Publication Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010

You'd think that with Maryland's budget problems our legislators in Annapolis would be focused on trying to find ways to close the gap and fix the long-term structural deficit. Or perhaps they would be focusing on other important state issues like crime prevention, improving public education, or modernizing the transportation infrastructure. These issues are indeed being addressed (with some pretty poor solutions, I might add), but some legislators have found time to focus on other pressing concerns, such as putting allergy warning labels on vending machines or banning plastic bags. Yes, these are the things which take up our legislators' time in Annapolis.

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Publication Date: Monday, March 08, 2010

In an effort to decrease Baltimore's unemployment rate, councilman Bill Henry is proposing that all contracts worth over $5M and financed by Baltimore City be open at first only to union employees; then extended to the private sector if they cannot be filled after two days.

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Publication Date: Thursday, March 04, 2010

As predictable as night following day, talk of tinkering with education funding in Annapolis provoked a rally on the Statehouse steps by educators, parents, and children decrying any reduction in education funding. As one parent said, "There are some things that are indispensable. Education for our children is one of those things." Certainly. But what does that have to do with how much money is spent on education?

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Publication Date: Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Twenty billion? Great! I was just thinking that's how much I'd like to pay to fix the storm drains in Baltimore City.

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Publication Date: Thursday, February 25, 2010

That Vinny DeMarco is a clever one. In a recent letter to the Baltimore Sun, the self-appointed public health advocate praised the fact that Republican members of the General Assembly did not call for a repeal of the $1 cigarette tax hike (enacted in 2007) as part of their deficit reduction plan. DeMarco claimed that "it saved many lives by reducing the number of packs of cigarettes sold in Maryland by over 73 million..." Notice the clever wording: "reducing the number of cigarettes sold". Could it be that Mr. DeMarco now realizes that this tax hike has not only reduced the number of smokers in the state (as it probably has) but it has also increased cigarette smuggling?

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