How does increasing spending an additional $1.7B close a $1.7B budget gap?

Okay, I am confused. One thing is certain, the MD state budget is increasing. But how much? Well, it sorta depends on who you want to believe. According to Gov. O’Malley and the Baltimore Sun (Governor proposes lean operating budget) the budget is increasing 4%, but according to the Examiner (The truth behind budget numbers) and the state budget highlights (pdf – page 7) the budget is increasing 5.9%.

According to the official MD budget highlights, MD state spending in FY08 will be $29,788M and the projected FY09 spending is $31,546M an increase of $1,758M (5.9%). So we “had” to have an emergency session to raise an estimated $1.4B immediately – so that we could send $1.7B more? (see also the Examiner Editorial: The emergency that never was)

Maybe the debate on how to spend $50M in new bay clean-up funds (Baltimore Sun: Debate continues over use of new bay fund) is illustrative of the problem we have with our state funding as a whole.

The O’Malley administration wants to use its computerized “BayStat” system to determine how to spend a new $50 million Chesapeake Bay cleanup fund, a top official said yesterday.

“We want to be able to refocus funds from programs that aren’t working to those that are,” Natural Resources Secretary John R. Griffin told a Senate committee. “That’s another touchstone of BayStat: rigorous performance review,” he said.

But some lawmakers have other ideas about how the money should be spent, with House leaders wanting percentages for agricultural runoff prevention and other programs and some senators asking for accountability to make sure the money would actually reduce pollution.

Why would accountability even be an issue? One would hope that as Annapolis spends our money that they have some notion of where it is going and how effectively it is being used. Does it not make more sense to develop programs and rank them according to their effectiveness and cost and then allocate funds from the budget? Starting with $50M figure in mind, somehow I’ll bet that they spend every penny no matter what it is used for or how effectively.

What if the most effective programs only cost $47M, do you think they would return that $3M to the state treasury? So what’s a measly $3 million? Well, the $50M allocated for the new Bay Restoration fund only represents 0.16% of the state budget. But, saving $3M from a $50M is 6%. If they we able to “find” similar savings across the entire budget they could save $1.8B, the entire proposed increase and all without the $1.4B in tax increases just past.

Could they have held spending at the FY08 levels? Could they find 6% saving across the entire FY09 budget? Maybe not, but starting with the assumption that they need to spend every dollar of the $31.B revenue that the state is expected collect from Maryland taxpayers in FY09 is sure not a way to get there.

The Right To Vote

Unless you happen to have a seventeen year old in your household, you may not be aware of a brewing controversy regarding his right to vote in the upcoming primary in Howard County. We have been working on understanding and addressing this issue in my own household for a couple of weeks, including contemplating bringing suit. I was please to see an article in this morning’s Baltimore Sun (howard county section) which will hopefully alert the general public to the current situation.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/howard/bal-ho.politics20jan20,0,1843358.story

Basically the situation is this: Americans who are eighteen years old are legally entitled to vote. In many cases, there are primary elections held to determine what candidates will appear on the ballot for the general election. Since those who will be eighteen on the day of the general election are affected by the process which determines who will be on that ballot, it follows that they ought to be allowed to participate in the “primaries” which lead up to the actual general election in which they are legally entitled to participate.

Therefore, individuals who are not yet eighteen but will be on the date of the general election are “allowed” to vote in the applicable primary.

However, as of this writing, it is the intention of the Howard County Board of Elections to limit this “right” and in effect eliminate it for many. Based on “advice” received from the Maryland Attorney General’s office, eligible and registered seventeen year olds will be allowed to vote ONLY for candidates in their registered party. This is also true for those who are already eighteen. Howard County limits voters in primaries to their “own” party. Registered Independent voters are ONLY allowed to cast a vote for non-partisan races.

There will be other races on the February 12 primary ballot which are “non-partisan” – for example, school board candidates. Those who are already eighteen on the day of the primary are allowed to cast a vote in the contested school board primary. However, those who are not yet eighteen will NOT be allowed to cast votes for “non-partisan” races.

Seventeen year olds who registered as “Independent” will NOT be allowed to vote at all.

This is based on the notion that seventeen year olds are ONLY being allowed to vote in the partisan races because of their “right to Freedom of Association” – that registered political parties have a right to allow this “accommodation” to “their” voters.

I have a number of issues with this practice and the supporting “logic”.

However, the main issue is the fractured thinking about partisan rights and “plain citizen” rights.

It is reasonable that primary elections are held to narrow down the candidates who will be on the general election ballot. However, I do not concede the difference between the process to narrow the choices offered by the political “clubs” (Republican or Democrat) and the process to narrow the options available to ALL voters in races which are not officially affiliated with the “clubs” – ie, School Board candidates.

Unless the “state” interest in narrowing the ballot choices transcends political parties and is, in fact, an act in the interest of the public good – then the “state” should not be funding the narrowing down exercise solely for these political clubs.

If there is a legitimate state interest in narrowing the ballot choices – then the same interest is shared with the non-partisan ballot choices.

School Board candidates (and any other non-partisan race candidates) have as much right to appeal to their potential voters as those who are members of political clubs – and citizens who will be voting in the general election have as much right to participate in the candidate narrowing process for non-partisan elections as they do (if not more) than the club members.

Personally, I think the very minor argument that “clubs” don’t want non club members skewing their results pale in comparison to the questions of whether the state ought to be funding solely political club exercises —- and whether SOME legitimate general election voters ought to be precluded from supporting their chosen candidates in the primaries.

Our family has been investigating the options for bringing suit to ensure our soon to be eighteen year old will not have her right to vote censored.

Frankly, I believe Howard County takes a very illogical stance in the way it handles primaries limiting participation based on political club participation. “Swing” voters and “Independents” are likely to be the deciding factor again this year. Both major clubs are potentially harmed by excluding these voters from their primaries. Many other jurisdiction provide “open” primaries without problems with cross party voting manipulations.

In a supposedly open society it is only reasonable to err on the side of openness.

Cindy Vaillancourt

There’s Something Happening Here…

What it is ain’t exactly clear…

Maybe it is.  According to the Baltimore Sun “O’Malley’s approval rating plummets“.  Really?  “…only 35 percent of voters approve of the way he’s handled his job.”  The silver lining is that 48% of voters like him.  Well, of course that is important – isn’t it. 

O’Malley may be what he is but he isn’t stupid.  He raised taxes now so we would forget about it by 2010.  However;

O’Malley – and any legislator who voted for the package – will have their work cut out for them in the next two and a half years if they want to reverse such abysmal numbers, said Raabe, the pollster.

One must wonder what message is in here for the County Executive’s considering the same course of action.  O’Malley hadn’t finished his first term and he raised $1.3B in taxes.  Robey jacked up Howard County taxes by 30% the first year of his second term.  Raising taxes in the second year of a first term won’t be easily forgotten by voters who are now expressing tax fatigue in “The FEE State”.

But turning the tide won’t be easy, especially among many of the “working families” O’Malley has most aggressively courted. Among those with who do not have a college degree, O’Malley’s approval ratings dip into the 20s.

They sound very angry and they should be.

John McCain

Dave Wissing has pointed out that John McCain is surging in the polls in some of the most important upcoming primary states.  The New York Times is writing about it too; McCain Rises in Fluid G.O.P.  The NYT did a poll but they don’t really tell us why they think McCain is surging.

I haven’t settled on anyone as I write this and I admit I had written of McCain like most everyone else.  Then Bhutto was assasinated.  It was scary.  Such a volitale situation every where you turn.  As soon as I heard about Bhutto my mind wandered over to John McCain – I had to take a fresh look. 

I came to the conclusion that this is a crazy place we live in.  We need an experienced leader.  Everyone else can talk about “change” all they want but in this environment I want experience.  I want a secure future for my children. 

Forget about global warming, health insurance, high taxes, low taxes, deficits, immigration (legal and illegal), and imbalances – just for a moment set those aside.  They are important – just set them aside for a moment.

What is the number one constitutional responsibility of the Federal Government?  Provide for the national defense.  Even then as much as I respect the US Constitution lets set that aside for a moment too.

Who in the field today has a better chance to manage the chaos in the world on day one than anyone else.  McCain.  That has to be the President’s first priority because everything else won’t matter if the President doesn’t get that right first.

Bill Richardson, I still think he was the most experienced in the Democratic field.  Some felt he was really running for Vice President.  I would have voted for him for President (he dropped out of course!) and hope that Congress would balance him out domestically.  I won’t vote for Clinton.  I will take a harder look at Obama – but then we have the experience factor to consider – I am afraid he wants to be the Kumbaya President. 

I like Romney, Rudy and Fred.  But right now I guess I would have to say what I didn’t think I would say (I hope my father doesn’t read this) I think I am a McCain man.

Kill GTV – (Stop Spam?)

There is a story out there that the county is going to stop funding the Howard County Government TV to save money.  Starting in July 1, 2008 the channel is planned to be merged with Howard County Community College.

How do I know this?  Well, at the BlogTail Happy hour sponsored by Jessie Newburn at (Hometown Columbia), one of the bloggers asked if anyone else had received an email with this little fact.  Although I had not seen it at he time, it turns out that I had received one sent at 3:41 PM with a not so clever yahoo email address.  This same enterprising Verizon customer then proceeded to add a comments last night on multiple threads on this blog (most have since been marked as spam and removed.)

The story from the Baltimore Sun -  8 to lose jobs as Howard TV studio closes states that this will save $500,000 a year.

Is this post rewarding bad behavior?  After first hearing about this and then seeing the article in the Sun, I would have probably chosen to write about it anyway.  With the thread spamming – well that almost made me decide to not post this so as not to reward bad behavior.

Saving $500,000 is a good thing.  Will the loss of H-GTV be the end of government transparency?   I am a political junkie and regularly listen to CSPAN radio in my car when talk radio switches to sports or other programming.  My IPod/ITunes are filled with Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt, the Northern Alliance, Captain Ed and blog talk radio clips.  And I’ve watched H-GTV maybe once.  And that was only when I wanted to re-watch a candidates forum last election cycle that I had already attended!

I am afraid that H-GTV is one of those things that sound better in theory than in practice.   (In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice;  In practice, there is – Chuck Reid)  With the internet, I’d rather see transcripts posted in a timely manner than trying to figure out when a particular segment would air and then watch it.

The county is going to merge the channel with HCCC, so why not sponsor a TV/Reporting curriculum where students can get practical experience and course credit for recording and producing county hearings and events?  The infrastructure is already in place and it should dramatically reduce costs to Howard County residents while still providing a visual recording of the events.  Posting these events in YouTube fashion would enable residents to watch events on demand.  Reduced cost, increased access and practical experience for students – the only down side is that a spammer may need to find a new job.  Just a thought.

The rule must be “When I intended to write the letter”

I am a big hockey fan (in fact, as of 8:07 AM this morning, FedEx is telling me that my Sidney Crosby Winter Classic vintage jersey is on the truck and should show up sometime today.) In hockey, the rule (32.2, 2006-07 Official Rules) is that a play is not over when the official blows the whistle, rather it is over when the official intended to blow the whistle. Maybe the state democrats use this same interpretation when it comes to the state’s constitution. It’s not when a letter was written or dated that is important, but rather it is when the democratic leadership decides they intended it to be written.

How else can anyone explain the fact that an assistant House Clerk backdated a document and the Maryland Attorney General defends it? Five GOP lawmakers are seeking to overturn the $1.3 billion tax hike passed during the recent “special session” due to procedural violations of the state’s constitution.

From the Baltimore Sun, Independent probe called for in session suit:

At issue is whether House or Senate legislators or staffers did anything improper in drawing up documents related to a five-day break the Senate took during November’s special legislative session. The state Constitution requires either body to seek the other’s approval if it takes more than three days off.

During depositions on Friday, the House of Delegates’ chief clerk, Mary Monahan stated that a document that was prepared on Nov 12th was backdated to Nov 9th, the last time the Senate was in session.

Feeling sick with the flu, Monahan asked Colleen A. Cassidy, an assistant House clerk, to prepare the document on Addison’s behalf, Monahan testified. Monahan said she told Cassidy to seek the legal counsel of the speaker of the House for advice on what date to put on the document. The clerk dated the document Nov. 9, the last time the Senate was in session, not Nov. 12, when the document was being created. It was not clear from the testimony whether Cassidy spoke with the attorney for the speaker.

And the Attorney General’s office view on the potential falsification of official state documents? – In the words of Gary Larson – Move along folks, nothing to see here:

“We are defending the case as completely pointless and useless,” said the [MD Attorney General's] spokeswoman, Raquel Guillory. “We are the ones in court on the opposite side of the aisle, saying the case is without merit. So why would we go to someone else and say, ‘Investigate this?’”

Why indeed? First the Attorney General fought to block the deposition of the Chief Clerk, Mary Monahan for weeks and then we find that dates are really just nuisances when items are entered into an official state record. Does the Attorney General represent just the Democrats or the people of Maryland?