Breaking News:

Washington Post

Protects PEPCO;

Covers Up 2007

Thanksgiving Day

Blackout

Today's Washington Post contains only a brief, vague paragraph regarding PEPCO's Thanksgiving Day blackout yesterday. It mentions not a word about Thanksgiving dinners being ruined. It mentions nothing about the cause or why it took PEPCO so long to turn the power back on, when they knew it was an important holiday. Could it be that, like Bill Bronrott, Marilyn Goldwater, and Susan Lee, the Post was also the recipient of PEPCO cash?

This blackout was a disgrace and there is no excuse for the Post covering it up. I even called the news desk and left my name and number, which I was told would be forwarded to the Metro editor. Almost 24 hours later, I have not received a call. It turns out they don't need comments from the victims of PEPCO's 2007 Thanksgiving Blackout, because they are going to cover it up to help their apparent friends at PEPCO. PEPCO: The Grinch that Stole Thanksgiving. THE WASHINGTON POST: The newspaper that helped the Grinch make a getaway. Regardless, PEPCO must pay the bills for those customers whose Thanksgivings they ruined yesterday.

PEPCO has reached a new low. PEPCO is the Grinch that Stole Thanksgiving!! PEPCO turned off all power to my street from 4:00 to 7:20 P.M. Everyone's Thanksgiving dinner was ruined, thanks to PEPCO. Don't give me any of that baloney about the wind; there was not a single limb or tree down on the line. In fact, much as during PEPCO's infamous January 1999 eight day blackout(!!!), power was momentarily restored for about two minutes before going out again. I am tired of these fake power outages. Is this Cuba or the United States? Last time I checked it was the U.S., so turn the power back on, comrades!!

With the outrageous rate increases, endorsed by Bill Bronrott, Marilyn Goldwater, and Susan Lee, customers expect an improvement in service. A Thanksgiving blackout is a new low for PEPCO. Even more than Christmas, Thanksgiving is a day that requires power in order to cook the Thanksgiving dinner. I realize this is not a priority for PEPCO and their friends on the extreme left who protect them, but for the rest of America it is a priority.

The fact is, as I told you last year, Bronrott, Goldwater (and possibly her successor, Bill Frick, in the future), and Lee all get a fat check each year from their friends at PEPCO. In return, they allow PEPCO to raise your rates to new levels, while customer service hits a new low. Comcast has the same deal going. So there is no accountability, no competition, your rates go up, and you can't get a single live person on the phone to complain to. It's outrageous. Get this straight: YOU WILL NEVER HAVE EXCELLENT SERVICE FROM PEPCO OR COMCAST UNTIL YOU ELECT NEW REPRESENTATIVES WHO AREN'T BEHOLDEN TO THEM.

Anyone who knows me knows that Robert Dyer is the People's Crusader when it comes to PEPCO's high rates and failure to provide the level of service equal to the excessive cost. Last year I made competition in utilities a major issue in my campaign. Robert Dyer is apparently the only one who will speak out on behalf of the citizens of Bethesda. PEPCO must pay the bills for every customer who lost power today, including food that had to be thrown out, and the restaurant bill for those of us who increased the 5% of Americans who eat Thanksgiving dinner at restaurants today.

To PEPCO and their elected friends in Annapolis and Rockville, the Grinches who Stole Thanksgiving: Bah humbug. To everyone else, Happy Thanksgiving.

Breaking news:

BRONROTT, FRICK, AND LEE

VOTE FOR SLOTS

Welcome to the Waffle House, ladies and gentlemen. Although we can understand Bill Frick voting for slots, as his law firm Akin Gump is a major lobbyist for the gaming industry, Bill Bronrott and Susan Lee have no such pro-slots history. Bronrott and Lee have told you for years that slots are the instrument of the devil himself, and will surely lead to moral and societal decay in Montgomery County. (If the County Council doesn't bring us there first). Now the new Bronrott and Lee join "The Gambler," Bill Frick, in voting for the slots referendum which will almost surely be approved by Democrats statewide in the 2008 election. Why? Because they've all flip-flopped on slots for personal and political gain.

I've already told you in the past how the casino industry mysteriously offered no support or outreach to slots supporters such as myself in 2006. They also transferred their massive financial contributions from popular former governor Bob Ehrlich to Martin O'Malley that same year. This was a Faustian bargain between the gaming industry and the Maryland Democratic Party that is now reaping the benefits for the industry and Democrats alike. It is an embarrassment for both the gaming industry, which stabbed Republicans in the back like nobody's business last year, and for their new best friends the Democrats, home to District 16's own hypocrites, Bronrott, Frick (even he weakly claimed to be anti-slots), and Lee. And also for the 5 Republican delegates who joined the Democrats in voting for yesterday's bill. For shame, for shame.

"Gimme, gimme, gimme."

Brian Frosh turns to a colleague during Senate passage of the largest, most regressive tax increase in Maryland history, exhorting him to get more taxes out of the residents of District 16. This included a Frosh measure that would have forced summer vacation renters to pay Maryland income taxes, thereby devastating the rental home and condo market in Ocean City. Another day, another billion dollars for the extremist, far-left agenda in Annapolis.

Photo: The Gazette

BREAKING NEWS:

BRONROTT, FRICK, AND LEE VOTE FOR HIGHEST,

MOST REGRESSIVE TAX INCREASE IN

MARYLAND HISTORY

District 16's delegates, William Bronrott, Bill Frick, and Susan Lee have voted for the largest, most regressive tax increase in Maryland history. The bills they voted for not only rob working families but savagely penalize the most vulnerable in our community: the poor, children, the sick, the disabled, and the elderly. It is shameful. Shameful.

Having taken $4 million from Maryland children, Governor O'Malley and his allies Bronrott, Frick, Lee, and Frosh are now going to prey on the senior citizens and disabled of District 16. In another move out of (really far) left field, they are putting a 6% tax on snow removal service! Again, this is not a misprint. The majority of customers for snow removal are the elderly and disabled who need professionals to clear walkways and driveways. Don't expect any sympathy from these greedy Democrats if you are elderly or disabled. As I told you earlier, there is no low that is too low for these individuals when it comes to taking your hard-earned money.

Environmental Hypocrisy, Vol. 247, Chapter II

Let the oil spill in the San Francisco Bay be a lesson to anyone - such as the ultra-hypocritical Washington Post - who is calling for oil drilling near the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. As we've seen over 2007 in Rockville and Annapolis, the unthinkable is becoming reality all around us. I support additional drilling for domestic oil, but not in highly sensitive environments like the Maryland/Virginia coast. Yet this is what the Post and others are proposing. These are the same people who want to put an environmental catastrophe off the coast of Ocean City by building a turbine farm that will harm wildlife and mar the view of el mar. We need to stop this. But let's review the environmental "achievements" of Democratic Annapolis in 2007:

• Banned Dish Detergent. Effect on Bay pollution/environment: zero.


• Passed "Clean Cars Act," adding $3000 to sticker price on cars when Maryland dealerships are already suffering from lower sales. Effect on Bay pollution/environment: zero.

The Robert Dyer environmental plan actually addresses the contamination and pollution in our environment without resorting to scare tactics, distortions, and pseudo-science. Highlights include tough measures to reduce the three actual sources of Bay pollution, a revolutionary solar energy program that will clean the air and cut energy bills, new rail transit options, a real crackdown on polluters, etc. Importantly, it does not punish the taxpayer or harm wildlife like the plans and laws currently eminating from Annapolis. These days, punishment and harm are about all that is eminating from Annapolis.

Chuck E. Cheese is asking you to call your delegates and senator to stop the madness. Yes, it's true: Martin O'Malley is even going after your children's money, with a tax increase on arcade games! That is not a misprint. O'Malley is taxing video games. And haircuts. And public parking lots and garages. And landscaping service. Gift cards you don't use? The unused amounts are scheduled to be seized by O'Malley and his far-left cronies in Annapolis. They are shockingly out of touch with the residents of Maryland, as such arbitrary gift card deadlines are under investigation by Attorneys General nationwide. Remember, this is the governor who said slots were "morally bankrupt," but is now the biggest proponent of one-armed bandits in America. And of the largest, most regressive tax increase on the poor and middle class in American history - that's no joke, run the numbers yourself. Like the Washington Post, there is absolutely no limit to how low down and dirty O'Malley and the far-left will get in foisting their extremist agenda on every man, woman, and child in the state of Maryland.

And what a tremendous embarrassment for the Washington Post last night, as Republican Corey Stewart won reelection in a landslide in Prince William County. The Post put every resource they had behind Mr. Stewart's opponent, as they continue their gentrifying blitzkrieg into Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia. They even stooped to call one Republican "clownish" in their pathetic roundup of endorsements. We remember well how the Post insulted Republican candidates in the most childish way last year, and then proceeded to lie in their endorsement editorials. It is shameful, and unethical. And once again, it has failed.

Christmas starts earlier every year. The Heat Miser, aka Governor Martin O'Malley, has already taken his throne in Annapolis and is prepared to drain the lifeforce of every poor, middle-class and wealthy individual in the state of Maryland.

In 36 years, I have never witnessed a regressive tax plan of this magnitude. The sheer number of new taxes being proposed is simply beyond belief. It's more a question of "which taxes are not going to be increased?" Martin O'Malley, Bill Bronrott, Susan Lee, Bill Frick, and Brian Frosh make Bill Clinton seem like a supply-sider by comparison. Usually, a government proposes increasing the income tax or the sales tax; not both.

Local Catholic Church officials released a document reminding lawmakers that taxation should be based on the ability of an individual to pay. A progressive tax system takes more from those who can afford to pay more. The O'Malley plan is not progressive at all; it is the largest regressive tax increase in Maryland history.

What does the average working-class Maryland man do after work? He might go to a bar or pub, smoke cigarettes and have one or more drinks. Well, guess who's working the bar tonight? The governor himself, and that tab is going to send our working-class man into bankruptcy. How about a whopping $3 tax ($2 MD + $1 Federal) per pack of cigarettes? At a pack a day, that comes to $1095 a year! Now add on Montgomery County's own Jennie Forehand $2 liquor tax on those frosty mugs... $730 a year! Granted, I'm not endorsing this as a healthy lifestyle, but the lower one's income is, the more likely a person is to smoke. Here our self-proclaimed "progressive" governor has added almost $2000 to the financial burden of those least able to afford it, and that covers only 2 of the taxes on the list.

And speaking of healthy lifestyles, if you belong to a gym or health club, and are trying to live a healthy lifestyle, the governor is going to punish you! Shame on you for working out! Now pay the new O'Malley-Bronrott-Lee-Frick-Frosh health club tax.

How about driving up the already inflated cost of rent with the new real estate services tax? Martin O'Malley will do it. So desperate is he for every last cent that he can redirect to a far-left agenda and his wealthy campaign contributors, that he is willing to devastate the already devastated poor across the state of Maryland.

So let's have a quick taxation tutorial: Taxes serve 3 purposes in society, and one can argue against all three, but three they are. First, taxes provide funds for government, which ideally exists to protect the Constitution rights of all Americans and should limit its involvement in our lives. Second, taxes can affect the economy in positive and negative ways. Finally, taxes can be used to modify behavior, although I would argue that in most cases that is not true. Behaviors are notoriously hard to change, and citizens simply end up paying more taxes.

What, then, to make of this nightmarish O'Malley mother of all tax increases? It raises incredible amounts of money from the poorest among us and does not even clarify what that amount will be spent on. I'm proud to have opposed the outrageous, unfunded Thornton mandates during the election last year, when every intelligent person knew that a) we could not afford it, and b) the money has had no effect on the worst schools in the state. I have advocated switching to a funding system based on merits of particular projects and reforms. This would not only keep the budget within its means, but would also force jurisdictions such as Baltimore to finally provide the education its students deserve. All the politicians supporting this simply want more money to play with and give to their bigshot contributors - who then pay them back with more contributions.

Stop the madness; call your delegates and senator and tell them you oppose this inhuman, mean-spirited, draconian, regressive tax scheme. But no one should be surprised; if you elect far-left Democrats, your wallet is going to take a hit. Don't blame me, I voted for Ehrlich.

~

Crime Wave Continues

I hate to keep saying I told you so, but I continue to be absolutely vindicated as the violent crime wave continues in Montgomery County. I was the only candidate who talked about crime during the campaign last year, and our current delegates famously have done nothing to stop our current crime wave that is now in its second year.

Are you ready for this? 6:40 P.M., Halloween night... The Safeway in Twinbrook, packed with customers. Four masked men with guns shoot a cashier and get away. The record of our elected officials during this violent crime wave has been shameful.

I leave you with this quote from the Gazette today, if you want to know the effects of government inaction on violent crime:

"Ghassan Abbasi, who moved to the neighborhood two weeks ago, came upon the crime [scene] as he approached the supermarket last night."

‘‘I just moved here from California actually,” he said. ‘‘That was an ugly sight to see right away.” Abbasi says he is already considering moving.