Our thanks goes out to the 442 individuals and 255 groups who volunteered their time to help provide a better life to our neighbors in need.  From local luminaries such as Wicomico Sheriff Mike Lewis and Salisbury Councilwoman Debbie Campbell to folks who don’t even want their names mentioned in public, your neighbors saw a need and rushed in to fill the breach.  For that, much credit should be given to Salisbury News publisher Joe Albero.

I know, you either love him or hate him.  It doesn’t matter.  Albero saw a problem.  He publicized it.  He pushed, prodded and begged for volunteers.  He selflessly gave hours of his own time - sometimes 6, 8, or more hours at a stretch.  Albero, along with the aid of a friend, kept the problem before the public eye while ringing ringing a bell AND keeping Salisbury News operational.  This was no small task and its importance should not be underestimated.  Without a continuing barrage of fresh content, Albero’s army of “Joeys” (my term for his loyal readers) wouldn’t have stayed put.  Without them coming back to Salisbury News multiple times each day, the public would not have been fully aware of the need and some number of those volunteers would not have materialized.

What did Albero ask in return?  Nothing.

What has Albero received for his laudible efforts?  A pile of grief and abuse.

Albero’s detractors have attacked him with claims that run from the amusingly absurd to the borderline psychotic.  Somehow Albero is taking food from the mouths of poor people by asking people to volunteer their time to the Salvation Army (otherwise the Salvation Army would be paying the homeless to ring bells according to the Albero haters).  Albero is doing it merely for the attention.  Given that he (in effect) owns his own press, this claim is simply bizarre.  Albero could have easily rung the bell for an hour and then ran his own picture time after time throughout the season.  I have even read comments that claim Joe is evil for giving his time.

The bottom line is simple.  We should be applauding people like the Salvation Army, Mike Lewis and Jim Perdue.  We should also be applauding the hard work of people like Joe Albero and the hundreds of folk who gave their time to help others.  To the detractors I can only hope you find the cure for what ails you.

Case in point - Sunday’s Daily Time’s piece about Del. Page Elmore showing “support of state workers” by taking part in the O’Malley administration’s furlough of non-essential state employees.  Reporter Liz Holland makes it sound as if Elmore is a leader in the movement of legislators taking part in the furlough.  He’s not.  I’ve got nothing against Elmore.  I’m not accusing him of anything.  It’s just a plain, easily verifiable fact that members of the legislature have been announcing that they will take part in the furlough for almost a month.

The first I remember reading about it was a piece by the Baltimore Sun’s Andy Green on December 8, 2008.  Green let us know that Del. Nic Kipke (R-31) had announced he was taking part AND that he was preceded by fellow Anne Arundel Del. Steve Schuh (R-31).  Since then, there has been a steady trickle of legislators announcing that they wouldn’t take their salary for five days as other state employees are having to do.

However, the Daily Times’ Holland makes it sound as if Elmore is the first:

Elmore, who represents Somerset and Wicomico counties, plans to return $604.20 — five days’ worth of his delegate’s $44,000 annual salary — to the state in support of state workers.

More legislators will likely do the same, he said.

“I think a big majority will,” Elmore said Friday. “All the Republican delegates in Western Maryland are doing it — they’re the only ones I’ve really talked to.”

What Elmore said is correct.  Unfortunately, Holland put some spin on the matter.  Save the spin Liz.  Go home, rent a copy of LA Confidential, and take it to heart when the guy says - “Just the FACTS“.

While the “news” section may be inaccurate, the Daily Times editorial page gave us some honesty.  Despite their protestations to the contrary, Gannett’s local arms is showing us how liberal they truly are.

In a piece title “Let’s not waste stimulus funds“, the Daily Times showed some backbone; leftist backbone, but backbone none the less.  The author doesn’t want President-elect Obama’s “stimulus” dollars squandered on niceties like roads.  No, your federal tax dollars need to fund bridges and “public transportation”.  It’s a valid argument.  The Daily Times wants us all driving hybrids or riding the bus.

The problem is that the federal government SHOULD NOT be bailing out Maryland or any other state for their fiscal ineptitude.  Do they, or anyone else, honestly believe that once the Feds start padding the budgets of our state governments more than they already are that the practice will end?

Hell no!  The so-called “stimulus” will merely make our state government even more of a localized arm of the federal government.  Why bother having state legislatures?  Maryland will simply be to Washington what Wicomico County has become to Annapolis - a fiefdom, with the state dictating education policy and now attempting to dictate zoning.

This is before you even look at the fiscal impact.  The federal debt will continue to soar.  Your federal, and state, taxes will increase.  Only God will be able to help our children and grandchildren.  Money needed to fund expansion in the private sector will simply be gobbled up by a government which takes an ever growing percentage of our GDP.

As I have stated many times before, our local paper has a right to their opinion - provided they keep it to the op-ed pages.  This time they were just so wrong that it did merit comment.

One way of tracking conversations on Twitter is through the use of hashtags (#).  If you’re following the race for RNC Chair, there’s #rncchair.  If you’re part of the group Top Conservatives on Twitter, there’s #tcot.  Now, thanks to Brian Boettcher (@BrianBoettcher) we have #MDcons for Free State conservatives.

If you’re engaging in a conversation about that particular subject or as part of that particular group, you just add the hashtags to the message.  This leads to more like minded people to follow, and who may follow you.  You can also search for those particular conversations so that you can keep up with what you missed.

Check #MDcons out.

I’ve been building a list of fellow Marylanders (mostly conservative, but not all) that I’ve been following as a group on Twitter.  If any of you are interested in a copy of the list, let me know.

Update from Delmarva Dealings (@DMVDealings):

You can start by following -

Red Maryland
The Campaign Edge
Brian Griffiths
Mark Newgent
Kenny Burns
Michael Swartz
G. A. Harrison
Red County - Wicomico
Ted Pibil
Blog Net News - Maryland

Watch out though.  Twitter can be addicting.

cross posted at The Campaign Edge

Whining over the revenue cap is not going to solve anything.  While an opponent of the revenue cap, I realize that the voters of Wicomico County do not (and should not) trust County Executive Rick Pollitt with a repeal.  Now Pollitt, and the paper, are asking for a revision.  This is not politically viable either because bold action requires leaders.  To date we have none, either in the County Executive’s office nor at Gannett’s new digs in Northwood.

The Daily Times‘ argument about county revenue proves that they have no understanding of the real problem and seem to believe that government should just keep raising revenue to meet expenses, rather than solve the problems of spending AND the source of that spending:

The housing boom was in full swing, the economy was sailing along and property tax revenue from new construction was not affected by the cap for the first year. So any shortfalls were made up by the taxes collected on new construction, which was not included in the pot that is limited to 2 percent –or less, depending on the rate of inflation –more than the previous year’s revenue.

On average, new residential development costs the county far more than it will ever pay in property taxes.  If a development is limited to seniors, at least there will be no children to school.  Citizen leaders have asked time and again for the county and municipalities to work together in developing meaningful regulation of this problem; to require developers to pay for the infrastructure required by their projects.  Unfortunately, city and county leaders appear more concerned with lining the pockets of developers than solving a pressing problem.

Why?  It’s all about more money to spend now.  The more cynical side of my nature argues that these officials actually understand that more money will be needed down the road, but do it anyway so that they can grow the size of government today.  It’s a never ending spiral that feeds the beast of bureaucracy.

If Pollitt was a leader, he would be calling for legislation now.  Waiting until the next development boom will not work.  Expropriating land from our farmers is neither a solution to the revenue problem nor good public policy.  He would also show some of the traits necessary to convince voters to adopt a rate cap or revise the revenue cap upward.  Don’t expect that to happen.

What should you expect?  Expect more of the same from both Pollitt and the Daily Times.  To these folks it’s about “government revenue”, not spending existing resources as wisely as possible.  This alone makes a repeal or even revision of the existing revenue cap a gamble at best, and a fiscal disaster at worse.

WE have the opportunity to ask questions.  Go to the Debate web site and submit your questions.  Republicans should not underestimate the importance of this race.  Ask questions.  Get answers.  Lobby your state chairman and national committee members.

Help put a strong, conservative leader at the helm of the RNC.

As predicted, Pollitt devoted a portion of his speech to some shirt tearing over the county’s revenue cap.  You can’t blame a guy for trying.

As an opponent, on principle only, of the cap this would normally not bother me.  Unfortnately, Pollitt’s semi-impassioned plea against the cap is falling on deaf ears in my neck of the woods.  Why?  Pollitt has displayed a complete lack of leadership on the key issues facing the county while showing a willingness to treat the taxpayers as a “revenue source” rather than what they are - hard working men and women who willingly part with their hard earned money and expect good stewardship from their county leaders.

A Shill for the O’Malley Administration

Deeply disturbing was Pollitt’s assertion that state aid would decline due to Wicomico County’s revenue cap:

Nor would the state provide much in the way of help, as Richard (Pollitt) insinuated that those in Annapolis would be less likely to assist a county which had a revenue cap in place. We had to “come to grips with the burden on our back.”

This from the man who shilled for Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s tax increases.  This from the man who was a leader in the concept of the “doomsday budget” which is now a standard MACO recommendation for counties to deceive their voters into paying more taxes.  This from the man who advocates compensating county employees in excess of the private sector.  This from the man who was all too willing to pay inflated prices for park land, until the public vigorously fought the notion, because it was to be paid for with “state money”.  No Rick, it was to be paid for with TAXPAYER DOLLARS.

You reap what you sow.  Even a fierce opponent of the revenue cap, like myself, retreats from discussion of repealing the cap when you are convinced that the only result will be more spending quickly followed by higher taxes.

Where’s the Leadership?

Perhaps I’m a bit old fashioned.  I like to see a little leadership with my elected officials.  While I am an unabashed partisan, I respect liberals like Barney Frank, Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin who take a stance and attempt to follow through.  While I may like Rick personally, I am consistently dismayed at his fence straddling on every issue of import facing the county.  Two examples were present in Tuesday’s speech - PAC-14 and the downzoning of farm land.

The PAC-14 issue is relatively minor, admittedly.  However, if you are a regular reader you know that it is an issue near and dear to my heart.  While Pollitt was complicit in some of the early controversy, he has stayed clear (at least publicly) ever since.  When it was announced at a Salisbury City Council meeting that the county (Pollitt) would be meeting with several members of a group attempting to break all taxpayer accountability, Pollitt denied this.  However, it appears that such a meeting did take place.  I happen to believe that Pollitt has every right, and duty, to meet with constituents.  Hiding from the facts makes “government in the sunshine” look more like the Barrie Tilghman / Louise Smith variety.

Rather than lead on this issue, Pollitt has been publicly silent until yesterday.  His current stance is to encourage citizens to call their representatives on council.  Fair enough.  It just isn’t leadership.  The fact that PAC-14’s Mike Goodson and the so-called “Friends of PAC-14″ are attempting to garner public support through deception is a side issue.

Pollitt’s remarks on the current land use controversy are more telling.  Pollitt spoke of “compensating” farmers for taking away their current development options.  This would seem fair.  However, as Pollitt has repeatedly pointed out, the county doesn’t have any surplus revenue for such compensation.  As his friend the Governor has pointed out, the state doesn’t either.  I fully expect the “grand compromise” to be some scheme where farmers will be eligible for compensation on paper, while the cash money never materializes.  Perhaps Pollitt is attempting the manipulate farmers into supporting his repeal of the revenue cap?

Politically, Pollitt’s lack of leadership pays dividends.  By refusing to take a stand he pushes the county council (and Councilman John Cannon in particular) into taking meaningful and sometimes unpopular stands while Pollitt comes in after the fact, sticks his finger to the wind, and then decides what to do.  Cannon, who was Pollitt’s strongest potential rival, has been emasculated by this approach.

The land use issue is a prime example.  Because Pollitt won’t lead, Cannon (who by nature is always looking for a compromise) is usually left in the unenviable positon of being the swing vote on any controversial issue.  Most of the enviros backing the proposed downzoning don’t know where the Republican line on the ballot is.  If Cannon votes for downzoning (and Pollitt signs such a bill), he will lose a material block of votes if he challenges Pollitt in the next election while picking up few votes in return.  If he votes against the proposal, Pollitt hopes that motivated enviro support will help to push him over the top against a nominal Republican with no passionate support from the GOP activist base.  Under the latter scenario, Pollitt also gets the additional advantage of never having to take a public stance on another controversial matter.  Cannon either needs to emerge as a REAL leader or hope that Pollitt will continue to be a lazy campaigner (this is definitely NOT a weakness of Cannon’s).

All in all, Rick Pollitt gave a good speech.  However, if he is really serious about repealing the revenue cap he needs to become a LEADER rather than just a good local politician.  By doing so, he may find that there are enough votes out there.  Until then, those of us who are opposed to the cap AND fiscally conservative will never agree to risk the whirlwind of a powerful Democrat County Executive with no meaningful controls taxes.

Raines has retained former Fannie Mae lobbyist Bob Maloney for “hearing preparation” as Raines gets ready for hearings on Capitol Hill.

Delaware Dem is far too typical of his (her?) leftist brethren.  They just don’t get it.  While their “Messiah” ran more as a Republican than a Democrat, they still think that the country has shifted left.  We’re not the ones in a snit because the President-Elect asked an evangelical Christian to deliver the invocation at Obama’s inaugural.  While I fully expect Obama to attempt to govern as a liberal, I know that his rhetoric will be centrist.  Talk about hypocrisy.

While DD accuses us of “hatemongering” and “exclusion”, it is really the Republican party which is the party of inclusion.  Name one prominent pro-life Democrat.  Yet, there are prominent pro-choice Republicans.  We don’t despise and ridicule the majority of Americans who are orthodox Christians (Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox, etc.).  While the majority of Republicans may be view “values” as a core component of our politics, those values are, by and large, reflective of the nation’s values.  We just need to learn to say so with a smile.

As I have written time and again, we lost because we deserved to.  The Republican party won a majority and then governed like Democrats.  We spent more of the taxpayers’ money than was necessary and we pandered to core constituencies.  The only real difference was that Democrats taxed while we borrowed.

Contrary to what DD may think, Mitch McConnell will not be the leader of the GOP.  Hopefully, we will elect a leader that truly reflects the principles and values that lead us to become the true majority party of this nation.  If not, we will continue to lose.  When, not if, we regain the majority and AGAIN govern like liberals then it just may be time to form a viable third party.

Assessments ALWAYS lag.  As much as I hate to admit it, Maryland’s system of re-assessment is pretty fair and efficient.  In many other states re-assessment is done at the whim of the local governing body.  You may go 10 years without a countywide reassessment and then you’re hit with a re-assessment where your home’s assessed value has risen 120%!  People are even less thrilled than they are in the not-so-Free State.

If you are a regular reader, you know that I am not a fan of the current Salisbury city government.  As much as it pains me to admit, they actually do a few things right.  One of those things is a ZERO based homestead tax credit.  As it has been explained to me, the assessed value of your home does not rise from the time you purchase it.  However, Wicomico County raises your assessment pretty much every year, unless we happen to be in a deep real estate downturn lasting more than three years.

There is a solution.  Earlier this year, Wicomico Councilwoman Stevie Prettyman proposed that the county look into reducing the amount a primary residence’s assessment is allowed to rise from 10% to 5%.  Given that our council includes the likes of Bill McCain - who believes that ANY discussion of tax relief is “ABSURD” - the proposal didn’t go very far.

I wonder how far it would have gone had the Daily Times provided some decent coverage of the issue when it came up, rather than merely whining about it now?

The speech begins at 10AM.  Get your seat early, or pour another cup of coffee and tune in.