The Future of Wal-Mart's Maryland Operation?

With the recent override of the Wal-Mart bill, perhaps the company will bring this example to the Mid-Atlantic:

Eighteen months after the Chicago City Council torpedoed a South Side Wal-Mart, 24,500 Chicagoans applied for 325 jobs at a Wal-Mart opening Friday in south suburban Evergreen Park, one block outside the city limits.

The new Wal-Mart at 2500 W. 95th is one block west of Western Avenue, the city boundary.

Of 25,000 job applicants, all but 500 listed Chicago addresses, said John Bisio, regional manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart.

"In our typical hiring process, you're pretty successful if you have 3,000 applicants," he said. "They were really crowing about 11,000 in Oakland, Calif., last year. So to get 25,000-plus applications and counting, I think is astonishing."

The City of Chicago apparently did not want Wal-Mart, so the company dropped anchor just on the outskirts of town, providing benefits to residents without the benfits to the city government.

I am certainly not suggesting that Wal-Mart is going to close all of its stores in Maryland and encamp on the state lines. However, I certainly would not be surprised if the distribution center planned for Somerset County wound up in Virginia or Delaware either.

Say No to the Horse Park

The Post this morning noted that Governor Ehrlich has delayed introduction of legislation that would support a horse park on the property of the Naval Academy Dairy Farm in Gambrills. The sticking point here seems to be that the state and county have not yet agreed on how to pay for the $100 million dollar project.

I take a look at the number, the $100 million, and think about what else that money could be spent on. It would be roughly the cost to build a new high school down the road in Crofton. It could go towards replacing antiquated police radios, or even construction of the new Eastern District Police Station. It could even go towards an additional property tax rate cut.

Now, at the same time, I take a look at Compass Pointe. Take a look at the project as a whole, the development, the state money, the county takeover, the audit, everything. How has the use of taxpayer dollars on that project helped the community?

In the end, I think that we all need to step back and say no to the construction of the Horse Park on the grounds that we have better things to use tax dollars on. Education and public safety need to come before such expenditures. While I understand that the park may benefit the horse industry, the industry would be better served by the passage of slots legislation. And while it is important to maintain the land for its federally mandated agriculture use, I am concerned that by using the land as a horse park the environmental gains of keeping the land in an agricultural status would be lost.

As a county, we would be better served by the state leasing the land from the federal government and operating the land as an agriculture education center, much in the same way Arlington Echo operates as a an outdoor education center. We would be able to preserve the land's agricultural heritage without the development and traffic concerns that may come with the creation of the horse park.

County Audit Exposes MEDCO Flaws

The Capital yesterday reported about the County's audit of construction on the Compass Pointe Golf project, and the results seem rather unsurprising. A lack of a paper trail, incomplete records, a lack of checks and balances; all the things that one would expect from a government agency trying to compete as a public business after Senator Jimeno led the effort to expand MEDCO's role.

The story notes that members of the County Council wonder if assuming responsibility for Compass Pointe from the state would have been economically responsible if they knew all of the facts beforehand. It is a fair argument, however, not the most important argument in this case. The question clearly should be asking why the General Assembly allowed the MEDCO change in the first place? Why was a state agency allowed to compete with private business, particularly something like a gold course development project?

The responsible thing for legislative leaders to learn from this audit is that allowing MEDCO to continue in its current role is bad for taxpayers. I hope legislative leaders actually do something about this, and introduce legislation to repeal Senator Jimeno's boondoggle.

Campaign Finance Fact Checking

The Capital's story today on campaign finances for the County Executive's race showed in an interesting manner that fact-checking needs to be done by modern newspapers:

One of his GOP rivals noted that Mr. Leopold's war chest includes a $355,000 loan the delegate made to himself.

"I want the people's support," said Del. David G. Boschert, R-Crownsville. "I don't need to lend myself $300,000."

Mr. Leopold downplayed the loan, saying it was left over from previous campaigns.

I bolded the most important part of that statement, and the part that can be most easily fact checked, as all reports of the John Leopold Campaign Committee are available online.

• At the close of the 2002 Election Cycle, Leopold's committee showed a cash balance of $20,859.88, with $92,000.00 outstanding in loans
• One year later, at the close of the reporting period from 1/9/03-1/14/04, the campaign showed a balance of $217,020.35, including $197,263.83 in new loans.
• At the close of the reporting period from 1/15/04-1/12/05, the campaign showed $66,000.00 in new loans.
  
• At the close of the period that closed yesterday, the Leopold campaign showed no additional loans.
  

Leopold currently has $355,263.83 in money he has loaned to his committee outstanding. Since the start of the campaign finance cycle 2003-2006, John Leopold has loaned his committee $263,263.83, well over half of the money that he has raised and nearly three times the amount of the outstanding loans from his previous campaigns. Why the Capital chose not to fact check Delegate Leopold's comments does not stand up to pass journalistic muster. Delegate Leopold's decision to exaggerate how much of his war chest he loaned to his campaign will be scrutinized more closely by the voters in the September 12th primary.

All That is Wrong with the WBC

The World Baseball Classic seems like a great idea to promote and spark interest in baseball in countries around the world. But stories like this one bother me:

His allegiance torn between the Dominican Republic and United States, Rodriguez finally made up his mind Tuesday night and decided he will participate in the World Baseball Classic as a member of the U.S. team.

Why are there so many players who cannot decide which team to play for? Why were the rules allowed to be so loose on the nationality of these players? Take a look at the Italian team: do Mike Piazza and Jason Grilli even speak Italian?

For some countries, particularly Italy, how does this help the development of baseball in their countries? If players are being allowed to compete for countries that are the homelands of one grandparent, why not have many teams made up solely of American players? Not just the Italian team, but Irish, English, and German teams as well.

The concept of the WBC is great, but it will never come close to matching the worldwide popularity of the World Cup, and some of the luster lost is becuase of these strange nationality rules.

Schadenfreude

Even after all of these years, even after the Ravens won the Super Bowl, I still take a joyous satisfaction when the Colts lose, particularly when they are home favorites in the playoffs. Not that I really wanted the Steelers to win, but so be it if the reward is seeing the Colts fail, particularly in how the game played out this afternoon. It was wonderful.

Page 2B

The Sun, amazingly enough, did report on the Rasmussen poll we talked about Friday. Less surprisingly, the Sun buried the story on Page 2B in the "Political Notebook" section; not even worthy enough of its own story. What really cracked me up was the fact that the Sun managed to get Keith Haller of polling firm Potomac, Inc. to disparage the poll. Potomac is the firm that conducted the Sun poll in November (and other Sun polls) that asked skewed questions which put O'Malley ahead by 15 points, as I noted at the time.

Never underestimate the chutzpah of the Sun. What amazes me is how lacking their ability is to hide their motives.

Sun in Spin Cycle

The Sun has already began their all-out spin of the Wal-Mart bill in this morning's edition:

The verbiage was endless, and the warnings verged on the cataclysmic, but the bottom line is that the two most hotly contested measures in Annapolis - the so-called Wal-Mart bill and another to raise the minimum wage - affect only a relative handful of Maryland residents.

Tell that to the consumers who now will have to pay higher prices at Wal-Mart; that certainly does not constitute only a "relative handful." Tell that to the small business owners who just saw their costs go up due to the impending minimum wage hike. And what about the jobs that may never materialize due to the strengthening of Maryland's already bad reputation as a business climate?

Grain of Salt

I am just as puzzled as I am encouraged by the release of results from two Rasmussen Reports polls that has Governor Ehrlich and Lt. Governor Steele handily leading their respective races. But I really have to take both polls with a grain of salt. Thanks to David Wissing's polling page, we can look at several recent Rasmussen polls, and they are all over the place:

Ehrlich v. O'Malley
7/18/05- Ehrlich +5
11/16/05- O'Malley +6
1/10/06- Ehrlich +5

Ehrlich v. Duncan
7/18/05- Ehrlich +1
11/16/05- Duncan +9
1/10/06- Ehrlich +9

Steele v. Cardin
7/18/05- Ehrlich +5
11/16/05- O'Malley +6
1/10/06- Steele +5

Steele v. Mfume
7/18/05- Cardin +5
11/16/05- Cardin +8
1/10/06- Steele +7

There just seems to be no rhyme or reason to this numbers. If there had been another reliable poll conducted recently (clearly disqualifying Sun polling) then maybe we would have something to compare it to. What does it all mean; only that there are still 297 days until the General Election. I am not getting too excited about their leads, and remember; all polling should be taken with a grain of salt, but especially polling this early in the election cycle.

With No Pence, Shadegg is the Best Choice

Since my first choice, Congressman Pence, has passed on the race for House Majority Leader, Congressman John Shadegg of Arizona is a suitable alternative. Congressman Shadegg formerly held the post currently held by Congressman Pence. And Shadegg is certainly more appealing to fiscal sanity and government restraint that than the Blunt and Boehner candidacies, and does not carry any known baggage connecting him to the Abramoff scandal.

It is now go-time; will House Republicans take a bold stand on the principles of our party, or just go along to get along?

The Anti-Business, Anti-Worker, Anti-Consumer General Assembly.

The General Assembly overrode Governor Ehrlich's veto of the so-called Fair Share Health Care Bill Tonight. Tomorrow, they will certainly override the Governor's veto of a minimum wage hike. And now we find out what the consequences will we see with government meddling in the affairs of private industry.

With the Wal-Mart bill, the most upfront and obvious consequence will deal with Wal-Mart itself. What happens to the distribution center that was proposed on the Eastern Shore? It could be dead, as a company spokesman was quoted in the Sun article that they now see the project "through a different set of lenses."

What about the cost to consumers? Wal-Mart stores in Maryland will almost have to raise prices in order to cover these costs. Will Wal-Mart close underperforming stores? How will this impact consumers who may be forced to pay higher prices at competing stores?

And what about the cost to workers? Will Wal-Mart hire fewer workers in the coming years? Will Wal-Mart be forced to lay-off workers to cover the cost of this law?

The Minimum Wage hike could have its own disastrous consequences, particularly for small businesses. How many workers are going to be denied jobs due to this wage increase? How many people will lose jobs? How many will see their hours cut in order to deal with the hike? How many small businesses will have to raise prices to cover these costs? How many businesses will go belly-up? The irony, as noted before, is that minimum wage hikes tend to cost workers jobs more than raise any standards of living.

The Fact of the matter is that once again the General Assembly is marching to the tune of a warped drummer. There may be no legislative body in our nation that is more opposed to free markets than ours. There may be no legislative body that is more opposed to consumers paying low prices and having more choices than ours. There may be no state legislature anywhere that does less for its small businesses and small business owners than right here in Maryland. Only in Maryland do legislators believe that they know more about how business owners large and small should run their companies than the owners do, and legislate accordingly.

The real consequence for this week's overrides? The General Assembly may have single-handedly decided re-elected Governor Ehrlich. Voters are on to their charade, and they understand that the Democratic leadership in Annapolis has only political interests in mind, not the interests of workers, consumers and business owners. Those voters will side with the Governor this fall, and hopefully they will send to Annapolis enough legislators to uphold this Governor's vetoes for the next four years.

And while the political consequences of the Governor's re-election and more Republican legislators appeals to me, I wish it did not come at such a high price to the constituents that the Democrats sold down the river.

Wanted: Intensity

As I write this, Maryland trails Duke 45-22 at the half.

If this Terp team is serious about competing for the national title, I hope at some point they come out of the gate and play with some intensity on the road in a conference game. Maybe the critics were right in saying that a soft schedule that saw no true non-conference road games really has hurt this team.

Pot...Kettle...Black

David Nitkin of the Sun gave us this gem today in an online Q&A:

Ron, Gaithersburg: Why has Duncan done better than O'Malley against Ehrlich in several recent independent polls (Rasmussen)? What else can this possibly suggest except that Duncan is the stronger candidate in any general election contest with Ehrlich?

Nitkin: Politicians like to say that the only poll that counts is the one taken on Election Day. The Sun does not widely publicize polls that we do not commission ourselves, because there is not a good way to verify the methodology and other factors -- such as the order of questions. The most recent Sun poll, conducted in November, had O'Malley ahead of Duncan in a primary, 42 percent to 23 percent, with 34 percent undecided.

Mind you, as we have documented before, it appears that the Sun poll, not the other polls, are the ones used flawed polling methodology. It is just fascinating to note that the newspaper that has issues commissioning accurate polls refuses to print independent poll results, particularly when those independent polls reflect poorly on Mayor O'Malley.

DeLay Departure Best for Everybody

It is not that it is a surprise that Tom DeLay finally gave up the ghost today and formally announced he was stepping down as Majority Leader; it is surprising that it took this long to get here. DeLay's continuance as Majority Leader was a black mark on the party; it would have been honorable of DeLay to formally resign as leader upon his indictment instead of sticking around until now. Only about the Abramoff indictment did Congressional Republicans finally get serious about replacing DeLay on a Permanent basis.

DeLay's departure is best for everybody. It allows Republicans to get away from the cloud of DeLay's indictment, and it allows an opportunity for somebody with core Republican beliefs to step up to assume a place of leadership when the party desperately needs an ideological compass.

What this party and this Congress really need now is somebody who is not connected to any of these potential scandals. And it also needs somebody who truly believes in Republican ideals and the ideological precepts of our party.

I would like to join the folks at RedState in endorsing Congressman Mike Pence from Indiana's 7th District to be the next Republican Majority Leader.

Sinking Feeling

I have a pretty sneaking suspicious, and an awfully sinking feeling about this prediction; After being booted off of the Virginia Tech football team for good today, the Ravens will find a way to draft Hokies quarterback Marcus Vick. It just makes too much sense given the history of this franchise and Vick's talented by troubled past.

To be fair to the Ravens, both Ray Lewis and Jamal Lewis came with baggage upon their draft day, and both turned out to be extremely successful. But I am not certain that what the Ravens quarterback contest for 2006 needs is another distraction. I hope I am wrong about this prediction, but I see it coming.

Unfit Honor

Men's Health really stunned Baltimoreans when Charm City was named the fittest city in America.

I cannot possibly think of an honor more miscast than this one. I love Baltimore, but the area is not exactly known for its healthy cuisine. Crab cakes and Natty Boh do not constitute a healthy diet, at least in the eyes of a nutritionist.

Here is the money quote from the AP story:

Among them: the amount of public park space, access to health care, air quality, the relatively small number of fast-food restaurants, and the leadership of Mayor Martin O'Malley. Boulton says Baltimore has become safer, more prosperous and more conducive to fitness.

"Baltimore is a paragon of urban renewal. That's why it's the fittest city, that's why it's the comeback city," Boulton said.

Even health magazines are conspiring to join the O'Malley bandwagon. Safer? Have they checked out the crime statistics?

And if you want to talk about the most fit urban area in Maryland, I think a certain Washington-area County Executive would nominate his county for the post. And you could probably argue that some of our moral rural counties are even more fit than that.

As much as I love the city, I see absolutely no rationale for this award, particularly if O'Malley's "leadership" was one of the deciding factors.

Governor Makes Right Call

Governor Ehrlich has returned donations to his campaign made by Jack Abramoff. A good, sound move by the Governor. Thankfully, many other politicians around the country are returning these donations or, if allowed by law, donating them to charity. This is going to get more and more interesting. And I do agree with what Newt Gingrich said recently about the scandal:

"You can't have a corrupt lobbyist unless you have a corrupt member (of Congress) or a corrupt staff. This was a team effort"

And while this may only be posturing for his Presidential effort, the former Speaker is right, and this is why everybody associated with the scandal should be thrown out on their ear.

The Race is On

Anybody who thinks that Martin O'Malley is going to cruise to victory in the Democratic primary needs to pay close attention to last night's meeting about policing.

A very raucous crowd of Baltimore city residents came out and gave the Mayor, Commissioner Hamm, and other leaders the what for. There are a lot of angry residents concerned about the perception of police corruption and police brutality in the Baltimore City Police Department. And they are a very vocal lot.

Are these things happening? Who knows. But with the amount of vitriol and anger that was coming out of the crowd last night, it is not hard to imagine that there is a large segment of the Baltimore City population that can be persuaded to vote for Duncan in September.

Defeat HB24

Bills for the 2006 session have been pre-filed, and we now know that HB24 is the School Board bill that must see defeat during this legislative session. I have said time, and time, and time again about how bad of an idea this sort of change is. What's worse is that the bill now clearly delineates who will, and who will not be represented on the Commission. Seats on the commission are reserved for the Teachers Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the County PTA, the Citizens Advisory Committee, the Anne Arundel Community College Board of Trustees, and the Association of Education Leaders. Other than one seat, where are the parents? Where are the taxpayers? Who is looking out for them?

This bill does nothing other than take a status quo that does not adequately represent the community, and repackages it as something that has less representation, less accountability, and less influence from the community at large. What still galls me is the fact that Delegates Love, Leopold, Dwyer and Busch have the chutzpah to call this an "elected" school board. What an insult to the intelligence of the county voter. I cannot understand why the delegates will not submit a bill that would let the voters of Anne Arundel County elect their school board. The only reason that I can deduce is that these Delegates Love, Leopold, Dwyer and Busch believe that big government should make the decision for us. In lieu of an elected board, we get a charade.

The devil we know, with its faults, is better than the devil we don't know. Mobilize now; this bill must be defeated.

Bring Them All Down

Jack Abramoff plead guilty today. The charges: tax evasion, fraud, and corruptinon. And now is the time when the media will begin to pay very close attention. The plea deal is contingent on Abramoff cooperating in a probe of other insider corruption in Washington.

Unfortuantely, this is going to be portrayed on both sides of an aisle as an us v. them situation. Just because Abramoff was an ostensible conservative does not mean that I am going to stand up and defend the guy. Abramoff's major use to the public at this point is that he will provide cooperation, evidence, and presumably testimony against other corrupt D.C. insiders. And that is a good thing for everybody of all political stripes. Corruption does not break down along party lines in my eyes. I feel no compulsion to defend Republican members of Congress who are on the take.

In these instances of corruption, bring them all down and throw them all out, regardless of party or ideology.

New URL

Please note that the new URL for this section of cyberspace is http://blog.briangriffiths.com. All new content will be posted there from here on forward.

See you there!

The End

The thud you heard today was the 2005 Ravens season crashing back down to reality. After two weeks of very good football, today just left fans wanting something more. It was not Kyle Boller; he played OK, certainly not as well as the last two weeks, yet not as bad as the rest of the season. But mental mistakes once again killed this team. The eight penalties hurt. The interception return that saw three inexplicable laterals was just an example of boneheadedness; thankfully, the play did not adversely impact the outcome. The Ravens finished 6-10 and will pick 13th at the NFL Draft.

Amazingly, this team was my pick to win the Super Bowl; my NFC playoff picks involved zero teams that actually made the playoffs.