MD Elections 2014

TopShelf said:

Received an email from Hogan for a fundraiser in with he and Chris Christie. It is $250 a ticket and at someones home in Potomac. That would be interesting...

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That was mentioned in this WaPo article. Surprisingly balanced for WaPo.

At diner, New Jersey’s Chris Christie buoys Larry Hogan supporters in Maryland
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...deed989ae9a2_story.html?wpisrc=nl_buzz&wpmm=1

BeoBill said:

That was mentioned in this WaPo article. Surprisingly balanced for WaPo.

At diner, New Jersey’s Chris Christie buoys Larry Hogan supporters in Maryland
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...deed989ae9a2_story.html?wpisrc=nl_buzz&wpmm=1

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Thanks for the share. Agreed, pretty balanced. Especially for WaPo. Did they fire the reporter yet? ;-)

TopShelf said:

Thanks for the share. Agreed, pretty balanced. Especially for WaPo. Did they fire the reporter yet? ;-)

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Wagner has been assigned to cover the Hogan Mystery, and try to figure out why he seems to have a chance.

I don't feel he is out to do damage, but some of his stuff recently has upset some people.

Just got my sample ballot yesterday. Does anyone know about the 3 Court of Special Appeals judges that are up for continuance in office? Are they rights ignorers??

Kevin Arthur, Andrea Leahy and Douglas Nazarian.

I'll see what I can dig up as well.

EDIT: All 3 are recent Owe'Malley appointees. It appears as though Nazarian was chairman of the PSC before getting appointed to his judgeship. Leahy appears to have served as Glendening's chief counsel. Not finding a whole lot about Arthur. Looks like a big fat NO for all 3, unless someone is able to find some redeeming qualities.

daNattyFatty said:

Just got my sample ballot yesterday. Does anyone know about the 3 Court of Special Appeals judges that are up for continuance in office? Are they rights ignorers??

Kevin Arthur, Andrea Leahy and Douglas Nazarian.

I'll see what I can dig up as well.

EDIT: All 3 are recent Owe'Malley appointees. It appears as though Nazarian was chairman of the PSC before getting appointed to his judgeship. Leahy appears to have served as Glendening's chief counsel. Not finding a whole lot about Arthur. Looks like a big fat NO for all 3, unless someone is able to find some redeeming qualities.

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My motto is vote them all out!

Owe'Malley appointees. Good enough reason right there for me to vote NO.

I have a separate question: What do people think about the two proposed Constitutional Amendments on the ballots: Question 01 making it more difficult to transfer funds out of the Transportation Trust Fund and Question 02 allowing for special elections to fill vacancies in County Executive offices?

The second question seems straightforward so I'll pass over that. The first one on first blush looks like an overwhelmingly good thing. Every year the governor and the General Assembly raid the Transportation Trust Fund. Every year our roads get worse. Every year Annapolis sheds crocodile tears, saying we don't have enough money to fix our roads, so we need to raise your gas taxes, raise your tolls, etc. And every year they play the same shell game and the cycle repeats. Billions of dollars have been silently transferred away from transportation infrastructure, to be frittered away elsewhere in their profligate spending on all manner of pork. So this seems like a no-brainer.

Ref: http://onyourballot.vote411.org/race-detail.do?id=12833082#.VFI5NL4f98M

But if that's the case, why then did so many clear-thinking friends of ours, 2A supporters, and people I would normally trust in the General Assembly, vote against the bill while it was being considered?

Refs:
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/f...b=subject3&id=sb0829,s-1324&stab=02&ys=2013RS
and
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/f...b=subject3&id=sb0829,h-1343&stab=02&ys=2013RS

I don't get the disconnect. Thoughts?

(Sorry if this is a dup; I searched but did not find any other posts on this topic.)

I like both of them.

Q1 has a pro and a con I don't know if folks notice, though. The "pro" is that, while there is no real change in the approval, it does require an actual formal declaration of an emergency. The "con" may be that there could be allocations made (i.e., "Silver Line" funding) that might get locked in and not used for other transportation-related needs.

Q2 is just plain good, IMO. No backroom appointments in Charter County vacancies.

Also, if folks knew how the budget process really worked here, they'd be furious.

Going out now to vote these mutha****as out, well most of them anyway. If there are any shenanigans with the machine, I'm raising hell!

Mr H said:

I like both of them.

Q1 has a pro and a con I don't know if folks notice, though. The "pro" is that, while there is no real change in the approval, it does require an actual formal declaration of an emergency. The "con" may be that there could be allocations made (i.e., "Silver Line" funding) that might get locked in and not used for other transportation-related needs.

Q2 is just plain good, IMO. No backroom appointments in Charter County vacancies.

Also, if folks knew how the budget process really worked here, they'd be furious.

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There is this abut question 2:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-ballot-letter-20141026-story.html

On twitter, Asked brian frosh (@brianfrosh) about why he held up Jessica's Law (mandatory longer sentences for child molesters). You all should also! Seems pro-child molester to me. FOr those that don't know, he is the very anti-2A Democrat running for Maryland's Attorney General.
http://www.examiner.com/article/sen...an-frosh-holding-up-jessica-s-law-enhancement

He was finally dragged kicking and crying to let it out.

Currently, he has sat on "Lynnette's Law" (Sexual Abuse by Persons in Authority) for 2 sessions, despite some very powerful testimony.

LETTER FROM THE BROWN CAMPAIGN BEGGING FOR MONEY

He needs handouts "to keep the lights on" just like his supporters.


BROWN EMAIL:

We’ve got just four days to Election Day, and our momentum has never been stronger. The Washington Jewish Times, Baltimore Jewish Times, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, and the Afro have all backed our campaign, while President Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton — and this coming Monday First Lady Michelle Obama — have lent their support to rally voters.

But we need your help to finish the job and get out the vote in counties all across Maryland. Can you donate $25 right now to help fund the last four days of our voter turnout program?

We're in the homestretch of this campaign, and now is where you can play a big role by ensuring we have the resources to staff phone banks, give voters rides to the polls, and keep the lights on in field offices in neighborhoods near you.

Click here to donate $25 to help support get out the vote efforts in your county.

The support for our campaign has been overwhelming from all corners of the state. Here is what the press is saying about our campaign to build a better Maryland:

The Washington Jewish Times

"Brown has crucial experience that Hogan lacks: eight years as lieutenant governor, another eight as a state delegate, and military service including a 10-month Army Reserve stint in Iraq while serving in the statehouse. "

The Baltimore Jewish Times

“In the races for the top two state positions on Tuesday, Brian Frosh for attorney general and Anthony Brown for governor, both Democrats, are more experienced and more in tune with mainstream Maryland voters than their opponents.”

The Washington Post

“Mr. Brown is the more serious and substantial candidate. He has a better grasp of how to operate the levers of government and how to bolster Maryland’s competitiveness while tending to basic needs.”

The Baltimore Sun

“Mr. Brown, by contrast, is well versed in all aspects of state government, and his views are clear. After eight years as lieutenant governor and eight as a delegate before that, he knows how to get things done in Annapolis.”

The Afro

“We support the election of Anthony Brown as the next governor of the State of Maryland. The O’Malley/Brown administration has achieved a number of important accomplishments since the last gubernatorial election. The elimination of the death penalty, successful passage of minimum wage legislation are but a few of their positive achievements over the past four years.”

As you can see, we’ve got the momentum — we just need to make sure we have the funding to take advantage. Click here to donate $25 right now and help fund our campaign over the last four days.

Thank you for helping us finish strong, and together, we’ll win this thing,

Justin Schall
Campaign Manager

Howard County Times endorses Hogan:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/ma...ph-ho-cf-endorse-governor-20141029-story.html

I see this as a pretty good thing - Howard county has leaned left and went for Owe'Malley in both 2010 and 2006, so the fact that it might break and go blue this time is good news in my book.

"Brown has crucial experience that Hogan lacks: eight years as lieutenant governor, another eight as a state delegate, and military service including a 10-month Army Reserve stint in Iraq while serving in the statehouse. "

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WHOA!!!

Where'd the other 29 years and 2 months go?!?!!!

Final count of early voting is in, and just over 8% of registered voters turned out.

While I still believe low turnout favors the Rs, it's pathetic that we'll be hoping to get 20% out of this.

I'll see if I can find a breakdown of turnout by area (not my bailiwick), but if anyone has that more handy, it should be beneficial.

Mr H said:

Final count of early voting is in, and just over 8% of registered voters turned out.

While I still believe low turnout favors the Rs, it's pathetic that we'll be hoping to get 20% out of this.

I'll see if I can find a breakdown of turnout by area (not my bailiwick), but if anyone has that more handy, it should be beneficial.

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Trying not to get my hopes up too much. I've done what I can in terms of voting and encouraging others to vote intelligently. Now it's time to see how many uninformed, misinformed, or otherwise incompetent people show up to boost the other side.

Here's some more detail on what's been released thus far: pardon my wapo

Long story short, it's mixed news thus far. It's so preliminary that it's almost not worth thinking about (and certainly not worth dwelling on), but if wapo isn't already declaring victory for Brown, that's a good start.

MrNiceGuy said:

Trying not to get my hopes up too much. I've done what I can in terms of voting and encouraging others to vote intelligently. Now it's time to see how many uninformed, misinformed, or otherwise incompetent people show up to boost the other side.

Here's some more detail on what's been released thus far: pardon my wapo

Long story short, it's mixed news thus far. It's so preliminary that it's almost not worth thinking about (and certainly not worth dwelling on), but if wapo isn't already declaring victory for Brown, that's a good start.

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Interesting...

I mentioned some numbers from earlier in the week, that a higher % of Rs that voted in 2010 are voting as compared to comparable Ds

If we cogitate a bit, we can probably guess that there are also a lot fewer disaffected Rs than Ds, and that the independent (read: self-directed) voters are more likely to break R.

I'm really leaning toward confident here.

Early Voting Numbers From Cecil Co.

As reported in the Cecil Whig.

4,130 early votes. (In 2010 there were 3.389; and in the Primary this year it was 2,227)

2,091 Republicans voted.

1,533 Democrats voted. (includes DINO's)

506 Other party or unaffiliated voted.

Care to guess which way Cecil Co. is leaning.
In the 2012 Presidential race the breakdown of Registered Voters in Cecil County was:
Democrat 24,197 (Includes DINO's)
Republican 24,372
Green 140
Libertarian 244
Unaffiliated 12,824
Other 744