• Governor Ehrlich’s traveling the state; talking to Marylanders
• Lt. Governor Steele earns the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• Martin O’Malley’s fudged numbers and cooked books; Watch out, Jayne’s on the case!
• Ben Cardin attacks fellow Democrat, while saying he won’t attack fellow Democrat

Governor Ehrlich’s traveling the state; talking to Marylanders

Governor Ehrlich and his cabinet spent Wednesday in Cumberland talking about education.  Education is a top issue for the governor and Marylanders so his visit to Western Maryland was an opportunity to highlight our state’s great educational facilities and point out the remarkable and historic contributions Governor Ehrlich’s Administration has made to education.  

Governor Ehrlich met with Frostburg University’s new president, Jonathan Gibralter, on his first day as head of the university.  The governor also announced $2.7 million in funding for a new pedestrian path that will increase students’ safety.  He also touted Maryland’s University System as one of the best in the world.  Local officials praised the cooperation they have received from the state under the Ehrlich Administration.   According to the Cumberland Times:  “After welcoming Gibralter to FSU, Ehrlich viewed the progress at the Mountain Ridge High School construction site in front of Beall High School.   Allegany County Superintendent of Schools Bill AuMiller and Parent Advisory Council chairwoman Karen Treber thanked Ehrlich for his support of the project. ’We all know that buildings don’t teach, and his school will only fulfill the expectations of our community if our students continue to make improvements in test scores, graduation rates and overall achievement,’ said Treber. ‘But it is inspiration and a symbol of the collaboration and partnerships that took place to make it a reality.’”

Cumberland Times-News - Funding for Univ. Drive

Here’s some great information on the Governor’s record on education:

Increased school funding by a record $1.4 billion;

Provided the largest increase in history to K-12 funding in 2006 with $462 million;

Enacted Maryland’s first-ever Charter School Law;

Doubled school construction funding;

Increased higher education funding by a record $172 million this year;

Doubled need-based college scholarship funding;

Increased funding for Maryland’s long-neglected Historically Black Colleges and Universities;

And fully funded Maryland’s community colleges.

But besides the funding, and most importantly of all, students test scores are up statewide and more students are enrolled in Maryland’s colleges and universities than ever before.   Maryland’s schools, under Governor Ehrlich, have consistently received an “A” in accountability standards for K-12 from Education Week, a highly respected educational periodical.

Governor Bob Ehrlich is the education Governor!

Lt. Governor Steele earns the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Lt. Governor Michael Steele officially received the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week.  The Chamber came to Maryland as part of their “Vote for Business Bandwagon” tour, which will travel the country registering voters and increasing the business communities involvement in public policy and politics in general.  

After receiving the endorsement, Lt. Governor Steele said, “We need to continue to strip away the government regulations that stifle business expansion. We need to create a health care system that works for small business owners and small business employees – millions of whom are going without health care today because bureaucrats in Washington won’t wake up to the fact that our current system is inefficient and burdensome. We also need to continue to reexamine our tax structure that too often punishes and discourages ownership. The ‘death tax’ is making it almost impossible for families to create legacy wealth by passing their businesses down from one generation to the next. I will work to repeal this tax in the United States Senate.”

The Chamber represents more than three million small businesses with less than 100 employees.   “The Maryland Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the national organization to create a state-specific Web site, www.mdvoteforbusiness.com, which includes information on candidates running for every office in the state this year. Users can find out how incumbents voted on the chamber’s priority issues and can read candidates’ answers to questionnaires issued by the chamber.   ‘We’re trying to get the message out to our member businesses that we want them to try and energize their employees about the election and the issues important to them,’ said Maryland Chamber spokesman William Burns.   Labor organizations have traditionally been more involved in grassroots campaigning and get-out-the-vote activities, and the business community is now trying to catch up.” (Business groups hits the campaign trail, Maryland Daily Record, August 3, 2006)

Martin O’Malley’s fudged numbers and cooked books; Watch out, Jayne’s on the case!

Thankfully, there are reporters out there who will actually investigate Martin O’Malley’s claims about crime reductions.   We’re sure you’ve noticed that the two major papers in the state refuse to critically examine the record of O’Malley on crime, or education, minority business enterprise, eminent domain, taxes, quality of life issues and political dirty tricks for that matter.   But WBAL-TV Channel 11 rightly does not take O’Malley’s word at face value.  

In another damning report about fudged crime statistics, WBAL’s Jayne Miller looked at crime statistics and hospital reports.   You may recall that several months ago, in attempting to quell questions into his crime statistics, O’Malley called a hastily arranged press conference with his police commissioner and his health commissioner.   They presented “evidence” that the crime statistics that O’Malley provides the public are true, as the FBI, criminologists and outside authorities strongly disagree with the mayor’s numbers.   So, O’Malley called in his political appointees to cover his tail.  

This week Jayne Miller reported that the data presented at that earlier press conference was not complete, and several notable criminologists agree that the data was insufficient and therefore does not provide a full picture of crime data.  TheWBALChannel.com - 11 Investigates I-Team - Does Hospital Data Tell Murder Story?

According to the I-Team report: “Our examination of the data -- called hospital discharge data -- raises new questions. Citywide over the same period of years, it reflects a 12.2 percent reduction in gun-related injury -- much smaller than the 37 percent reduction reported by the city in February.    [Baltimore City Health Commissioner Joshua] Sharfstein: ‘I think it's an apples to oranges comparison.’  Sharfstein argued the data he presented in February is a better indicator of gun-related violence because it was pulled from the trauma registry, which only measures cases that show up at the state's trauma centers.  And a study published in 2005 found the hospital discharge data are a valid source for documenting injuries sustained by trauma patients. In fact, the study compared the discharge data to the trauma registry and concluded the two matched up at a rate of 93 percent.…The latest questions about the accuracy of the city's crime reporting follow our reports over the past months. They revealed serious crimes that went unrecorded by police -- a former police commissioner who claims city hall stopped his attempt to audit 2002 crime number, a claim the city denies, and, in the case of one man who died, the decision by a police commander to downgrade the crime despite a homicide ruling by the medical examiner and a pending criminal prosecution.   Professor Silverman, who is affiliated with John Jay College in New York, said the real crime picture in Baltimore should be examined.   Silverman: ‘By and large, the police try and do a good job but they work in an environment where they have to report to their political masters and there's really no way to know for sure unless there's some kind of independent audit of it. No one's going to know for sure one way or the other.’"

Come on, Martin.  Level with the people.  In 1999, he had the crime data audited which showed, shockingly, a huge spike in crime.   Now that audit, and crime figures in the years following O’Malley’s tenure as mayor, point to legitimate questions of the mayor’s honesty with the facts.   “Doug Ward, who was with the Maryland State Police at the time, has reviewed local police department crime reports. He said the revised crime statistics for 1999 still stick out as an unusual spike.   ‘It just seems odd there's one year significantly higher and nothing after, and it seemed odd because it was significantly out of what you would expect to see in the random deviation of those numbers,’ Ward said.

Miller said the results of that 1999 audit are critical to O'Malley because the numbers form the baseline from which he declares a near 40 percent reduction in violent crime during his administration.”  
TheWBALChannel.com - News - Homicide Rate, Police Procedures Questioned

There’s too much evidence to refute O’Malley for him to remain silent.   Open up the books at the Baltimore Police Department and get an audit underway. The people of Baltimore, and Maryland, deserve the truth. 

Ben Cardin attacks fellow Democrat, while saying he won’t attack fellow Democrat

And finally for this week, Ben Cardin.   Is he even running for U.S. Senate?   Pundits from around the state have been asking the same question.   Where is he?  And Ben who?  “Cardin’s problem is his blandness. He walks into a room and no one notices. He gives a speech and few can recall his words. He’s a policy wonk who knows the issues cold and knows how to work the legislative system but lacks a scintillating public personality.” (Ben Who? Montgomery Gazette, July 14, 2006)  Well, he should know how to work the system since he’s a lifetime politician with more PAC and special interest money than any other candidate.  But we digress… 

“Tired,” “boring” and “bland” are all words that have been associated with Ben Cardin in the press.  So Ben Cardin is barely running and we know that’s because he expected a backroom coronation rather than to actually earn the job from the voters.  He says he won’t attack, but that’s not really true.  Cardin told the Washington Times, “Basically, the election on the Democratic side is among friends.” (Cardin stresses issues, won’t attack Mfume, August 1, 2006).  But…just the next day, Cardin’s campaign sent out an attack email on one of his Democratic opponents, Josh Rales.   Cardin’s campaign sought donations in light of Rales’ big media ad buys.   And…On July 15th, the Baltimore Examiner reported that a Pentagon-bashing, far leftist group called the Council for a Livable World attacked Rales’ position on the War on Terror.   The group, by the way, has endorsed Cardin.  In the Council for a Smokable World’s attack, they said, “It’s time for Mr. Rales to stop misleading Maryland voters and come clean about his support for President Bush’s war in Iraq.” (Anti-war group says Rales ad is ‘misleading’, July 15, 2006).  Just so you’re keeping score, Cardin says he won’t attack, then he attacks, then has a third party kook group do his dirty work for him by attacking.   Hmmmm.  Nice tactic there, Congressman Coldfeet.