Steny Hoyer Gets A Challenger
Mar 9, 2010 Political
Looks like Steny Hoyer of Maryland’s 5th Congressional District has a Republican challenger. Charles Lollar, a Marine reservist and businessman, has thrown his hat in the ring for the people’s seat that Hoyer treats like his own.
Lollar will not have an easy battle as Hoyer is well entrenched and won easily with about 74% of the vote in 2008.
But Lollar is a Republican and this is a bad year for Democrats.
Lollar is also a black man and it is difficult to find many black Republicans. It will be interesting to see how he is treated considering how other prominent black Republicans fair when they run for office.
For more information visit Lollar’s site.
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Tags: charles lollar, fifth district, Maryland, steny hoyer
Maryland Millionaires Missing
May 27, 2009 Political
The People’s Republic of Maryland is about as left as they come. The state has so many Democrats in the largest, most heavily populated subdivisions that all the others combined cannot overcome the deficit. This means a lot of Democrats win elections and the same ones win over and over and…
The previous governor of the state was a Republican, the first one in about 40 years. He assumed office with a deficit and left with an excess. He did some things I did not like but was moderately conservative which in this state is way right.
When Democrat Martin O’Malley defeated Republican Robert Ehrlich in 2006 the surplus disappeared not long after O’Malley took office. He had to pay his special interest buddies off and make good on the promises to people who got him elected. It was not long before a special session of the legislature was called in order to discuss the budget problems. We all knew that meant a tax increase.
In that session the Democrats raised the state sales tax 20% (from 5 to 6%) and they raised the income tax on the “rich.” Up until that time the rate in Maryland was the same for everyone but the Democrats decided that the rich needed to pay more to redistribute the wealth to others. Many of us warned that the wealthy would pick up and move or would find ways to reduce their taxable income. No, they would grin and bear it, or so said the Baltimore Sun.
The Wall Street Journal has an article that discusses the tax increases and how Maryland has one third fewer millionaires than it had last year. That’s right, one third of the millionaires are no longer around. Some of this is because of the economy but many of them just packed up and moved on.
One year later, nobody’s grinning. One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller’s office concedes is a “substantial decline.” On those missing returns, the government collects 6.25% of nothing. Instead of the state coffers gaining the extra $106 million the politicians predicted, millionaires paid $100 million less in taxes than they did last year — even at higher rates.
O’Malley and his Democratic buddies could not get spending under control. Well, the reality is, they did not want to. They continue to pass unfunded mandates and though the law requires a balanced budget they can’t seem to manage that. The solution was simple for them. Being the good Democrats they are, they raised taxes on the rich. Some of the rich voted with their feet and now the state is taking in less money than it anticipated so the not so rich are going to end up footing the bill.
One other issue along these lines is the slot machine fiasco. Ehrlich tried to get slots through legislative action and the Democrats shot him down because “that is no way to balance a budget.” O’Malley, who was vehemently opposed to slots, was elected and all of the sudden slots are a good idea to raise money. They put it on the ballot as a referendum which means it becomes part of the state Constitution. It is never a good idea to put something like this in the Constitution. It passed and now they are stuck with the rules which can only be changed with another referendum. If they had legislated it they could have changed it with the legislative process.
Now we have slots that can’t be put into place because the rules are all screwed up. We have gone 7 years since Ehrlich introduced them which means if they had enacted the slots then they would be in place and generating revenue.
Maryland can’t get its act together because it is run by liberal Democrats and, like nearly every state run by Democrats, it is run poorly and in the red.
The people of Maryland need to wake up and start voting out all the people who keep making the messes. Einstein once said that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result was the definition of insanity.
The people of Maryland are insane.
Cross posted at Grizzly Groundswell
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Tags: budget, Maryland, millionaire, slot machines, tax increase
And Maryland Still Infringes On Gun Rights
May 6, 2009 Political
The state of Maryland has an oppressive set of rules with regard to issuing a hand gun carry permit. The Second Amendment states that the right shall not be infringed but Maryland infringes. In order to get a carry permit one must demonstrate that something of value is carried (jewels, narcotics, guns, money) and the gun can only be carried when the items are being transported. One may also receive a gun permit from the lord masters if there are documented threats or assaults upon the individual. You have to be a victim AND PROVE IT, before you can defend yourself.
These preconditions infringe on the rights of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms and even though the idiot governor of the state claims we have a permitting process, he is ignoring the obvious barriers placed to prevent people from carrying.
Why should the governor worry? He has an armed State Police Officer with him all the time. The governor has the executive protection unit so he is always protected. If it is so safe, as he claims, then why does he need protection?
Not everyone has the oppressive rules forced upon them. Police officers can get a permit to carry a weapon off duty (a personal weapon, not an issued one). Friends of the well connected like the governor and the State Police Superintendent can get permits (and getting on their bad side can result in them being revoked). Judges can get a carry permit.
The rest of us are on our own, forced to call the government sponsored Dial A Prayer (911). While the governor has a police officer there all the time, the rest of us only see them AFTER the crime has been committed.
An off duty correctional officer was waiting for carry out food in Baltimore a little after midnight (a few nights ago) when three young kids approached him and brandished what turned out to be a toy gun. The officer drew his weapon and fired striking one of the kids in the stomach. The other two fled. The one who was shot faces charges when he recovers from his injury.
I watched the news report on this and at the end the reporter stated that officials state a government issued weapon was not used, the officer fired his privately owned weapon for which he had a permit to carry.
Being in a special class allowed this guy to defend himself. Yes, it was a toy gun but that was unknown at the time and in Baltimore it could have been real. All that gun control has resulted in shootings all the time. If this had been a regular, non connected, citizen the robbery might have taken place. The law abiding people in this state are not allowed to defend themselves unless, of course, they are well connected and can get a gun permit.
The officer would never have gotten a permit to carry that weapon if he were not a correctional officer.
The rules in Maryland INFRINGE.
The protected elite do not care because it is not their families being shot down in the streets.
And the anarchy that results from gun control gives them more reason to infringe even deeper. They can use the crime to justify the oppression.
Just the way they like it.
Source:
WJZ
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Tags: crime, elite, gun control, Maryland, Second Amendment
Maryland Governor To Furlough Employees
Dec 5, 2008 Political
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has proposed a plan that would require nearly 70,000 state employees to take up to 5 days off without pay in order to help with budget problems. The furloughs would be graduated with those in the lower salary ranges receiving 2 unpaid days and those in the upper ranges receiving 5. The magnanimous governor will also take 5 days. Those providing emergency and essential services will not be affected.
Last year this governor called a special session to increase taxes in order to cover a budget shortfall. He had already squandered the excess money left by his predecessor and needed more to feed the insatiable appetite the state has for spending. His Democratic super majority passed the largest tax increases in history despite warnings that it was not wise to raise taxes in a tough economy. But Democrats know better.
The result was that revenue (what they call the tax money they confiscate from us) went down. People stopped spending money on unnecessary things and cut way back on the basics. They also took advantage of nearby states with either lower or no taxes. Delaware and Virgina received more business from Marylanders who wanted to pay fewer taxes.
Now they have an even worse problem and the short term fix is to furlough state employees. I imagine that the near future will call for more tax increases which will only make the problem worse. Democrats never learn so they will try to raise fees and taxes on all kinds of things which will result in even further belt tightening. Maryland is a wealthy state but the legislature refuses to cut spending or eliminate unnecessary services and to top it off they always legislate new requirements without a funding source. They require some new program but they have no way to pay for it.
The state’s union employees are not happy and are trying to block the furloughs. The union always backs the Democrat running for governor (and for many of the legislative seats) and it strong arms its members to support the candidates as well. The union backed O’Malley and now their members are getting what they so richly deserve. They backed all the Democrats who tax and spend and now they are suffering the blowback from their choices.
I don’t feel one bit sorry for them and any of their members who voted for Martin O’Malley. He told everyone he was going to raise taxes and now that he has been an ineffective leader and has led us into financial hard times they will have to suffer.
To the state’s union employees I can only say, you backed him and you voted for him. You said he was the best to lead us so you need to quit your whining and do what your leader has decided is best. Besides, you work for the taxpayer who pays your salary and if times are tough for us they need to be tough for you as well.
The only good to come from this is that if it lasts long enough O’Malley might be a one term wonder though I would not hold my breath. The people of Maryland have short memories and they always vote for Democrats who promise them something for nothing (nothing meaning paid for with other people’s money).
There is no doubt the union will back him when he runs for reelection.
Yep, people get the government they deserve.
Source:
Baltimore Sun
Tags: Democrats, furloughs, governor, martin o'malley, Maryland, tax increases, union
Maryland Outlook Does Not Bode Well For Country
Nov 17, 2008 Political
The state of Maryland is nestled right up next to Washington DC and therefore it has quite a bit of money flowing into its coffers courtesy of the federal presence. The Maryland counties surrounding DC have quite a few wealthy residents who commute to the Nation’s Capital to work. DC has a population of just under 600,000 people but that number exceeds a million during the workweek as people from Maryland and Virginia go to work.
Maryland’s proximity to DC allows the small state to have a high standard of living and a pretty decent average income because the money flowing from DC does not have to travel far to enrich the state. This money is the reason that Maryland lags behind the rest of the nation when tough times hit. The feds will continue to employ and to spend.
If Maryland has a tough go of it then times will be worse for the rest of the country. Many of Maryland’s financial wounds are self inflicted by the Democrats running the state but even their malfeasance takes time to show because of the wealth surrounding DC.
The financial outlook for Maryland this Christmas season does not look good. For the first time in several decades the Maryland Retailer’s Association is predicting that the state will see no increase in Christmas shopping over the previous year. The tight economy has caught up with Maryland and that means that times will be much worse for states that do not have a cash cow next door.
Maybe Barack Hopenchange can miracle his peeps some money…
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Tags: Christmas, DC, Maryland, spending forecast, wjz
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