UPDATED! CHARLES LOLLAR FOR GOVERNOR SPEAKS ON ISSUES

 

 

   

 

 

* I just added a full length video of a campaign speech made on 3//26/14: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecGJ29kRP1c&feature=share&list=UU8nAHf9dn3neqKHeGgQPs2w

    I first became aware of Charles Lollar on January 13, 2010. I remember it vividly because it was at a TEA Party on a cold night in Annapolis. I think it was the only TEA Party that I have ever attended after dark. Lawyer's Mall was filled to capacity in protest of O'Malley's budget mismanagement and the anticipated new taxes to be proposed in that legislative session. The event had been organized by Americans for Prosperity, but I was there with the Hagerstown TEA Party. There were several dynamic speakers there that were able to tap into the fervor of the crowd, but none better than a man named Charles Lollar. As I heard him speak I began to work my way threw the incredible crowd hoping to see the man behind the charisma. I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't intrigued to see a black man who was a Republican and who seemed to "get" the TEA Party, especially since the movement had been maligned by Liberals and branded as racists. I was fascinated. Beyond that he was able to almost "preach" Conservative principles unscripted, intelligently, and with a passion that I am sure convinced all who were there that he indeed shared our principles, our concerns, and our hopes for going forward. I knew nothing more about him, but I felt right then and there that he would play an important role in the future of Maryland politics. Over 4 years later I have learned that he is not only a charismatic speaker, but that he is highly educated (Political Science, B.A. and an MBA), a decorated Marine (Officers Candidate School), a devoted family man (married 20 years with 4 daughters), and someone with a grasp on Conservative issues like no other.  I attended the Charles Lollar for Governor Meet and Greet last night and I was not disappointed.



Huge Rally in Annapolis in 2010

    The event was held in a trendy setting, where good food and drink were available, and cool music played in the background. It had all of the expected promotional materials like palm cards, signs, and T-shirts and even the expected raffle for a very classy hospitality basket. Team Lollar did a great job of organizing the event. I immediately noticed something different about this candidate's event, and that was that he was actually greeting and meeting with people for at least an hour before the event. I don't mean hobnobbing with Republican elected officials...he was going from table to table talking with regular people. When he came to my table I asked him several of my own questions about issues in addition to some that had been texted to me to ask on other's behalf. His answers were so forthright and succinct that it almost through me off task. I asked him if I could have a chance to talk to him again after he spoke and he said that he would be available. He was not introduced by Republican bigwigs or marched out with pomp and circumstance. He just grabbed a mic and did what Charles Lollar does. He spoke about issues.
    He started by saying that he believes that many people are asking the wrong questions. We are struggling in this state. There is a mad exodus of businesses from the state. People need jobs and they are over taxed and over regulated. Yet people are asking him what he is going to do about social issues. He couldn't have spoken a TEA Party precept more precisely if it had been dictated to him. Many people do not realize--because of the Liberal media smear campaign against the TEA Party--that although individual TP members may feel strongly about certain social issues, in the spirit of compromise and cooperation they have always avoided them as a group or organization. This is what he said:

"I am not running to be your priest. I am running to be your governor. There is a very real difference between those two occupations. If you want me to be your pastor and tell you  how to live then let's get out of the governor business and start a church and I will tell you how to live. My job as your governor, if I am honored enough to serve you, is to be held accountable for every penny that you sent to Annapolis. To make sure it is spent properly and what is not spent properly should go right back to you the taxpayer." 

Can I get an "Amen"?

    As if we needed convincing that this state is struggling, Lollar rattled off some statistics. In the last 5-7 years we've lost 40,000 jobs. We have lost 6,500 small businesses, taking with them $5.5B in revenue. [We historically lose revenue when taxes are excessive.] In one fiscal year the state budget has gone from $34.6B to $36.9B. That is an increase of $2.5B or 7.5%. In that same fiscal year the Consumer Price Index cost of living grew only 1.5%. "That means that your government grows at 5 times the rate of your pocketbooks...and why do we need 74 new taxes over 7 years? There is nothing left to tax!" Lollar then laid out his 5-part plan for economic growth:

1. Control Spending.

• Tax Payer's Bill of Rights- Legislatively ensuring that our government no longer grows faster than our CPI. 
• Return to Zero-based Budgeting- Starting with what we spent last year and not with a wish list for which we increase taxes in order to obtain all that we want.
• Hiring/Employee Budget Accountability by Department Secretaries..

"The governor of Maryland controls the budget. So whenever the governor decides to, he can make the hard decisions to balance it...whether he does so or not. Yes the legislators vote it up and down and they can propose taxes against it, but the governor controls it."

    2.   Regulation Reform. Create a Citizens Industry Review Board to work in conjunction with the EPA. The board will be made up of volunteers, so there will be no cost to the taxpayer. They will have experience in their respective industries and create common sense solutions that respects the environment, but does not senselessly burden the business owners, farmers, watermen and the economy as a whole.

"No longer will academia regulate any industry without experience."

    3.  Transparency.

• No appointed boards or commissions with the power to raise taxes and fees.
• No raiding the Transportation Trust Fund to balance the budget.
• This governor will understand that I work for you and you do not work for me.

"We will not allow non-legislative non-elected bodies or commission boards to increase your fees or your taxes going forward. That should be left to those who are elected, and not to those who are appointed."

    4.  Education.

• School Choice so that children are not trapped in a school that is operating below standards just because of where they live. Wherever the child goes to school his parent's tax dollars will follow, either by voucher or tax credit. Schools will be competing for your children!
• Internships in high school especially for those seeking a trade instead of a degree.
• Teacher training out of their districts and maybe even out of the country in order to expand their teaching experiences and perspectives.

"The often touted No.1 ranking in education is not based on standardized test scores. It is based on dollars spent per student as well as the number of teachers affiliated with or a part of our public union. They know that! What we need is less and less students needing remedial courses in order to get into college." 

  5.  Repeal taxes.

• Rain Tax
• Progressive Gas Tax
• Taxes on pensions of First Responders

"With the Rain Tax we are the laughing stock of our region."

    The following is a Q & A exchange with the audience (only parts appear on the video due to technical difficulties) and also from my interview. The answers are mostly paraphrased.

1. Q [Audience]: What will you do to make a college education affordable?
    A: Overall the cost of in-state tuition is quite affordable at just under $9,000 a year. Two things that can help:

• Educational Trust Funds. Start early saving for your children and grandchildren.
• Repeal or amend the Dream Act. You cantnot have one group of people paying into the system and another group not paying into the system (illegal immigrants) and then have both groups receive the same benefits. Somebody has to pay the difference between the in-state ($9,000) and the out-of-state ($28,000) tuition and it is the taxpayer. This has nothing to do with racism. It has to do with fairness and this act could lead us into financial trouble. We can't afford it.

2. Q [Audience]: How exactly do you propose to cut taxes?
    A: Poor spending decisions and wish-list budgeting has led to this tax burden. We plan to:

• Create a board to look at each one of the 74 taxes to determine how many we can eradicate.
• Enact a flat 5% tax rate across the board.
• Look at casinos for future tax revenue (when asked by the audience).

3a. Q: Do you feel as do some establishment Republicans that you need to distance yourself from the TEA Party?
      A. No. I have always identified with the TEA Party on issues. I have presented TEA Party principles to some very tough audiences...as you might imagine.
3b. Q: Why do you think establishment Republicans do not embrace the TEA Party?
      A: I think it threatens their status as career politicians. Politics was never meant to be a career. The founding fathers intended for elected officials to work jobs. They were to serve from January to March and then go home and work their jobs.
4.  Q: Do you think that Plan Maryland has adversely affected farmers?
     A: Yes. Plan Maryland seeks to target growth and resources towards an urban environment making it hard or in some cases impossible for farmers to sell their property or to get a loan against their property. I do not think that rural Maryland is being served by this administration.
5. Q: Where do you stand on fracking? Do you think that technology has now made this a safe industry?
    A:  "It is time!" We do not need to spend anymore taxpayer money on research and studies. It is being done successfully and safely in our neighboring states, and they are horizontally fracking and taking our resources and revenue. This could bring major economic growth to Western Maryland.
6. Q: Do you think that SB281 went too far?
    A: Absolutely. They have no right to define what kind of firearms our citizens may own. The 2nd Amendment is the right of every citizen to protect themselves with whatever firearm they choose to purchase.
7. Q: Hagerstown is a dying city. How can the state help revitalize our downtown?
    A: This administration does not want to help Hagerstown in a big way or they would have enabled fracking in Western Maryland, improved I-81, and created the highway by-pass that has been discussed for years. [I wish that I had been able to ask him to explain this further.] They are putting more state resources into the larger urban centers of the state and giving the rest of the state little to nothing.
8. Q: Hagerstown had been negotiating with a minor league baseball team to build a new stadium. The team has since decided to leave town, but the possibility of building a new stadium is still being considered. Do you think that public funds should be used to build stadiums?
    A: Absolutely not. "The day is over for taxpayer money for stadiums. The Governor is in charge of the budget. You will not see a stadium in my budget."
9. Q [Audience]: Would your administration make any changes to the pension plans of First Responders?
    A: I think that we can find ways to make a better life for our First Responders. I think that their pensions should be like my combat pay was in Kosovo...tax free.
10. Q: Where to you stand on increasing the minimum wage?
      A: I think that it inflates the whole system and winds up costing the wager earner and consumers more in taxes and increased costs that are passed down to the consumer. I think that lower taxes and smarter budgeting are the answers.
11. Q: What do you think of Common Core?
      A: "It is unconstitutional."  For a video of the full answer on Common Core go to http://youtu.be/F1rnB_e_NsQ.

   In the end, he asked for volunteers but only if they could be committed to sticking to the issues and resisting the urge for bickering and nasty campaign tactics. He admonished everyone to stick to the issues.  Privately I asked him about the rumors that his campaign team was "falling apart." He said that he cannot control every word that comes out of the mouths of 100 or more volunteers, but that once he was informed that one volunteer had used terms degrading to the developmentally challenged he took care of it and that person is no longer with the campaign. He said that his team is united and focused and moving forward. Based on the event that evening...I would have to agree with him.

You can see the video of his speech by going to http://youtu.be/CqPm_WP0r9E.

Visit the Charles Lollar for Governor website at http://www.lollar4governor.com/.

Also see: http://liberatedconservativewoman.blogspot.com/2014/03/meet-candidates-for-governor-of-maryland.html

RAY GIVENS FOR MARYLAND STATE DELEGATE, DISTRICT 1C

     Ray Givens is the go-to guy in the tri-state area for gun rights activism, or anything about guns for that matter, and I am delighted that he is running for Maryland State Delegate for District 1-C (Williamsport, Hagerstown west of Rt. 63, Clear Spring, Big Pool, Big Spring, Hancock, Flintstone, Little Orleans, Rocky Gap, and Cumberland). Ray does not hesitate to speak out on gun issues and boldly states his position on 2nd Amendment rights in his campaign literature:

 

“I strongly believe that the 2nd Amendment is the protector of all people, property, and individual rights. I also firmly believe, as did our first president, George Washington, that firearms are second only to the U.S. Constitution in importance.”

 

    We could not find a better candidate to represent Maryland gun owners in Annapolis, where they have overstepped their boundaries and passed an unconstitutional bill (SB 281, entitled The Firearms Safety Act of 2013) that infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens. As the Legislative Representative for the Western Maryland Sportsman’s Coalition, an unfunded position, he made the long trip to Annapolis two or more times a week at his own expense during the presentation and debate of SB 281. He testified whenever the public was invited to do so.
    When the Hagerstown TEA Party hosted a Western Maryland Day of Resistance in opposition to this bill, he was a great support to me when I organized the event, assisting in reaching out and securing credible, knowledgeable speakers regarding all aspects of gun rights and ownership. He also publicly opposed SB 281 at a town hall meeting held at Fox45 TV in Baltimore where he was invited to be a part of a panel for discussion of the bill, specifically speaking out against the banning of magazines with a capacity of over 10 rounds, stating that time not magazine capacity affects the outcome of a mass shooting.

    That said, Ray Givens is not a one-issue candidate. He has spent a lifetime supporting and promoting core conservative principles of smaller government, lower taxes, less bureaucratic regulations, defense of the U.S. Constitution, and the individual rights and freedoms of all citizens. His background and work experience includes not only a knowledge of firearms and constitutional issues, but also years of legislative experience on behalf of Maryland sportsmen and experience in environmental issues. He retired from both the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and United States Army Reserve (USAR) programs. He worked as a correctional officer in Montgomery County and as a Sheriff’s Deputy in Prince George’s County. He also has work experience as an Environmental Investigator, particularly in regards to water, equipping him to argue the environmental issues surrounding the clean-up of the bay that led to a septic tax and costly regulations to home owners in Western Maryland.
    Ray Givens is a member of Responsibly Armed and the National Rifle Association. He is a past president of the Washington County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, and a member of the South Mountain and North American Rod and Gun Club, the Western Maryland Sportsmen’s Club, and the Potomac Fish and Game Club.

    In addition to the organizations related to gun ownership and use, he also belongs to the following community and veteran’s organizations:  

·                 High school coach, JROTC

·                 Optimist International, Washington County Sludge Task Force

·                 Member of the American Legion (45 years)

·                 Member of AMVETS

·                 Lifetime member of Marine Corps League

·                 Former Chair and member of Washington County Republican Club Central

             Committee

·                 Member Washington County Republican Club 

 

For more information about Ray Givens for Delegate of District 1C, go to the campaign Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/RayGivensForMarylandHouseOfDelegatesDistrict1c.

 

He will soon have a website available, and I will post a link to it once it becomes available. If you want to volunteer or donate to his campaign, email Ray at raygivensfordelegate1c@yahoo.com.

DO NOT MISS OUT ON THE GUN RAFFLE...ONLY $5.00...TO HELP SUPPORT THIS VERY IMPORTANT CANDIDATE! (email Ray at the above email address)

 

 

 

 

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR, LT. GOV. BROWN, SPEAKS TO THE CHAMBER

     

    Maryland Lt Governor Anthony G. Brown was the guest speaker at the Chamber of Commerce's monthly Eggs and Issues event today. Make no mistake. It was a campaign speech. Following the announcement of his candidacy at a picnic in Prince George’s County on May 10, 2013, this was just one stop on his campaign trail.
     I  read that he plans to run on the successes of the O'Malley-Brown administration. As anyone who knows me could imagine,  I am disgusted with the outcome of the 2013 legislative session. For this reason I felt compelled to attend this campaign event. I wanted to hear for myself how he plans to paint the state of our state, our business climate, our many tax increases, and our many state regulations as accomplishments to be celebrated. Those are just the subjects that I thought were relevant to this audience at the Chamber. I personally also would have liked to have  heard how he can make the worst 2nd Amendment infringements in the country besides NY sound like anything but unconstitutional, unnecessary, and oppressive.

It's Barack Obama! Right?!

    To be fair, he is clearly a very educated man with a remarkable resume, a veteran, a family man, a man that has lived  a life of service. All of that is admirable and I recognize that to be true. That said, I found his social presence to be rehearsed and one of a purely political personality.  He shook all of the right hands and slapped all of the right backs. His speech was every bit a speech. His manner is uncannily almost like Barack Obama's. I imagined that if I was a judge on the political version of the TV show The Voice, where you cannot see the person and only hear his voice, I would have sworn that it was President Obama speaking. The resume and the presence seemed a dichotomy. Lets be honest, personality does count in America...especially for the largely uninformed voters. 

The Gong Show

     So right out of the box he says, "We have come out--or are coming out in some areas of the state--of the Great Recession as a state able to weather the storm, growing economically, creating jobs faster than any other state other than Virginia..." I imagined that I was on the old Gong Show. I wanted to hit that big gong to make him stop singing so horribly and sit down! He is saying this presumably to business owners and entrepreneurs! In Maryland!! The audience wasn't applauding, but it wasn't balking either. 

   He went on to say, "Government can't solve every problem, but people want leaders to make the difficult decisions even when it's against their self interest." 

 This administration was completely driven by O'Malley's self interest in running for president in 2016! 
   "We have fought for our successes. We need continued economic prosperity and a growing economy, and the economy grows when businesses want to come to Maryland and when businesses want to stay in Maryland. 

 Not only do businesses not want to stay in Maryland, but neither do the productive citizens of the state! It is estimated that 40,000 people left the state in 2012.
   "Businesses want to stay in Maryland when we provide the investments in infrastructure." 

    The O'Malley-Brown administration robbed the transportation fund for two terms in order to fraudulently balance the budget! Then they made cuts to the funds given to the municipalities for infrastructure adding to the burdens of already tight budgets.
   "Government needs to provide these investments, but with fiscal responsibility and we have adhered to that..."

 

 "...while maintaining a AAA bond rating with a $1.8B structure deficit that we inherited."  This has to be Barack Obama! When all else fails blame somebody else. 

Barack! Is that you?!

   "We believe in Hagerstown and Washington County...and we are looking to continue a relationship with the business community here."
   The speech was precisely 15 minutes in length followed by a Q&A session.  I give every politician credit for submitting to Q&A. I could tell already that this candidate was pretty safe with this crowd. This audience was polite, gentle, even grateful!

All unicorns and rainbows here!

     The questions were hard to hear and most often comments rather than questions. I will try to paraphrase, but I admit it is pretty boring:

Q.    [inaudible] Is there someone we should tie in with for senior housing? 
A.    We have many programs like tax credit programs and grant programs. Ben on our staff can talk to you and lead you to the different programs and departments.

Q.  [COC host] There is an opportunity to build a stadium and to revitalize Hagerstown. How best can we work with Annapolis?
A.    We already provided $100,000 for a study. Now your challenges are largely local. We will look to your leaders. 

A poke in the eye to the Mayor and City Council!

Perhaps there will be resources from that strategy. The private sector creates, but strategic and public resources may be available...ought to be made available. We will take your lead and bring the resources. 

Q.    Thank you for your support for schools and libraries, but could you add to that support for the arts and museums?
A.    If you look at our budget you will see an increase for the arts. I am a big believer in the arts. 

Q.    How is sequester impacting Maryland now and in the future?
A.    We accounted for it in our budget this year, raising the Rainy Day Fund from 5% to 6% [Wow!] to mitigate the impact on the Headstart Program and furloughs for government employees.  [In other words, there was no impact because it was a gimmick to try to get more spending.] We only account for one budget year at a time. Not sure how it will impact next year's budget. We take each budget year as it comes. [Hagerstown actually got an INCREASE in CDBG money.] 

Q.    You say we are poised to be more business friendly, but the impression is that it is not so. How can we change that perception?

Candy coating makes everything more palatable. 

A.    We have to establish that goal. BTW, we have 15 strategic goals on our website.

        Develop metrics.

        Public and private need to work together on agreed upon metrics. 

        Action items.

        [Yay! All better!]

We need to provide a good cost of energy. [Can somebody say gas tax?]

We need to look into fracking in this area. [Get the hell out of the way!]

"We should not spend a lot of time in debating our level of friendliness. You can find a study for any results that you want." [The data is in. We are #40.]

" You the private sector have some work to do as well!" Yes, he did say that and nobody said a peep. 

Q.    Who establishes that goal? 

A.    At every level of government and the private sector.

Q.  Thank you from the Teacher's Association. [Anyone surprised? No? Me either.]

Q.    Wade Watson from Volvo Mack  was very grateful and full of praise for the business friendliness they have received. He has seen positive changes over the last 1-2 years and thinks MD is very competitive in energy and....taxes. [Well they always spread a little pork around to try to cultivate some gratitude. Besides, they have to do something right once in awhile. Could be that government behaved as it should have in this case.]

Q.    I work at workforce development and training of vets. Is there any help at the state level?

A.    I credit Barack Obama for working on the private sector to hire vets. What we did is create a program where universities have to provide college credit to vets for their related experience as do licensing boards. I will tie you up with Ben Stutts for our programs.

Q.    Don't forget the Maryland Theater. 

        Regarding the airport tower, we not only want to keep it, we want to build a new tower and we have a developer willing to pay one third of the investment for it. 

        Regarding workforce development: our technical schools that provide a trade are treated like 2nd class citizens when it comes to funding. 

A.  In my day it was called Vo-tech. [In my day too and I went to one.] It was looked down upon. But many years later I ran into a guy named Dave who went to Vo-tech and his home is three times larger than mine! [I think I know Dave.] Yes, we need to put more money into the trade schools. People will say that we don't have the money, but we have done it while balancing the budget!

One last gong. I promise. 

    There were no surprises. It was a campaign stop. The democratic candidate for governor was singularly given a captive audience at a Chamber of Commerce event. They rolled out the red carpet for him. What will surprise me is if a Republican candidate for governor gets the same opportunity and is met with such...glee (some were absolutely giddy).  

     

   

DAVID CRAIG FOR GOVERNOR VISITS HAGERSTOWN

   I attended a meet and greet for Republican gubernatorial candidate David Craig last evening at Bulls & Bears in downtown Hagerstown. The event was well-attended by citizens, elected officials, and community leaders. After Commissioner Terry Baker introduced the candidate, he came to the podium and gave a short speech with all of  the standard Republican candidate content. He said nothing bold or daring, but he had the presence of  a good man who has been serving his country in one form or another for many years. I had no prior knowledge of Mr. Craig and I found him to be a pleasant man who seemed to present himself with a good balance of confidence and humility.
   After his speech he did do something fairly bold by taking a few questions from the audience. I was all ears as he was asked about the recent gun control bill (SB281). He gave a long answer that made me a little impatient because all I wanted to hear is that he is 100 percent against it and that he would do everything in his power to repeal. He did not. He did say that he thinks we just need to enforce the many gun laws already on the books.
  When asked about taxes he was righteously indignant against the "40 new taxes" (that number varies in all of the writings and speeches that I've heard), and stated that he would do everything that he could to lower or repeal many of those taxes. He said that if he is elected the budget for that first year will have already been  in place, but that his first budget would be truly balanced  and not falsely balanced by robbing money from other funds to balance it.
   The crowd seemed to want to be polite, including me, since this was his first visit to the area. The moment that I posted this event on-line I began to receive a lot of negative information about the man and his record on issues such as Agenda 21 and Plan Maryland that may or may not be true. I plan to do my research on this and every candidate. I did not want to ask obnoxious questions at his coming out party...particularly when I don't already know the answers...yet.  I will be ready the next time that our paths cross.
 

Senator Shank may not like this picture...but I thought it was charming. Sorry Chris!