With the world communicating at Internet speed, we decided a retooling of our website services were necessary in order to keep up. Setting up a Blog seemed to be an easy way to get started. For those of you unfamiliar with the word "Blog", it is a journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Because of its frequent updates, informal style of communication, and links to other blogs or reference sources, it can rapidly disseminate breaking news to a global audience at little or no cost. In addition, the reader can participate in the story by joining in a conversation with the author and other readers through his comments on the story.

While current services in this section are limited, you can expect to see rapid growth in short order. As we increase the number of bloggers and enable the service permitting comments from you on the stories, we expect this section to become our most active service. The best news of all is that those changes are right around the corner. So keep a watchful eye on this section. The best is yet to come.

Gotcha...

Posted April 23, 2007 by Mykel Harris, Chair of the Republican Central Committee For Prince George's County

This past November the citizens of Prince George’s County made their voices heard. After 4 years of decisive leadership, fiscal responsibility, high ethics, and outstanding stewardship of the State the Ehrlich/Steele administration is out. A new one was voted in. Not quite the result many of us were hoping for. But our story doesn't end here.

Fast forward to today and the ending of another session of the Md. State legislature. An event which brings to mind a famous saying:

"No man’s life or property is safe while the legislature is in session" – Mark Twain

In today's political climate, truer words have never been spoken. With only a couple of weeks after the session, the nearly monolithic Democrat legislature has already shown its hand. Consider the following accomplishments:

The bulk of the 1.2 billion dollar budget surplus amassed during the Ehrlich/Steele administration will be spent in the first year of the O’Malley administration. A move akin to letting your 16 year old spend his entire college fund on a single night at the movies. Even the Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller, a Democrat, tried to hit the pause button on this one.

Having spent almost the entire surplus, taxes will have to be raised to cover what is called a “structural deficit”. For those of you who don’t speak “political double talk”, that means that the legislature has actually planned to spend more money than they will collect in taxes. Imagine your neighbor planning a trip to Ocean City, and then siphoning gas out of your car in order to get there. Got the picture? Rather than tightening their own belt to live within their substantial means, they are planning to tighten your belt, raising taxes and fees to pay for their planned joy ride.

By now you're probably scratching your head in befuddlement and wondering whether I'm kidding or not. Believe me, I'm not. But keep your arms and legs inside the compartment because this rides not done yet. For those of you who remember the near total melt-down of our voting system in the 2006 primary and general election, get ready for round two. A combination of legislation is lining up to create the “Perfect Storm” for voter fraud and disenfranchisement. Masquerading under the guise of “early voting” and "voter rights" the Legislature has approved a ballot question to amend the State Constitution and permit voting to occur 5 days prior to the primary and general election. Never mind that the first stab at this was ruled unconstitutional by the State’s highest court. Forget about the inability of some jurisdictions to actually count the votes that were cast on a single day of voting until weeks later. Let us not mention the enormous expense of deploying touch screen voting machines that were difficult for Board of Election judges to administer, impossible to audit, and lacked the ability to perform a true recount. And let us not focus on the absolutely “kooky” idea of allowing voters from Baltimore City, Allegheny County, or anywhere but Prince George’s County to cast their vote…in Prince George’s County. The important thing to remember is that when combined with the current law permitting anyone to register to vote at the same time they obtain a drivers license, the refusal of the Legislature to require positive identification of voters at the poll, and their resistance to enact the Real Id Act verifying that a person is a citizen or has a valid visa prior to their obtaining a drivers license, the proposed amendment will virtually guarantee fraud and the disenfranchisement of your vote.

By now you've probably reached your limit, but I've got to cover just one more "gem" before I close. Because despite the years of warning, blue ribbon panels, and millions in tax expenditures, we apparently came within a hair's width of closing the Prince George's County Hospital. (This is the part where you count to 10 and ask the question, "how is that possible"?) You also need to ponder why the only response of the current political leadership is to throw more tax money at the problem? Apparently the entire Prince George's County House Delegation voted 21-0 to "kick the can" down the road and let the State solve the problem. Under that plan the State would spend millions in the short term for the authority to create a new, independent taxing authority. The new State authority would be empowered to levy millions more in taxes on the citizens of Prince George's County for the alleged purpose of saving the hospital. Mind you, not one word was mentioned of fixing the real problems. Not one word on driving down the cost of health care through "tort reform", revising our tax structure to require working adults to purchase their own health insurance, or stemming the tide of illegal workers who are paid under the table and cannot afford health insurance. No mention of the failed public/private partnership in which the County is financially responsible for what should be a private hospital. Fortunately cooler heads in the County Council and Senate prevailed and the idea was shelved...for now.

But don't close your eyes yet, because just when you think it's safe to spend your own money...the Governor will call a special session of the legislature. Gotcha!