a lot of debate on both sides, but in watching those on the "anti" side line up it was apparent that not enough people were willing to rock the boat. The resolution ended up failing by a 223-286 count.
Yet Wicomico County was one which unanimously supported the amendment. While others had their own reasons and I was advised by a few people that there was a hidden agenda at work, my take on this was that I knew it was utterly symbolic at best. Opponents argued that having the Chairman mad at Maryland could hinder the state in getting national funds, but right now we pretty much get along without them anyway. If Reince Priebus doesn't understand there are legitimate reasons we and others are unhappy with him and can't put on his big boy pants and deal with them, well, then there's not much hope he would be a successful Chair come 2014 either.
The dual themes of our convention were a look back at what really happened in the 2012 election and what we can do to improve our lot in 2014. To a significant number of us in the Maryland GOP, that soul-searching has to occur at a national level as well – after all, when Mike Duncan ran again for RNC Chair after the 2008 blowout we suffered there was no shortage of people calling for his head and he withdrew after just a couple ballots. So why the rush to bring back Priebus after failing to defeat the worst incumbent since Jimmy Carter, losing two Senate seats to shrink our minority to 45, and eight House seats including one here in Maryland?
But with the defeat of that resolution, our Fall Convention was over. And it made me realize a few other things are over as well.
The time for playing games is over.
The time for accepting the status quo and "this is how we've always done it" is long past over.
It's time to go to war. If the Democrats think we've put on a "war on women," well, let's actually give them a war. I call it the "war on voting against one's self-interest" (yes, a little wordy but it will have to do) and it starts today.
Author MichaelPosted on December 3, 2012 Categories Campaign 2012, Campaign 2012 - President, Campaign 2014, Maryland Politics, National politics, Personal stuff, Politics, State of ConservatismTags Alex Mooney, Brent Littlefield, Cecil County, Daniel Bongino, E.J. Pipkin, Frank Mirabile, Ken Timmerman, Louis Pope, Martin O'Malley, Maryland GOP, Maryland Young Republicans, MD Petitions, Neil Parrott, Nicolee Ambrose, Paul LePage, Question 4, Question 5, Question 6, Question 7, Reince Priebus, Tari Moore, Tony O'Donnell4 Comments on 2012 Maryland GOP Fall Convention in pictures and text (part 2)


The Therapy Garden is holding its first Glo Event on February 16th from 1pm to 8pm.
Tickets £5 per adult and children (under 16s) are free.
Tickets to be purchased in advance from the garden office.
Refer to flyer for schedule for the days events.


This 200 gram repeater has tones of power! This firework has 25 shots of whistling missiles with a loud report! These missiles fly skyward in rapid succession and will thrill your guests! Your reports can be heard from miles away! These batteries are a true bargain at the price that is given to you to you! It is a maximum bang for your buck!


Zt102 multimeter: Orange or red. Can customize. Fish tank. 100mhz. Pt100  thermocouple. Thermostat heating wireless. No.9595. Xd-621. Zc178700. Measure range: 0~32% brix. Capacitor meter esr. Wholesale potentiometer joystick. 40nf/400nf/4μf/40μf/100μf. Digital wall clock. Telescope hunting : Ro filter water. 12v 120w .24v 240w ,220v 1500w.
Xh-w1308. Voltage detector. 6.dc/ac current  (ua): Sensor. -30-40c. 4.84 x 2.63 x 0.78''. Universal 10a probe test leads. Wf16x. 10%~90% rh. 5.dc/ac current  (ma&a): Mastech ms8229. Hall flowmeter. Led programmable.


text:
Sistema Ferroviario Metropolitano Regionale (SFMR) (italienisch, in etwa: hauptstädtisches regionales Eisenbahnsystem) ist ein im Aufbau befindliches regionales S-Bahnsystem in der norditalienischen Region Venetien, das im Taktfahrplan verkehren soll. Beteiligt sind neben der Region selber die Ferrovie dello Stato, Sistemi Territoriali und verschiedene örtliche Gebietskörperschaften.

Konzept
Im Gegensatz zu den meisten S-Bahnsystemen im deutschsprachigen Raum mit einer gemeinsam genutzten Stammstrecke handelt es sich bei der SFMR um ein polyzentrisches Netz mit den drei zentralen Punkten Venedig, Padua und Treviso und weiteren Verknüpfungspunkten.

Die Wartezeiten bei Umsteigevorgängen sollen minimiert werden, die Linien in einem fixen Takt verkehren und die Abfahrtszeiten leicht merkbar gestaltet werden.

Im Zusammenhang mit dem Ausbau der S-Bahn soll auch das regionale Busnetz auf die Umsteigebeziehungen zur Bahn hin adaptiert werden. Der Modal Split soll sich voraussichtlich zugunsten der Bahn um 74,2 % erhöhen, der Pkw-Verkehr jedoch um 7,7 % und die Busfahrten um 32,3 % verringert werden.

Planungsabschnitte
Die erste Phase (im Plan rot eingezeichnet) umfasst das Dreieck Venedig, Padua und Castelfranco Veneto sowie die Strecken von Venedig nach Treviso, Mira Buse und Quarto d'Altino. Im April 2008 wurde die zweite Phase des Netzausbaus finanziert, welche die Streckenabschnitte Quarto d'Altino–Portogruaro, Treviso–Conegliano, Castelfranco Veneto–Vicenza und Padua–Monselice umfasst.

Vorbehaltlich einer weiteren Finanzierung soll das Netz in einer dritten Phase alle Bahnstrecken innerhalb des Gebietes Portogruaro, Conegliano, Montebelluna, Bassano del Grappa, Schio, Vicenza, Rovigo und Chioggia umfassen. Schließlich ist in einer vierten Phase langfristig geplant, das Netz bis nach Verona, Trient und Calalzo di Cadore auszudehnen.

Neu zu errichtende Streckenabschnitte sind Padua-Chioggia, eine Südumfahrung von Padua und eine Stichstrecke zum Flughafen Venedig-Marco Polo.

Weblinks
Beschreibung auf otinordest.it
Kurzbeschreibung auf ferrovieanordest.it
Darstellung des Projekts auf infobuild.it

Venetien
Schienenverkehr (Venetien)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Pro Desk 54 is a full, free-standing desk replacement that has all the benefits of a standard VARIDESK Israel stand up desk but with extra space. At 137 cm wide, it also offers the largest work surface available in VARIDESK Israel.
Just like the rest of the VARIDESK Israel standing desk models, it raises and lowers easily and almost effortlessly thanks to our patented spring-assisted lifting mechanism, making it a true sit stand desk.


According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S., about 1.2 million vacancies would be available for registered nurses from 2014 to 2022.
Healthcare information technology (HCIT) deals in creation, design, development, and maintenance of information systems for healthcare organizations. It is expected to improve medical care, curb costs, minimize manual errors, and enable the optimization of reimbursement for ambulatory and inpatient healthcare providers.
Many government healthcare policies promote the use of both non-clinical and clinical solutions, especially electronic medical/health records (EMR/EHR), mHealth, and telehealth. While, EHRs benefit healthcare organizations by curbing treatment costs; mHealth utilizes mobile phones and communication devices to provide immediate care to patients. Increasing number of patients have adopted mHealth, as it is economical, and provides insights on preventive health care services, chronic disease management, disease surveillance, epidemic treatment support, outbreak tracking, and reducing overall healthcare cost.
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly termed as Obama's Health Care, is one of the most important healthcare policies that has affected the adoption of HCIT solutions.
offers home- and community-based medical services for qualified individuals. These services assist patients to accomplish regular life activities and ensure continuous care for them. This section will have a direct impact on the HCIT industry, as it guides patients on their health status via telehealth or mHealth, enabling them to be in real–time communication with their doctors.
Consequently, the demand for such services has significantly increased, which stimulates the adoption of telehealth and mhealth market. In fact, Telehealth segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 33.27% during the analysis period.
provides home-based medical services for patients with chronic diseases such as cardiac condition, cancer, diabetes, and others. This section promotes the use of IT–based care management systems and stimulates the integration of IT in healthcare industry.
The subdomains of healthcare include laboratory management, practice management, financial management, patient, and billing management, payment management, and others. Increasing incidence of chronic disorders among individuals has posed a key challenge to healthcare organizations.
Hence, different management solutions are available for different levels in the market. This act stimulates the demand for healthcare management solutions & services, thereby driving the market growth.
establishes national center's for treating depression. It is anticipated that EHRs would be used. It also promotes the use of telemedicine.
mandates medicare patients to have an annual wellness visit. It is expected that these visits would encourage patients to self-manage their medical problems. Moreover, they would be trained in self-management through the use of healthcare IT.
aims to establish quality reporting for both group and individual health insurers. This section focuses on regular reporting of healthcare insurance companies about their performance, and promotes the implementation of different healthcare payer solutions such as claim management, fraud management, and others. Stringent government rules for proper and timely reporting of healthcare-related financial documents have fuelled the demand for IT-based payer solutions.
These sections would propel the growth of EHR market in North America; affecting the world HCIT market. Moreover, dearth of skilled medical staff in healthcare facilities has hampered the market growth in the region.
For instance, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S., about 1.2 million vacancies would be available for registered nurses from 2014 to 2022.
The demand of home healthcare is expected to increase and drive the healthcare IT solutions & services such as telehealth, telemedicine, and mHealth during the forecast period to meet the demand-supply gap.