DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
May 23 , 2011
Refreshments 6:30 pm
Meeting Starts 7:00 pm
Location: Salisbury Chamber of Commerce
144 East Main Street, Salisbury, MD
Speaker: Anthony Gutierrez, Wicomico County Elections Director
Topic: Voter Registrations
Please attend this important meeting!!
Why do Republicans consistently lose elections in Maryland? The obvious answer is that they are outnumbered by Democrats. While this is true, there are deeper reasons behind consistent Republican losses throughout the once Free State. At the root of these reasons is the simple fact that those who run the Maryland Republican Party, and the majority of its county committees, seem far more concerned about being big fish in a little pond than in actually winning elections.
Last week Michael Swartz penned a post decrying the Montgomery County Republican Party’s attitude towards recent steps taken to decrease MoCo’s influence within the MDGOP. I happen to agree that MoCo’s influence was undeserving, but for far different reasons than Swartz.
Swartz, and those that think like him, believe that smaller counties should get a disproportionate say in party affairs. Their reasoning is that “we elect Republicans”. In the case of Swartz’s (and my) Wicomico County, this is truly laughable. The Wicomico County Republican Party does not elect Republicans. Republicans are elected in Wicomico County for several reasons, none of which have anything to do with the strength (or lack thereof) of the county’s Republican party.
WICOMICO COUNTY AS MICROCOSM
2010 is a great example. Wicomico County saw Republican candidates win four of the six (4 / 6) delegate seats which represent the county. Michael James, the GOP candidate for the District 38 Senate seat, won Wicomico by 2%, despite losing the district overall by a slim margin.
Six out of seven (6 / 7) county council seats went to Republican candidates. Three of those candidates did not even face Democrat challenge in the general election.
Matt Maciarello, a Republican, was elected State’s Attorney. GOP House candidate Andy Harris lost the county to incumbent Frank Kratovil by 19 votes (vs. almost 6,000 votes in 2008).
While the Wicomico Republican Committee may be patting itself on the back, these results had far more to do with timing (it was a Republican year across the country), demographics (Wicomico is a Republican leaning county despite higher Democrat registration numbers), and the hard work of candidates and supporters, than any effort by the local GOP.
The first two reasons are self-evident. The third may take some explaining. Local conservative activists worked hard for one or more candidates. While we have had our differences, I am the first to admit that local activist, and former candidate, Julie Brewington put out more effort on behalf of multiple candidates in last year’s election than did all but two members of the Wicomico GOP – COMBINED. This can also be said of several other local conservative / libertarian activists who prefer not to be named.
County Councilman Bob Caldwell won his District 4 seat by two (2) votes. Once known as “Superman” to his friends, “Landslide Bob” won in a heavily Democrat district because he was a good candidate, had a strong platform, and had a reliable cadre of people who were willing to work hard to see him elected. None of those helping Caldwell were active in the local GOP. Curiously, neither Caldwell nor any other successful council candidate (with one possible exception) were even recruited to run by the local GOP.
Why were these people so successful when the local GOP is not? It’s simple; they care about winning elections. Too many members of the local GOP put that far down the list of their political priorities.
WHY MDGOP LOSES
I should start off by noting that not all counties, not even all Eastern Shore counties, are as unsuccessful as Wicomico. Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Frederick, Harford, Washington, Carroll, and Queen Anne’s all have excellent local parties. There are others as well. While Swartz may loathe to admit it, Montgomery County has a grassroots organization that Wicomico should envy. However, there were elections that were lost in 2010 which could have been won IF the local parties had been better organized and worked harder.
The most glaring local example is Michael James’ run for the District 38 senate seat. James lost that seat by 640 votes. More than possible, it is probable that James would have won the seat if the local parties exerted half as much energy in trying to win votes for James as they do in worrying about how many votes they get at the semi-annual GOP convention. The Worcester County party all but abandoned James on election day after committing to having poll watchers throughout the county. This may not sound like much, but there were irregularities in Worcester that have yet to be answered by a Board of Elections who insists on denying the public reasonable access to things like absentee ballots. IF the Wicomico party had worked on behalf of James, his margin in that county would certainly have been higher. Wanting to be fair, I can’t really comment on Somerset’s efforts.
If anyone doubts the affect of knocking on doors and making phone calls – yes, I know these are “old fashioned” concepts – they need only look at Caldwell’s landslide county council win. Yet, far too many Maryland GOP committees seem far more concerned with “sitting at the cool kids’ table” than in doing the hard work involved in getting people elected to office.
WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?
The MDGOP has a great chairman in Alex Mooney. It has a great Vice Chairman in Diana Waterman. It has some great local county committees. Unfortunately, the state party is organized around a failed paradigm.
Look around the country. Almost all successful state Republican parties are organized around precincts or counties (and / or cities). Maryland would argue that they are organized around counties (and Baltimore City), and they would be correct. However, they neglect the most important factor in common with successful Republican parties; the Maryland GOP does not encourage grass roots participation.
Successful organizations invite all comers at the base level (county or precinct). That is not the case in Maryland. The MDGOP recently looked at changing its rules. They shouted down any proposal which would have broadened their active membership base because too many local committee members felt that they would lose imagined power or prestige.
If you examine Swartz’s post you will see that he is advocating for a scheme which rewards small counties at the expense of larger counties under the MDGOP’s current dysfunctional system. This is very similar to the Democrat party’s scheme of rewarding various special interest groups. I would advocate for a “relative voting strength” scheme which is based on the number of votes cast in a given county for governor or president. Despite being fair, that (or any other formula) is only meaningful with strong grass roots participation. 10,000 persons showing up for a state GOP convention in Virginia is only meaningful because most of those 10,000 people go home to work for Republican candidates.
The new MDGOP scheme wouldn’t be so bad, except that it does not address the issues of broadening the party’s base of activists. Look at states like Texas, South Carolina, and Virginia. They have successful state parties. They elect Republicans. They also encourage grass roots participation. Maryland does not. Nor will it ever as long as the people who sit on local Republican committees, and run the state party, are more concerned with wearing a little badge and being a big fish in a little pond.
G. A. Harrison is a frequent contributor to SbyNEWS. “Delmarva Dealings” appears each Wednesday and Sunday at Noon on SbyNEWS.
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Her increasingly forthright comments the last few days about leaning toward a presidential run have left no doubt that Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann smells blood in the campaign waters.
When ABC News first reported in January that Bachmann was seriously considering a White House bid, the news was generally treated as either a compelling media sideshow or a savvy fundraising head fake on Bachmann's part. After all, the idea that a third-term congresswoman with a light legislative record and a penchant for controversial statements could become a serious White House contender seemed unlikely at best.
Almost five months later -- and after would-be contenders like Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour and John Thune decided to take a pass -- the notion of a serious Bachmann campaign doesn't seem so implausible anymore, especially in Iowa.
"Someone who excites the base is to be watched," Tim Albrecht, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's communications director, said of Bachmann. "Someone who has a nationwide fundraising base is to be taken seriously. Someone who has both is a potent force who could be very successful."
Former Ocean City businessman Dennis Devlin will be sentenced in July on federal sex crime charges involving a 13-year-old boy.
Devlin, 58, faces up to 30 years behind bars when he is sentenced July 29 in Orlando, Fla. He pleaded no contest to sexual exploitation and other charges April 21.
FBI agents arrested Devlin in February after he paid a 13-year-old boy to pose for photographs and perform sexual acts that he recorded on an iPhone, which he concealed in the bathroom ceiling of his hotel suite at the Desert Inn in Daytona Beach.
As part of the plea agreement, Devlin relinquished any ownership he had in the Desert Inn. Michael Ehmen, Devlin’s 20-year-old employee and accomplice, also pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation earlier in April. According to court documents, Ehmen had recruited the 13-year-old and took him to Devlin, who paid Ehmen $100.
According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Ehmen had sexual relations with Devlin, who then asked the employee to bring new people to him. Ehmen recruited the 13-year-old, the article said, and Devlin paid the boy $60 for allowing him to take photos and an additional $80 for a videotaped spanking with a ping-pong paddle.
When you pay by credit card and a merchant asks you for your ZIP code, phone number, driver's license or Social Security number, do you have to show it to complete the sale?
In most cases, the answer is no. In some instances, asking for personal information may violate store policy, credit card merchant agreements and even state law.
Consumer advocates advise just saying no when asked to give information beyond what is necessary for a transaction — an address for shipping purposes or a Social Security number if you're opening a line of credit, for instance.
"At best, you are exposing yourself to unwanted junk mail or solicitations," says Joe Ridout with Consumer Action in San Francisco. "At worst, say, you are giving your Social Security number, you could be placing yourself at higher risk for identity theft."
John Malone, who made a fortune in cable television, is offering $1 billion for Barnes & Noble — trying to jump into a business so sick that its No. 2 competitor, Borders Group Inc., is on life support.
The difference is that Malone and his Liberty Media conglomerate aren't betting on the books-and-mortar past, analysts say, but the promise of the electronic future.
Barnes & Noble's Nook electronic reader now accounts for 28 percent of the market for those devices. And the Nook has the potential to go beyond books to deliver all types of digital products, including music, magazines, TV shows and movies. That makes it a competitor not just to Amazon.com's Kindle but also to Apple's iPad.
REYKJAVIK, Iceland -- Iceland's most active volcano has started erupting, scientists said Saturday -- just over a year after another eruption on the North Atlantic island shut down European air traffic for days.
Iceland's Meteorological Office confirmed that an eruption had begun at the Grimsvotn volcano, accompanied by a series of small earthquakes. Smoke could be seen rising from the volcano, which lies under the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland.
A no fly zone has been designated for 120 nautical miles in all directions from the eruption. Isavia, the company that operates and develops all airport facilities and air navigation services in Iceland, described this as standard procedure around eruptions.
Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter said doctors discovered four "very small" brain tumors after he had an MRI on Friday in Florida.
The 57-year-old Carter said he expects to learn more about his diagnosis when he is examined again Thursday at Duke Medical Center.
"My wife, Sandy, and our children and family thank you for your thoughts and prayers," Carter said in a release issued Saturday by the New York Mets and baseball's Hall of Fame. "We ask that you please respect our privacy as we learn more about my medical condition."
The statement did not say whether the tumors are malignant or benign.
Friends and former teammates were stunned when they heard the news.
Some leading Republicans are trying to entice a more established candidate to jump into the presidential race, a courtship that's aggravating tensions between tea partyers and the GOP's traditional business wing, a deep-pocketed source of financial support in the campaign.
Influential GOP donors have sought to coax Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to run. The goal is to find a contender with a strong record as a fiscal conservative and the political stature to challenge President Barack Obama.
The behind-the-scenes efforts have been taken as a snub by some tea party organizers who favor the anti-establishment messages of Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who are in the race or are considering it. New contenders could undermine their chances for donors and for success.
"It's extremely upsetting to hear that the establishment is courting their own candidate when Michele Bachmann, the gold standard, has been in the fight, bucking the establishment that got us in this mess," said Katrina Pierson, a Dallas tea party leader and emerging national figure for the movement.
There's a reason your office building probably has a fire evacuation map posted on a wall. When things get crazy, it's best to have a plan in place for how to react, and a map with a rendezvous point for friends and loved ones could prove invaluable during earthquakes, fires and floods — not to mention the apocalypse.
Safety Maps walks you through the process of creating a map of your own, providing templates that let you make print them for walls, refrigerators or desks.
If you have an emergency plan, what does it entail?
from Phil Villarreal @ The Consumerist
NATO staged an airstrike near Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli late on Saturday, and an opposition website said Libyan government forces shelled residential areas outside the rebel-held city of Misrata.
Libyan officials said the alliance had attacked close to Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziyah complex, and Reuters Television pictures showed a column of smoke rising over the capital.
However, there was no immediate word on what the target of the attack was, and reporters escorted by Libyan officials were unable to get close to the site.
NATO says its campaign has crippled Tripoli's ability to attack rebels trying to overthrow Gadhafi and effectively forced the Libyan leader into hiding. Overall the conflict is deadlocked as rebel attempts to advance on Tripoli have stalled.
