Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: Maryland Senate Republican Slate: Rascovar & Lee

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Maryland Senate Republican Slate: Rascovar & Lee

Rascovar & Lee

Dear Kevin,

Two astute observers of the Annapolis scene are Barry Rascovar and Blair Lee. They provide an "insider's baseball" perspective of the State House through their weekly columns in the Gazette newspapers.

The Gazette of Politics and Business is a Friday edition that is also available online (click here). This edition contains perceptive articles by the Gazette's team of State House reporters as well as the opinion columns of Rascovar and Lee.

This week's edition is especially insightful. Rascovar questions why legislators are not listening to their own fiscal advisors. The Board of Revenue Estimates last week predicted a slower-than-expected economic recovery, but the Democrat leadership continues to increase the budget as if full recovery will happen in the next quarter:

"Why aren't O'Malley and lawmakers paying attention? Based on the revenue board's bleak analysis, they should be reining in Maryland's out-of-control spending and preparing for a slower than expected recovery. Instead, delegates and the governor are pandering to the usual special interests. The revenue board's cautions preceded the alarming events in Japan, the world's third-largest economy. That nation's triple devastation will ripple economically through Maryland and the country. It also is now clear that Maryland's strong job growth over the past year - loudly touted by O'Malley - was a mirage. . . This is not a time to crank out another budget that protects vested interests and avoids the tough decisions. Yet once again, it looks like that proverbial can is about to get kicked down the road." (To read the full opinion column, click here)

Lee offers an analysis of the unusual alliance that formed to defeat the assumed passage of the gay marriage bill in the House of Delegates. He highlights the role of the African-American churches in persuading legislators to stand fast against the bill:

"Insiders say that P.G. County's black churches turned seven delegates against the same-sex bill, enough to kill it. Many blacks also take offense to the gay lobby's pitch that homosexual marriage and biracial marriage are similar civil rights issues. Biracial marriage is much different from same-sex marriage, say blacks; no religion teaches that biracial marriage is a sin against God. This clash between the gay lobby and black churches is a white liberal's nightmare. Don't the black churches understand that their job is to endorse Democratic candidates, not religion?" (To read the full opinion column, click here)

During the 90-day session, we recommend that you set your "flipboard" or "google reader" to the Gazette of Politics and Business to stay current on what is happening behind the scenes in Annapolis. You will not be disappointed!