TAXPAYER BREAKING NEWS, August, 2005 continued from Home Page

August 30, 2005. Nine same-sex couples challenge marriage law; Judge to begin hearing case today; Legal actions filed in Md., five other states over bans, reports Kelly Brewington in the Baltimore Sun. "In the lawsuit, filed in July last year, nine same-sex couples contend that Maryland's 1973 law stating that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid violates their constitutional rights. The suit, to be heard by Judge M. Brooke Murdock, names Baltimore City Clerk Frank Conaway and clerks in four other jurisdictions for refusing to issue them marriage licenses."

August 19, 2005. Herndon, Virginia, day laborer center staff won't check legal status of laborers, reports Christina Bellantoni in the Washington Times. "'Essentially no governmental body has the right to use taxpayer funds for illegal purposes,' said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a nonprofit, public interest law firm. 'They are facilitating the illegal hiring of illegal aliens.'" Mr. Fitton said because the day labor center will be housed in a trailer on town property -- on the site of a now defunct police station -- it amounts to a taxpayer subsidy of the center."

August 17, 2005. Education might not be the right fight for Mayor O'Malley, writes Baltimore Sun columnist Gregory Kane."It would be nice to hear some of our mayor's anger directed at somebody who actually works at North Avenue school headquarters rather than at federal judges, state's attorneys and governors."

August 10, 2005. In the heartland, stem cell research meets fierce opposition, writes Peter Slevin in the Washington Post. "Bush unequivocally opposes the procedure, telling Science magazine last year that 'anything short of a comprehensive ban would permit human embryos to be created, developed and destroyed solely for research purposes.' Some critics consider the procedure, which produced the cloned sheep Dolly, to be tantamount to human cloning. Scientists counter that the cells should not be considered an embryo because they are not implanted in a woman's uterus and, further, that no institution contemplates cloning a person. A number of scientists and activists favor the research along with a ban on creating a cloned human."

August 9, 2005. Lawmakers prepare to override vetos; Legislature: Gladden, Rosenberg set tone for effort to resurrect voting bills, report David Nitkin and Andrew A. Green in the Baltimore Sun. "At a rally celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act last week, Sen. Lisa A. Gladden and Del. Samuel I. 'Sandy' Rosenberg, both Baltimore Democrats, launched an override effort for the bills. The measures would establish early voting; allow Marylanders to get absentee ballots on demand; clarify the rights of voters whose qualifications are challenged; and require the state to study the establishment of a voter-verified paper trail for electronic ballots"

August 5, 2005. Ehrlich says contracts with minority firms up 20%, reports Andrew A. Green in the Baltimore Sun. "'Whether you're looking at the adjusted data or the raw data, the fact of the matter is more money is getting apportioned to minority-owned businesses,' Basu said." TBN wonders whether anyone in or around Maryland government should take pride in the award of state contracts on the strongly implied basis of ancestry and gender?

August 4, 2005. New poll shows strong support for TABOR in Ohio, reports the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. "A new poll released today by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions shows that Ohio voters support by a nearly 3-to-1 margin a proposed Taxpayer's Bill of Rights amendment that would cap the growth of state and local spending at the rate of inflation plus population growth. A proposed state constitutional amendment that would enact such a tax-and-spending limit will be on Ohio's ballot in November."

August 3, 2005. We need a complete overhaul of the tax code, writes Bruce Bartlett in the National Review. "People will fight much harder to keep a current tax benefit than those who would benefit from a new one will fight for that. Consequently, the only way you can even hope to eliminate 'sacred cow' deductions like that for state and local taxes is in a complete overhaul of the tax code. Trying to do it incrementally, as it appears the tax commission is suggesting, is simply doomed to failure."

August 2, 2005. Taxpayer-funded lobbyists killed any opportunity for property tax relief, taxpayer protections, education reforms and property rights legislation, said Peggy Venable, director of the 27,000-member Americans for Prosperity-Texas at a press conference today. "Venable quoted Thomas Jefferson: 'To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.' 'Today's Texas taxpayers deserve to know how their tax dollars are being used and to know that tax dollars aren't being used to demand more tax dollars,' said Venable. Three AFP-Texas members have filed a lawsuit against Williamson County for violating state laws by joining an association that lobbies. Americans for Prosperity is calling for an interim study on taxpayer-funded lobbying."

August 1, 2005. This week's Wall Street Journal warns about states (including Maryland) where you don't want to die: how death taxes drive out their independent businesses and valuable taxpayers to no-death-tax states. MTA takes us back to this spring in the General Assembly where five Democrat senators including Katherine Klausmeier and Rona Kramer joined twelve Republicans in supporting Janet Greenip's floor amendment to lighten the death-tax burden in the Free State.