From Senator Nancy Jacobs, Minority Leader (Cecil/Harford):
The voting records of Maryland’s elected officials on supporting business have just been released. That survey by Maryland Business for Responsive Government ironically comes just as Maryland learns it ranks dead last in job growth last year.
Governor O’Malley claimed his priority was “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” during the legislative session. But, U.S. Department of Labor numbers for May put our state last in job expansion. Democrats must change their mindset. Lip service isn’t enough. They must vote to help business expand in this down economy.
The numbers certainly won’t surprise Marylanders who’ve been searching desperately for work. When those job seekers apply for a position they discover they are vying against hundreds of other candidates. And we are not speaking about the chronically unemployed here.
We must ask the Governor and all Maryland Democrats, isn’t it finally time to become truly business friendly? Take a look at the Democrats rankings this year from the business group: http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1102875309002-24/Roll_Call_11final_6.22.11.pdf. I am honored to receive a 100 percent ranking. Other Republican’s fare well too. Notice that Democrats have dropped significantly in their support of business compared to the same survey in the past.
Governor O’Malley would have you believe Maryland fared better than other states through this extended recession. But the dependency on state and federal jobs won’t keep our state afloat anymore. Governments are being forced to finally shrink as the private sector did years ago. Despite this, the O’Malley Administration and democrat leadership in Annapolis chose to increase fees and taxes this year, rather than facing the hard facts and cutting spending. For business to grow we can’t have business as usual.
There are better solutions but it will take creativity and thinking outside the box. Some of them might alienate traditional Democrat voters, but let’s lead and not pander. How about using the scalpel to slice entitlements; cuts never considered palatable in the past.
Let’s also commit to no new taxes! The Maryland legislature passed an alcohol tax this session which takes effect July 1. That will hurt business. Liquor stores which border other states say they won’t be able to compete when people can easily avoid the new tax a few miles away. Even non-border liquor stores and bars across the state will suffer from this new tax.
Now a gas tax hike may be considered at a special legislative session this fall. What a horrible time to talk about increasing the cost at the pump when families are struggling and businesses that ship goods are trying say alive.
In Virginia, Governor Bob McDonnell is keeping taxation, regulation and litigation at a minimum, and its working. Our companies may leave Maryland for Virginia now. Take a lesson from that state; be more business friendly. Our companies will stay and expand and other companies will want to come.
Nancy,
Keep up the good work. Good luck with trying to convince the democrats in Annapolis to be friendlier to anyone in this state (except those that benefit the most from the liberal agendas).
One question I do have . . . Is there a way to cut the number of House members? In looking at the numbers, there are way too many people elected to represent Maryland citizens. If we could cut that number in half, the state could save a great deal of money (salaries, benefits, expenses, etc.). For example, Baltimore City and PG and Montgomery Counties are way over-represented. I know, I’m being silly to even mention it, but just think about the savings.
ROB: All you have to do is change the constitution. Ever hear of “one man, one vote”? Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
Nancy is sooo right! I own a small service business. I give my clients a 10% “cash discount” should they care to pay me in that manner. I’m tired of paying $$$ to an administration that cares NOTHING for independent business people like me. I’m tired of seeing illegal immigrants sucking up my hard-earned income (by the way … LEARN TO SPEAK FREAKIN’ ENGLISH!). I’m tired of paying an extra “self-employment” tax. I’m tired of paying tuition for my two sons to attend college while illegal immigrants get a free ride! WHAT PART OF THE DEFINITION OF “ILLEGAL” DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND, Mr. O’Malley? The tax and spend (on frivolous, partisan programs) liberal state government HAS TO get their head out of their collective a$$ and realize that their “gravy train” mentality must stop! NOW!
Looks like we could get rid of the route 40 corrdior business developer. He must have a lot of time on his hands because Route 40 is a joke, no wonder no businesses want to come and those that we used to frequent are now closed. Let’s work on the blight and clean up Harford County and more businesses will come.
@MRMARKN It’s fine to accept cash payments, extend credit over time or take credit cards, however it is tax evasion not to pay FED/FICA/State income taxes and remit MD Sales Tax by getting people to pay in cash.
Trafic is terrible and getting worse.
Why do we want more businesses when the roads are becoming more filled up everyday with more people going to work?
Just look how bad Rt. 24 has become!
I believe that some people don’t get your sarcasm.
Ever notice how the politicians all bash each other and never seem to get a lot done. When will we elect enough people who realize that MD is a mix of people with different backgrounds, income and needs. yes, we need services, some more than others, roads and bridges need maintenance, schools need supplies and then you add on emergency services. Nobody likes to pay taxes, but thats what we do. Some people don’t want to cut aid to local govt,some do; some don’t want to cut aid to the poor, some do. Some don’t want higher tolls or gas tax , but those that drive want nice roads. Those that are elected need to find a balance, everytime they bring up cut taxes on business, give them incentives, help them out it sounds good. How about they scrap the corperate tax plan in MD and just have a flat tax, no deductions .Small business pays less, big business pays more.No freebies. Same goes for developers, you want to build ,go for it,, on your dime. Nancy is a nice lady, she just needs to put down the politcal stick, get off the soapbox and go work for all the citizens that she represents.
An anti-Hispanic community is not business friendly. The DREAM Act, which permits undocumented high school kids to go to community college is a good idea.
We must not go back to the bad old days of segregation, which created a permanent, impoverished under class in our communities. This is wrong.
I hope the business community will send a clear message to elected officials – segregation in any guise is just wrong and everyone is welcome to live and work and shop in our communities. This is the only message that will encourage economic growth.
Richard, I fail to understand how you devolve this into segregation. It has to do with people who violate the law. As a business person I can tell you that I want a system where anyone, who is legally here, can live and work and shop in our communities. If they are law breakers of any kind I don’t want them at all. Throwing this into the hysterical category of the good old days of segregation and Jim Crowe is simply disingenuous.
Dave,
It ised to be “illegal” for Black persons to buy a movie ticket or use the public bathroom. To say nothing about a “legal” prohibition to attending the University of Maryland.
“Illegal” is a moving target, whose contours and bright lines change over time.
Do you really want to live in a community where kids who graduate high school are barred from higher education? That would be segregation all over again.
Do you really want to have your family interact with a permanent underclass of motivated but permanently disappointed and undereducated kids, whose dreams were cut short – by their neighbors??
We are bigger and more diverse and more open hearted and wiser than that. In Hatford and in Maryland.
@RICHARD BALDWIN COOK Great job making this a racist matter. I must have missed where white illegal Europeans, Canadians, Argentinians, Chileans, Uruguayans, Australians, etc… would be eligible to get in-state tuition?
Don’t get sucked in by the phoney-baloney of RBC. He is a true believer and follower of George Soros. Plus, he has no Land ties to Harford County.
Porter, Thanks for the “great job” cudos. I accept the compliment.
But on your larger point, the demographics are against you. The chain fences we have put up on the southern US border will keep our New Zeelanders, but that is not why the fence is there.
The Hispanic community in the Baltimore region has tripled between 2000 and 2010 – according to the 2010 census.
We must be welcoming if we want our communities to thrive.
Richard says that “We are bigger and more diverse and more open hearted and wiser than that. In Hatford (sic) and in Maryland”.
“We”? Does Ms. Jacobs represent you? You don’t actually live in Harford County, do you Richard?
You got it right Phil!
@Phil Dirt – RICHARD BALDWIN COOK lives in Baltimore and he is a race-baiter.
@RBC, First off, your attempt to equate Civil Rights era injustice to illegals is bogus. “Illegal” is not a moving target as you’d like to believe. Anyone who snuck into the US without going through the proper channels is illegal. No one is “barred” from higher education as you indicate, they’re being offered in-state tuition and it looks like many of the state’s residents disagree with that particular reward. Permanent underclass? They’re free to move to another state that offers in-state tuition to illegals. They’re also free to go home. “We are bigger and more diverse…” Translation: Liberals like me feel justified in stealing money from all of you in order to soothe our conscience by paying to help whoever we feel is underprivileged.
What are you ever talking about? The sixties are long gone…..people really do generally love one another and don’t want harm to fall. But, people also don’t want to throw their hard earned money into one big pot and have it dispersed by others who think they know better as to the funding guidelines of society. You really don’t have a clue as to what is in the hearts and souls of mankind. Just because the citizenry feels that abidding by our laws is a good thing doesn’t make anyone a hater. Words are words and they can be twisted and used in very mean, hurtful ways. Bullying for example can be carried out with just words. My point is just because you write it doesn’t make it so. Folks are really tired of having to defend any thought or feeling they have as being racist or biggoted or whatever talking point/tactic you want to use. WE HAVE LAWS, AS DOES EVERY OTHER COUNTRY ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH.
K,
Sorry, I can’t answer personal attacks from anonymous folks.
You aren’t an employee of Rep Andy Harris, by chance?
Wow, that’s from left field. You certainly have plenty of far flung responses for other anonymous writers and don’t question who their employer(s) are. No, I don’t work for Rep. Andy Harris. Do you work for MoveOn and George Soros?
@RICHARD BALDWIN COOK Do you always engage in race-baiting? Do you belong to race-baiter-dot-org?
Yes Porter, you have RBC’s number.
Please Porter, you have attacked many people with scurrilous prose. O sancta virginitas simplicitasque
@Proud to be a Liberal –
I guess you can defend a race-baiter if you want to?
But you have to ask yourself what does that make you?
Porter: Just because you call him a race baiter does not make him one. You are engaging in your usual ploy of name calling people whom you disagree and can’t think of something intelligent to say.
@Proud to be Liberal –
It’s plain to see that Richard Baldwin Cook is a race-baiter. Why is it you can’t see it?
In this case, as in others I’m sure, Porter is correct. RBC is using an Alinsky tactic. He is race-baiting as well as agitating as well as demonizing.
K: Alinsky tactic: by using this negative term, you are using name calling (a favorite trick of the tea party and our friend Porter) to obscure your lack of cogent reasoning. It is a propaganda ploy used before. To wit, “Every change that is made in the subject of a propagandist message must always emphasize the same conclusion. The leading slogan must of course be illustrated in many ways and from several angles, but in the end one must always return to the assertion of the same formula.”
PTBL, why do you interpret Alinsky tactics as negative? Paraphrasing, Saul says his way is THE way to overtake and conquer. I must say your prose is difficult to follow. The wordiness is overwhelming. Maybe it’s my pea-sized, tea soaked mind. Sometimes a writer is overzealous and loses their audience. Could you explain what you mean when you refer to my name calling…..lack of cogent reasoning? At least Porter calls it like he or she sees it, short, sweet, and to the point.
K: By saying anyone is using Alinsky tactics you are saying they are following his Neo-Marxist philosophy. To me, and to anyone who knows your allusion, that is insulting. I am sorry that you are having difficulty following me, it is Standard English. Please explain how describing RBC as “…race-baiting as well as agitating as well as demonizing…” is cogent? That sounds as if you are calling names.
Sorry, I just don’t get how the word cogent fits in with your general discusssion. Call me stupid, as you are alluding with your standard english slight but, what I understand the definition of cogent to be doesn’t make sense to me within the context of your personal assessment. Many comments ago RBC redirected the commentary towards the virtues of illegals and how we in Harford County should be nicer and friendlier and more loving towards these poor souls. Yes PTBL, RBC has a history of race-baiting. You can call it whatever you like and I’m sure we won’t agree but, that is the motive of RBC, pure and simple. Many folks in our neck of the woods know RBC’s political connections. Plus we know who and what are in his group’s crosshairs. We strongly and passionately disagree, hence the analysis. I’ve spent way too much time on someone that goes out of his way to libel elected officials. Have a safe, happy, and free Independence Day.
K: Cogent-a: appealing forcibly to the mind or reason : CONVINCING b: PERTINENT, RELEVANT
Oh I see: he does not have YOUR political connections and he has the nerve to call for people in Harford County to be “… nicer and friendlier and more loving”. Thank you for explaining what constitutes race baiting. I guess you would also say Christ was a race baiter as He also pleaded with us to do the same thing.
@Proud to be Liberal
Let’s see you are equating Richard Baldwin Cook with Jess Christ? Where do the similarities end?
Porter: Does this ring a bell for you? Matthew 25:40 ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
To me this is the essence of Christianity. I do not see where there is room in this religion for the rants and slurs I read from the anti-immigration folk on this site.
I don’t have any political affiliations with individuals or memberships in any groups. My sense of right and wrong, good or bad, what is valid or invalid comes from personal, well thought out reasoning based on facts. Anyone can post the definition of a word. The real trick is using it in a correct and coherent manner so the reader clearly understands what the writer is saying. Back to RBC once again. He responded to a comment starting off with, “An anti-Hispanic community is not business friendly…..the bad old days of segregation…..segregation in any guise is just wrong……” So, RBC introduced, per his political group’s dictates, a topic that nobody was discussing. Based on my limited knowledge of race-baiting, I would file RBC’s comments under that category. To bring the name of Jesus into this banter is once again waaaaaay off topic. Your attempts at one upping PTBL, are feeble.
@K – Proud to be Liberal amalgamated Jesus Christ, race-baiting and Richard Baldwin Cook into the thread. I just commented on it.
@Proud to be Liberal writes – “To me this is the essence of Christianity. I do not see where there is room in this religion for the rants and slurs I read from the anti-immigration folk on this site.”
I have not read any anti-immigration comments on this site, I have read many posts about the problems associated with illegal aliens crossing the border and financially burdening our country.
I encourage you to take Christ’s direction when he said “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” You see Christ was speaking to you on how you, Proud to be Liberal, should spend you time and money helping the less fortunate, not government and taxpayers, you sir…you sir.
Good day,
Yes Porter, I see the blend created by PTBL. Your comments are on target and void of name calling.
Based on Mr. Cooks’ view, we may ignore any law with which we do not agree. Howabout we put into place the same immagration laws as Mexico, since that is such a great place?
If I remember correctly, when Mexico’s president was asked about his country’s immigration laws he discussed the harsh and severe treatment of folks found to be in Mexico illegally.
My point exactly. If its good for the goose……….
to THE DAGGER:
I am surprised that the Dagger will hide comments that others rate “low.”
This policy stifles diversity of opinion. I should think diverse view points would be welcome and enlarge your readership.
No more future comments from me to The Dagger.
Agreed…the current system of hiding comments that have too many “thumbs down” basically amounts to the Dagger condoning online bullying. I doubt the dissenters are all free-thinking, mature adults. They are more likely people who call up their buddies and say, “Hey, go to the Dagger website and dislike this guy’s comment” whenever someone voices an opinion that is opposite theirs.
Not everything is as it appears in a the age of technology.
I don’t know enough people that have that much time to waste.
It is very rare here on The Dagger that comments are hidden due to negative voting. It takes 10 votes from different IP addresses to hide a comment. Comments are not deleted, and as “K” mentions below, can still be easily viewed by clicking on the “Click here to see” link that is shown in place of the hidden comment.
If a comment is well-received and receives positive votes, it is highlighted. It takes fewer positive ratings to highlight a comment than it does negative to hide one.
We will evaluate the number of negative votes it takes to hide a comment if it happens more often. In the meantime, if you feel that you are being singled out in some elaborate “negative voting” campaign, feel free to contact us and we will look into it.
Steve: You will notice it is usually liberal comments that are targeted.
Generally speaking, I would agree with that assessment, and given the current political makeup of Harford County (which The Dagger primarily serves), I don’t think it’s surprising either.
However, the comment is not removed, it’s only hidden. I like the system of highlighting and hiding.
The limitation of this system is that is relies on volume to acquire any kind of fairness or accuracy, and that kind of volume is not going to be found on this site.
I might only quibble with the count thresholds they are using, but I think the system is valuable. In most cases, truly bizarre, offensive, or highly disrespectful posts are the victims, and rightly.
Actually, this was the first time I’ve ever seen any comments hidden. You sure hit a raw nerve RBC. Based on an experiment, one individual can’t keep pressing the thumbs down icon resulting in massive “Don’t Likes.” Therefore, many people didn’t like what they read and found the comments full of inaccuracies. As for Phil, his comment hiding is a result of angry liberals. Free Phil’s comment now!
One very important point that has been missed in the brilliant assessments of The Dagger’s comment hiding mechanism. “All you have to do is press the click here to see phrase.” Then one and all can share our enlightened ideas.