They May Not Have the Power to Plow; But Extending Holidays?

Unconfirmed, Confirmed MD Gov Martin O'Malley may turn Valentine's Day into Valentine's week to help alleviate pain to retailers and other businesses caused by the past week of weather.

Great.

Someone let me know when he extends summer. I could get behind that.

For now I'll just get back to handling the follow-up of having to cancel an event from last night because side and neighborhood roads across the city and state are still under a couple feet of snow. I wonder if O'Malley has the power to do anything about that?

Mass Voters Could Have Elected a Giant Squid For All I Care; As Long As He Was the 41st Vote*

Great Massachusetts senate post-mortem by Dave Weigal in the Washington Independent this morning.

My only thoughts: As a casual observer in Maryland this race reminded me of the 2002 MD gubernatorial race. A lot of parallels between the two. A Democrat in Kathleen Townsend (who also happened to be a Kennedy) ran a really shitty and uninspiring race. A talented center-ish Republican ran a great race and took advantage of the points spotted to him by Townsend. He pulls off a huge upset, becomes the first Republican Governor in Maryland since Spiro Agnew....And he goes on to lose 4 years later to Martin O'Malley. Minus Brown losing to a Baltimore Mayor, the same result will most likely happen in two years. But enjoy it while you can Mass Republicans.

*For the record I do think it's pretty fucking stupid that a majority isn't a majority in the Senate. However, it's 9 times out 10 it's a good thing to make it harder for those old fucks to pass a bill. So it's a wash in my book.

Best News I've Heard All Day

MD will lay off 200 state workers today:

More than 200 state workers will lose their jobs as Gov. Martin O'Malley tries to close a nearly $740 million budget gap amid the national recession. Affected employees are being notified today.
[...]

The rest of Maryland's work force will see their salaries reduced by the equivalent of three to 10 days through a government-shutdown and furlough plan. The two-tiered proposal is designed to have less of an impact on lower-paid workers and gradually require deeper pay cuts so that those making more than $100,000 a year would be docked 10 days' pay.

If the rest of us in the private workforce have to deal with layoffs and wage decreases the most bloated organization in the state should have to face a few tough decisions as well.

In Case You Needed Another Reason To Not Take MTA Buses and Trains...

This caught my eye on the news ticker during my morning walk to work:

The Maryland Transit Administration is considering installing audio surveillance equipment on its buses and trains to record conversations of passengers and employees, according to a letter sent by the MTA's top official to the state Attorney General's Office.

The letter, reported by the Maryland Politics Watch blog, seeks legal guidance on whether installing such equipment would violate Maryland's anti-wiretapping law. In his letter, MTA Administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld notes that the MTA already uses video cameras for security aboard its vehicles

I'm confused as to how recording conversation on a train or bus would do anything to improve the safety of passengers or drivers. This isn't to say that they don't need to do something to improve conditions on the trains in Baltimore (which must be far and away the largest and most concentrated MTA operation in the state), because they do, but I'm unclear as to how recording conversations would do accomplish anything different from the already installed cameras.

As for the reaction to the MTA letter...I'm curious as to why the public might see a difference between recording your image or recording your voice. 'Cause I don't see it. I'll save my long rant for a few days or so to see how the public reaction plays out; but my sense is that people feel as though it's more of a violation of their privacy to have a conversation recorded as opposed to an image with no sound. I suppose that might be correct; but the difference between cameras on every street corner, bus, and train and cameras with microphones on every street corner, bus, and train doesn't seem like a big one to me. We already handed over the rights, now we are just arguing over baby steps forward and back.

Preakness Round-Up

As Archibald noted the Preakness was missing one crucial component to the infield party -- people...I want to offer some quick thoughts because I've got a blog and can. I promise no more Preakness blogging after this.

To clarify: I don't think that banning BYOB was/is a necessarily bad idea. Nor do I think that it is necessarily the correct idea. I agree that the infield was getting beyond dangerous to a level that I've never seen anything like it before or after, and most attendees will repeat the same sentiments. That being said, there were other options to consider; like an increased security presence, selling fewer tickets, creating a separate area in the infield without the BYOB'ers, etc. Any combination of these might have been worth a try for a year before taking the drastic step they ended up doing.

Add in the curious marketing and communication blunders and you have one poorly executed event, which if it wasn't one of the biggest sporting events of the year, and on the verge of leaving the state of Maryland, wouldn't be a big deal. A couple of examples. They announced the BYOB change within 6 months of the event and handled the media roll out of the news as though they had no idea that the reaction would be overwhelmingly negative. Why not keep it BYOB for this year and one week after the race announce the change? Why do it so close to race? Makes no sense.

They also had no idea how to market the infield "party". They claim they are banning outside booze to increase the experience for infield attendees while classing up the event. Then they make it a concert, add a bikini bash and run TV spots and print ads that clearly are supposed to appeal to the college age market. Scantily clad women and reminders that there will be no limit of alcohol purchases. $1 drafts in the first 3 hours! Cheap beer for the rest of the day! If you want that crowd and their $60 dollars then don't ban the BYOB. If you want a older more sedate crowd that might gamble more and buy your alcohol then fine, appeal to them. But someone figure out what the goal is.

I think that the banning outside beer was merely a revenue play, and until the numbers come out we will have to see if they failed or succeeded with their bottom line. I read/heard reports from beer vendors that beer sales were actually slower than in previous years. Previous years when people where bringing their own beer in. To repeat -- They were doing less volume in beer sales even though they had zero competition. Not good. On a positive note, betting was reportedly up, so time will tell how the exact revenue numbers shape up. I wouldn't be optimistic if I was the Maryland Jockey Club or Pimlico.

Preaks And Valleys

Last week Rob wrote about the changes at Maryland's Preakness:

Maryland Jockey Club [is] doing its best to keep ticket sales and attendee enthusiasm down to a minimum. [Ticket sales are down 15% from last year] The general buzz surrounding the event is poor to negative; which -- IMHO -- might not be a positive while you are fighting to keep the historic race in Maryland.

First they ban the BYOB policy that comes part-and-parcel with the infield ticket.

Well, Rob called that one, as the Baltimore Examiner reports. Attendance was way down this year because the party wasn't happening:

Wow, I knew infield attendance would drop significantly this year (I didn't go) but I was speechless after seeing overhead shots with huge, open plots of grass.

I'm not sure there was more than 20,000 people in the infield. The Maryland Jockey Club should be ashamed of themselves.

Goddammit people, it's a fucking recession. I mean, shit, if they don't have a reason to drink now ...

If You Are Going To Tax Millionaires, You Might Want To First Make Sure You Still Have Millionaires To Tax

Uh-oh:

One of Maryland's budget-balancing tactics - asking millionaires to pay more money to the state - appears to be backfiring as the number of the highest-earning taxpayers dwindles with the flagging economy.

A year ago, Maryland became one of the first states in the nation to create a higher tax bracket for millionaires as part of a broader package of maneuvers intended to help balance the state's finances and make the tax code more progressive.

But as the state comptroller's office sifts through this year's returns, it is finding that the number of Marylanders with more than $1 million in taxable income who filed by the end of April has fallen by one-third, to about 2,000. Taxes collected from those returns as of last month have declined by roughly $100 million.

Predictable.

Let me point out what I love about this -- and it has nothing to do with the stupid, counter-productive tax policy of my state. Look at how the reporter words the very first statement -- the state is.."asking millionaires to pay more money to the state.." Asking? I must have missed that when I filed my taxes this year. I didn't see an option for saying "No". Believe me I would have checked that box. (added -- Clarification: I'm not one of these millionaires. Unless a millionaire means that you have $258 in your checking account.) I'm confident -- however -- that I didn't miss that box on my forms and therefore wasn't given an option to tell the state or feds to fuck off and give me back my money.

It's fucked up that editors even let that pass by (understanding of course, that the only editor at the Sun after the latest round of layoffs is a one-armed monkey named Moe that pees on his desk.)Someone should have drawn a big fat red line threw that lie and written over it, "One of Maryland's attempts at budget-balancing - forcing millionaires with the threat of violence to pay more money to the state - appears to be backfiring...blah, blah, blah.

Prepare Yourself for the Preakness Debauchery That Is....ZZ Top??

We're getting close to annual and death-defying tradition that is Preakness. It may be on it's last leg as the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown, but that hasn't stopped the Maryland Jockey Club from doing its best to keep ticket sales and attendee enthusiasm down to a minimum. [Ticket sales are down 15% from last year] The general buzz surrounding the event is poor to negative; which -- IMHO -- might not be a positive while you are fighting to keep the historic race in Maryland.

First they ban the BYOB policy that comes part-and-parcel with the infield ticket. Then, to compensate for the only reason anyone goes (the ability to bring coolers of cheap beer) they book supposed "added value" entertainment acts...like ZZ Top. No fucking joke. Because we all know that 20 year old college kids will spend $60 to pay $3.50/beer and listen to ZZ Top, right? As this guy who was quoted in the New York Times article says:

“I’m definitely not going this year, and I don’t know anyone who is,” said James Reiter, 28, of Baltimore. “ZZ Top seems lame to me. Maybe they’re trying to calm things down, but the older people who come to enjoy themselves go to the grandstands, not the infield.”

I concur. Mind you, I wouldn't be caught dead at Preakness this year or any other year, because as I said last year around this time -- " I plan on finding just about anything else to do. Golf, yard work, rounding up feral cats at the dump, you name it -- I'd rather be doing it. Preakness is something to be done once, maybe twice, but only if you're lucky enough to survive the first one."

However, just because I have enough sense to not put myself in that situation, doesn't mean that the idiots who are willing should be deprived of that chance. As a Squishy conservative, (and I do mean Squishy with a capital S) I believe in tradition and institutions. This goes double for traditions that involve: nudity, drugs, people running across urinals, people running across urinals AND getting pelted with beer cans, more nudity, and gambling.


P.S. -- Micheal Phelps stripper update: Apparently the stripper in question was from Scores. Not surprising. On a surprising but not really related note: There is a great farmer's market on Sundays, about a block or so down from the Scores in Baltimore. Strippers and organic greens...mmmmm

Doing Her Part To Represent Maryland

So you've worn the swimsuits and the evening gowns and won the Miss Maryland crown. What do you do next to represent your home state? Hmmmm....

From the wonderful folks at Fox News:

GERMANTOWN,Md. - Life has certainly changed for a Maryland beauty queen, now busted on drug charges. Police arrested Tia Shorts, Miss Maryland USA 2004, on Wednesday at her home in Germantown.

Police say she and her boyfriend were dealing drugs from their apartment. She's now charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana.

"I guess something must have gone wrong, or I mean obviously we didn't know what was going on with them. There was more than meets the eye I guess." said neighbor Rebecca Straus.

It's for the Kids...And One Self-Righetous Douche Bag of a Lawmaker

News from the Free State:

A Maryland lawmaker hopes to pass a bill that would prohibit people from smoking while driving young children around.

Montgomery County Sen. Mike Lenett is sponsoring a measure that would fine people who smoke in the car while driving children under the age of 8. Drivers would also be fined if they allow another passenger to smoke in the car while in the presence of children under the age of 8. Lenett's bill sets a $50 fine for violations.

Seven senators have agreed to co-sponsor the legislation.

My takeaway? According to this proposed legislation, the great state of Maryland would condone lung cancer for kids over the age of 8. The outrage of it all!

Maryland Takes the Donald Trump Approach to Gambling

Maryland falls short of projected lottery revenue after a string of “bad luck”:

An extraordinary lucky streak for Maryland lottery players has meant more bad news for a state budget already hobbled by the recession.

Maryland lottery revenue has fallen $27 million below projections since July, largely because a high number of lottery players won big on the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games.

Defying the odds, a series of the same digit was drawn eight times for the game in which players choose three numbers, and once in which they choose four. In those games, players often pick a same-number series out of superstition or for other reasons, officials said.

Why Only Temporary?

Baltimore Sun:

Gov. Martin O'Malley is proposing temporary furloughs for more than 67,000 state employees and a shutdown of state government operations for two days during the coming holidays, according to internal documents provided yesterday to The Baltimore Sun.

The proposal would save $34.4 million and help to keep the anemic state budget in the black, according to a letter from Budget Secretary T. Eloise Foster addressed to union officials and provided to The Sun and other news outlets. While the O'Malley administration doesn't need approval from labor unions - a key constituency for the governor - contours of the proposal were hammered out in consultation with union officials.

O'Malley, a Democrat, met with union officials last week and asked them to share the burden of budget cutting that has affected nearly every state agency. He promised to compensate them for sacrifices when economic times improve, according to participants in that meeting.

So let's see if I understand this. Maryland, like most other states, overspent when tax revenues were rolling in and taxed the fuck out of already cash-strapped residents. Then, the economy slows, tax revenue slows and they are left with a huge deficit because they thought the idea of business cycles was, you know, like outdated or something.

Now, O'Malley drastically needs to trim the budget so he wants state employees to sacrifice a few days of pay instead of just firing some of the worthless leeches that work in Baltimore and Annapolis. In order for the unions to go along with this (mostly AFSCME, and it's not even guaranteed that they will give their blessings as of yet) he has to promise to "compensate them for sacrifices made when economic times improve", therefore putting us right back where we started in another 5 years and not dealing with the structural problem of a bloated state government.

Are they all just corrupt assholes constantly bending over for each other? Or just ignorant fucktards who have no foresight? Which would be better?

How To Find a TtP Blogger This Halloween

The state of Maryland is now requiring convicted sex offenders to have the above sign placed out in front of their house.

The signs began arriving last week in the mailboxes of the about 1,200 violent and child-sex offenders across Maryland. The signs were accompanied by a letter explaining they must stay at home, turn off outside lights and not answer the door on Halloween.

The best part of the story is the letter the state sent to the offenders:

"Halloween provides a rare opportunity for you to demonstrate to your neighbors that you are making a sincere effort to change the direction of your life."

Pack Shack Foils Howard County at Every Anti-Pornography Turn

Is this the definition of having nothing better to do?

For 11 years, Howard County officials and some residents have fought to close the jurisdiction's only adult bookstore.

They've passed legislation and waged costly legal battles, only to be thwarted time and again.

And now, despite a county law designed to force the Ellicott City store to move away from nearby homes or close, the Pack Shack appears poised to prevail again - maintaining its "Adult Video" sign along a busy stretch of U.S. 40, along with shelves of explicit movies, skimpy lingerie and sex toys.

The store's solution? Filling its basement and other little-used areas with a broad selection of used books that most customers may never see.

"I'm very bitter," said John Baronas, an Ellicott City resident who first protested the store in 1997 and fears that pornography spurs sex crimes. "Why, if [Rudolph W.] Giuliani can clean up Times Square, can't we get rid of an eyesore?"

It doesn't say in the article, but I'm pretty sure John is bitter because he doesn't have a brain. To begin with Ellicott City isn't Times Square. It's Ellicott City...In Howard County, MD. One of the richest, crime-free counties in the Baltimore-Washington area. There isn't a rape epidemic, or any crime epidemic in Howard County because of one porno store called The Pack Shack (which incidentally is a great name). In 2007 there were 19 rapes (yet county police only arrested 6 suspects) in the entire county to go along with 4 murders within a county population that is over 270,000. The rape rate is nearly half of what it is for the rest of Maryland, and homicide rate doesn't even come close to the state average.

And just a reminder for John: It's 2008 and we are blessed with computers and the Internet, both of which allow scumbags like myself to stay up until all hours of the morning watching completely free and completely disgusting porn in my very own home. While I'm sure The Pack Shack gives its customers a helluva' selection you could no more stem the flow of pornography into your county by unlawfully closing one porn shop than you could slow the flow of white yuppies in Howard County by closing down one Starbucks.* However, that isn't an argument for closing The Pack Shack; it's a business that follows the law and clearly has a market, and just because some activists and silly county executives don't like it doesn't mean that's a good enough reason to close it.

More here including how the county blew $187,000 in taxpayer money.

*Disclaimer: I own a very small amount of Starbucks stock that like most everything else in my portfolio has lost me a lot of money in the last 3 months.

Mishap=Gunshots to the Torso and Arm

Two Maryland teens "shot in police mishap" during a drug investigation in Howard County.

Two teenagers were wounded yesterday by a shot apparently fired accidentally by a Howard County police officer during an investigation of suspected drug activity in a Jessup neighborhood, police said.

A 14-year-old boy who was shot in the torso was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, and a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the arm was taken to Howard County General Hospital, police said.

Don't worry, they found drugs:

Llewellyn said illegal drugs were recovered at the scene but did not say whether police suspect that the wounded youths were buying or selling them.

A 'Lean' Budget With an 4% Increase in Spending

Baltimore Sun:

Governor proposes lean operating budget

After a bruising special session to address Maryland's chronic deficits, Gov. Martin O'Malley proposed one of the leanest state budgets in the past two decades, relying on cuts in open space and road maintenance and a slowdown in an education spending initiative to place the state on sound financial footing.

The governor proposed a 4 percent increase in the state's operating budget - the lowest in five years and one of the lowest in the past 25 years. A 7.5 percent increase was approved by the General Assembly last year.

Lean? A 4% increase counts as lean? It might be a modest reduction in the growth of government spending, but certainly it isn't 'lean budget'. Especially during a time when the taxpayers have been told to suck it up and pay more, due to the dismal financial situation of the state.

Full article here.

Republicans With Spines?

I missed this one last week. Maryland GOP is suing to invalidate the tax increases (set to go in effect this week) from the previous special session of the General Assembly on the basis of a procedural error. My wallet wishes them luck.

Pleasantly Ironic

Maryland politics. [emphasis mine]

House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve, who has supported stricter drunken-driving laws, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after being arrested in Gaithersburg late Thursday, police said.[...]

Wagner said the delegate failed a field sobriety test and was found to have a 0.10 blood-alcohol level through a preliminary breath test, which is not admissible as evidence in court. The legal limit is 0.08.

Barve was handcuffed and taken to a county police station in Gaithersburg, where he refused a blood-alcohol test.[...]

Barve, a Gaithersburg resident, has been a member of the House since 1991 and majority leader since 2003.

He is a member of the Ways and Means, Joint Technology Oversight, Legislative Policy and Spending Affordability committees.

He was one of the sponsors of a 2001 bill that changed the state's legal blood-alcohol level for drivers from 0.10 to 0.08.

Washington Post, Slots, etc

God bless this introductory paragraph in a Washington Post piece today on the Secretary of Labor, etc (a few other areas fall under him).

Thomas E. Perez's liberal credentials couldn't be more solid: At the Justice Department, he prosecuted a Texas gang of white supremacists who targeted blacks in a deadly crime rampage. On Capitol Hill, he counseled Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) on civil rights and criminal justice issues. And on the Montgomery County Council, Perez annoyed business interests by crusading against predatory lending.

So only a good liberal would prosecute white supremacist who went on a "deadly crime rage"? A conservative, or libertarian for that matter, would what, just look the other way? Unbelievable.

BTW, the article is about Perez and his front-line support for O'Malley's slots machine proposal. It seems that everyone is shocked, shocked I say, that politicians are two-faced, hypocritical scumbags who lack conviction and change their positions on issues at the drop of an opportunistic hat. In this case it is gambling, or more specifically slots. When former Republican Gov. Bob Ehrlich tried to pass a bill allowing slots in Maryland he was met with fierce opposition from Democrats who controlled (and still do control) both houses of the legislature. This wasn't some time in the distant past, rather it was in the last 2 years. And no one seemed, or still seems to care how these gutless politicians have simply changed their mind because their guy is advocating slots now.

This is the money quote from the article on the Secretary:

"I certainly hear from many friends in the progressive community who say, 'Tom, how can you support slots?' " Perez said in a recent interview. "I give them a simple answer.

"I'm motivated in large part because I want to address the problems of the uninsured. I want to address the undereducated, and I want to address the challenges confronting people who are living in the shadows of our communities. The reality is we need a funding source to address these challenges."

Who exactly is that funding source? In the case of slots, it's much the same as state lottery's -- poor and elderly people. Don't mistake me, I have no qualms with gambling. None at all. But I do have problems with a state-run gambling monopolies that block out private casinos and limit choices for the player. Most of all I hate that the government supposedly bans gambling to protect the potentially exploited "victims" of the industry, but then turns around and does the exact same thing they said they were trying to prevent. Disgusting.

Full article here.

Christmas in October

BALTIMORE — To discourage contact with children, some registered sex offenders in Maryland will be asked to post signs at their homes that say "No Candy at This Residence," on Halloween.

[...]

In addition to the signs, all such offenders have been advised in a letter to stay home from 6 p.m. on Halloween until the next morning, leave their lights off and refuse to answer their doors.

Offenders can arrange with their parole or probation officers to be elsewhere that night, and accommodations can be made for offenders who abide by the restrictions but don't want to post the signs, Bartholomew said.

"There will be some houses where it's a sex offender's house and there's not a 'No Candy' sign posted, but in all those instances, someone will be going to the house to make sure the right thing is happening at that house," Bartholomew said.

Sure, the "No Candy Here" sign works great...That is until the pedophile writes, "Wink, Wink" at the bottom of it...Full article here.

Top on Three More Tax Hikes

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is rolling out his budget in baby steps. Even in a state like Maryland it can be tough to announce on one day that you want to raise every single tax possible. Who would've known.....The latest has him raising the gas-tax .8 cents per year (I'm assuming indefinitely), the automobile titling tax a full percentage point to 6%, and increase in the corporate income tax a full percentage point to 8%, and some nasty accounting regulations that would make doing business in Maryland even more painful.

This I love:

The governor said the state is facing a $40 billion backlog in transportation projects and that without new money, Maryland's economy would be at risk.

"Marylanders in the Washington area waste a full week of work every year sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic," O'Malley said. "It's a different kind of tax. It's a tax by circumstance. A tax based on our failure to invest."

Different kind of tax...See, I might be old-fashion but I think the worst types of taxes are the ones where the government steals money from me. And O'Malley sure does seem to be a fan of these regressive tax increases -- sales and gas...How do poor people in Maryland feel about this? Full article here.

Friday Links

The next GOP debate will be held in Baltimore, at Morgan State, and will address minority issues. That is if they can actually get any of the legitamite GOP candidates to actually show up. Here's looking forward to a Paul, Hunter, Tancredo debate come Sept 27th!

Who thinks Marylanders don't pay enough taxes? Governor O'Malley, that's who.

Stadium cleaners get what they want, and will be part of the $11.30 living wage bill in Maryland. People who pick up trash for 81 days a year now coming dangerously close to my salary...

The story that I couldn't escape on my last trip abroad takes a predictable, but yet interesting twist, as the British parents of the missing Madeleine McCann are officially named suspects by the Portuguese officials.

Teacher facing 105 years in prison after being convicted of having sex with students in a motel, behind a restaurant and in a park.

Speaking of rape (what a segway), I heard this piece of advice around the worst selection of donuts I've ever seen in the office lunchroom. A middle-age mom telling another middle-age mom--"I tell my daughter, if you have to drink, get shots, that way no one can slip anything in your drink." Brilliant! We -- and by we I mean Cicero and Rob -- need more mothers out there telling their college age daughters to get fucked up and to get fucked up quicker. I love irrational fear!

Don't Go Back to Rockville... Er, Silver Spring... Um, Wheaton

What interests me most about yesterday's arrest of Chinese-Mexican businessman Zhenli Ye Gon just outside Washington, DC isn't the fact that U.S. drug cops are calling him part of "the largest single drug cash seizure the world has ever seen." Instead, it's this:

When the law caught up with Ye Gon on Monday night, his weeks on the lam ended in an Asian restaurant on Veirs Mill Road in Wheaton -- in P.J. Rice Bistro, in Westfield Wheaton mall, near a Ruby Tuesday and a JCPenney.

So now it's Wheaton Yesterday it was Rockville. Or maybe Silver Spring.

The funny* thing is that this isn't some sort of reporting error. I don't know anyone who knows where one city ends and the next begins**.

Even the phone company doesn't know, as evidenced by the fact that when my girlfriend's mom calls our place, our caller ID identifies her as calling from Silver Spring (even though she pays her taxes in Rockville). Google maps refuses to give Wheaton the time of day (note the search term and the search result), even though the state of Maryland acknowledges it as a place (albeit an unincorporated one).

Don't go back? I'm not sure I've even been.

*Possibly funny, at least to people in the DC area.

**I lived for a brief time in Kensington, Md., which -- if it's even a real place -- somehow manages to fit itself snugly inside the Wheaton/Rockville/Silver Spring trifecta.