To the Editor;
There is a reason they call the weeks leading up to an election the “silly season”, when political campaigns unleash unfounded criticisms and half-truths to gain political advantage. People can see through such attacks. I try not to engage, but after seeing so much that is untrue or tells only half of the story, I need to respond.
I have read recently that one lady who seems to unleash an attack on me every four years thinks that maybe I don’t even live here anymore. Other supporters of my opponents imply I don’t engage in community activities or fight for us in Annapolis. I would simply say that too many people in this district and Southern Maryland know better than to fall prey to such falsehoods.
I have also seen several letters recently which imply I voted no against some bills. This is true. Again only part of the story is told in an attempt to deceive, and as commentator Paul Harvey used to say, now you are going to hear “the rest of the story”.
I did vote against amendments to the Unemployment Trust Fund bill. But why, you might ask. Simple, because of these amendments small businesses have seen their unemployment surcharges double, triple or quadruple in just one year. For a small business barely hanging on in this economy, these extra thousands of dollars going to the government were deadly. Many have had to close their doors or lay off employees, making the unemployment problem worse not better. You bet I voted against these very harmful job-killing amendments.
The writer goes on to say I voted against a bill to help people losing their homes. The bills passed and did no good and didn’t reduce the foreclosure rate at all, but they sure did increase spending. Spending is out of control, and if we are going to spend more money, it should be spending that works efficiently and effectively.
He even voted against tuition freezes, she says! What they actually did was jack up the fees for room and board instead of the tuition which remained frozen. Additionally, the tuition freeze actually made it harder for a Maryland kid to get into a Maryland University because the system started accepting more out of state residents who pay higher premiums to come to our universities. The system hired over 2000 new employees over this period. This also short changed community colleges. Even O’Malley knows this is not sustainable. At least Ehrlich was honest with us about it.
This diatribe goes on and on in some of these letters. I was a leader in getting help to clean up waste water treatment plants, failing septic systems, oyster replenishment, and a leader to pass a bill to get liquid mercury out of waterways. Yet my critics say I voted against the environment. Not so, I just voted for more common sense environmental solutions. Oh, and that Water Quality Revolving Loan Fund mentioned is going to cost the taxpayers additional hundreds of millions of dollars, when we can’t pay our current bills. In our family budgets, if you can’t pay you current bills then common sense says you should not be creating new ones until you can.
This is fiscal responsibility! There needs to be more courage to make tough choices in tough times. We need the ability to say no and not rubber stamp every left wing proposal that comes in the door from progressive special interests or from the Governor, to the long term detriment of the state. We do not need another yes-man in Annapolis. We need someone with the political courage to say; “No, enough is enough!”
I am honored to represent the citizens of District 29-C. I believe spending is