TAXPAYER BREAKING NEWS, October 2004, continued from Home Page

October 29, 2004. Stop the shakedown, urges Walter Olson in the Wall Street Journal. "The defeat of most lawyer-curbing initiatives follows a depressing script. Armed with favorable opinion polls, confident reformers begin collecting signatures. After some time they realize that the lawyers are doing far better than they are at framing the issues in the press, polishing sympathetic anecdotes and exploiting distrust of change (especially if reforms are to be inscribed in a state constitution). While lawyers summon help from partners such as the AFL-CIO and Sierra Club, natural allies on the reform side sit things out. Soon the 'No on Amendment Z' side has run the table on newspaper endorsements. Then the massive ad buys have their effect."

October 29, 2004. Next Tuesday you get to vote for President. Next Wednesday, the lawyers get to decide who won, reports Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal. "The easiest way to avoid this humiliation would be to produce a clear electoral college/popular vote win. And so Republicans are urging supporters beaten down by constant pistol-whippings from liberal friends in New York and California to get out and vote. The second cleanest solution -- once unthinkable -- is to output an electoral-college tie and quickly let the House of Representatives elect George Bush. This is the political solution we should have gotten in 2000. In 2004 it probably would produce the street riots recently adduced by Mrs. Edwards. Still, that's better than letting the lawyers turn the United States' 55th presidential election into the laughingstock of Venezuela."

October 26, 2004. New malpractice bill presented by Ehrlich; Crisis geared as insurers' increase looms reports Matthew Mosk in the Washington Post. "The fund proposal has been politically ticklish for the governor because raising the money could require a tax increase. He campaigned on a 'no new taxes' agenda and has said repeatedly that Marylanders are overtaxed. Ehrlich said the revenue source for the fund is something 'we have purposely left in nebulous terms -- left blank. That's still to be negotiated.'"

October 24, 2004. E.J. McMahon reviews Bringing the Jobs Home: How the Left Created the Outsourcing Crisis--and How We Can Fix It, by Todd G. Buchholtz, in the New York Post. "Buchholz says America's ability to create and retain decent, well-paying jobs is undercut by mediocre schools, 'incredibly high' litigation costs, anti-competitive regulations at both the state and federal level, and the prospect of ever-rising payroll taxes to support Social Security and Medicare. In effect, he argues, too many of our home-grown workers carry the same sign on their backs: 'I'm very expensive and really don't know much."

October 23, 2004. Early voting brings cries of bullying in South Florida, reports Brittany Wallman in the Sun-Sentinal ."One woman who voted early in Boca Raton, at the Southwest County Regional Library, complained that as she stood in line, two men behind her were 'trashing our president,' Fletcher said, declining to identify the woman. She tried to ignore them. Then the man touched her arm and said, 'Who are you voting for?' 'I said, `I don't think that's an appropriate question,'" the woman said she responded."Uh oh! We have a Bush supporter here,'screamed the man behind her.For the 2 1/2 hours she had to wait in line, she was heckled by the man. As they neared the voting room, someone in the rear of the line yelled, 'I sure hope everyone here is voting for Kerry!'she reported.That's when the man behind her held his hand over her head and screamed, 'We have a Republican right here!'There were 'boos and jeers' from the crowd."

NEW! October 22, 2004. Maine to Vote on Property Tax Cap, reports Fox News. "Maine is just one of several states seeking relief in November. In Washington state, voters will decide whether to allow video gambling with revenues earmarked to reduce state property taxes. Oklahoma and New Mexico have referendums that would give property tax exemptions for war veterans. In Texas, Houston residents will have two local revenue-cap referendums to choose from. Other referendums are up in Indiana, Wyoming and Arkansas."

October 22, 2004. Miller issues warning on medical malpractice report Catherine Dolinski and Thomas Dennison in the Gazettte. "The bill also will provide for a 'stop-loss fund,' which would be used to subsidize large malpractice payouts in exchange for an agreement from insurers to freeze doctors' insurance premiums. Priced at roughly $20 million to $50 million, the stop-loss fund is perhaps the only reform on which lawmakers, the governor and the stakeholders have all forged some degree of consensus. So far, there has been no agreement on a funding source."

October 18, 2004. Voter fraud is rampant, reports John Fund in a Heritage Foundation talk. " Encouragement is essential because 'prosecutors…fear charges of racism or of a return to Jim Crow voter suppression tactics if they pursue touchy fraud cases.' Such cases are inherently political because 'the pool of people who appear to be available and more vulnerable to an invitation to participate in vote fraud tend to lean Democratic,' Fund says, citing Larry Sabato and Glenn Simpson. It's essential to refute demagogues and alarmists, he emphasizes, because citizens’ 'right not to have their vote cancelled out by someone who shouldn’t be voting” should be as vigorously protected as their right to vote. At the same time, government officials and politicians must avoid any action that smacks of voter intimidation and vote suppression because 'every small incident will be magnified.'”

October 17, 2004. Rejected in the UK, medical students head for the sun, reports Michael Day in the Telegraph. "Hundreds of aspiring doctors who are denied places in British medical schools are travelling to the West Indies and eastern Europe to study medicine."

October 15, 2004. Local governments say they don't always share in Federal largesse, reports Linda Nishidaof the Capital News Service. "But advocacy groups said that local governments have little reason to complain.'It's just that they want to spend more, and spending is the problem,'said Dee Hodges, president of the Maryland Taxpayers Association. 'When the counties whine and complain . . . they really aren't telling us the whole truth because they're always making more income.'"

October 15, 2004. Deal near on bill for doctors' insurance; Special Assembly session likely on malpractice issue; Ehrlich to draft reform legislation, reports Andrew A. Green in the Baltimore Sun. "Details remain to be worked out, but the three men said the general contours of a deal would combine a new fund to hold down premiums and increase doctors' Medicaid reimbursements with reforms, including limits to jury awards, which insurance officials say are a driving factor in the premium increases."

October 15, 2004. State reviews parcel's value; Md. to reappraise tract before sale in secret deal; 'Proposal may be imprudent'; Prominent political donor to benefit from transaction, reports David Nitkin in the Baltimore Sun. "The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee has scheduled a hearing Tuesday to discuss the transaction, at which General Services Secretary Boyd K. Rutherford and Natural Resources Secretary C. Ronald Franks are scheduled to appear. 'I would say we are skeptical about the deal. We have serious concerns,' said Sen. Ulysses Currie, a Prince George's County Democrat."

October 15, 2004. State Comptroller William Donald Schaefer said yesterday that he won't step down over criticism of comments he made about people with AIDS, reports Tom Pelton in the Baltimore Sun. "Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said yesterday that he would not comment on Schaefer's questions about AIDS. 'We pay pretty serious people, experts in the health department, to make those decisions. I'll certainly go with their opinion,' he said. 'With respect to William Donald Schaefer, I think he is a very effective comptroller, and he is a friend, and I have a great respect for him.'" Since AIDS results not only in human suffering but also in major governmental and societal costs, TBN's readers will find illuminating the attached commentary by David Horowitz: (1) his interview with Fox's Brit Hume on the politics of AIDS and (2) Horowitz's article in salon.com, declaring that since the earlier years of the epidemic, AIDS has been held exempt from the "reporting, testing, contact tracing and other public health methods that had been proven effective in combating epidemic diseases in the past."

October 12, 2004. Taxed Counties, Cities Reluctant to Tap Property Levies, writes I-Wei. J. Chang for the Capital News Service. "'It's a tax on ownership that makes home ownership more and more difficult,'said Richard Falknor, executive vice president of Maryland Taxpayers Association Inc. Typically, property taxes hit fixed-income seniors and low-income homeowners hardest."

October 14, 2004. Two candidates join Howard County Council race as one drops out; Tax protester, activist are seeking vacant seat; Kittleman moving to Md. Senate; Aide to councilman bows out for family reason, reports Larry Carson in the Baltimore Sun. "Dornan, who founded the Howard County Taxpayers' Association in 1991, led a petition protest drive last year that collected more than 7,000 signatures of people opposed to a 30 percent increase in local income tax rates pushed through by County Executive James N. Robey. "I was considering running in 2006 anyway,' said Dornan, who owns a home improvement business. 'There's no doubt in my mind I can be more effective as an advocate for the beleaguered taxpayer from the other side of the podium.'"

October 8, 2004. Ehrlich's bartered deal keeps doctors working, reports Catherine Dolinski in the Gazette. "The surgeons who met with Ehrlich on Monday stressed that the problem extends beyond rising premiums. They declared the entire state to be in a 'litigation crisis.'"

October 8, 2004. Progressive Summit centers on left, writes Thomas Dennison in the Gazette. "A unique event where mentions of tax increases and the word 'liberal' were both applause lines, the progressive summit was the perhaps the largest gathering of left-leaning Democrats since Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) left office almost two years ago.'The fact is that, in Maryland, the liberal wing of the Democratic Party remains dominant in statewide primaries,' said Len Foxwell, lobbyist for the Greater Washington Board of Trade and former campaign adviser to Glendening and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend."

October 8, 2004. Officials discuss Assembly agenda; Commissioners voice concerns on finances to state delegation, reports Sheridan Lyons in the Baltimore Sun. "The session was cordial despite the officials' differences -- especially regarding the commissioners' renewed request for a county transfer tax on the sale of real estate, which is opposed by state Sen. Larry E. Haines."

October 7, 2004. Legislators unsure of transfer tax support, reports Chris Amos in the Carroll County Times. "[Sen. Larry E. Haines] said county government officials have unsuccessfully sought a transfer tax for more than 10 years. He questioned the necessity of such a tax. 'It seems like bureaucrats in county government are obsessed with getting a transfer tax in this county,' he said. [Del. Tanya T.] Shewell,Shewell said she had not decided whether she would support the proposal. 'I am going to the meeting with an open mind and a listening ear,' she said. The delegation usually comes to a consensus before forwarding proposals to the legislature, Shewell said."

October 4, 2004. Md. Considers Special Session On Insurance; Officials Disagree on Ways To Contain Malpractice Rates, report John Wagner and Susan Levine in the Washington Post. "Donald J. Hogan Jr., a policy aide to Ehrlich, said the governor remains cool to the idea of an HMO tax but would reserve judgment until he sees Miller's proposal."

October 4, 2004. Instead of paying tax at gas pump, someday you may pay by the mile, reports Lucas Wall in the Houston Chronicle. "'Why shouldn't transportation be seen as a utility like electricity, water, etc.?' Hal Worrall, a consultant for Transportation Innovations Inc., asked during a panel at the International Bridge, Tunnel and Toll Road Association conference. 'It's perceived as free in America and thus produces a large demand.'"

October 1, 2004. Possible land sale by State of Maryland at issue; Fiscal analyst fears bad deal for state, report John Wagner and Susan Kinzie in the Washington Post. "State officials have indicated that they would sell the property, located near a rapidly developing section of St. Mary's County, for about $2.5 million, the same price paid for it in October 2003, analyst Warren G. Deschenaux wrote in a memo to lawmakers this week. They have no plans to seek a new appraisal, he wrote."

October 1, 2004. Maryland Department of Human Resources may face $1.5 million penalty; Human Resources hopes for extension on state deadline to hire more child welfare caseworkers, reports John Wagner in the Washington Post. "McCabe alerted legislators in a letter last month that the department had 1,742 filled positions at the time and was not likely to meet the target, which was included in last year's state budget. McCabe said that 103 workers had been hired by January but that 96 had left during the same period."