I received this from Delegate Susan Krebs. This is not my own writing.
__________________________________________________
HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Shannon Oxley (410) 841-3401
Carrie Simons-Sparrow (410) 841-3401
Maryland House Republicans Respond to O’Malley Budget Cuts
Maryland House Republicans today responded to Governor O’Malley’s announcement of his planned budget cuts with skepticism.
“ Last year at this time we were told that the state was in a fiscal crisis, and the only way to deal with the situation was to increase taxes, while still continuing to increase spending” said Minority Leader Anthony O’Donnell. “Both during the special session and the 2008 regular legislative session, we continued to remind the administration and the Democratic leadership that increasing taxes and spending at a time when the economy was headed into a downturn was irresponsible and reckless. By disregarding our advice, they have created the situation that makes these cuts necessary. They cannot simply blame the national economic downturn.”
The actions taken during the special session of 2007 raised taxes in Maryland by $1.3 billion, the largest increase in State history, while total spending increased from fiscal year 2008 to 2009 by 4.2%, an increase of $1.3 billion. The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C., announced on Oct 15th that, according to their annual review of “business friendliness” of each state’s tax systems, Maryland dropped from 24th in the nation to 45th. This was the largest decline of any state in the nation, a direct result of the O’Malley tax increases.
“This administration has increased taxes and spending in an already gloomy economic environment. Raising taxes right before a national recession has worsened this crisis, dampening consumer spending and creating a climate that will discourage job creation” said Minority Whip Christopher Shank. “Yet Governor O’Malley refuses to acknowledge his own part in the current situation, and continues to ignore our calls for responsible fiscal leadership.”
“The House Republican Caucus has offered an alternative budget proposal for the past two years, and we have been soundly ignored and even flippantly dismissed for entirely partisan political reasons” continued Delegate O’Donnell. “Are the administration and the legislative leadership going to continue setting unrealistic budgets and coming back with doomsday scenarios as an annual event? Or will we finally recognize that significant, honest, ongoing reductions and a fundamental change in attitude is the only way to prevent exactly that?”
“We will continue to offer alternative budget solutions that are thought-out, honest, and reflect core priorities” said Delegate Shank. “Cutting core state priorities like public safety and services to vulnerable populations would not be necessary if the Administration and Democratic leadership had restrained the rate of growth and reigned in spending like we proposed for the past two sessions. Now is the time to seriously consider all of the options available in order to ensure that Maryland citizens are served by their government rather than being encumbered by it.”
Showing posts with label slots referendum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slots referendum. Show all posts
Monday, October 27, 2008
Stop the Slots Referendum
I've posted about this before, but now that we are almost to the election, I need to say this again.
Martin O'Malley, who opposed slots under Ehrlich, but favors him now that he is the governor, is pushing for the slots referendum. I am not against having slots in Maryland. However, I have been to Atlantic City and if this is what slots brings, no thank you. Leave that trash in New Jersey. Sounds like a contradiction, but I think I may have fallen into the old, "well if it's done correctly, then it may work" philosophy.
Rather than voting on the slots issue themselves and looking like total hypocrites, the Maryland Democrats voted to have a referendum. Referendums are questions that are put on the ballot for the voters to decide when politicians don't want to get in trouble for attaching their name to a law. Imagine if someone like Maryland Delegate Kumar Barve, who was arrested for drunk driving, but managed to have it expunged from his record (meaning it didn't really happen), voted in favor of slots and his constituents didn't like it. They would vote him out of office.
The problem with this referendum is that it puts the slots bill in the MARYLAND CONSTITUTION! This isn't like passing a law that says that the speed limit can't be above 65 mph. This is like the Big Time Law. It's nearly irrevocable. If voters pass this referendum, and it turns out to be horrible, then will have to convince their unresponsive politicians to put it back on referendum to have it removed from the Constitution.
In the newsletter that I subscribe to from State Comptroller Peter Franchot, he says:
This slots referendum doesn't just legalize slots - it writes gambling into our state Constitution. And, it is very specific. Not only are we enshrining slot machine gambling into the Constitution with Question 2 - we're going to make it nearly impossible to change the law. Once it's in our Constitution - we have to pass another Constitutional amendment to protect Maryland families.
This law does not belong in our Constitution. It needs to be passed by our legislatures in the General Assembly. There is a difference.
Additionally, O'Malley is airing misleading advertisements about what the slots will do. He says that it will generate $600 million for schools. I read that this may be over-inflated by as much as 150%. That's a HUGE over-inflation.
Additionally, as Blair Lee has pointed out, the slots referendum says that much of the money will go to schools. However, there is no "back-door" provision in the law. This means that O'Malley can divert the current funding sources to education and use that for something else, like mirrors in his office to see his pretty smile. Therefore, the slots will not mean additional funding for education, it would be THE funding source for education.
And everyone's assuming that this will bring in a lot of money. If Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and West Virginia already have slots, are we really bringing that much more money into the state? How much gambling money is there to spend? No one should expect new gambling money to be pumped into the system. We're just going to spread existing gambling money around.
Furthermore, if the slots referendum passes, this money will start pouring in immediately, right? Or do you suppose the state will have to order the machines, sign contracts with gambling companies, and build facilities first? Does this mean that the slots could be several years away from fruition? But O'Malley said that in these tough economic times, slots are needed now. perhaps they have already been brokering dark alley deals and everything's is ready to go. Wouldn't that be nice? Politicians doing things behind our backs. That's never happened before.
Anyone who's over 25 knows that tough economic times usually do not last several years. O'Malley is just looking for a phantom boost to our economy. he's pretending that he's "making the tough decisions to invest in our future." He's so full of crap. He's making scape-goat decisions to help lengthen his political career. Martin O'Malley is so vain that he probably thinks Carly Simon's song is about him. Hey, Martin O'Malley, have you been to Nova Scotia lately?
If Marylanders were smarter than we are, we'd reject the slots referendum and start working on removing this bone-head from office. We want a governor that's interested in Maryland, not a governor that's interested in Martin O'Malley.
Martin O'Malley, who opposed slots under Ehrlich, but favors him now that he is the governor, is pushing for the slots referendum. I am not against having slots in Maryland. However, I have been to Atlantic City and if this is what slots brings, no thank you. Leave that trash in New Jersey. Sounds like a contradiction, but I think I may have fallen into the old, "well if it's done correctly, then it may work" philosophy.
Rather than voting on the slots issue themselves and looking like total hypocrites, the Maryland Democrats voted to have a referendum. Referendums are questions that are put on the ballot for the voters to decide when politicians don't want to get in trouble for attaching their name to a law. Imagine if someone like Maryland Delegate Kumar Barve, who was arrested for drunk driving, but managed to have it expunged from his record (meaning it didn't really happen), voted in favor of slots and his constituents didn't like it. They would vote him out of office.
The problem with this referendum is that it puts the slots bill in the MARYLAND CONSTITUTION! This isn't like passing a law that says that the speed limit can't be above 65 mph. This is like the Big Time Law. It's nearly irrevocable. If voters pass this referendum, and it turns out to be horrible, then will have to convince their unresponsive politicians to put it back on referendum to have it removed from the Constitution.
In the newsletter that I subscribe to from State Comptroller Peter Franchot, he says:
This slots referendum doesn't just legalize slots - it writes gambling into our state Constitution. And, it is very specific. Not only are we enshrining slot machine gambling into the Constitution with Question 2 - we're going to make it nearly impossible to change the law. Once it's in our Constitution - we have to pass another Constitutional amendment to protect Maryland families.
This law does not belong in our Constitution. It needs to be passed by our legislatures in the General Assembly. There is a difference.
Additionally, O'Malley is airing misleading advertisements about what the slots will do. He says that it will generate $600 million for schools. I read that this may be over-inflated by as much as 150%. That's a HUGE over-inflation.
Additionally, as Blair Lee has pointed out, the slots referendum says that much of the money will go to schools. However, there is no "back-door" provision in the law. This means that O'Malley can divert the current funding sources to education and use that for something else, like mirrors in his office to see his pretty smile. Therefore, the slots will not mean additional funding for education, it would be THE funding source for education.
And everyone's assuming that this will bring in a lot of money. If Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and West Virginia already have slots, are we really bringing that much more money into the state? How much gambling money is there to spend? No one should expect new gambling money to be pumped into the system. We're just going to spread existing gambling money around.
Furthermore, if the slots referendum passes, this money will start pouring in immediately, right? Or do you suppose the state will have to order the machines, sign contracts with gambling companies, and build facilities first? Does this mean that the slots could be several years away from fruition? But O'Malley said that in these tough economic times, slots are needed now. perhaps they have already been brokering dark alley deals and everything's is ready to go. Wouldn't that be nice? Politicians doing things behind our backs. That's never happened before.
Anyone who's over 25 knows that tough economic times usually do not last several years. O'Malley is just looking for a phantom boost to our economy. he's pretending that he's "making the tough decisions to invest in our future." He's so full of crap. He's making scape-goat decisions to help lengthen his political career. Martin O'Malley is so vain that he probably thinks Carly Simon's song is about him. Hey, Martin O'Malley, have you been to Nova Scotia lately?
If Marylanders were smarter than we are, we'd reject the slots referendum and start working on removing this bone-head from office. We want a governor that's interested in Maryland, not a governor that's interested in Martin O'Malley.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Still Ehrlich's Fault
Nearly 2 years after he left office, former Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich is still being blamed for the state's problems by current far-left liberal Governor, Martin O'Malley.
O'Malley, who intentionally never accepts responsibilities for his administration's numerous failures, took a shot a Ehrlich when asked about the state's current $432 million budget shortfall. Economists blame the general economic slowdown across the country in addition to the 20% sales tax increase endorsed by O'Malley as the reason for the consumer spending decrease and thus, decrease in collected tax revenue.
O'Malley creatively said that he asked "the people of Maryland to play a role in the solution", which means much higher taxes, mostly at the expense of the working poor and the middle class. His phrase can be reworded, "Please take a role in solving my spending problem by allowing me to steal and waste more of your hard earned money. Oh, wait. I don't have to ask you, I'm just going to do it and pretend that we are working together to build the future. You'll believe that BS, because I'm the pretty Democrat Governor!"
He pointed out that under his tyranny, the state's budget increased by "less than 4 percent annually– less than the Spending Affordability Guidelines set by the General Assembly– compared to 22 percent in the last two years of our Republican predecessors.” However, he failed to mention that almost all of that increase in spending under Ehrlich was the result of mandatory funding requirements, such as for health insurance and the school-funding based Thornton bill, both of which were pushed through by the tax-and-spend-happy liberals in the Maryland General Assembly. Remember their slogan: "Welcome to Maryland. What's in your wallet?"
Let's continue to point out that although O'Malley criticized Ehrlich for not fully funding Thorton (Ehrlich only funded the mandatory requirements, not all of the recommended funding requirements), O'Malley himself has failed to do the same thing - much to the joy of the tax-paying citizens who are now struggling to make ends meet.
O'Malley's apathy and "pass the buck" view on responsibility is not new. We saw this early on in his administration when he shruggingly said there was nothing he could do to stop the electric rate increase, this after fighting tooth and nail claiming he was going to stop it. And to rub salt in the wound, he allowed the rates to increase several more times, thus continuing to allow the deterioration of the standard of living of almost all Marylanders. But it's okay, 'cuz it's still Ehrlich's fault.
And now O'Malley is pushing hard to get the slots referendum passed so that he'll have more money to spend. More money. Our money. To Spend. And Spend. And Spend.
O'Malley, who intentionally never accepts responsibilities for his administration's numerous failures, took a shot a Ehrlich when asked about the state's current $432 million budget shortfall. Economists blame the general economic slowdown across the country in addition to the 20% sales tax increase endorsed by O'Malley as the reason for the consumer spending decrease and thus, decrease in collected tax revenue.
O'Malley creatively said that he asked "the people of Maryland to play a role in the solution", which means much higher taxes, mostly at the expense of the working poor and the middle class. His phrase can be reworded, "Please take a role in solving my spending problem by allowing me to steal and waste more of your hard earned money. Oh, wait. I don't have to ask you, I'm just going to do it and pretend that we are working together to build the future. You'll believe that BS, because I'm the pretty Democrat Governor!"
He pointed out that under his tyranny, the state's budget increased by "less than 4 percent annually– less than the Spending Affordability Guidelines set by the General Assembly– compared to 22 percent in the last two years of our Republican predecessors.” However, he failed to mention that almost all of that increase in spending under Ehrlich was the result of mandatory funding requirements, such as for health insurance and the school-funding based Thornton bill, both of which were pushed through by the tax-and-spend-happy liberals in the Maryland General Assembly. Remember their slogan: "Welcome to Maryland. What's in your wallet?"
Let's continue to point out that although O'Malley criticized Ehrlich for not fully funding Thorton (Ehrlich only funded the mandatory requirements, not all of the recommended funding requirements), O'Malley himself has failed to do the same thing - much to the joy of the tax-paying citizens who are now struggling to make ends meet.
O'Malley's apathy and "pass the buck" view on responsibility is not new. We saw this early on in his administration when he shruggingly said there was nothing he could do to stop the electric rate increase, this after fighting tooth and nail claiming he was going to stop it. And to rub salt in the wound, he allowed the rates to increase several more times, thus continuing to allow the deterioration of the standard of living of almost all Marylanders. But it's okay, 'cuz it's still Ehrlich's fault.
And now O'Malley is pushing hard to get the slots referendum passed so that he'll have more money to spend. More money. Our money. To Spend. And Spend. And Spend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)