Plain Silliness

The Maryland Transit Administration already has a hard enough time running an operating system, and is a complete failure when it comes to keeping passengers safe. But that doesn't stop the Sun from wanting to expand the MTA's role where it does not belong:

Simply put, it says that the creation and support of transit-oriented development should be a priority for the Maryland Transit Administration. That's not a new concept, but the O'Malley administration bill marks the first effort to set the goal into law. And while there are numerous such projects in the works, support for them - political and financial - has not always been as strong as it should be.

Transit-oriented development should be a no-brainer. Building projects with retail, offices, residential and parking facilities immediately adjacent to rail or bus service increase ridership and better serve the community....

...But promoting development is quite a departure from the traditional role of the MTA as merely a builder and operator of transit lines. It means, for instance, forging agreements with developers and local government to encourage visionary projects. That may involve promoting tax abatements or zoning exceptions, the standard tools of local government-fostered economic development.

Of course, the MTA has absolutely no business in working on the kind of projects the Sun suggest that they work on. Suddenly though, the Sun seems to think that the MTA is the kind of effective government agency that should use its vast experience in development issues to help plan transit oriented development.

Of course, when you consider that the MTA can't get the easy stuff right, can't protect their customers even after promising solutions, and wants to spend billions upon billions of dollars on 28-year plans, I can see where the Sun would get that idea. I mean, they are such an effective organization and they clearly have no problems with their system. The MTA is surely the organization to lead Maryland into the next 25-years of urban policy.

Sarcasm aside, the Sun's rah-rah support of this is a complete joke, albeit unsurprising given that the bill in question is being pushed by the O'Malley Administration. And check out this nugget from the legislation:

"TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT" MEANS A MIX OF PRIVATE OR PUBLIC PARKING FACILITIES, COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURES AND USES, IMRPVOEMENTS, AND FACILITIES CUSTOMARILY APPURTENANT TO SUCH FACILITIES AND USES.

So by definition, we're going to find ourselves with the MTA as a new de facto MEDCO type outfit, creating development projects that are going to be competing directly with the private sector. And those of us in Anne Arundel County know what happens when those projects, as one would suspect they would, go south, though we know that O'Malley and his team never learned those lessons.

The Administration and the Sun both seem to lack the understanding that when an organization is failing to do the job that they were created to perform, it is then probably not a good idea to task that organization with different, completely unrelated responsibilities and expect anything good to happen for our state and certainly the taxpayers.

Good Money After Bad

I get criticized for calling for better controls on spending at public schools and universities before we throw more money at existing problems. But here is one good reason why we must do this:

The director of design and construction management at Morgan State University has resigned amid findings by a legislative auditor that the college violated state regulations in multimillion-dollar deals with a private contractor, officials said yesterday.

In a statement, campus officials acknowledged that university staff had failed to follow Maryland procurement rules. The university has acknowledged adding a $3.1 million allowance into its bid for a 2005 contract and then using $2.6 million of the surplus funds to pay Whiting Turner Contracting for cost overruns on four other campus projects without getting state approval.

The fact of the matter is that such rules violations are probably extremely common throughout state government. The question leads us to this: how much money has the state wasted through paying of higher than necessary fees for services because some employees could not be bothered to follow the rules?

This story further proves the problem with throwing good money after bad when it comes to education. We have seen, both in secondary and higher public education, no desire to account for the money that is being spent in these schools. Union officials and administrators would prefer to kvetch about the need for more money before, not after, proving that the money they currently have is being efficiently and effectively spent. I bet that if it were not for this legislative audit, the inappropriate use of of funds here at Morgan State would have gone unnoticed due to the lack of proper accounting procedures in place in the University hierarchy.

In education, as like all other government programs, leaders need to be sure that the first step is to ensure money is being spent properly. Only after such assurances can be made should we ever consider the allocation of additional public resources.

Good Morning Norfolk...

A Bill we can all get behind

There's a bill out there in the General Assembly that I hope all of us, left and right, can get behind... I've been working with my friend Nic Kipke on HB 378, a bill that severely increases the penalties for Animal Abuse and Aggravated Animal Cruelty. Fortunately, the bill has bipartisan support with 25 sponsors on the bill. The increased penalties will include:

• Double the jail-time and fine for misdemeanor animal cruelty;
• Double the fine for felony aggravated cruelty;
• Impose tougher jail-time for felony aggravated cruelty; increasing from 3 to 5 years the maximum sentence, providing for a mandatory minimum of 1 year, and prohibiting the suspension of the mandatory minimum;
• Mandatory psychological counseling for those convicted of both the misdemeanor and the felony charge.

I have made a copy of the press release available online.

Obviously in the wake of the Michael Vick incident animal cruelty has become something that has been much higher in the minds of Americans. It's unfortunate that it took a heinous act by a famous athlete in order to bring this issue to the forefront. There are two things that are particularly noteworthy about animal abusers. One is the fact that we as a society should not allow for our fellow citizens to harm animals just for the sake of harming animals. That's not exactly something that promotes civilized society.

But secondarily, animal abuse is a gateway for other notable psychological problems. A lot of criminals start out their devilish ways through the abuse of animals. Jeffrey Dahmer and the Boston Strangler are two of many serial killers, for example, who started out with aggravated animal abuse before moving up to crimes more and more heinous with each passing example.

We cannot minimize the need for tougher penalties on crimes committed against people. However, when you consider the history of violent criminals, hopefully this bill will serve as a deterrent, both to stop people from committing crimes against defenseless animals, and to make sure that the people who commit these crimes pay severely for what they have done.

The Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing on this bill on Thursday, January 31st at 1 PM. I encourage you to testify, submit written testimony, or contact members of the committee to voice your support for this important legislation. As I said, this is the kind of bill both Republicans and Democrats can support and hopefully we can work together to push this meaningful legislation through.

Privatized Transit in the Dulles Corridor?

Lots of our liberal friends criticize me for my stance on the private funding on transportation infrastructure, but it looks like such ideas are being bandied about for the construction of Metro's Northern Virginia Silver Line:

Private equity investors are drawing up proposals to partner with Virginia for a rail line to Dulles International Airport as hope fades that the federal government will help fund the 23-mile Metrorail extension.

State officials said several equity groups have expressed interest in investing in a rail since Thursday, when U.S. transportation officials declared the project unfit for federal funding. The $5 billion project had been counting on a $900 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration.

Private purchase of the rail line or the Dulles Toll Road to fund the extension would attract strong opposition from those who believe such public infrastructure is far too valuable to hand over to for-profit corporations. But with the outlook for keeping the rail project alive bleak, regional business and political leaders who are adamant that the rail line must not die are increasingly of the mind that private partnership must be considered.

"You gotta build this thing," said William D. Lecos, president of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. "So whatever contingency is fastest, bestest and quickest is good with us. We've always been supportive of the public-private concept. If that turns out now to be the contingency we can pursue, provided we can get on that course quickly and with some level of certainty, then that's what we should do."

Folks in Northern Virginia have been looking for over 25 years for a Dulles rail extension, and with the disqualification of the project from receiving federal funds, it looked liked the project may never get built. Now, with private companies in the mix, it looks like there is still hope for the project. When you consider how much of the Dulles Corridor's planning is tied into the future of this line, it remains and important project for the future of this area.

I hope that the private companies get a legitimate chance to build and operate this system. It will show, hopefully once and for all, that there can be a great public benefit to privatized transportation options in our area.

Broken Record

I said before that the MTA's plan to reduce violence would not be effective, and it's certainly turning out to be that way:

Maryland Transit Administration Police and city police were seeking at least two young males who assaulted a 19-year-old man aboard a No. 8 bus Saturday night as it headed south on York Road from Towson toward the city, an MTA spokeswoman said.

About 11 p.m., several youths left the movies at Towson Commons on York Road, boarded the bus and became rowdy, said Jawauna Greene, the spokeswoman. She said that as their behavior became more disturbing, at least two of them assaulted the passenger for no apparent reason.

When is the O'Malley Administration, with their newfangled "law and order" focus, going to get serious about protecting those people who have to use mass transit on a regular basis? Because at the moment, I'm not sure anybody in the Administration gives a damn about the safety of these folks.

Right now, anybody who rides public transportation is extremely vulnerable. I just wonder if the O'Malley Administration is actually going to try and do something about it.

More Russian Silliness

It sounds like a broken record, but here we go again with the Russians:

The most outspoken Kremlin opponent in Russia's presidential contest was denied a spot on the ballot yesterday by election authorities who said tens of thousands of signatures on his nominating petitions were forgeries.

Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov angrily rejected the official claims and accused President Vladimir V. Putin of ordering his removal from the March 2 election.

Kasyanov, a liberal politician who was running as an independent, urged voters to boycott the vote.

"The country is moving deeper into a totalitarian deadlock," he said at a news conference yesterday. "This election without choice is a mockery of citizens of Russia."

Opinion polls showed support for Kasyanov hovering between 1 and 2 percentage points, giving him little chance of posing a significant challenge to Putin's hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev. However, Kasyanov could have brought an element of unpredictability to a campaign carefully orchestrated by authorities, embarrassing the Kremlin with his criticism.

Putin and his people just continue to do more and more to damage the view of Russia as a modernizing western democracy. The fact of the matter is that, more and more every day, Russia is reverting back to the old totalitarian ways with which they are most familiar. And I'm not sure if there is any foreign policy failure (and yes, that does include the war in Iraq) by the Bush Administration any larger than it's failure to deal with the Russians in a way that prevents this sort of thing from happening.

Now this is just a tought....

....but isn't it hard to make the argument that Barack Obama is the "candidate of change" when he is about to be endorsed by a Senator who has been in Washington since Obama was 1 year, 2 months, and 29 days old?

Don't Do Dumb Stuff

I just spoke with one of the campaigns in the First District, and there is an epidemic of sign-stealing and sign desecration happening on the Shore right now. And it appears that signs from all three major candidates are being impacted.

Everybody: knock it off. We lived through this kinda crap in Anne Arundel County back in 2006 and it didn't make anybody look good then, either. And given the tone that this race has taken on, it's like adding gas to a raging fire.

If you're doing it: stop. If you know who's doing it: turn them in.

Stating the Obvious

Gee, who would have ever thought that Thornton money might be inefficiently spent?

Money sent to school systems under a landmark funding law is not being used for specific programs that help low-performing students, according to a new report by a child welfare advocacy group that wants lawmakers to tell school systems exactly how to spend the funds.

State and local education officials criticized the report, saying it was agenda-driven and failed to take into account across-the-board gains in student performance.

The analysis by Advocates for Children and Youth found that despite the 2002 law known as Thornton -- which was intended address inequities in education with a $1.3 billion increase in state aid to public schools -- two of Maryland's three largest school systems are spending less money on programs for low-performing students than they did before the law was passed.

Now, I will give you that Thornton is a very unusual issue, when you consider that it was a large, statewide money redistribution system phased in without a revenue source.

But this speaks also to the concept of funding public education in a general sense. I for one have been very critical about the ever increasing demand for funding for public schools. Not because we shouldn't be funding public education, but because we have no idea whether or not existing public education funds are being spent responsibly or efficiently. One of my longstanding criticisms of Anne Arundel Superintendent Kevin Maxwell is the fact that Maxwell insists that only more money can fix our county schools. He rarely, if ever, talks about the need to evaluate existing programs and existing programmed funds in order to see if we are getting the best bang for the buck.

While the story may not provide the best picture regarding the efficiency of Thornton dollars, it does show how much objective and subjective research can be to determine the utility of education dollars already spent. Our leaders owe it to us to study current spending patterns, determine their success, and determine their value to the taxpayer before they commit to throwing good money after bad just to score political points with the MSTA...

Leopold's at it again

Look, John Leopold has found another way to want to bilk more money out of taxpayers:

County Executive John R. Leopold wants the state to lift the cap on license fees for food establishments so the cost of inspections and regulation are fully covered.

Under current law, local governments must license, inspect and regulate food establishments. Outside of Baltimore City, Montgomery County and Prince George's County, jurisdictions can only charge a maximum fee of $300 - regardless of the annual cost of doing business.

Anne Arundel County is losing about $225,000 a year by having the cap, said Sen. John Astle, D-Annapolis, who presented the bill to the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday.

"This is simply a bill that … would allow them essentially to break even on this essential service," Mr. Astle said.

Of course, ultimately it is going to be the consumer and the business owner that is going to pay for the cost of this hike in fees. What's even more disturbing is the fact that Leopold supports removing the cap completely; not just raising the cap. So what would Leopold's ultimate license fee be? Who knows, but you as a taxpayer willwind up footing the bill.

What's even crazier is that even Liberal Democrats are starting to criticize Leopold's anti-business approach:

By itself, the proposal sounds reasonable, said Del. Pamela Beidle, D-Linthicum, a former member of the county council.

But the wider economic picture also has to be considered, she said, including the impact on businesses from November's special session, where the General Assembly raised the sales tax and corporate income taxes.

Couple that with other initiatives from Mr. Leopold - such as a desire to significantly raise impact fees - and the business climate in Anne Arundel County could suffer with each new fee hike, Ms. Beidle said.

When you are a Republican and a liberal like Pam Beidle is criticizing your ability to provide a friendly business climate, then you are seriously in the wrong.

It's hard to take John Leopold seriously as a County Executive. His job performance in office resembles that of the performance of Janet Owens more and more each day. That's how far off the conservative reservation Leopold has strayed...

O'Malley: Tough on Checkbooks, not on crime

When O'Malley talks about being tough on crime, this is not what I think of:

With more inmates and fewer beds, Maryland's prison agency is considering alternatives to locking people up.

Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Gary Maynard says in a report to the General Assembly that more low-risk offenders may be released on parole, and that the use of home detention may be expanded.

Maynard also says the agency is expanding its use of technology enabling low- and moderate-risk offenders on parole or supervised probation to report through computer kiosks instead of in person.

Notice that Secretary Maynard did not say "non-violent offenders" but "low-risk offenders." Whatever that means.

Of course, the problem with these kind of odd little ideas is the fact that programs like these realistically do little to improve public safety, and certain do little to provide the punishment that incarceration is supposed to bring. It's bad enough that parole continues to exist, since it should be abolished for all criminals for all offenses. But this kind of "catch and release" program seems to address a serious problem by creating an even more serious problem for the working and middle class families that will live and work among these freshly released convicts everyday.

I just wonder how O'Malley can talk about making public safety a priority when his administration wants to put criminals back into our communities in this manner.

Corner Kicked

Looks like Prince George's County leaders are more realistic about the D.C. United stadium situation than the administration:

Some state and local leaders in Prince George's County are expressing misgivings about a plan to move the professional soccer team D.C. United from the District's RFK Stadium to a location in the county.

A new stadium could exacerbate some of the challenges the county faces in spite of its potential economic benefits and entertainment value, said Del. Barbara A. Frush (D-Dist. 21) of Beltsville....

...Greenbelt Mayor Pro Tem Rodney Roberts, upon hearing Greenbelt was considered as a possible site, said he did not take the news seriously and offered little support for a soccer stadium near the Greenbelt Metro station.

''Personally, I don't think there's enough room there for a stadium," Roberts said. ''I think that's crazy. If you're talking about having revenue, there's a lot better things to put there besides a stadium."

State Sen. James C. Rosapepe said he does not hear many people demanding a soccer stadium in the county.

''It would depend on who pays for it, traffic congestion," said Rosapepe (D-Dist. 21) of College Park, an admitted soccer fan. ''... If a private company wants to build a soccer stadium in a place that won't create worse traffic, then there could be a chance for it."

As I noted earlier this week, common sense dictates that the construction of such a publicly-financed stadium in Prince George's County is fool-hearty, given the current economic climate. And when you consider all of the challenges that Prince George's County itself faces, one wonders why anybody would support publicly financing such a venue.

Sun moves on to shocking naïveté

In a rant about the alleged benefits of socialized campaign funding, the Sun pulls out this one:

Under legislation expected to be introduced soon in Annapolis, the program would be entirely voluntary. Candidates would qualify by raising initial seed money and then receive $40,000 to $50,000. The program would be financed chiefly by a $9 million annual withdrawal from the state's abandoned property account.

Is it a perfect solution? Probably not. But it's better than anything else yet devised. While spending government dollars on political ads may give some people pause, it's a clear-cut bargain if it promotes a better and more ethical legislature.

As I have noted before, given Maryland's historical problem with corruption, anybody who believes that socialized campaign funding is going to eliminate corruption in state government is either naïve, ignorant, or stupid. Take your pick.

The Piecemeal Approach

Looks like Democrats are planning on going for speed cameras one county at a time:

Howard County's legislators seem poised to approve a local speed-camera bill after a straw vote and discussion with William J. McMahon, the county police chief.

"It might need some fine tuning," said state Sen. James N. Robey, the bill's prime sponsor, but the 11-member delegation voted unanimously to continue discussing the measure and vote on it Wednesday. A statewide bill that would cover work zones on interstate highways in addition to local roads is also to be

The county and state bills would impose $75 fines for speeding on local roads with speed limits up to 45 mph. O'Malley's bill includes warnings but no fines during the first year. The bill would also allow speeding up to 10 miles above the posted limit before triggering a camera ticket.

Of course, what this is is nothing more than a revenue enhancer for Howard County. Time and time a gain these speed cameras have been found to be ineffective at best, dangerous at worst.

However, it does look like a change in strategy for the Democrats on the issue. In the past, most of the legislation (save for the bill for Montgomery County that Governor Ehrlich vetoed, but was overridden by the General Assembly) dealt with a blanket statewide approach to speed cameras. If jurisdictions are going to start requesting enabling legislation on a case by case basis, those who realize the raw deal motorists get from these cameras are going to need to stay mobilized in an effort to fight each one of these bills as they come along, which is going to make it harder to prevent these things from happening.

Still Bad News

I still don't like where stuff like this is going:

US scientists have taken a major step toward creating the first ever artificial life form by synthetically reproducing the DNA of a bacteria, according to a study published Thursday.

The move, which comes after five years of research, is seen as the penultimate stage in the endeavour to create an artificial life form based entirely on a man-made DNA genome -- something which has tantalised scientists and sci-fi writers for years.

"Through dedicated teamwork we have shown that building large genomes is now feasible and scalable so that important applications such as biofuels can be developed," said Hamilton Smith, from the J. Craig Venter Institute, in the study published in Science.

As I noted back in August, we as a society and we as humans are not ready for the questions that need to be answered before this genie leaves its bottle...

Stimulus Silliness

It is amazing the level of silliness government will go to in order to get good press:

Congressional leaders announced a deal with the White House Thursday on an economic stimulus package that would give most tax filers refunds of $600 to $1,200, and more if they have children.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress would act on the agreement — hammered out in a week of intense negotiations with Republican Leader John A. Boehner and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — "at the earliest date, so that those rebate checks will be in the mail."

The rebates would go to 117 million families, according to a Democratic summary. That includes $28 billion in checks to 35 million working families who wouldn't have been helped by Bush's original proposal, the analysis estimated.

Republicans, for their part, were pleased that the bulk of the rebates — more than 70 percent, according to ananalysis by Congress' Joint Tax Committee — would go to individuals who pay taxes.

Now, you may think that I would like the concept of get some money back from my taxes. But this sort of "stimulus" package is the kind of Inside the Beltway silliness only Washington lifers could find useful or prudent.

First off, what economic impact is this truly going to have? As my RedMaryland colleague Michael Swartz notes:

All right, so I get an $800 check. The feds want me to buy something in the hopes of goosing the economy. But a lot of people who are behind on their mortgage bills and credit cards will simply send that cash along to whomever they owe, which will help bail the banks and creditors out. It's a similar argument to the one over the subprime mortgage bailout, which helps the creditors but doesn't teach those who weren't of enough sense to borrow within their means that they should consider their options more carefully.

And he's right. If we are currently in a "credit crunch" as we seem to be, the majority of those Americans who are going to receive this cash an immediately put it towards their credit card or other debt. Even though I do not carry any credit card debt from month to month, I am still likely going to do one of two things with the rebate: bank it, or put it towards my mortgage, my car loan or my student loans. I'm certainly not going to go buy a 70-inch TV or any sort of thing like that just because the government.

At least that's what should happen. As Michelle Malkin notes:

The stimulus will stimulate more of the same bad behavior that got people into trouble in the first place.

Because if the Government gets its way, people will spend their money instead of being responsible like they should be and either saving it or paying down their debt. Except in Maryland, where that money will be wasted on higher taxes (the fruits of O'Malleynomics).

And that brings us to the second point, that both Malkin...:

I'm all for the government giving me back my money. But why not drop the economic stimulus pretense? Just give me back my money. If the government can spare these "rebates" and send them back now, why did they take the money in the first place? Forget this temporary candy. Why not make this "rebate" permanent?

....and Moe Gates note:

Guys, it's nice to get the money back and all; and I like roads and the best military on the planet and a judicial system and a space program and, heck, I can even live with a National Endowment for the Arts*. But if you didn't need the money, why in the nine billion Names of God did you take it from me in the first place?

Obviously, Government realized that there was $9 billion that could be better spent in the economy than by Government. Is anybody going to take that lesson from this? Does anybody stop to think what such a thing means in the argument between Keynesian and free-market economics? Is this a tacit acknowledgment that the free market does better things for the economy than government spend-and-tax programs? (And somebody should make sure Governor O'Malley gets a copy of that memo).

The solution to fixing the economy is simple, and something I have stated many times before:

• Lower taxes
• Reduce spending
• Reduce the size of Government
  

How hard is that? And so far, only Governor Romney has proposed an economic package that even comes close to doing the things necessary to bolster our economy, for both the present and the future.

This talk of immediate economic stimulus is plain silly talk that does little to improve the economy. It merely shows that government knows only how to meddle it affairs it does not understand, and shows that government collects too much money in taxes from its citizenry. Government needs to get out of the business of undertaking initiatives that either stimulate or limit the American economy.

Even for the Sun this is stupid

Wow:

If a Democrat wins the presidency in November, the overwhelmingly Democratic city of Baltimore could have a unique way to celebrate: by removing that silver elephant otherwise known as Male/Female from in front of Penn Station. More than any other artwork in the city, that sculpture seems to exemplify the era of the Bush administration.

How so? First, it was foisted upon the people in a technically legal but generally galling way. What the Supreme Court did for George W. Bush in December 2000, the Municipal Art Society did for Male/Female in 2004. Second, it's big and brash and totally insensitive to the reality that surrounds it. Third, its much-vaunted heart is artificial, and its brain is pretty well hidden. Also, its approval ratings are minuscule.

Defenders of Male/Female love to sneer that any criticism of it is unsophisticated. People used to think that criticism of the Bush administration was unsophisticated, too. This sculpture perfectly caught the essence of its time - and we believe that by next year that time will have passed. Send it over to MICA, where the art students can study an artifact of a bygone era.

What an immature, petty, stupid rant. Words can't even describe how lame this is, and pretty much sums up in three asinine paragraphs how devoid the Sun's obstinate Editorial Board is of even vaguely intelligent or critical thinking.

We must protect our precious bodily fluids...

Seriously.....does the world need fluoride-enriched bottled water?

Martin O'Malley must govern some other state I don't live in

So Governor O'Malley unleashed his State of the State address (and you can even listen to it, if you really are in to self-flagellation) on an unsuspecting populace today, and apparently the Governor is seeing things just a bit differently than the rest of us.

Let's review some "highlights":

But the future of our State is very much determined by the strength and the security of the families of Maryland – the hard-working and loving families that we have the honor and responsibility to represent. And today, the vast majority of Maryland’s families, like families throughout our country, are finding it harder and harder just to pay their bills and maintain the quality of life that they have worked so hard to achieve.

The Governor is absolutely right. We need somebody who is going to make sure that taxes are not raised on the Middle Class, and that somebody is standing up for those who are subjected to ever rising energy costs. I just only wish that this imaginary person were Governor, instead of Governor O'Malley, who continues to do what he can to make it tougher and tougher for families to survive in our state. It is stunning that he can say this without snickering, given the financial harm he has inflicted upon the middle and working class people of our state.

Continuing....

For the sad truth of our shared reality is that over the last seven years, real wages in our country have grown by only 1 percent. And unfortunately, the same cannot be said for everything else a family needs to survive.

Over the last seven years, the price of a gallon of milk is up 30 percent, the cost of a loaf of bread is up 20 percent, and yet real wages have increased by just 1 percent.

The cost of a gallon of gasoline is up almost 100 percent over that same time-frame.

And the cost of health insurance is up 78 percent, and yet real wages have by only 1 percent.

Yes, and the State of Maryland was nice enough to drive the cost of the sales tax up in this state by 20-percent and also raise the cost of income taxes as well. So realistically, that makes Martin O'Malley a key part of the problem and not part of the solution.

But we don’t need those numbers and figures to tell us that people are hurting; we see it in their eyes, we hear it in their voices.

And I see it in my bank account, with the numbers and figures tell me how much money Martin O'Malley is responsible for taking from me.

No wonder many of us are frustrated when – in the midst of this national economic downturn – we were also forced to confront a long neglected and huge structural deficit. The frustration is totally understandable. And there is good reason for all of us to be concerned and worried about our economic future.

But, as we have seen, Governor O'Malley has done anything to actual address the structural deficit. All Governor O'Malley did was ensure that the middle and working class families suffered financially, while making minimal cuts to the budget while still making sure that pet projects are funded at impractical and unaffordable spending levels.

Apparently, O'Malley has also established priorities for the state as well:

• To strengthen and protect our middle class, our family owned businesses and family farms,
• To protect our commitment to improve public safety and public education in every single part of our State,
• And to protect opportunity – the opportunity to learn, to earn, to enjoy the health of the people we love, as well as the health of the land, the water, the air and the Bay that we love – for more people rather than fewer.

Is this a joke? Is he serious? Because I'm not sure that anybody is doing less to address these priorities than Martin O'Malley. Families, businesses, and farms have been weakened by O'Malley's reckless spending and tax priorities. How is public education being improved given O'Malley's personal vendetta against Nancy Grasmick, focusing more on removing her than taking real steps to improving our schools? How are the people of Maryland having greater opportunities to learn and earn in these O'Malley years?

It continues to go on like this:

In the coming weeks, months and years ahead, we will be undertaking a number of efforts – legislative, regulatory -- and legal if need be -- to secure fair and reasonable energy rates while also ensuring an adequate supply for our future. Deregulation has failed us in Maryland and we cannot allow our future to be determined by that mistake.

And isn't it something that this gem is contained in a speech the same day that we get reports of higher electric rates?

Now, let's wrap it up towards the closing statements:

Let’s stay focused on the fact that people are counting on us to make these tough times more bearable. Let’s work together – regardless of personality, party or place – to face the challenges ahead.

What tough economic times call for is leadership. Leadership that is responsible to the needs of the people and the needs of the citizenry. What the people need is lower taxes. What the people need is a government that spends within its means. What we need is leadership that will in fact face the challenges without regard to personalities or party. Unfortunately, we currently have a Governor that governs on the basis of his partisan stripes, his desire for revenge, base jealousy, and the greed of personal power. This Governor is the antithesis of what he calls for in his own speech.

We know that Maryland is a stronger state than most. We can get through these tough economic times more quickly than other parts of our country, but only if we can continue to come together to protect the priorities that make us strong.

And again, what we have here is a Governor that is not committed to real priorities that benefit Maryland's working and middle class families. We have a Governor who is committed first and foremost to putting politics before people, and in governing only to benefit his party and his political career.

This Governor's State of the State address is a hubristic nightmare that can only come from the mouth of somebody who believes more in his press clippings, self-genuflection, and his own greatness than he does in doing what is best for the people of Maryland. While the people of Maryland suffer through an impending recession and higher taxes, O'Malley tries to takes steps to improve his political standing, and to continue to implement his O'Malleynomics on our state, with potentially disastrous (yet strikingly obvious) future consequences.

It is sad and depressing to think that middle and working class families of Maryland have to suffer through another three years of Martin O'Malley's reckless mismanagement and misplaced policy priorities.

D'oh

This was just poor timing:

Louisiana's social conservatives created the winning "Pro-life, Pro-family" slate in early January largely because we didn't know if Fred was still going to be a candidate at the time of our caucuses (turns out that he wasn't, by a few hours). Because we had almost all the state's social conservative leaders for Fred, we were also able to stave off Huckabee by use of this "pro-life, pro-family" slate. I was really pleased with the win last night, as it's not easy to beat McCain, Romney, and Paul without a candidate, but that's what we did.

About 90 percent of the pro-family slate was actually Thompson supporters. If Fred were to jump back into the race, he would almost certainly pick up all 47 of Louisiana's delegates (the whole point of LA's complicated system was to have an early vote while still not losing half our delegates like all the other early states have). That would put him AHEAD of McCain in the delegate count and only narrowly trailing Romney.

Unfortunately, that sums up the Thompson campaign...

More Biofuel Worries

I've touched on this subject a few times before, but it still demands our undivided attention:

The world's rush to embrace biofuels is causing a spike in the price of corn and other crops and could worsen water shortages and force poor communities off their land, a U.N. official said Wednesday.

Speaking at a regional forum on bioenergy, Regan Suzuki of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization acknowledged that biofuels are better for the environment than fossil fuels and boost energy security for many countries.

However, she said those benefits must be weighed against the pitfalls - many of which are just now emerging as countries convert millions of acres to palm oil, sugar cane and other crops used to make biofuels.

Read the whole thing. Now the next paragraph illustrates a key point that Ms. Suzuki makes that I cannot reinforce enough:

"Biofuels have become a flash point through which a wide range of social and environmental issues are currently being played out in the media," Suzuki told delegates at the forum, sponsored by the U.N. and the Thai government.

Biofuels have become a sexy way for all parties involved to talk approvingly about alternative fuels. Folks on the environmental left can take about ways to create (theoretically) cleaner burning fuels that by continuing to use fossil fuels. And politicians get an easy way to pander to the farm vote by encouraging ethanol subsidies.

But as we continue to note, this continued reliance and glamorization of biofuels as the wave of the future is showing that it will have many drawbacks, and a lot of them will be harmful to the environment and harmful to the working poor, especially in developing nations trying to get ahead of the curve.

Foremost among the concerns is increased competition for agricultural land, which Suzuki warned has already caused a rise in corn prices in the United States and Mexico and could lead to food shortages in developing countries.

As usual, it's time that leaders from the around the world consider the consequences of "going green" before jumping headfirst into an empty pool. Let us hope that this rush to biofuels has not done any more damage to our ecology to our global economy, particularly in developing nations in Asia. I hate to repeat myself, but let's not kill the environment to save the environment.

It's not the end of Western Civilization, but it's pretty damn close

No, I'm not talking about anything political, I'm talking about Fox's The Moment of Truth game show, a show who's concept is so heinous I couldn't get past the opening credits.

You've probably heard about it on the news, so I'm not going to go into painstaking detail about the concept. But it is hard to fathom a time and place where people will willingly.....willingly subject themselves to potentially humiliating lines of questioning in order to win cash and prizes, with seemingly no thought to the potential psychological damage that may be imposed on themselves or their loved ones. The cash is too important to these fools to allow them to consider the irreparable harm that may be done to these relationships with the loved ones.

Are we this far gone as a society where this is acceptable behavior?

Time for a Red Card

Apparently the O'Malley folks still don't realize the state has money problems:

With negotiations to build a stadium for D.C. United stalled in the District, Maryland officials have agreed to consider constructing a home for the soccer team in Prince George's County.

The Maryland Stadium Authority has decided to spend $75,000 on a feasibility study to look at the economic impact and potential tax benefits. The step concerned Vincent C. Gray, chairman of the D.C. Council, who noted the team's success and potential for financial growth.

"I continue to believe that we should work with D.C. United to construct the stadium in Poplar Point," Gray (D) said.

The study comes two months after Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) wrote a letter to David Raith, the stadium authority's acting director, asking the state to help the county lure the team.

I'm not really sure exactly how this benefits the taxpayers of Maryland in any way. Particularly when you consider the fact that the through the profligate spending of O'Malley and legislative Democrats, we are still facing a projected deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars. Annapolis Democrats still cannot grasp the concept of basic economics and fiscal responsibility. To say that the state should be spending money on a study to consider spending more money to build a stadium in an area that already has five stadiums of 30,000 or more seats within a 20-mile radius is laughably absurd.

From a business perspective, D.C. United Holdings should be looking at building soccer-specific stadium to fit their needs, and I am sympathetic to the fact that they probably need such a venue to thrive financially. But if they want to build in Maryland, they should have to find the private capital to do it. The state should not be fleecing taxpayers to direct money towards an already mismanaged agency to build venues again beyond their intended scope. If they want government to build it, talk to D.C. or talk to Virginia.

I mean seriously: do Democrats really want to put stadiums before schools?

Shocking Developments

Looks like Governor O'Malley is going to fulfill his campaign promise to protect consumers from a massive BGE rate hike by allowing a massive BGE rate hike:

Baltimore Gas & Electric's residential customers will pay an estimated 5.5 percent more for electricity starting in June, largely as a result of federal rules that are driving wholesale energy prices higher, state officials and industry experts said yesterday.

The increase will add about $100 to the average customer's annual utility bill, although the amount will vary depending on usage, the state Public Service Commission said. When combined with increases imposed since rate caps expired in 2006, BGE customers will be paying 85 percent more for electricity than they were before the General Assembly approved deregulation in 1999.

News of the higher prices follows a complaint the PSC filed last week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, blaming outdated wholesale market rules for handing windfall profits to certain Maryland power generators. A different set of FERC- approved rules contributed to the latest price increase, the PSC staff said. Both sets of rules and other factors driving wholesale electric prices higher are at the heart of the PSC's current drive to bring utility rates down.

No word yet on how the O'Malley Administration is going to blame the rate hike on Bob Ehrlich or President Bush. But I presume that this is just another phase of the roll-out of O'Malleynomics across our state.

Is there any campaign promise that Martin O'Malley plans to live up to?

My (New) Man Mitt

Well, now with the disappointing news about Fred Thompson's withdrawal from the race, this is no time to sit on the sidelines and watch things play out.

That's why I will now be supporting Governor Mitt Romney to win the Republican nomination to serve as our next President.

It is true that Governor Romney has not been as consistent a conservative as Senator Thompson, or as consistent as many Republicans would like. However, Governor Romney is the only major candidate left in the race talking about conservative ideals and conservative principles. He is certainly a far more attractive candidate for motivating the Republican base, and bringing to Washington a support of smaller government than any of the other candidates in the field.

Governor Romney's conservative credentials are extremely important when you consider how important it is for the future of our nation and our party to make sure that a liberal like Mike Huckabee is not nominated as the standard bearer for our conservative movement.

Governor Romney was not my first choice, but he is the best candidate in the race to lead our party and our nation in this important Presidential election, and I am supporting him from this day forward.

Rodricks Drafting Again

It's been a while, but Dan Rodricks has once again pulled out his call for a return to involuntary servitude. The thing is so silly that I'm not even going to bother quoting it.

Of course this is not the first time that Rodricks trots out the idea of forced servitude, though his call for compulsory military service is different than his November 2006 call for mandatory volunteerism, or his May 2006 for forced "national service." And as usual, he glosses over the 13th Amendment conundrum.

Still, I always get a funny feeling when somebody in the "mainstream" media calls for a return to this kind of serfdom, because let's face it, there is no real benefit to the kind of compulsory service that Rodricks demands. There is absolutely no need for it, no desire for it, and it will do nothing for our country other than to force more and more able bodied citizens into positions where they are doing the bidding of the government. Such a cockamamie scheme takes money and jobs out of the economy and will negatively impact the education of our next generation.

Besides, if Rodricks wants folks to serve so bad....he can volunteer to go first.

Things that Could and Should have been

Well, just in case you have been under a rock, my first choice for President, Fred Thompson, dropped out today.

The most frustrating aspect of this has to do with the fact that the Thompson campaign was able to squander this opportunity. Senator Thompson took a long time to finally emerge as an actual candidate for President. When his name was first bandied about as a candidate, he had the benefit of an energetic base, and a willing conservative audience. This was an audience that was enthusiastic to endorse a candidate for President who best embodied the Republican brand of Ronald Reagan and of Barry Goldwater. I know, because I was one of many who endorsed Fred Thompson long before he began his formal run for the White House. In the end....we see what has happened.

It has been a long, frustrating road to get to where we are today. Senator Thompson had an opportunity to win, and most importantly an opportunity to lead, and it just faded away. We have seen this sort of thing before, both at the national level and here at the local level. But it is just sad and disappointing to see the kind of leader that both our party and our country desperately needed no longer in the running to serve the people of this nation based on a faulty campaign strategy.

This may be the end of the Thompson campaign, but hopefully it is only the end of the beginning. And not just because Erick Erickson reports that Senator Thompson is going to stay involved with our party. We still have a battle for the soul of Republican Party on our hands. It's true that the Republican Party will not be nominating a standard bearer who fits my preferred Conservative mold. But we have an opportunity here, first to ensure that the Democratic nominee is defeated in the 2008 Presidential Election, but also an attempt to reform the Republican Party from within to make sure that we do our party to reduce the size of government and to keep our taxes low. Just because we lost this battle does not mean that the war is not worth continuing.

If we take anything from Senator Thompson's campaign, it's that there is a base of Republican out there that believes in the things that I believe. There are others who want to continue the legacy of President Reagan and Senator Goldwater. And while it will take work and effort to cultivate that base, we can still reform our party to do great things for our country. We need to keep that hope alive, and be ready to do the job...

Ice vs the Volcano

Looks like there is an actually, you know, plausible reason for Antarctic ice sheets to melt (h/t Instapundit):

Another factor might be contributing to the thinning of some of the Antarctica's glaciers: volcanoes.

In an article published Sunday on the Web site of the journal Nature Geoscience, Hugh Corr and David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey report the identification of a layer of volcanic ash and glass shards frozen within an ice sheet in western Antarctica.

"This is the first time we have seen a volcano beneath the ice sheet punch a hole through the ice sheet" in Antarctica, Vaughan said.

Volcanic heat could still be melting ice to water and contributing to thinning and speeding up of the Pine Island glacier, which passes nearby, but Vaughan said he doubted that it could be affecting other glaciers in western Antarctica, which have also thinned in recent years. Most glaciologists, including Vaughan, say that warmer ocean water is the primary cause of thinning.

Volcanically, Antarctica is a fairly quiet place. But sometime around 325 B.C., the researchers said, a hidden and still active volcano erupted, puncturing several hundred yards of ice above it. Ash and shards from the volcano carried through the air and settled onto the surrounding landscape. That layer is now out of sight, hidden beneath the snows that fell during the next 2,300 years.

Of course, if you would only listen to those with political skin in the game, volcanism could not possibly have anything to do with active volcanoes, instead being 100% the fault of 1) greenhouse gases, or 2) George W. Bush.

But given the preponderance of volcanoes across our planet, and the seismic history of Antarctica, it was bound to be determined that some of the ice cap melting on our southern continent had to do with volcanic activity. And quite frankly, a large volcanic eruption in Antarctica melting away a significant piece of the ice cap seems like a more plausible outcome and eventual cause for global warming that the current "consensus" scientific opinion has turned out so far.

Of course, you can't raise money by blaming it on a volcano...

Dance, Dance Revolution

I shouldn't give the O'Malleyistas any more ideas, but this sounds like something the General Assembly would come up with in taking on a small local establishment....or perhaps the folks opposing the Fillmore down in Montgomery County...



(H/T Instapundit and Ed Driscoll)

Denials, Ego, Mistruths

The Sun documents more absurdity in the life and times of John Leopold....

In one story, Leopold goes out of his way to again deny that he is running for Governor:

Leopold said he is committed to seeking a second term as the county's chief executive. A gubernatorial candidate in Hawaii in 1978, he said he is not setting his sights on higher office in Maryland.

All I can say is this: that for a guy who says he is committed to serving a second term (and God knows Anne Arundel County doesn't need that), he sure is spending a lot of time denying that he is running for Governor in 2010...

Next, the Sun turns its attention to impact fees, particularly the fact that a consultant (as we have noted before) has suggested to Leopold that the county drastically raise the fees:

Relying on a study by a nationally known consultant, County Executive John R. Leopold is calling for substantial increases in the fees levied on developers -- and, in the cases of homes, typically passed onto the buyers. The current flat rate of $4,904 for a single-family home would increase to $28,315 for a four-bedroom house and $39,257 for a home of five bedrooms or more, according to the study. The highest proposed residential fee would be for a condominium or apartment of four or more bedrooms: $53,322, or more than 12 times the current top rate of $4,274.

Leopold said his bill, which the council will introduce Tuesday, seeks to offset the full burden that new building -- homes, hotels, hospitals, warehouses, nursing homes, offices, marinas and retail -- places on roads, schools and public safety. The figures in the bill have not been finalized.

All of this seemed to be news to the County Council. It was the understanding of Councilmembers that Leopold's office would work the with the Council on an impact fee bill, but instead dropped Leopold dropped his own bill on his own:

Councilman Ronald C. Dillon Jr. and Vitale said that the Leopold administration late last year had offered to work with the council to settle on fee amounts. But when council members asked for more information, Leopold pushed ahead with his legislation alone, they said.

"I was taken off-guard when the administration introduced the bill," Dillon said. "Until then, I thought there was a desire to share information. Then things went awry."

And Councilman Ed Middlebrooks fortunately comes out and states the obvious:

Other council members said Leopold sent down a bill knowing that it stands no chance of passage. They accused the county executive of using the bill as a political ploy in hopes of currying favor with anti-growth interests.

"I don't think [Leopold] is being honest with the citizens. ... It's just politics," said Councilman C. Edward Middlebrooks, a Severn Republican.

So there are a lot of notable, albeit unsurprising issues going on with Leopold. He continues to deny his ambition for higher office. He is back serving as the Lone Ranger, working on his own without trying to come to a reasonable compromise with Councilmembers on the issue (not saying that anybody should be raising such taxes). And Leopold is intentionally introducing legislation designed to give him political cover for the hundreds of thousands of dollars from developers that he took as donations in direct opposition to his campaign promises.

Once again, we have to come back to John Leopold and the issue of character. People have known that this is the kind of operator John Leopold is in his forty-years of public service, going back to his 1968 election to the Hawaii Board of Education. The fact that Leopold was able to be elected to the top post in our county is an unfortunate to good governance and the future of our county. And every couple of days we see another reason as to why Leopold's election was bad for our party and bad for our county...

The Canary in the Coal Mine

You know that Maryland's Democratic leadership has made some poor choices on taxes and spending when one of their own starts warning that they may have sent the state economy into bad water:

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) offered a bleak assessment of the state's economy yesterday, saying recent changes to the state's tax laws could negatively affect an already dire financial outlook.

Delivering Maryland's first State of the Treasury speech in recent history, Franchot, who considers himself the state's chief fiscal officer, said the subprime mortgage crisis, instability in financial markets and declining retail sales are driving the economy into "a period of profound uncertainty."

The full speech is available from the Comptroller's website. And true to form (and my opinion that Franchot is preparing a 2010 primary challenge to Governor O'Malley), the Comptroller railed against the tax package:

Furthermore, I believe that we must acknowledge that the sweeping changes to Maryland’s tax laws – which resulted from last Fall’s Special Session – have only added to this climate of unpredictability. As you know, I publicly objected to the idea of writing complex tax legislation in a frenetic and overheated political environment. Significant tax increases were essentially drafted behind closed doors and adopted without the benefit of substantive analysis, meaningful public hearings or consultation with stakeholders. And while I commend Governor O’Malley and the General Assembly for their shared commitment to resolving Maryland’s structural deficit, I remain deeply concerned about the potential of some of these tax measures to inflict harm on our State’s economy.

I am particularly troubled by the expansion of the Maryland sales tax to computer services. I spoke out in public opposition to this proposal when it was rammed through during the closing days of the Special Session, and I feel the same way today. This technology tax tax, if allowed to stand, will erode Maryland’s competitive advantage in the Knowledge-based economy.

What Franchot's endgame with his criticism of O'Malley and General Assembly leadership is anyone's guess. But it is significant that somebody who is probably to the left of just about every major elected official in the state of Maryland is being critical of O'Malley, the General Assembly, and the way business was conducted during the Special Session speaks volumes of how bad things are in our state. Politically, Franchot would have been expected to be on board with the historic tax hikes that we saw, but instead even he is concerned with the way everything went down.

Is this another salvo in an O'Malley v. Franchot gubernatorial primary? There is a long way to go before we can speculate too much about that. But it says a lot as to why O'Malley's poll numbers are sinking when ever those who are generally philosophically in league with where he wants to take our state can't support his tactics and methods...

School Board Commission Follies

Just to prove how much of a half-assed idea the Anne Arundel County School Board Nominating Commission is, check out this story from the Capital:

They don't really know when or how or where, but the new county School Board Nominating Commission is planning to do a thorough job choosing two new school board members this year.

The commission, which was created last year as an answer to calls for a more democratic county Board of Education, met for the first time last night to organize and plan, only to find they had more questions than answers.

"We're starting from scratch," said Joshua C. Greene, a Crofton attorney who is the commission's chairman. "We have to work the process through."

OK. All of that makes some sense. It's a new commission, everybody is working out the kinks.

But clearly, those politicians who thought that this was a good idea spent a lot of time on the concept....not so much on the execution:

Little aside from the commission's makeup and charge was included in the law. So far, the commission has neither a budget, a meeting place, a mail box, a Web site, a staff or rules, the members pointed out.

"The law was more or less just the creation," Matthew C. Tedesco, one of the members, said at last night's meeting. "There's no bylaws, no nothing."

Which of course brings up numerous questions. Why was this not included in the state or county budget? Why did the law not address the issue of bylaws, or rules, or anything like that? Why were the Commission members not appointed until November? Why did the Commission not take the initiative have a meeting prior to yesterday's meeting to try and answer some of these questions before the process started?

Then, there is this sticky wicket:

Ms. Johnson is at the end of her first five-year term and before she can be reappointed for a second, her district will cast a confidence or no-confidence vote on her performance so far. Whether that vote will be binding is still unknown, Mr. Greene said.

Yes, nobody apparently has bothered to spend the time to determine what the law actually means and whether or not the law actually binds the decision of the voters to who will sit on the Commission.

Clearly, the School Board Nominating Commission is an idea that was poorly planned, and is now going to be poorly executed. It was a bad idea to start with, given the fact that it stems from petty politics and the desire of Governor O'Malley and John Leopold to put the appointment power of the school board in the hands of their political cronies. But it's painfully obvious that the members of the General Assembly who supported this cockamamie idea did not spend enough time considering the implications of this new law, and how this new law would direct the Commission to act. As usual, there was too much posturing, and too little thought put into the process.

So now, the residents of Anne Arundel County, after being subjected to a new process designed to curtail their ability to influence who sits on the Board of Education, now gets to watch a Commission make it up as they go along. How sad. I could not figure out a way that this Commission could serve our public school students any worse, and just emphasizes the need to have an elected school board over anything else...

Leopold goes native

John Leopold used his own money to buy his way into the House of Delegates, and to buy his way into being the County Executive. But apparently, he has had a change of heart:

Leopold, a longtime state delegate, lost the Republican nomination for county executive that year. He raised nearly $500,000 in 2006 to beat his Democratic opponent, George F. Johnson IV, who had a war chest of more than $1.3 million. About $260,000 of Leopold's total was in the form of personal loans.

"I don't think I should have to spend any more of my own money in future campaigns," Leopold said. "I don't think the system that requires such outlays is funds is unfortunate, but that is the system we work with."

If you remember back to the campaign, in one of the money stories that noted Leopold lavishly spending his personal fortune to buy his way into office, Leopold noted that this meant that he wouldn't be beholden to special interests. Apparently, Leopold's newfound power as a County Executive has made him change his mind.

I don't begrudge our elected officials who do have to raise enormous sums of money in order to be competitive, nor do I begrudge somebody who has the financial resources to invest in their own heavily in their own campaign. But I do begrudge somebody as arrogant as Leopold continuously changing his story on the financing issue. He can't be a rich self-financer, an anti-special interest money populist, and be the guy raising all of his money from developers all at the same time and make it believable...

Read between the lines

Folks, it's right and front of you, and it's the reason Mr. Unimpeachable John Leopold once again violated his favorite campaign promise:

County Executive John R. Leopold has amassed a half-million dollar campaign war chest during his first year in office, shattering previous records for Anne Arundel County, campaign finance reports filed yesterday show....

According to records obtained by The Capital, more than half of the $504,325 Mr. Leopold raised during 2007 came from the development and land-use community. At least another $14,000 came from his employees and political appointees. Mr. Leopold nearly matched what Robert L. Ehrlich raised during his first year as governor four years ago, and far surpassed the $62,178 Janet S. Owens collected during the first year of her first term.

Despite the hefty contributions from developers - garnered largely at private, $4,000-a-head fundraisers - Mr. Leopold said he has a record of independence that would be untainted by the contributions.

"I've said from the outset that builders and developers should have a voice at the table but should never be able to drive public policy in the county," Mr. Leopold said.

Well, other than John Leopold once again breaking a campaign promise (which might as well be his middle name), you can see that this is more than just a Liberal Republican gearing up to run for another four year term.

John Leopold is preparing a run for Governor, something that I have been saying for a long time. At the end of the day, he may not actually run for Governor, but nobody can deny the fact that Leopold is certainly trying to position himself as a player in the 2010 gubernatorial race.

The Republican Party is going to have to make sure to come together before 2010 and ensure that the we do not get stuck with someone like John Leopold as our party's statewide standard bearer....

The Sun doesn't learn

The Sun carries the flag again for Governor O'Malley today on the budget issue:

True to his word, Gov. Martin O'Malley yesterday unveiled his plan to keep a lid on overall state spending next year. Even his Republican critics will have to concede that while he may have recently raised taxes, he's not exactly a big spender, at least not in fiscal 2009.

Not only does Mr. O'Malley's proposed $31.5 billion budget fall well within the state's long-standing affordability guidelines, but it also reflects the smallest year-to-year increase in five years. And it does so by broadly reducing the growth of spending, including eliminating tens of millions of dollars in Thornton aid that was due to local school systems in the coming year.

Now, of course, the Sun thinks that this is a good thing

The 4 percent budget increase reflects the unpleasant reality of last year's tax increases - most of it was needed just to keep vital services such as education, transportation, health and public safety at existing levels, not to expand them.

Of course all of us on both sides of the aisle realize that current spending in those core issues need to be adjusted for the rate of inflation.

However, what about the Governor's discretionary spending? What cuts were made, other than 500 jobs that are being eliminated? Other than Sellinger formula money, what other spending levels were held in check as compared to the FY 2008 budget? If discretionary spending remains high, how can O'Malley say that we are in bad fiscal shape?

When you get down to it, the budget is four percent higher than it was last year. Which makes you wonder how anybody could objectively say that the massive historic tax hikes O'Malley and the Democrats just rammed down are thoughts were ever necessary at all.....

Surprise!

It's bad enough that the new Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission is taking power away from the parents and taxpayers of Anne Arundel County. But now, the start of their work has snuck up on everybody:

The county's new School Board Nominating Commission will hold its first organizational meeting tomorrow.

The 11-member commission, which was created last year, is charged with submitting nominees for the county school board to the governor. The governor must then appoint new school board members from that list.

The commission was the legislature's answer to calls for a more democratic school board. Under the previous system, the governor was under no obligation to appoint candidates named by the local nominating convention.

The meeting is open to the public and is set for 6:30 p.m. in the Anne Arundel County Delegation Room in the House Office Building at 6 Bladen St.

I can't wait to see how the liberal Commission members implement the O'Malley/Leopold vision of public education.

I also take great umbrage to the third paragraph of the blurb, because there is nothing democratic about a process designed to shut the people out of a voice in the selection process, allowing only politically connected insiders to have a voice as to how our public schools will be operated.

It's a shame that this sham has been foisted by Martin O'Malley and John Leopold upon the residents of Anne Arundel County...