Maryland GOP Week In Review: April 7, 2006

From the Maryland GOP, in this issue:

• Democrats’ campaign strategy against Michael Steele leaked



• Special session on deregulation debacle?  More and more likely



• Fail kids or fail the Democratic Party’s code of protectionism: Democrats must decide



• Fixing the election; Post calls Democrats “arrogant,” “brazenly partisan,” “responsible” for fraud

Democrats’ campaign strategy against Michael Steele leaked

The Maryland Republican Party has a copy of the Maryland Democratic Party’s now-infamous poll that was the subject of a Washington Post article this week-- Poll Finds Steele May Be Magnet for Black Voters.   It’s a very interesting and enlightening poll about the Democratic Party’s strategy against Michael Steele.  Let’s get some of the contents of the poll out of the way first:  The poll was conducted for the Maryland Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (not the Democratic National Committee as the executive director of the state Dem Party has stated to the press.)   The poll was directed at African American likely voters.  It found that 43% of those polled were part of the Democratic base.   Steele supporters make up 14%.  And a whopping 44% are swing voters.  The swing voters are largely young, African American males who agree with Michael Steele’s message of empowerment, opportunity and outreach.   These voters also recognize that the failure by Democratic politicians in urban areas creates large scale problems in the education system and the students are ultimately the ones who suffer (hello, Martin O’Malley?).   The poll also found strong support for Governor Ehrlich and Lt. Governor Steele in the African American community.  

 

The conclusions of the poll were as follows, and we’ve italicized because it’s verbatim from the poll results: 

• Governor Ehrlich and Michael Steele have a clear ability to break through the Democratic stronghold among African American voters in Maryland.  



• At this time a majority of African American voters are open to supporting Steele, particularly younger voters.  



• Steele’s messaging to the African American community has clearly had a positive affect



• Democrats must be aggressive, Steele is a unique challenge.  Democrats cannot afford to wait until after the primary election to KNOCK STEELE DOWN.  A persuasion campaign should start as soon as possible to discredit Steele as a viable candidate for the community.



• Connecting Steele to National Republicans…can turn Steele into a typical Republican in the eyes of voters, AS OPPOSED TO AN AFRICAN AMERICAN CANDIDATE.

 

All of this should sound familiar because the state’s Democratic Party has followed their pollsters advice to the T.   Rather than listening to the African American community and addressing their concerns, state Democrats are listening to DC pollsters.   And their dirty campaign strategy has been in effect for months and even years.   For instance, remember when Senate President Mike Miller called Michael Steele an “Uncle Tom?”   Remember when the Baltimore Sun said Steele brought nothing to the ticket but the color of his skin?   Remember when Terry Lierman disparaged Clarence Thomas—the first African American Supreme Court Justice and a Republican—in his efforts to smear Michael Steele?  When Baltimore Delegate Salima Marriott compared Steele to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white on the inside?  When a liberal blogger called Steele a “Simple Sambo” and defaced his picture with minstrel make up?  And when Steny Hoyer called Steele a “token?”

And since November, the Maryland Democratic Party has sent out at least 11 press releases trying to tie Steele to Bush/Cheney/Rove.   And all their public comments by their press people (and Ben Cardin’s campaign) about Steele have the exact same messaging.  Pretty pathetic of the state Democrats and a candidate for U.S. Senate.   Rather than a positive vision and solid accomplishments, they use the politics of personal destruction and their national counterparts commit felonies to attain their goals.   More dumpster diving from the state and national Democrats to come? 

Also interesting is the state Democrats’ marginalization of one of their own African American candidates, former Congressman Kweisi Mfume.   Here’s a quote from Mike Miller this week which illustrates their attempts to coronate Ben Cardin as the Democratic Party’s candidate while ignoring the candidacy of Mfume:  “He also believes that Cardin, who has been in Congress since 1987, is the right person for the job.   ‘He's like an old shoe you are comfortable with,’ Miller said. ‘He's a workhorse. He's going to get the job done’" (Blacks’ concerns key in U.S. Senate race, Baltimore Sun, April 6, 2006.)  Well, you know what they say about old shoes?  They need to be thrown out.

The failure to be neutral by Democratic Party leaders like Miller shows they learned nothing from the 2002 elections.   They have no concern for the will of the people or the voters voice.   Mike Miller, Mike Busch, Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lierman, Steny Hoyer, Ben Cardin and Martin O’Malley have made their back room deals and the coronations have begun.  

Read the Maryland Republican Party’s news releases on the poll and the insulting strategy of state Democrats for the November elections:  Dems' Race-Bait Strategy Against Steele A Proven Fact and Ben Cardin, Are You Out There?

Never mind that under the Ehrlich/Steele Administration, the state’s minority business process was cleaned up and reformed to get more minority and women-owned businesses access to state contracts.   Never mind that under Ehrlich/Steele, need-based scholarships increased by more than 60% (while Democrats in the General Assembly cut need-based scholarship money this year by $5 million.)   Never mind that under Ehrlich/Steele, Maryland’s first ever charter school legislation was passed and parents now have options other than persistently failing public schools.   Never mind that under Ehrlich/Steele, Maryland’s historically black colleges received more funding than in recent history.   The accomplishments of the Ehrlich/Steele Administration only pollute the job Democrats have at hand:  disparage good public servants like Bob Ehrlich and Michael Steele so that Democrats will regain power, control and the monopoly that brought us deficits, high taxes, failing public school systems, unemployment and high welfare rolls.  

Wayne Curry, Democrat and two-term Prince George’s County Executive, said this in response to the poll’s findings:  "I've been a loyal and devoted Democratic supporter. ... I've been at it for over 40 years waiting for that bus to arrive ... under the virtual totalitarian leadership of the Democratic Party," Curry said.   "People would say, 'You don't have anywhere else to go.' Now we do have somewhere else to go."   Mr. Curry said the Democratic Party has not supported the only black Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate -- Kweisi Mfume, former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.  "When they get a chance to raise up, instead of doing that, they tear down," Mr. Curry said. Mr. Curry [also] said Mr. Steele's campaign is "not just about personality. It's about who's going to help you obtain the tools to make your life better." (Plans to knock Steele labeled as ‘destructive’, Washington Times, April 7, 2006.)

Special session on the deregulation debacle:  More and more likely

Governor Ehrlich signaled this week that he may call a special session of the General Assembly on the deregulation debacle.   This comes on the heels of Wall Street downgrading the stock rating of BG&E and the nation watching Maryland.   Democrats in the legislature have a variety of bills on the issue, including firing the Public Service Commission members, dissolving the Office of People’s Council, halting the merger between Constellation Energy and Florida Power and Light, regaining the so-called “stranded costs” that were part of the deal Mike Miller, Mac Middleton, now-indicted Tom Bromwell and Parris Glendening wrote into the 1999 deal and a few others.   Notice anything about all of these?  NONE address the issue of helping Maryland’s rate payers!  The state’s Democratic legislators are more interested in political games than helping out the people of the state they hurt with their short-sighted, half-baked deregulation legislation in 1999.  

 

See, Mike Miller is nervous because he will have a very difficult time getting re-elected this year.   For the first time in nearly three decades, Miller will face a strong and credible opponent.   And Miller knows HE drafted the deregulation bills in 1997, 1998 and the 1999 bill that got passed.   HE has collected tens of thousands of dollars from energy interests and lobbyists.   HE appointed himself, in an extraordinary move, to the conference committee on the deregulation bill in 1999.   HE is sweating bullets, and HE should!

 

Governor Ehrlich is now seriously considering calling a special session to clean up yet another mess by the Democratic monopoly in Annapolis.   We’ll keep you updated.

 

Fail the kids or fail the Democratic Party’s code of protectionism: Democrats must decide

‘‘The administration made clear that my position on the Baltimore city schools bill could hurt me in the next election,” said Sen. John C. Astle (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis, who is being targeted by the GOP in November. ‘‘My response to them was: ‘If I lose the next election because I stood with my colleagues from Baltimore city, then so be it.’” (Ehrlich senses win in schools’ takeover, Gazette, April 7, 2006)

 

The above quote sums up exactly where the students of Baltimore city fall in the priority list for elected Democrats in Maryland.   Senator Astle is another shameful example of how some would rather protect their Democratic patronage system that allowed the students of Baltimore city to be denied a quality education rather than stand up for the students and give them the education they deserve.  

 

Last week the majority of Democrats in the General Assembly rammed through legislation that would stop the state’s intervention in 11 Baltimore city schools.   They legislated a moratorium on any change in oversight management of the schools for purely political reasons—protecting the failed leadership of Martin O’Malley and keeping the status quo that has the Baltimore school students dropping out of school almost as much as graduate, all to protect their “colleagues from Baltimore city.”   Meanwhile, the children of the city schools are ignored and used by these same politicians as political tools.    But Martin O’Malley’s normal rubber-stamp City Council is even starting to dissent.  

 

The state school board overwhelming approved with bipartisan support the measures recommended by State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick, a Democrat who has championed Baltimore city schools under three different governors.  

 

The state of Maryland and Governor Ehrlich have increased funding to the Baltimore city school system by an historic 28 percent ($176 million) since 2003.   On the other hand, Martin O’Malley has increased funding to his city’s school system by an embarrassing 1/3 of 1% ($541,000) during that same time.  

 

The status quo is no longer acceptable.   No middle school in Baltimore met proficiency in math or science last year.   Twelve city high schools are on the persistently dangerous list.   Things must change and Governor Ehrlich, Nancy Grasmick and the Republican and Democratic legislators that support changing failure to success should be commended and politicians like Martin O’Malley, John Astle and the others that will vote to override the governor’s veto of the moratorium should never work in government again.   The students need to be put first, not these politicians’ election campaigns.

 

Here’s another great column by respected columnist Blair Lee:   God bless Nancy Grasmick

And an editorial by the new Baltimore Examiner:  Editorial: Seizing schools is only the first step - Examiner.com

 

And read the Maryland Republican Party’s news release about Anthony Brown’s choice to stand with the kids or his failed partner Martin O’Malley:  Anthony Brown:  Will you stand with the students or with the failing status quo?

 

Fixing the election; Post calls Democrats “arrogant,” “brazenly partisan,” “responsible” for fraud

Democrats in the General Assembly are trying to steal November’s election.   They have passed legislation this year that significantly changes Maryland’s electoral system, including the ability to cast a provisional ballot anywhere in the state, six days of voting/early voting, absentee ballots on demand and defeating any challenge to a provisional ballot by merely showing an electric bill.   But they’ve defeated a paper ballot measure and requiring identification to vote.   In these days of needing ID to get on a plane, purchase cigarettes and other mundane realities of life, Democrats in Maryland are staunchly opposed to requiring identification at the polls.   All you need is a copy—not an original—of a utility bill to vote.  

 

This is what the State Chairman of the Board of Elections said about their latest move to fix the elections:  “The chairman of the State Board of Elections also objected to early voting, submitting testimony last month on a bill that would delay its implementation for two years. He called the Democrat-led move to name the polling sites an attempt to give the party an edge in the election.  ‘I think it's basically an obscene gesture of gaming the system to benefit one particular party,’ said Gilles W. Burger. ‘The whole idea behind polling places and how we conduct our elections is supposed to be fair on all sides,’" (Paper ballot bill crumbling, Electronic voting machines seem likely to be retained, Baltimore Sun, April 7, 2006.)

 

And remember, voting will be six long days this year.   Several news outlets have slammed these blatantly arrogant and disgusting measures by Mike Miller, Mike Busch and partisan Democrats in the Assembly.   Tilting Maryland's Vote and Our say: Polling station bill hardly nonpartisan say it all.   These editorials call out these ugly attempts to fix the election by state Democrats.   When their push to move up the state’s primary failed, they’ve resorted to the shockingly naked political grab of early voting in Democratic strongholds.  

 

Remember all of this Marylanders, from now until November comes.  Mike Miller, Mike Busch, Terry Lierman, Ben Cardin and Martin O’Malley don’t care what you want.   They’re going to decide for you.  They will come home from Annapolis with all kinds of justification for what is inexcusable and unjustifiable.   Forward this around to your friends, co-workers, neighbors and family.   They’ll eventually come knocking so tell them how they’re damaging the dignity of our state with acts like these.  

 

Have a great weekend.

 

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