TAXPAYER BREAKING NEWS, June 2006,
continued from MTA Home Page

June 30, 2006. Delays ahead for state stem cell research; Governor hasn’t named his selections to commission that oversees the money, reports Steve Berberich in the Gazette. "The Maryland Stem Cell Research Act of 2006, which Ehrlich signed April 6, appropriates $15 million for private and university researchers in its first year, which begins Saturday. The law made Maryland one of only a handful of states to fund embryonic stem cell research. It was hotly debated for two years because some research requires the destruction of a human embryo."

June 28, 2006. State elections board sued over petition decision; Leaders of a GOP drive to overturn early-voting law challenge the rejection of signatures, reports Kelly Brewington in the Baltimore Sun. "Thomas Roskelly, leader of Marylanders for Fair Elections, accused Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone, a Democrat, of thwarting the drive for partisan reasons. He also has called for a recount of the signatures. 'It's a misinterpretation of the law, and we think it was done quite intentionally to have a chilling effect on our volunteers,' he said."

June 24, 2006. General Assembly overrides Ehrlich’s veto on BGE electricity rate, reports Len Lazarick in, The Examiner. "'They never cease to disappoint. ... They always overreach. ... It’s a proven formula of an arrogant majority. I was stunned by how anti-consumer the bill became,' Ehrlich said."

June 22, 2006. Randolph May of the Free State Foundation commends Governor Ehrlich's "principled veto" of the electricity restructuring bill. "As I urged in my hearing testimony, in and of itself this provision constitutes sufficient grounds for a veto. I stated that: "This precedent will create an environment in which utilities will conclude that regulatory decisions will be made not based on sound ratemaking principles, but rather with an eye to the political passions of the moment. In this environment, incentives to innovate and invest for the longer term will be diminished....This course will encourage the view that the legal regime and regulatory environment are unstable and unpredictable...."

June 21, 2006. Taxpayer-protection caucus chair and pledge signer Harb McMillan announces his candidacy for the Maryland State Senate. "As your State Senator, I will advance a freedom agenda of individual empowerment, fiscal responsibility, and free enterprise. Not only because individual empowerment, fiscal responsibility, and free enterprise are true to our American Heritage - but also because this will succeed where the General Assembly's left wing, partisan approach to our problems has failed."

June 19, 2006. MTA signs on to Eagle Forum letter opposing foreign language ballots. "More importantly, foreign language ballots should never be necessary since immigrants must demonstrate the ability to read and understand English in order to become naturalized citizens and vote. If a citizen needs linguistic help while voting, federal law already guarantees every voter the right to bring an interpreter into the voting booth."

June 19, 2006. Legislators to return deregulators to utility panel, reports S.A. Miller in the Washington Times. "Mr. Travieso and Mrs. Riley, who served on the PSC under Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat, set the price caps when implementing the 1999 deregulation laws. The caps were to expire July 1 and trigger a 72 percent rate increase by Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. (BGE)."

June 19, 2006. The Hudson Institute's Irwin Selzer reports on the Uncertainties of a Data-Driven Fed. "One such trouble seems to be uncertainty as to whether Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, is up to the job. Not that anyone doubts his credentials as an economist, or the Fed staff’s ability to do as good a job as can be done in forecasting the economic outlook. Rather, it is because some observers doubt Bernanke’s ability to communicate his intentions to the markets in an orderly way."

June 18, 2006. Paul Jacob details freedom's next move in townhall.com. "In state after state, a new movement has begun to flourish. It is providing a new agenda for the conservative movement, to all who favor freedom and limited government. The movement is called Stop OverSpending. It started out with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights in Colorado."

June 15, 2006. Lawmakers postpone rate hike, report Jon Ward and S.A. Miller in the Washington Times. ". . .Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican seeking re-election this fall, decided last night to veto the energy plan, bucking top advisers who warned against the move, according to a state official close to the deliberations. Mr. Ehrlich is planning an ad campaign to get out his message that the plan risks bankrupting the power company and driving energy prices higher, the official said."

June 15, 2006. Consumers resent interest charge, reports Tricia Bishop in the Baltimore Sun. "Consumer anger that forced alternatives to the proposed 72 percent increase in electricity bills was rivaled by perhaps only one other sentiment: not wanting to shell out extra money in the form of interest payments to Baltimore Gas and Electric."

June 15, 2006. Senator makes new attempt to kill LPN terminal, reports Len Lazarick in the Examiner. "Dundalk Sen. Norman Stone Jr. made another attempt Wednesday to block a liquefied natural gas terminal in Sparrows Point. But he conceded that it was unlikely that the special session of the General Assembly called to deal with high electric rates would consider the bill."

June 13, 2006. Student newspaper suffers viewpoint discimination at Johns Hopkins University, reports the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). "Johns Hopkins University (JHU) ended this school year by engaging in shameful viewpoint discrimination and denying its students freedom of the press. First, JHU turned a blind eye to the theft of a conservative student newspaper, The Carrollton Record (TCR), then stifled its right to distribute in dorms while allowing other papers to continue distributing there." TBN notes: MTA has also expressed its concern to John Hopkins University about the free exchange of ideas and of the press at Maryland's seats of higher learning.

June 10, 2006. Judge upholds PSC’s rate hike decision, writes Earle Eldridge in the Examiner. "Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Albert J. Matricciani Jr. issued orders late Thursday evening upholding the Public Service Commission’s recent decision to impose a21 percent increase to Baltimore Gas and Electric residential users July 1."

June 5, 2006. Moves on BGE, Wal-Mart, bad for business, reports S.A. Miller in the Washington Times. "Maryland officials are scaring off investment in the state with such anti-business moves as the court-ordered scrutiny of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s energy rates and the law that forces Wal-Mart to pay employee health benefits, business leaders say. 'Wal-Mart yesterday. BGE today. Who's next?' asked William R. Burns, spokesman for the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, which represents about 850 businesses employing more than 340,000 people statewide."

June 5, 2006. Governor Ehrlich: Special Session Necessary to Undo Damage Done by Baltimore City Lawsuit. "You will recall the bipartisan progress we made together in the General Assembly’s legislative session to assist customers with electricity costs. The House of Delegates passed our agreed-upon plan by an overwhelming bipartisan majority, but the State Senate refused to consider the plan and adjourned without a solution. Shortly thereafter, I introduced a plan that reflected our basic agreement and included $600 million in cash relief from Constellation Energy for working families to help offset the large rate increase resulting from the flawed 1999 deregulation law. The City’s lawsuit effectively voided these benefits and stuck working families with a plan that benefits energy companies more than customers."

June 5, 2005. Andrew Roth of the Club for Growth posts a whip count for a U.S. Senate vote to end the Death Tax.

June 4, 2006. Missed fundraiser wasn't a slap at Bush, Steele says, reports S.A. Miller in the Washington Times. "Mr. Steele said he was in Las Vegas for an event scheduled five months ago when Mr. Bush visited the Baltimore-Washington International Airport Marriott on Wednesday to help raise about $1 million for the Maryland Republican Party. The Las Vegas event, to raise money for several Republican candidates for Senate, was held by Sen. John Ensign, Nevada Republican. Mr. Steele left Maryland on Tuesday and returned Thursday, a campaign staffer said yesterday."

June 3, 2006. Court retains Carroll format; Commission elected at-large stays until altered by Assembly, report Laura McCandlish and Gina Davis in the Baltimore Sun. "'Certainly, it's frustrating,' said Dana Lee Dembrow, a Sykesville resident and former Montgomery County delegate who filed a lawsuit against the county's Board of Elections for failing to enact election districts. 'Carroll County is apparently the only county in the state that is unable to implement the will of the people to elect their county commissioners by district.'"

June 3, 2006. Panel adopts plan for phased in power increase, reports the Baltimore Sun. "Mr. Ehrlich's plan, which gave residential customers the option of a smaller increase this summer, is in limbo because the city of Baltimore sued over it, saying the PSC erred in approving it so quickly. The city asked the PSC yesterday to extend rate caps for now, or adopt a payment plan with no interest charges. The governor criticized the city's lawsuit because he said it means customers won't get his more-favorable plan. He called the 21 percent plan approved in March 'flawed.' 'Regrettably, the city's lawsuit has put working families in a far worse position,' Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican running for re-election, said yesterday. Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley is a Democrat running for governor."

June 2, 2006. Constellation releases financial information, reports Len Lazarick, in the Examiner. "Constellation makes several other points: # Residential customers saved $1.8 billion in the past six years due to price caps.# BGE’s prices 'are comparable to other utilities in Maryland,' since other companies had already raised their rates. # The company has been getting a low rate of return on its assets, costing investors and shareholders $500 million."

June 2, 2006. Minutemen to monitor employers of day laborers, reports Sebastian Montes in the Gazette. "In the next few weeks, Schreiman said, the group will host its first public event, an 'open community forum,' most likely in Gaithersburg."

June 1 2006. Early Voting Suffers Setbacks, report Andrew A. Green and Stephanie Desmon in the Baltimore Sun. "Thomas Roskelly, the group's director, said yesterday that Marylanders of all political persuasions are outraged that early voting has been implemented without more safeguards against fraud and are eager to sign."