20070810 News Clips

News Clips

August 10, 2007

STATE NEWS

State deficit simple to fix
Senators say answer lies in limiting budget growth to 1.5 percent
http://www.capitalonline.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/08_09-45/GOV
Senate Republicans said this week that Maryland's deficit can be closed simply by limiting spending increases to 1.5 percent.
The statement from the Senate Republican Caucus is the latest public move from the minority party to shine the spotlight on spending, rather than revenue, as Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Democratic leadership begin to talk about raising taxes and fees in an attempt to close the $1.5 billion deficit. "By restraining spending we can close the deficit without the massive tax increases proposed by the Democratic leadership," Senate Minority Leader David Brinkley, R-Frederick, said in a statement. "These tax increases will cripple Maryland's working families and make Maryland less competitive in attracting jobs."

County GOP rift may disrupt leadership
http://www.capitalonline.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/08_09-35/GOV
As if the state Republican Party doesn't have enough internal problems of its own, now the county GOP is wrestling with its leadership. Sources say a move is afoot to oust Central Committee Chairman Mike Collins before his term is up. A cabal of ultra-conservative party members has been secretly plotting to force his departure because they oppose his leadership style and don't think he is conservative enough.

Aide's brother to fill new county position
http://www.examiner.com/a-874300~Aide_s_brother_to_fill_new_county_position.html
Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith has named the brother of one of his top aides to a newly created $96,000 position, officials confirmed Thursday. County lawmakers said they are just learning of the hire, and one alluded to the appearance of nepotism. Councilman Bryan McIntire, a Republican who represents much of the county's northern parts, questioned if Mohler is qualified for the job. "It concerns me, in the eyes of the public, if this job was not advertised for the best person sought for the lowest amount of money," McIntire said. "Someone automatically given the job is inherently wrong."

Background checks on nurses slow process
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070810/METRO/108100058/1004&template=nextpage
A law that took effect this year requiring federal criminal background checks for Maryland nurses has created delays in licensing health care workers, even as the state suffers a nursing shortage. The Maryland Board of Nursing, which licenses nurses and nursing assistants, said applicants have been experiencing delays getting fingerprints processed because of the law, which took effect in January. But a solution may not come until next year.
"Until the law gets changed, there really isn"t that [they] can do or we can do," said Patricia Ann Noble, executive director of the nursing board. Maryland joined 30 other states in requiring the background checks, according to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. A spokeswoman for the council said she was unaware of any other states that had problems implementing the background checks. Sponsors of the background-check legislation, which passed both the Senate and House unanimously last year, said that bureaucratic tro ubles should not hold up qualified nurses who want to work in the state.
"It sounds like a problem with the bureaucracy," said Delegate Donald B. Elliott, Western Maryland Republican and co-sponsor of the legislation. "It appears to me however, that the board, in recognition of what's going on here, ought to give some relief to these people who are having these problems."

O'Malley will tell wealthy to pay up
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070810/METRO/108100062/1004
Gov. Martin O"Malley"s administration gave an update yesterday on plans to address the state"s $1.5 billion deficit, saying reforms will include closing corporate tax loopholes and demanding that the wealthy "pay their fair share."
The governor, in a statement released yesterday, voiced plans to "reform our tax system i n a way that makes it more modern, more inclusive and more fair." David R. Brinkley, Frederick Republican, said that without details, he was concerned that the governor's plan to raise taxes on businesses and the wealthy would be hostile to economic development. "We can take care of this problem without raising taxes, and we called earlier this week on the governor to propose a zero-increase budget," said Mr. Brinkley, the Senate minority leader.
Senate Republicans held a caucus Tuesday in Annapolis, calling on the governor to submit a fiscal 2009 budget that "protects Maryland's citizens from the onslaught of new taxes." Mr. Brinkley contends that the deficit could be eliminated by 2011 under the Republican plan.

Brown Visits Struggling Hospital
Lieutenant Governor Offers Reassurance but No Cash Pledge
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/09/AR2007080902039.html
Touring the financially troubled Prince George's Hospital Center yesterday, Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown said state leaders are committed to the facility's long-term survival but made no immediate offers of cash for the institution. Brown (D) said a deal between state and local leaders that fell apart on the last day of the legislative session in April would have been a departure from "patchwork" efforts to save the Cheverly hospital, creating a framework for long-term stability. He said he and O'Malley want to continue the talks but warned they do so now against the backdrop of a budget deficit.

EDITORIALS/OP-EDS

- Maryland politics getting cheesy
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/reporters_notebooks_display.htm?StoryID=63611
When former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. came to town Monday morning, I couldn't help but ask him what he thought of accusations linking him to a blog critical of his political foe, Gov. Martin O'Malley.
I was surprised when he said the accusations likely stemmed from melted cheese.
Most have probably forgotten when Maryland Democratic Party spokesman David Paulson dressed up in a "Bobby Baloney" suit to mock Ehrlich at a campaign event in 2002. But Ehrlich hasn't.

For once, Verizon couldn't hide from complaints
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.marbella10aug10,0,1517752.column
Maybe it was all gra ndstanding. Maybe after failing to do anything about the 72 percent BGE electric rate increase, the Public Service Commission was in the market for another target to beat up on. Maybe all the tough talk at its public hearing Wednesday will come to naught.
I don't care. If you've ever taken off from work to wait for a phone repair crew that never showed up, you had to love watching Verizon officials trying to explain an increase of their own: a 50 percent rise in consumer complaints to the PSC.
For once, Verizon couldn't hide in the dark corners of its press-one-for-this, press-two-for-that automated answering maze. It couldn't say, oh, someone will be there between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., sorry, can't give you a narrower window. And, best of all, it couldn't just not show up.I had no idea being stood up by Verizon was so common, and even acceptable: The company can miss 20 percent of its service appointments and still be in compliance with the PSC. And yet even with this ra ther generous standard -- two out of every 10 customers left idling at home, no closer to getting a working phone -- Verizon failed to meet it five out of the first six months of this year.

Comptroller Franchot as agenda-setter
http://www.gazette.net/stories/081007/poliras222048_32355.shtml
There's a joke making the rounds in Annapolis about Peter Franchot and his incessant quest for publicity. It goes like this: The only thing silent about Maryland's comptroller is the ''t" in his last name. Listening to Franchot on radio talk shows is like tuning in to a one-man filibuster.
Sometimes he's on the mark, but other times he's sadly off base. Franchot has continued to surprise as comptroller:
*He's put Gov. Martin O'Malley in some uncomfortable positions at Board of Public Works on a series of land deals.
B ut Franchot is not active in one area where he should be leading the charge: formulating a tax package to: a) erase Maryland's $1.5 billion structural general fund deficit, b) make headway in addressing $30 billion of unfunded transportation projects, and c) finance road, transit, school and infrastructure projects to accommodate 60,000 military-related jobs coming to Maryland by 2011.Franchot could be the Answer Man for legislators and the governor's office as they grapple with the unpleasant task of raising taxes. Is Franchot up to the task? We'll find out as Labor Day rushes rapidly toward us and the window of opportunity for a special session starts to close. It could be the sternest test yet for the new comptroller.

Will BRAC bring us together?
Maryland is a big winner in the BRAC competition
http://www.gazette.net/stories/08100 7/polilee222053_32358.shtml
Under the U.S. Military's Base Realignment and Closure cost-saving initiative we gain 28,000 new families and 60,000 new jobs during the next five years.
But this overnight population boom is like awarding Maryland another entire county (the new BRAC population is greater than any of Maryland's six smallest counties).If the Feds aren't paying the infrastructure tab, who is? And who gets the new amenities and who doesn't?

Elected officials have to break Taylor logjam
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/08_09-47/OPN
Seven years ago the Annapolis community was embroiled in a debate over the future of the David Taylor Research Center, across the Severn River from the downtown. At the time, there were elaborate plans and promises - but so far nothing has happened.County Executive Janet Ow ens' mistake was giving the property to a developer and leaving the county no recourse if the project failed to materialize. Her successor, John Leopold, has little leverage - and little clout in dealing with federal agencies. Maryland's congressmen and senators do have clout. Rep. Elijah Cummings, a member of the Armed Services Committee, has agreed to intervene. He's from Baltimore. Where is Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, who represents the area around David Taylor? Where is U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski? We can't get them to respond to our inquiries, let alone show any interest in breaking this federal logjam.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Congress pursues disastrous tax on energy companies
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=573&NewsID=828401&CategoryID=5798&show=localnews&om=1
When it comes to America's energy policy, everyone agrees that one of our goals is to make the United States less dependent on foreign sources of energy. A common-sense approach would involve conservation efforts that can bring about decreased use of foreign-supplied energy products, developing alternatives to foreign-supplied energy products and developing our own sources of energy.
Unfortunately, Washington has made little progress on achieving this goal. In fact, our so-called energy policy has been inconsistent and illogical. Witness the multi-year battle to develop the crude-oil supplies on the north slope of Alaska (the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). Some of the same members of Congress who talk passionately about making America energy-independent have voted to block exploration and development of the generous supply of crude buried under ANWR.
Now Congress is about to make matters even worse. In pursuit of a government subsidy for the alternative-fuel industry, Congress is considering slapping additional taxes on American-owned energy companies. I know it is politically popular to tax the oil companies, but who really believes the companies will pay that tax? Additional costs to the energy companies will be passed on to hard-working Maryland families every time they stop at the pump or turn on their furnaces. That increase in the price of gasoline would be in addition to the looming increase in the state gasoline tax now being pushed in Annapolis.
Increasing the taxes on the very companies that we are depending on to develop America's energy resources is counter-productive, discouraging those companies from investing in that development and placing them at a disadvantage in competing with foreign suppliers.
Unfortunately, Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin support this tax package. If they have their way, oil-rich Venezualan dictator Hugo Chavez will cheer, and Maryland families will pay.
T. Kevin Carney
Towson
T. Kevin Carney is president of Thomas Builders in Hickory Ridge

NATIONAL NEWS

Cardin faces major battle to enact health-care plan
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=172066&format=html
When U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., visited Hagerstown this week, he backed the idea of a law that would require everyone who could afford it to purchase health insurance.
Those who didn't comply would pay a tax, which would be used to purchase insurance for those who don't do so voluntarily.
If Cardin's plan sounds familiar, it's because it's based on one enacted in Massachusetts in 2006.Whe n those not invited to a meeting speculate about what is going on inside, they often conclude that their interests are being harmed. Cardin needs to give all the players a seat at the table, because he will need the cooperation of all to make the Massachusetts plan work on a nationwide basis.

Area power needs could trump view of Antietam battlefield
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=172113&format=html
Antietam National Battlefield lies in a corridor where power lines could be raised to satisfy the mounting electricity needs associated with Western Maryland's population boom. Julie Ruggiero, a U.S. Department of energy spokeswoman, said the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor surrounding Antietam was just one area the federal government recently identified as a proble m region. U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin's office said he would continue to review the issue "as the process moves forward," while the office of his fellow Democrat, U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, did not return telephone messages. Lisa Wright, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-6th, said the congressman would try to come up with a compromise that would provide electricity and preserve the battlefield. "He wants to facilitate both goals," Wright said

I Paid for This Microphone
New anger, old history, and the immigration debate.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTc1OGUwZmZhM2EwYTA0OTQzMjNiMDc2N2Q1ZTc1YTU=
Late last Thursday night, Republicans quit the House after Democrats played a series of dirty tricks. Republicans were attempting to am end an agricultural appropriation to prohibit taxpayer funds "from going to illegal immigrants." The measure came to a vote and was passing 215 to 213 when the presiding officer, Rep. Michael McNulty (D., N.Y.), abruptly gaveled it close and declared a tie. Republicans protested, but moments later Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) moved to take a brand new vote on the same measure. That's when the Republicans stormed out. And if they weren't sufficiently peeved about Democrats cheating on the vote, they woke up Friday morning to find that Democrats had gone one step further by scrubbing the whole episode from the official record.