Business Through the Eyes of Jim Ireton

Last week, Don Rush of Delmarva Public Radio interviewed both candidates for mayor of Salisbury.  The contrast was startling.  While this was not candidate (and SBYNews publisher) Joe Albero’s best interview, he was relaxed and discussed the issues facing the city.  Incumbent mayor Jim Ireton was agitated, sarcastic, interrupted Rush numerous times, and let the world know that Salisbury is NOT a business-friendly community.

See the interviews below.  Ireton’s starts at about 29 minutes in.

Ireton claims great accomplishment.  Nothing is his fault.  If something didn’t happen it was because of the city council, specifically Debbie Campbell.  If businesses believe that Salisbury isn’t business-friendly, it’s THEIR fault, not the city’s.  Oh … and he PLANS to do lots of things IF he’s re-elected.

For every ten people that come to the city, five feel they’ve been treated OK. – Salisbury mayor Jim Ireton

What is most disturbing is Ireton’s attitude towards business.  If you make a profit, you need to pay more.  If the police have to come to your business TWICE in TWO YEARS, the city (NOT a judge) should be able to shut you down.  If you appeal, you have to appeal to the same person who already decided to close your doors.

If you are a businessperson looking to move to Salisbury and you hear the mayor sarcastically asking questions like, “Who made that profit?” or “Somebody’s making money somewhere.” do you think that Salisbury is a great place to do business?

Ireton states, “For every ten people that come to the city, five feel they’ve been treated OK.”  Ireton thinks that’s acceptable!  Do you deal with businesses who take the attitude that they only need to satisfy 50% of their customers?  If you are a business do you want to move to a city that takes this attitude?  If you are a businessperson in Salisbury, do you want to expand in a city that takes this attitude?

You don’t have to give away the store to attract businesses.  You don’t have to make Salisbury unsafe to encourage businesses to expand.  You do need a sea change in attitude.  Satisfying 50% of your customers is NOT acceptable.  Making Salisbury “more progressive” isn’t going to attract business.

Thanks to PAC-14 for providing the video.

G. A. Harrison is a former editor of SBYNews and a regular contributor.  He also writes at the DelMarVa Observer.

Sen. Jim DeMint on Cut, Cap, and Balance

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, a favorite of Tea Party-leaning Republicans, is urging wary Senate Democrats to seriously consider supporting the House-approved Cut, Cap, Balance Act as a conclusion to the nation’s debt ceiling debate.

“I hope that Senate Democrats will realize — if they want to solve this problem before Aug. 2, there’s only one plan on the table that will do that,” DeMint said in an interview with The DC’s Ginni Thomas. “If they vote it down, we’re out of time.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat, has scheduled a “motion to table” vote on Friday for the Cut, Cap, Balance Act. If 51 senators vote for the motion, the bill will be scrapped — something Reid clearly wants. DeMint warns strongly against choosing that course.

“The president gives us a lot of words,” DeMint said. ”But there’s not one proposal from the president, there’s not one proposal from Democrats, and Republicans have unfortunately been over here negotiating with ourselves.”

“But now we have a position,” DeMint added, “and I hope Republicans will stick with it.”

from Ginni Thomas @ the Daily Caller

Virginia AG Probing Richmond Medicaid Fraud Sting Video

Virginia's attorney general and Richmond city authorities are investigating a video showing a government worker advising a man posing as a wealthy Russian drug dealer not to note his criminal activities on a Medicaid application.

The undercover video, shot July 1, appeared Thursday on conservative activist James O'Keefe's Project Veritas website. Earlier this week, the group posted similar undercover videos made at Medicaid offices in Ohio, New York and South Carolina.

The most recent covert video shows a social-services worker in Richmond's Medicaid office counseling a man speaking in a Russian accent to omit what he had told her about his fictional drug-trafficking and prostitution activities.

"No, you just leave that off your application," she says, laughing nervously. "Don't put that on there."

"And would I just put, like self-employed," the impostor asks.

"Yes," she responds.

The man, using a Russian-sounding alias, had told the worker he drives a car worth more than $800,000 with a gold-plated engine, owns a yacht and has a helipad. He tells the employee he is seeking Medicaid enrollment for his father and that his family's enterprises are "off the books."

Neither the video nor the Project Veritas website says whether the employee reported the incident to her supervisors or to law enforcement. There was no response to a telephone message left Thursday afternoon for Richmond Social Services Director Doris Moseley.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli watched the video, found it "troubling" and ordered his Medicaid fraud unit to investigate, said Brian Gottstein, Cuccinelli's press secretary.

Gov. Bob McDonnell asked the state police to review it, administration spokesman J. Tucker Martin said.

Michael Wallace, a spokesman for Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones, said the city is "investigating this matter to determine the validity of the tape and the information. We will handle this matter as needed through the established disciplinary channels."

from the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Coburn Bets a ‘Porterhouse Steak’ Obama Will Sign ‘Cut, Cap, and Balance’ Bill

Despite President Barack Obama’s vow to veto the Cut, Cap and Balance bill passed by the House of Representatives, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said he would bet a “Porterhouse steak” that the president would sign the legislation if it arrived at his desk.

“It doesn’t matter what the polls are,” Coburn told reporters at the Capitol on Thursday. “We’ve got to fix our country, and this is the only viable plan right now that will do that. And I will bet you a Porterhouse steak that if it lands on his desk, he’ll sign this puppy.”

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney responded to Coburn’s bet.

READ MORE …

Town Moves to Ban Free Speech, Group Meetings

Interview with Sen. Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio arrived in Congress less than a year ago, but the voice of Florida’s junior senator is already being heard loud and clear in the growing push for smaller government and the fight to defend American values.

Rubio jumped into the U.S. Senate race in May 2009 following the resignation of Republican Mel Martinez. Despite an early double-digit deficit in the race for the Republican nomination, he outlasted sitting Gov. Charlie Crist and won the Senate seat by 19 points, defeating both Democrat Kendrick Meek and Crist, who re-entered the race as an independent.

Sen. Rubio is best known for giving voice to the emerging Tea Party movement in Florida, but his impact is unmistakable on a national scale. Just two months after entering the Senate, he put down a marker on the national-debt discussion that would come to dominate our national attention four months later:

I will vote to defeat an increase in the debt limit unless it is the last one we ever authorize and is accompanied by a plan for fundamental tax reform, an overhaul of our regulatory structure, a cut to discretionary spending, a balanced-budget amendment, and reforms to save Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Rubio’s parents fled Cuba in 1959, a life-altering experience that taught them the value of American citizenship — a value that they deeply imprinted on their son. “It is hard to be apolitical when you are raised by exiles,” says the father of four.

READ MORE …

Imagine …

This post isn’t to proselytize about abortion.  I just came across this video and thought that it was interesting, moving, and thought provoking.

Imagine

I hope that you enjoy it, think about it, and take it in the spirit with which it was intended.

What Are They Advertising?

Can you guess?

Friskies Games for Cats

Just when you thought you had seen it all:

H/T – Laura Northrup @ The Consumerist

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