TAXPAYER BREAKING NEWS, August, 2007
continued from MTA Home Page

August 31, 2007. Special budget session likely; O'Malley says he favors calling legislature to deal with shortfall, reports Andrew A. Greenin the Baltimore Sun. "As Baltimore mayor, O'Malley once called the idea of using slot machine revenues to fund the operating budget 'morally bankrupt.' But speaking on Baltimore radio stations yesterday morning and in an interview yesterday afternoon, O'Malley called slot machines a practical and political necessity for solving the budget deficit. 'I'd still like to see the [revenue] roped off,' O'Malley said. 'I still don't think it's a great source of operating revenue. I probably need to compromise on that.'"

August 31, 2007.Peter Francho writes: Slots: Quick fix, not path to prosperity, in Gazette.net. "Even the recent pro-gambling report prepared by Labor Secretary Tom Perez indicates that any revenue from slot machine gambling will be much less than the grandiose numbers we hear from the national gambling industry. Furthermore, the revenue generated from this regressive tax will not be immediate and will do little to help solve our budget problems in the short term."

August 31, 2007. Ways and Means chairwoman talks taxes, slots; Lawmakers wait for governor to show his hand, reports Sean R. Sedam in Gazette.com. "The state must look beyond the $1.5 billion deficit, Hixson said. To pay for ongoing programs, the state needs up to $2 billion, she said. 'The inflation keeps going up,' Hixson said. 'So we’re looking at a larger number than that so that we can take care of the health care issues and education.'"

August 31, 2007. Grasmick blinks on education reform reports Blair Lee in Gazette.net. "Let’s face it, the folks who talk school reform — the lawmakers, the teachers unions, the PTAs, the school administrators, the ACLU, the NAACP, the editorial writers — aren’t serious. They can’t stomach the kind of train wreck it takes — 3,000 non-graduations — to ignite public pressure for true reform. Instead, their answer to every education problem is always the same — more money."

August 24, 2007. Delegate wants state funds out of Middle East; Continuing work on divestment bill, writes Liam Farrell in the Annapolis Capital."Mr. George said he believes the economies of those countries prop up terrorist groups that promote violence against Americans in the Middle East and allies such as Israel. 'Why are we helping this group?' he asked. 'I think this is a legitimate concern because we are talking about American lives, directly.'"

August 23, 2007. Wall Street Journal editorial: Shell game: The greens try to sue their way to an energy policy. "The public interest in this case is domestic energy. The U.S. is one of the only countries in the world that chooses to lock up its natural resources. Since 2003, the Administration and Congress have lifted the federal moratoria on a few select areas of the Outer Continental Shelf. The Beaufort basin, which is estimated to hold 27.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 8.2 billion barrels of recoverable oil, was one of those. A successful exploratory program could open a new frontier of energy. That public purpose is what drives the greens bonkers, so they're trying to create a legal backstop to prevent any Administration from doing what President Bush has done. The Shell case shows that even a long and expensive effort to address every conceivable concern can still be undone by lawsuits. If anyone wants to know why we're still 'dependent on foreign oil,' this is it."

August 23, 2007. Laboring to Divests from Iran, writes the American Enterprise Institute. "Teamsters head James Hoffa has joined a growing chorus of voices intent on shedding shares of companies doing business in Iran. The Teamsters' action, conveyed in a letter to 170 fund managers on August 22, follows legislation passed by the House before the Congressional recess that would provide "safe harbor"--protection from accusation of breaching fiduciary duties--for investment managers who divest from companies doing business in the Islamic Republic."

August 21, 2007. MTA joins National Tax Foundation: An Open Letter to the President and Congress: Taxpayers Oppose Hike in the Federal Gas Tax. "We also reject the notion that there isn’t enough money available for infrastructure upkeep. Both the federal and state governments have made record levels of transportation money available. The 2005 Highway Bill increased related funding by 42 percent, to a record $286.5 billion. It also contained 6,500 earmarks totaling 9 percent of the bill’s cost. The Fiscal Year 2008 Transportation, Housing & Urban Development and Related Agencies. Appropriations Bill contained 1,434 earmarks worth over $2.2 billion."

August 19, 3007. Ocean City says slots are threat to town; Beach resort fears gambling would draw money away, report Andrew A. Green and Chris Guy |in the Baltimore Sun. "Franchot said he told Ocean City businessmen that despite the push from the state's new Democratic governor, slots aren't a done deal. Significant opposition to expanded gambling remains in the Democratic-controlled House of Delegates, and Franchot said he thinks a concerted lobbying effort from around the state can derail it again.'There's a feeling by people around the state that they've been shut out of the process; that slots have been decided by race track owners and the political elite,' Franchot said. 'My message to people is that it's a wide-open issue and they should involve themselves.'"
--TBN reminds its readers that slots are clearly a tax, a new tax, and a bad tax because they are not transparent, among several reasons. Instead of wanting a piece of the action, Marylanders should be glad that the slots revenue is going to other states. Slots income would come to Annapolis as another slush fund to support endless and ill-supervised government expansion, or worse. Free-enterprise voices ranging from the Wall Street Journal editorial page to the Tax Foundation call slots and state gambling generally a bad bet.

August 19, 2007. OMalley Pledges Road Funding; Governor Cites Backlog Of Jobs, Bridge Collapse, writes John Wagner in the Washington Post. "Senate Minority Whip Allan H. Kittleman (R-Howard) accused O'Malley of misleading county leaders about their prospects in the budget process. 'I think they deserve the governor being straight with them,' Kittleman said. 'I think he's giving the counties false hope.' Kittleman also questioned raising revenue for transportation projects at the same time that other taxes appear likely to be raised."
--Faithful TBN readers will recall highways expert Peter Samuel's no-new-taxes solutions - - user-financed roads, and tolls privatization - - for Maryland roads here and here.

August 18, 2007. Of Bridges and Taxes; A study in the politics of transportation spending, writes a Wall Street Journal editorial. "In Minnesota, meanwhile, politicians and editorial writers imply that the bridge collapse is somehow the fault of those like GOP Governor Tim Pawlenty who believe in the "motto" of no new taxes, as a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune put it. Mr. Pawlenty has been skewered for his veto earlier this year of a 7.5-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase (from 20 cents a gallon currently). Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, has told her Gopher State constituents that if President Bush weren't keeping us in Iraq, bridges wouldn't be falling down. Mr. Pawlenty has been wavering, first saying after the collapse that he was open to a tax increase but more recently showing more reluctance. Democrats in the Legislature are also demanding a sales tax hike to raise another $1.5 billion. What's never explained is why the gas-tax revenue they already raise is so poorly spent."
August 15, 2007. Leopold's illegal immigration order offends businesses, writes Erin Cox in the Annapolis Capital. "'I wanted to make it clear that there is this federal law and that this county takes this law seriously,' Mr. Leopold said. Yesterday's executive order is the latest in Mr. Leopold's string of policy moves to divert tax dollars from people who may be undocumented immigrants. Earlier this year, Mr. Leopold proclaimed publicly he would not support any organization that might provide help to illegal immigrants."

August 15, 2007. Republicans propose ways to fix Md. deficit; Delegates urge O'Malley to limit spending growth, legalize slots, writes Andrew A. Green in the Baltimore Sun. "The governor faced criticism from the liberal wing of his party over his slots stance Wednesday, with Comptroller Peter Franchot issuing a statement of his disappointment in the administration's report. 'As I read this report, here's what we get: less than anticipated revenue to the State, a windfall of profits to wealthy race track owners and the biggest tax on the working poor that this State has seen in a long time,' Franchot said. Meanwhile, the Republicans faced criticism from conservatives over their pro-slots stance. Dee Hodges, president of the Maryland Taxpayers Association, said slots are just a tax in disguise. The state should solve its problems by cutting spending, she said."

August 10, 2007. State Officials Doubt Iran Bill's Success, reports Barbara Pash in the Jewish Times. "Last year, in a first for Maryland, Del. Ron George (R-30th) introduced a bill to divest from the four State Department-designated "terrorist-sponsoring" countries — specifically identified in the bill as Iran, Sudan, Syria and North Korea. The measure stalled in committee. Mr. George said he would reintroduce the bill, excluding Sudan, in the upcoming session. Arthur C. Abramson, BJC executive director, is confident an Iran divestment bill can pass in its first year. 'Iran is an existential threat to Israel and the United States, so it's easy to make the case,' he said. 'It is also easier to get passage of a bill against one country' than the four in the 'terror-sponsoring' countries bill."
--TBN's readers may click here to see the all-star team testifying in behalf of the Ron George bill in the last General Assembly.
--UPDATE! Click here for NRO editorial "The Enemy Late Acknowledged"

Club for Growth tabulates voting on recent House floor amendments to strike earmarks. Click here for MTA's letter on the scores of the Maryland House delegation and those of nearby Virginia members, and some center-right comments.

August 10, 2007. O'Malley will tell wealthy to pay up, reports the Associated Press. "'Getting our state's fiscal house in order is not an end,' the governor said. 'It is a means to achieve bigger and more important goals, like strengthening and growing our middle class, improving public safety and public education and the affordability of college so that we can also expand opportunity for the working people of our state.'"
As TBN has consistently pointed out, this cry for greater taxes is not about “structural deficits” or some other governmentspeak matter. That is simply a red herring. It is about getting more money away from the Maryland taxpayer on a long-term, predictable basis in order to expand the reach and the scope of Maryland state and local government.

August 8, 2007. Republicans pan Specter immigration alternative, reports Ralph Z. Hallow in the Washington Times. "Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called the Specter proposal a form of congressional extortion. ' Specter is asserting that the Congress is blackmailing the American people,' Mr. Gingrich said. 'The Congress will not enforce current law and will not insist on employers obeying the law unless we give an unknown number of people legal status. This is amnesty by blackmail — after the American people vehemently rejected amnesty a month ago.'"

August 4, 2007. How to keep our bridges safe, writes Steven Malanga in the Wall Street Journal. "Budget-squeezed governments are also accepting bids by private investors to finance, build and operate new roads.Texas has made private capital a key ingredient in a vast road-building project known as the Trans-Texas Corridor. The state has already entered into a build-and-operate deal with an international consortium (Zachry American Infrastructure and Cintra) to construct a 320-mile toll road for an upfront payment of $1.3 billion to the state and the right of the private owners to operate the toll road for 50 years. In California, a private company is building a nearly 10-mile, $800-million extension of Route 125 south of San Diego in exchange for a 35-year lease to operate the road and collect tolls. Such deals bring welcome benefits to the transportation sector. A 2002 government study in Britain, where public-private transactions are more common, found that while 70% of construction undertaken by the government came in late, just 24% of projects contracted by government to private builders finished behind schedule."

August 4, 2007. RNC sends message to safeguard U.S. border. "'We needed to send a message,' Maryland RNC member Joyce Lyons Terhes said. 'The borders need to be closed to illegal immigration, and people are disappointed with the lack of leadership on this issue, from the White House to the Senate Republican leadership and the Democrats in Congress.'"

August 4, 2007. A teaching moment, writes Terrence P. Jeffreys in the Washington Times. "The District of Columbia deserves the gratitude of taxpayers everywhere for giving the nation a lesson in governance. It is proving that spending more on public schools is a waste of money. That was the unintended lesson of the press conference District Mayor Adrian Fenty called this week to announce half the District's public schools would not have proper textbooks for opening day and half the school buildings would not have air conditioning. This is not because the District has been frugal. Its public schools wallow in cash."

August 2, 2007. MTA joins voices across US to fight Pelosi high-tax no-energy bill. "Dear House Leaders. On behalf of the undersigned organizations representing hundreds of thousands of taxpayers, small businesses, shareholders, consumers and senior citizens, we strongly urge you and your colleagues to reverse the increasingly dangerous direction that the 110th Congress is taking with punitive energy policies that would punish the economy by raising taxes, raising energy prices and driving a death nail into domestic energy production."
UPDATE: WHITE HOUSE WILL VETO!

August 1, 2007. White House pocket card on the budget: The President will veto democrats’ tax and spend agenda.