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June 30th, 2014

6/30/2014

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WHEN PLUNDER BECOMES A WAY OF LIFE FOR MEN IN A SOCIETY, OVER THE COURSE OF TIME THEY WILL CREATE FOR THEMSELVES A LEGAL SYSTEM THAT AUTHORIZES IT AND A MORAL CODE THAT GLORIFIES IT.


Bastiat wrote this in 1848 and it rings as true today as it ever did.

Neoliberalism is the name of the contemporary system of plunder:

http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-is-neoliberalism-explained.html


I want to revisit Rule of Law since I am in the midst of demanding my rights as a citizen be heard.  Remember, the US Constitution guarantees our rights as citizens.  WE THE PEOPLE have the right to legislate.  WE THE PEOPLE have equal protection under law.  WE THE PEOPLE have a Bill of Rights that is protected by three branches of government----Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.  A Rule of Law nation cannot simply suspend equal protection and enforce only laws power decides to enforce.  When our Maryland Attorney General runs for Governor with a platform issue to eliminate the State Prosecutor's Office particularly when Maryland is ranked at the bottom in the nation for fraud, corruption, and lack of transparency-----HE IS TELLING THE CITIZENS OF MARYLAND ---YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS TO PUBLIC JUSTICE.

Rule of Law may have a low or high degree of discretion, but Equal Protection places this squarely in the high degree.


Categorization of interpretations of Rule of Law------Wikipedia
 
Different people have different interpretations about exactly what "rule of law" means. According to political theorist Judith N. Shklar, "the phrase 'the Rule of Law' has become meaningless thanks to ideological abuse and general over-use", but nevertheless this phrase has in the past had specific and important meanings.[24] Among modern legal theorists, most views on this subject fall into three general categories: the formal (or "thin") approach, the substantive (or "thick") approach, and the functional approach.[25][26]

The "formal" interpretation is more widespread than the "substantive" interpretation. Formalists hold that the law must be prospective, well-known, and have characteristics of generality, equality, and certainty. Other than that, the formal view contains no requirements as to the content of the law.[25] This formal approach allows laws that protect democracy and individual rights, but recognizes the existence of "rule of law" in countries that do not necessarily have such laws protecting democracy or individual rights.


The substantive interpretation holds that the rule of law intrinsically protects some or all individual rights.

The functional interpretation of the term "rule of law", consistent with the traditional English meaning, contrasts the "rule of law" with the "rule of man."[26] According to the functional view, a society in which government officers have a great deal of discretion has a low degree of "rule of law", whereas a society in which government officers have little discretion has a high degree of "rule of law".[26] The rule of law is thus somewhat at odds with flexibility, even when flexibility may be preferable.[26]

The ancient concept of rule of law can be distinguished from rule by law, according to political science professor Li Shuguang: "The difference....is that, under the rule of law, the law is preeminent and can serve as a check against the abuse of power.
Under rule by law, the law is a mere tool for a government, that suppresses in a legalistic fashion."[27]



Folks, the Supreme Court is allowed to interpret law, not re-write it.  There is nothing in the Constitution or its history that allows for corporations to be termed citizens.  The original framers fought the Revolutionary War to get away from aristocracy and the East India global corporation so we know the Constitution would not be interpreted as has now been decided.

The system failed when our Senate and House failed to impeach Roberts for allowing such a vote to take place.  DID YOU HEAR ANY OF YOUR POLS SHOUT THAT IMPEACHMENT OF ROBERTS WAS REQUIRED WITH THIS ASSAULT ON THE CONSTITUTION?


Now, neo-liberals in states like Maryland are pretending a candidate has to have money in order to be viable.  Dismantling all public sources of education and voice on policy places all the power in the hands of private media and private non-profits to educate the public as they see fit.  This is why in Maryland the agencies tasked with enforcing election law ignore the violations---they do not see any rights of citizens.

"While some still believe the United States is the greatest democracy on Earth, the US is actually a plutocracy, a government ruled by the wealthiest. The recent Supreme Court decision in McCutcheon will subject us to an even stronger plutocracy that no one will be able to deny. The ‘rule of money’ will become more deeply entrenched at a time of economic and environmental crisis."... As both Nixon and Mao said "Now is the time, seize the time."

Cindy Walsh is a simple social democrat but I value the voice of those citizens who feel disconnected from the two party system.  I say repair the Democratic Party while others call for a third party. 

WE ALL KNOW THE STATUS QUO IS NOT WORKING.


I disagree with the article's depiction of wealth inequity -----it is massive corporate fraud of ens of trillions of dollars that has created this inequity and we simply need to reinstate Rule of Law to bring back that money to government coffers and individual's pockets.  IT'S ALL RULE OF LAW AND EQUAL PROTECTION.

The McCutcheon Decision Is Our Rallying Cry
By Kevin Zeese & Margaret Flowers, www.alternet.org
April 8th, 2014
 


While some still believe the United States is the greatest democracy on Earth, the US is actually a plutocracy, a government ruled by the wealthiest. The recent Supreme Court decision in McCutcheon will subject us to an even stronger plutocracy that no one will be able to deny. The ‘rule of money’ will become more deeply entrenched at a time of economic and environmental crisis.

In the US today, a small group of people rule over hundreds of millions of us through a government corrupted by money; and controls the economy through mega-businesses that receive special treatment from that government, prevent entrepreneurial competition and control tens of millions of people through low wages and high debt. The plutocrats fund the only two parties allowed to run for office and the people are manipulated by fear to vote against their interests in a mirage democracy of rigged elections.

The legitimacy of the US government is now in question. By illegitimate we mean it is rule by the 1%, not a democracy ‘of, by and for the people.’ The US has become a carefully designed plutocracy that creates laws to favor the few. As Stephen Breyer wrote in his dissenting opinion, American law is now “incapable of dealing with the grave problems of democratic legitimacy.” Or, as former president, Jimmy Carter said on July 16, 2013 “America does not at the moment have a functioning democracy.”

Even members of Congress admit there is a problem. Long before the McCutcheon decision, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) described the impact of the big banks on the government saying: “They own the place.” We have moved into an era of a predatory form of capitalism rooted in big finance where profits are more important than people’s needs or protection of the planet.

It is up to us to use McCutcheon to energize the movement against money-corruption of the government and economy. Throughout history, bad court decisions have helped energize movements; people power can make that happen again. Already there is a growing movement against the American plutocracy.


Predatory Capitalism Feeds on Public Dollars, Forced Debt

Where does the strength of the plutocrats come from? Their control of public policies has created a massive welfare state for the wealthy while the rest of us are driven into debt. Understanding this relationship is essential if we are going to end it.

This week Strike Debt, an off-shoot of Occupy Wall Street, published the second edition of The Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual. They open the manual by describing the pervasiveness of debt:

“Everyone is affected by debt, from people taking out payday loans at 400% interest to cover basic living costs, to recent graduates paying hundreds of dollars in interest on their students loans every month, to working families bankrupted by medical bills, to elders living in ‘underwater’ homes, to the teachers and firefighters forced to take pay cuts because their cities are broke, to people in the global South suffering due to their countries being pushed into austerity and poverty by structural adjustment programs. Everyone seems to owe something, and most of us are in so deep it’ll be years before we have any chance of getting out—if we have any chance at all.”

Strike Debt points out that “over three-quarters of us have some type of personal debt. At least 14% of people living in the United States are already being pursued by debt collectors, which is more than double from a decade ago.” Putting people into the debt of big banks is “a profoundly effective form of social control.” When students leave school anchored by massive debt, it limits their choices. When underpaid workers are in debt with credit card bills or mortgages, it makes it impossible for them to fight for fair treatment at work or to quit and risk not being able to find another job.

Why do we have these debts? Because the policies put in place by corporate-dominated political parties have created unjust laws over time that ensure we accumulate massive debt.


As Strike Debt summarizes the situation:

“The reason you have tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills is that we don’t provide medical care to everyone. The reason you have tens of thousands of dollars of student loans is because the government, banks, and university administrators have contrived to cut government subsidies that support education while driving college costs through the roof. Unlike fifty years ago, it’s simply impossible for all but the wealthiest to attend college without them. Bubbles drive housing and food prices up, wages are kept artificially low so that they don’t keep up with inflation, and more and more of us rely on proliferating forms of ‘casual,’ ‘flexible,’ and part-time employment.”

The denial of basic services and education puts Americans from the poor through the upper middle class in economic peril. To add insult to injury, our public dollars that could pay for essential services and education are used instead to enable predatory behavior by big corporations. The biggest recipients of welfare are big business interests like Walmart and the big banks.

Walmart is the largest private employer in the US, with annual profits of over $15 billion. The six Walmart heirs have more wealth than the bottom 40% of all Americans combined. How did they get there? Massive government subsidies are central to Walmart’s business plan. These include tax breaks from state and local governments for each of their nearly 5,000 stores in the United States. And government subsidies to their employees for healthcare, food and housing because Walmart pays poverty wages. Of all retail outlets, Walmart is the largest recipient of government assistance in the country.

However, the biggest recipients of government assistance are the banks themselves. Through the private corporation known as the Federal Reserve, the banks have been given trillions of dollars in virtually no-interest loans. The banks then lend the money to the government at an immediate profit or to consumers and businesses for an even bigger profit. And then the banks borrow on those loans and expand their wealth even further, using the money to gamble on derivatives or other risky activities that put the economy at risk.

By giving the banks the governmental power to make money, a handful of Wall Street banks have become the dominant sector of the economy. Retaking the governmental power to create money would be a major step towards transforming the economy.

As if these subsidies aren’t enough, the banks and other large corporations also avoid paying taxes. One of many tax avoidance schemes is to keep money off-shore. A new report from ISI Research finds that U.S. S&P 500 companies now have $1.9 trillion parked outside the country. There have been proposals for a global tax on this income, but in our government owned by banks, these do not move forward.

While there are many predatory practices by the big banks against people in the United States, it is sometimes easier to see them when we look at behavior around the world.  As the Debt Resister’s Operations Manual points out, “in 2008, the world’s poorest countries were paying $23 million a day in interest payments to the rich industrial world, for loans where the original principal had often already been paid back several times over.” In the US and around the world, they point out that: “Debt … has become the primary form of extracting and accumulating wealth for the rich.”

As a result of World Bank policies, millions of people are being thrown off their land because large corporations are being given special rights. The World Bank is driving this destructive trend with its Doing Business rankings, which force countries to compete with each other to do away with things like environmental protections, worker’s rights and corporate taxes. “The World Bank is facilitating land grabs and sowing poverty by putting the interests of foreign investors before those of locals,” says Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute.

The other major international bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides loans to countries that come with policy conditions, called Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), that require austerity and privatization of social services and resources. These SAPs undermine the government and economy, increase poverty and suffering and thus, lead to social unrest. Despite this, recent reports indicate the IMF is increasing the number of structural conditions and using its power to dominate highly sensitive, political policy areas (for example the recent $18 billion loan to Ukraine which will require cutting retirement benefits in half from roughly $100 to $50 per month).

All of these policies have had a dramatic and harmful impact. As economist Joseph Stiglitz testified recently “America has achieved the distinction of becoming the country with the highest level of income inequality among the advanced countries.” Strike Debt notes “the United States ranks 138th out of 141 countries in terms of wealth equality.” Stiglitz told the Senate Banking Committee there is “a vicious circle: our high inequality is one of the major contributing factors to our weak economy and our low growth.”

But even more stark than income inequality is wealth inequality, which is worsening. Due to debt, 47% of Americans have zero wealth while the “richest 0.1 percent of Americans have dramatically expanded their share of the country’s overall wealth in the last three decades.” Wealth is important because it represents ownership and control, “a higher concentration of wealth naturally implies that fewer individuals control the decisions made by firms in the economy,” according to Princeton’s Atif Mian and University of Chicago’s Amir Sufi.

The Revolt Against American Plutocracy

People are revolting against plutocracy in a variety of ways in the US and around the world. There are movements to eliminate the corrupting influence of money on politics, against austerity, for living wages, to end extreme energy extraction, to end insurance-based healthcare, to stop privatization of schools, to transform the Federal Reserve, to erase debt and many other issues.

The Debt Resister’s Manual points out that “Movements for debt resistance have a very long history. From ancient times, people have challenged the harsh penalties visited on defaulters, including branding, torture, imprisonment, and even slavery. In ancient Athens, the first known democratic constitution came about largely as a result of an outright rebellion of debtors…” And, they report we see protests growing: “Around the world, popular movements are beginning to rattle the chains, seeing debt for what it is—a form of domination and exploitation—and collectively rising up against it.”

People recognize that much of debt is illegitimate. The corrupt government allows usury interest rates and unfair loan practices. Cuts to social services and education force people into debt. The solutions are obvious, though we are told they are too radical. The Debt Resister’s Manual points out that “there was a kind of jubilee in Iceland after the 2008 economic crisis: instead of bailing out their banks, Iceland canceled a percentage of mortgage debt.”

In addition to resistance, people are building alternatives to corrupt big finance capitalism. The new economy that people are striving to create is defined by our values. Strike Debt summarizes:

“Our values will serve as our North Star: putting people and nature before profits; meeting need and not greed; empowering all and not just a few; becoming less alienated from our work and from each other; and creating more leisure time to spend with our loved ones.”

Jerome Roos of ROAR Magazine outlines the possibilities of a new finance system that was described at the Moneylab Conference in Amsterdam last week. He challenges his readers to think about money differently and to recognize that though our current monetary system is based on debt, it doesn’t have to be that way.

The Freelancer’s Union calls the growing new economy the “Quiet Revolution” and they invite people to map what their community is doing – cooperatives, collectives, local food networks. Another organization, the Democracy Collaborative, publishes a list of projects that we can all learn from on Community-Wealth.org. Next month we are holding a conference in Baltimore to work on creating a new local economy based on economic democracy that includes worker-owned businesses, new ways of structuring finance, affordable housing, clean energy and food security. One new form of urban agriculture that is taking off is the vertical farm.

People are discussing essential ideas that elected officials who represent the plutocrats will not even acknowledge. If we create new models, then they will eventually become the policy of the US and much of the world.  For example, when you recognize that wealth comes from the commons – built on infrastructure like roadways and the Internet that we all pay for, or the intellectual and technical knowledge that universities and government research grants have paid for – and that major growth in the economy has always had major government involvement from the railroads to the Internet, then it becomes evident we must all share the wealth that this commons has created.

And because robotics and other technology mean there will be fewer jobs, indeed in the future we will not have enough jobs, we have to figure out new ways to provide income so that all can participate in the economy. One solution that is being discussed by those outside the major political parties is a guaranteed minimum income. This is one example of why we need to be independent of the two parties and not be limited by the agenda of either ‘rule of money’ based party.

Time to Energize the Movement to End the Rule of Money

The ‘arc of justice’ does not bend toward plutocracy. People powered movements that are building today will end plutocratic rule.

Last week we reported on two campaigns that were announced for this spring, the Worldwide Wave of Action and the Global Climate Convergence. After we published that article, two more campaigns were announced. Reset the Net, seeks to restore privacy to the Internet by our own actions rather than waiting for the government. People are taking action now to push Internet providers to provide privacy. Many would go further and make the Internet a public utility whose mission is to serve the public.  Second, is a campaign against the abuses of international finance, particularly by the World Bank, Our Land Our Business. The IMF and World Bank have their meeting from October 10 to 12 in Washington, DC and actions are being urged around the world during that time period.

Rather than being despondent about the Supreme Court decision in McCutcheon, we should use it to energize and focus our efforts. Every issue is impacted by the corruption of the ‘rule of money.’ We know we cannot achieve the transformation that is needed so long as this corruption continues. A focal point of the ‘movement of movements’ must be to end the influence of money in US elections so it can be legitimately called a democracy.

The legitimacy of government is at the root of the founding of our nation. Our favorite ‘founder,’ Thomas Paine, put forward ideas that were ignored by those who wrote the Constitution, e.g. abolition of slavery, voting rights for all including woman and African Americans, healthcare for all and equitable sharing of the wealth of the nation. Now, 238 years later we are still fighting for some of his beliefs. In his article “We are Radicals at Heart: A New History Gets America Wrong,” Harvey J. Kaye writes that Paine told us “that history is not over, that prevailing inequalities and oppressions are not inevitable, and that we need to remember who we are and recognize that ‘We have it in our power to begin the world over again.’”

This will not be the first time in history that a corrupt court decision has inspired action. Indeed, the recognition that the British Crown was illegitimate came in part out of a court decision upholding the Great Writs – which allowed British authorities to search colonists at whim.

In 1761 James Otis argued against the Great Writs on behalf of Massachusetts colonists subjected to searches by British troops and Customs officials. He argued in a five hour oration before a packed State House, a speech that was printed in full in 1773 that searches without any oath for their basis allows the Crown’s authorities to “enter our houses when they please.” When the Crown court ruled against Otis in the Great Writs case, a young court reporter, John Adams, recorded the event writing “Then and there the child independence was born.”


Let us turn the corrupt decisions, Citizens United and McCutcheon, into our rallying cry for a government independent of the corrupting influence of money; and to create the kind of economic democracy and participatory government to which the ‘arc of justice’ points us.


________________________________________

WE SAW A SHIFT IN HOW OUR POLITICIANS SPOKE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ABOUT THE SAME TIME THE DECISION WAS MADE TO CREATE INCOME INEQUITY THROUGH GLOBALIZATION.  THE IDEA OF 'WE KNOW BEST' AND 'TELL THE MASSES WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR, THEN DO WHAT YOU WANT' STARTS IN LEO STRAUSS' WRITINGS......the NEO-CONSERVATIVES embraced Strauss and IT CONTINUES WITH
NEO-LIBERALS TODAY. 

TELL THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR AND THEN DO WHAT YOU WANT.  In Maryland, Brown, Gansler, and Mizeur all campaigned as if progressive while all committing to a Wall Street and global corporate economy....knowing all progressive issues would not fly with neo-liberalism.


Leo Strauss' Philosophy of Deception

Bush/Cheney lived by Leo Strauss and so do the neo-liberals Clinton and now Obama.
Leo Strauss spent most of his career as a professor of political science at the University of Chicago Barack Obama's last job was as a lecturer at University of Chicago.


THIS PHILOSOPHY PREDATES THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT.........WHICH IS WHY I CALL THEM MEDIEVAL!

Obama delared these times as the age of 'exceptionalism' used below by Leo Strauss..  The people thinking themselves most smart rule.  We all know that winning by lying, cheating, and stealing is the sign of thuggery.....not a sign of intelligence.  Note that the Tea Party sees this same thing in their neo-cons and want it gone.  It is crony capitalism and government.

NO RULE OF LAW OR EQUAL PROTECTION SAYS LEO STRAUSS!

Leo Strauss ---- Neoconservative favorite philosopher 

The novelty or uniqueness of the alleged elitism can, of course, be much overstated, for one strain of American political science, going all the way back to the Federalists, has always emphasized the significant role of elites within democratic politics, as have more current writers like Joseph Schumpeter and Robert Dahl. But in the media presentations, Strauss's elitism is different and appears more sinister than other versions of democratic elitism. His elitism is presented as more intellectual: the relevant division between the elite few and the many is the line between philosophers and nonphilosophers. What distinguishes Strauss's elite is not wealth, status, power, or military or economic power, but recognition of "the truth." This truth is hard to face: there is no God, and there is no divine or natural support for justice. "Virtue . . . is unattainable" by most people. "The . . . hidden truth is that expediency works." Or, alternatively: "Strauss asserted 'the natural right of the stronger' to prevail."

The truths discovered by the philosophic elite "are not fit for public consumption." Philosophy is dangerous and must conceal its chief findings. Philosophers must cultivate a mode of esoteric communication, that is, a mode of concealing the hard truth from the masses. "Only philosophers can handle the truth." The elite must, in a word, lie to the masses; the elite must manipulate them—arguably for their own good. The elite employ "noble lies," lies purporting to affirm God, justice, the good. "The Philosophers need to tell noble lies not only to the people at large, but also to powerful politicians." These lies are necessary "in order to keep the ignorant masses in line." Thus Strauss counseled a manipulative approach to political leadership. In sum, the media writers conclude, Strauss held that "Machiavelli was right." When read with "a skeptical mind, the way he himself read the great philosophers . . . Strauss . . . emerges a disguised Machiavelli, a cynical teacher who encouraged his followers to believe that their intellectual superiority entitles them to rule over the bulk of humanity by means of duplicity."

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When a government suspends Rule of Law as it has the past decade or two-----it suspends Statute of Limitation.  The American people are guaranteed the right to due process, so all of the tens of trillions of dollars in corporate fraud that decimmated the public's wealth with no justice can and will come back to those victimized.

The other piece of Due Process deals with 'vague laws'.  The American people are constantly told we have no way to prosecute because the definition of 'fraud' is too vague.  Maryland has one of the worst of fraud laws and this takes away our rights as citizens to Due Process in crimes against us.  NONE OF THIS IS LEGAL.  We need to continue to demand compensation for the loss of our retirement and savings from these massive frauds.


Due Process Clause

From Wikipedia

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution contain a due process clause. Due process deals with the administration of justice and thus the due process clause acts as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the Government outside the sanction of law.[1] The Supreme Court of the United States interprets the clauses however more broadly because these clauses provide four protections: procedural due process (in civil and criminal proceedings), substantive due process, a prohibition against vague laws, and as the vehicle for the incorporation of the Bill of Rights.

A fundamental tenet of Constitutional due process is that laws enacted by a legislative body must be applied, and enforced, in an equal and non-discriminatory manner.

0 Comments

June 29th, 2014

6/29/2014

0 Comments

 
I sent notice that I would be challenging in court the Maryland governor's race and the democratic primary because of systemic violations of election law.
WBAL came back saying the democrats left out did not have the money to run a statewide race.  Well, the republicans in the race did not either yet the publicity they received being included in all election coverage allowed them to bring in a modest amount.  No WBAL---you excluded because of platform.

Dan Rodricks wrote an Opinion piece that is so galling it takes your breath away.  He states that even if the press gives you candidates that you do not want---it is your duty to vote for the least worst.  There's a reason Dan runs when he sees me in the grocery store.
 

Dan is WYPR and WYPR is the worst offender of free and fair elections and actually said on air----

IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE CANDIDATES WE PUT IN FRONT OF YOU THEN DON'T VOTE.

They mean it!  They work hard to make sure the same crony pols get into office each election by censuring any candidate not committed to the status quo.


Dan Rodricks envisions an election more third world than now for Maryland.  He sees Saadam Hussein and Putin of Russia telling the citizens they must come out and vote for them or else.  Required voting in order to make it appear there are elections.  This is what is happening today in the US and Maryland is one of the worst offenders of public justice and civil rights and equal protection.  The pols do not even think the citizens of Maryland have those rights.  Doug Gansler ran on the issue of dismantling the public prosecutor's office, probably the only legal agency left in Maryland that would have been used for public justice.

The idea the citizens of America are going to sit and have media and 501c3s controlled by the very pols making politics crony in Maryland and elsewhere WILL NOT FLY. 

WE WILL NOT BE TOLD WE WILL VOTE FOR A PERSON WE HATE THE LEAST.


Yeah Dan----like that is what is turning off voters---an empty podium and negative campaigning....a stage full of neo-liberals couldn't be it!

For the Maryland 80 percent, still time to get off the bench Holding your nose to vote is still better than not voting at all


Dan Rodricks 10:49 p.m. EDT, June 27, 2014 WYPR

Among the 80 percent of registered Republicans and Democrats who stayed away from Maryland's primary was Sally Staehle of Baltimore. She wrote me a letter to explain why she took a pass on voting this time around.

"I turned off to local politics when I saw a commercial of an empty podium at a debate, with a voice-over that said somebody didn't bother to show up for the debate, how can we trust him? I just couldn't bear to even try to figure out what that was all about. I don't even remember who the commercial was for."

You can understand Staehle's reluctance to waste mental energy on a campaign ad. But it would not have been hard to figure that one out.

What I assume Staehle saw was a TV spot slamming Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown for skipping the WBFF-TV debate a few days earlier. His challengers, Attorney General Doug Gansler and Del. Heather Mizeur, participated in the debate and appeared on screen, an empty lectern bearing Brown's name between them.

Gansler's camp paid for the ad. ("If Anthony Brown won't even show up in Baltimore to debate," it said, "how can we trust him to stand up for us as governor?")

While Staehle might not have liked or understood the ad, Brown's decision to skip the WBFF debate was fair game; he deserved to be knocked for it.

Staehle cited another factor — the proposal by Mizeur to legalize and tax marijuana to pay for an expansion of prekindergarten education.

"Early childhood professionals work really hard to help children learn and develop their brains and sharpen their wits," Staehle wrote. "Using drug money to fund their education just seemed so stupid that I couldn't pay any more attention."

Fair point. But while Mizeur's proposal might have been a reason to reject a particular candidate, it wasn't a reason to reject an entire election.

I understand how negative campaigning and foolish grandstanding turn people off. But that's just the reason voters need to be informed — so they can separate the baloney salesmen from the real deals.

Being a good citizen calls for discernment, the ability to judge well. It means paying attention so you can vote with some confidence that you're picking the best candidate for a particular job.

As we just saw with Tuesday's election, with its embarrassingly low voter turnout, that doesn't always happen (see results of the state's attorney primary in Baltimore).

Some people argue that it's better this way — let an informed, civic-minded minority do the voting.

I don't accept that; no one should.

And I disagree with the sentiment that foolishness and negativity in a campaign are reasons to belong to Maryland's 80 percent of nonvoters. Sometimes you have to hold your nose and vote, but you have to vote — or else you don't get to complain about the quality of your government.

I've heard over the last week from some of the biggest complainers in our state, and they're mostly Republicans. They're bitter about being outnumbered 2 to 1 by Democrats, and they cite that as a reason for not voting. One tweeted that it's futile to vote for Larry Hogan because, if elected, a Republican governor won't be able to accomplish anything with a legislature dominated by Democrats.

The nonvoting Republicans don't understand that by sitting out elections, belonging to the sedentary 80 percent, they push their party closer to irrelevancy.

What Republicans should be doing is pushing their party closer to the center and appealing to some of Maryland's 650,000 independents. Less extreme ideology and more focus on making government work, instead of tearing it down, would serve the GOP. It would serve both parties.

It might bring back voters like Sally Staehle.

"I work very hard and am a contributing citizen," she wrote. "But there was nothing for me to hold onto in our local politics. I care very deeply about all the trash in the streets I walk on, how dirty the harbor and bay are, and the endless murders that go on in our city. I am sick and tired of seeing people spit in the streets and of smelling urine at the bus stops where I transfer. And I wait too long for buses sometimes. This is a start of what I care about immediately."

Roger that. But that's exactly why we vote, especially in local elections.

All that Staehle mentions, all that quality-of-life stuff, flows back to the people who run your city, your county, your state, your country. Trash removal, road repairs, aircraft safety, police and fire response, schools and universities, fair and firm criminal justice, vigilance on the environment, public health and financial markets — you can trace all of those things back to someone in power and, ultimately, someone accountable on Election Day.

If you were part of the 80 percent this time, OK. I won't bring it up again.

But consider coming off the bench; the general election is Tuesday, Nov. 4. I think this constitutes adequate notice.


Doug Gansler ran for governor with a promise to end funding for the public prosecutor's office.  Who is Doug hoping to catch with that promise?

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Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler ran on an issue of ending the state prosecutor's office.  Well, no wonder----Doug did not even know it was there obviously----you don't have systemic corruption and fraud with an active state prosecutor's office.  This is how empowered these crony pols are becoming.  To tell the citizens of Maryland you will have no recourse in criminal activity is to end your status as citizen and equal protection.
Note that one of the duties of this position is election law violations. This office is like the evolutionary appendage lost over millions of years from lack of use!


Mission

The Office of State Prosecutor
was established by Constitutional amendment and legislation in 1976 (Chapter 612, Acts of 1976, ratified Nov. 1976). The State Prosecutor’s Office began operation January, 1977.

The State Prosecutor may investigate on his own initiative, or at the request of the Governor, the Attorney General, the General Assembly, the State Ethics Commission, or a State’s Attorney, certain criminal offenses. These include: 1) State election law violations; 2) State public ethics law violations; 3) State bribery law violations involving public officials or employees; 4) misconduct in office by public officials or employees; and 5) extortion, perjury, or obstruction of justice related to any of the above.

At the request of the Governor, Attorney General, General Assembly, or a State’s Attorney, the State Prosecutor also may investigate alleged crimes conducted partly in Maryland and partly in another jurisdiction, or in more than one political subdivision of the State.

If a violation of the criminal law has occurred, and the State Prosecutor recommends prosecution, he makes a confidential report of his findings and recommendations to the Attorney General and the State’s Attorney having jurisdiction to prosecute the matter. Such a report need not be made to the State’s Attorney, however, if the State Prosecutor’s findings and recommendations contain allegations of offenses committed by the State’s Attorney. If the State’s Attorney to whom the report is rendered fails to file charges within 45 days in accordance with the State Prosecutor’s recommendations, the State Prosecutor may prosecute such offenses. The State Prosecutor may immediately prosecute offenses set forth in the report and recommendations if they are alleged to have been committed by a State’s Attorney.

Where no violation of the criminal law has occurred or prosecution is not recommended, the State Prosecutor reports his/her findings to the agency mentioned in paragraph one above that requested the investigation. The report is made available to the public if the subject of the investigation so requests.

In investigating and prosecuting cases in which he is authorized to act, the State Prosecutor has all the powers and duties of a State’s Attorney.

The State Prosecutor is nominated by the State Prosecutor Selection and Disabilities Commission and appointed by the Governor for a term of six years and until his successor is appointed and qualifies. He may be removed only for misconduct in office, persistent failure to perform the duties of the office, or conduct prejudicial to the proper administration of justice. (State Government Article, Sections 9-1201 thru 1213, Annotated Code of Maryland).


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When you have a ranking of 44th worst in finance disclosure laws and you are ranked the same nationally for fraud, corruption, and lack of transparency you have a problem with campaign donations.  If you are Doug Gansler and spent 8 years as Maryland Attorney General 'seeing no fraud and corruption' as billions are lost to the Maryland state coffers each year----you will certain have a campaign war chest.  If you have 8 years of privatizing all that is public and giving a record number of corporate tax breaks and subsidy-----you are going to have a war chest.

The election of an unknown in the Virginia race against the top republican in Congress Eric Cantor-----running a grassroots campaign against a candidate with millions of dollars in his war chest shows
elections do not have to be run on money.

Below you see the republicans in the Maryland governor's race having very little in their campaign bank----Lollar having almost nothing and that is said to be his own money.  Yet, all these republicans were covered in the media and allowed access to all forums and debates.  So, when WBAL states after receiving
notice of the pending lawsuit challenging the election results for governor because of the censuring of democratic candidates that these democrats did not have the money to run a statewide race-----THEY ARE LYING.  CINDY WALSH WAS LEFT OUT BECAUSE OF PLATFORM!



'Del. Ronald A. George (Anne Arundel) missed the filing deadline Tuesday night because of what his campaign said were technical problems. His campaign said he has about $40,000 cash on hand and had raised $69,000 since the end of the legislative session in April.

Charles County businessman Charles Lollar continues to run his campaign on a shoestring budget and had about $18,000 in the bank as of last week, according to his report. Lollar might not be allowed to spend that money, as a judge recently ruled that the campaign owes a political database software vendor in Northern Virginia more than $20,000'.



'Maryland has the 44th-worst-ranked set of campaign finance disclosure laws in the country, according to a UCLA study'.


In Md. governor's race, Baltimore no longer epicenter for campaign cash
  By Aaron C. Davis and Luke Rosiak Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 30, 2010; 10:10 PM


Baltimore and its suburbs have for decades served as the epicenter of political fundraising in Maryland. Businesses atop the city's downtown high-rises, often with views of the shimmering Inner Harbor, and wealthy residents farther out in the tidy suburbs that ring the city's version of a beltway have most often opened their checkbooks for candidates running for governor.

Not this year. Down Interstate 95, across the twisty northern span of the Capital Beltway, and tucked in a cluster of gated mansions in Potomac is Maryland's new capital for money in politics.

Just outside the District line, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) have collected more money from Montgomery County's 20854 Zip code than from any other.

"It's mostly Democratic around here, as you can probably see," said John Sverha, a retired former hospital president, motioning late last week to O'Malley campaign signs in yards flanking his relatively modest brick home off Falls Road. "I guess I gave this year to Ehrlich out of principle. I'm expecting a tax hike if O'Malley is reelected."

Sverha's $50 check stands out as noticeably tiny in Potomac. Down the block, a neighbor wrote one to O'Malley for $500. Around the corner, another for $1,000. And thanks largely to donations from a few hundred who live in tree-lined estates with four- and six-car garages north of Congressional Golf Course, the total for Zip code 20854 last week stood at nearly $600,000.

The Washington suburbs' emergence as a fundraising powerhouse, however, has done little to shed light on the industry and business interests working most intently to influence the governor's race.

In fact, good-government advocates say, the shift has only highlighted how, because of weak state laws, much less is known about the way money influences politics in Maryland compared with national races next door in Washington.

For its progressive reputation in many other areas, Maryland has the 44th-worst-ranked set of campaign finance disclosure laws in the country, according to a UCLA study. Donors are shielded from having to disclose the names of their employers, what industries they work in and other basic data commonly required to contribute to federal campaigns.

"When all you can see is that John Jones from Baltimore or Jane Smith from Washington is giving $4,000 to Martin O'Malley, that doesn't mean much," said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies at UCLA. "But if you can see that John works for a company where a bunch of other people are giving money and he's a secretary - and how can he afford $4,000? - it raises a whole other set of questions."

Maryland's lack of disclosures makes it impossible to come up with a comprehensive portrait of the interests behind the majority of $26 million being spent to elect and curry favor with the next governor, but a Washington Post analysis identified the industries associated with 40 percent of the money contributed to the two men over the past eight years.

The donors' employers and industries were identified through federal records from the Center for Responsive Politics, information from the National Institute on Money in State Politics, and Post research.

The analysis found that many with related interests are giving more than the state's $4,000 cap for a single political campaign and its $10,000 cap in a four-year period. Some are donating through multiple family members or divisions of a company.


One real estate developer has given 14 donations through 11 different names totaling more than $28,000 to O'Malley since 2007. Five members of the family of Craftmark Homes' Kenneth Malm gave $2,000 each to Ehrlich in a single day in May.

The analysis also turned up more than 150 businesses, some involved in hot-button industries, that have hedged their bets by donating more than half a million dollars to both candidates.

Penn National Gaming, which last month opened Hollywood Casino Perryville, the state's first slots casino, gave $16,000 to O'Malley's campaign on a single day in August. Penn and its political action committee split contributions that day. Each gave two maximum contributions to two different O'Malley campaign accounts.

Gambling interests have given at least $143,000 to the men's campaigns, mostly to O'Malley, in the past two cycles.

Merritt Properties and its leader, Leroy Merritt, which in September unveiled plans for a nearly 40-acre office park for military contractors near the Aberdeen Proving Ground, has in the past two years donated $24,000 to Ehrlich and $6,000 to O'Malley.

Merritt gave 19 contributions totaling $57,000 through 15 entities, including at least 10 differently numbered limited liability corporations. He's given heavily to both candidates but has favored Ehrlich.

Swaths of donors connected to utility companies, health-care providers, defense contractors and construction industries also appear to be betting on O'Malley.

The governor has aggressively moved to implement the federal health-care overhaul approved by Congress, while Ehrlich has vowed to slow it down.

A slice of large donors who work for hospitals and nursing homes favored Ehrlich four years ago. This time they have given more than $120,000 to O'Malley and about $26,600 to Ehrlich.

Total donations from a similar slice of top contributors who work in construction amount to about half of what they were four years ago, near the peak of the housing bubble. The group has given more than $500,000 to O'Malley and $235,000 to Ehrlich. O'Malley's administration has overseen the spending of billions of dollars in federal stimulus money and increased funding for school construction.

Federally registered lobbyists have also given more than $63,500 to O'Malley and nearly $13,000 to Ehrlich.

Combined, the businesses banking on an O'Malley win go a long way to explaining the governor's multimillion-dollar fundraising advantage. As of early last week, O'Malley had raised nearly $12 million to Ehrlich's $7.2 million for the full four-year fundraising cycle. National groups have filled in an estimated $7 million in additional campaign spending, split roughly evenly on both campaigns.

But another criticized feature of Maryland's campaign finance laws means political contributions made in the final weeks before an election are not revealed until weeks later. Nothing is known, for example, about the sources of $800,000 raised in a single day this month for O'Malley at fundraisers headlined by former president Bill Clinton and Vice President Biden.

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You cannot raise contributions if your name and message is nowhere to be seen in the major venues.  As citizens we have the right to run for office and we have the right to go to the polls intelligent of all of the election platforms and candidates.  In Maryland there is not one venue the state or local government sponsors in educating the voters on any race.  The public universities were the hotbed of politics and political discussion and that is where the hostility against my candidacy was most harsh.  It is because of the corporatization of these campuses.  When you leave the public in the hands of media for most election education and then you allow those institutions to tell the citizens of Maryland----IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE CANDIDATES WE PUT IN FRONT OF YOU THEN DON'T VOTE----you do not have an election system.

Below you see how little was needed to defeat what everyone in America wants to defeat whether republican or democrat-----crony capitalism ----neo-coservatism and neo-liberalism.


The Tea Party is the political opposite of labor and justice but they are working hard to get rid of global corporate control and protect the US Constitution as progressive labor and justice.



Dave Versus Goliath, By the Numbers
by Russ Choma on June 11, 2014




Dave Brat is congratulated last night after defeating House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, P. Kevin Morley)

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s campaign spent more money on food — $168,000 on steakhouses alone — than Dave Brat did on his entire campaign. But it wasn’t just steak. On April 6, the Cantor campaign spent $790 at Proof, a downtown D.C. restaurant, where the cheapest entree on the menu is a “Napoleon of Crispy Tofu, Wild Mushrooms & Spring Vegetables,” which costs $25. Brat’s biggest food expense was $789 for catering from Honey Baked Ham in Richmond (where boxed lunches go for $8.29 apiece) on May 8.

Cantor has been widely admired — inside the Beltway — for his successful fundraising operation and his largesse in donating to other candidates, especially from his leadership PAC, Every Republican Is Crucial (ERIC PAC). But last night, Cantor’s brand turned from ERIC to epic — as in, failure of historic proportions. Since 2000, there have been 30 instances of incumbents losing to primary challengers, but there is no comparison in terms of the chasm in spending between the winner and loser. According to an OpenSecrets.org analysis, Cantor spent more than Brat by a ratio of almost 41-to-1, a margin that is close to ten times wider than the spending spread between contestants in any other race on the list of 30.

Brat’s rhetoric railed against big-money Washington, decrying lobbyists and Wall Street types who funnel cash to leaders in both parties. And despite his severe financial disadvantage, it’s apparent that he managed to tap into a public anger that isn’t much affected by campaign ads or sophisticated strategizing.

A look at each campaign’s spending in late March helps tell the tale. On March 25, Cantor wrote checks for $8,900 for private jet services, $6,700 for food for a fundraising event (the Washington, D.C. catering company’s website is currently touting its “Star Spangled & Sumptuous” menu, featuring chilled roasted salmon with cucumber banchan) and $1,017 for legal consulting from McGuire Woods. Brat’s campaign had no expenses on March 25, but the day before, it spent $87 at WalMart on “office supplies.”

While Cantor’s campaign was once admired in Washington for its high-flying ways and is now being mocked for its lavish food expenses, Brat’s campaign spending was so minimal that it’s hard to detect a pattern. His largest vendor was a payroll firm ($29,700), followed by Concentric Direct ($25,300), a small political consulting firm that, according to its website, had previously overseen Mitt Romney’s primary win in Wyoming and also had success in Cleveland city council races.

One of the more seasoned political operatives working for Brat was his direct mail consultant, Dennis Fusaro, a longtime Virginia conservative activist who recently blew the whistle on what he said were illegal campaign activities at the National Right To Work Committee. Fusaro was paid $500 by Brat’s campaign; he told OpenSecrets Blog that he and a handful of others ran a shoestring operation, mailing out 40,000 introduction letters. Fusaro added that he helped coordinate another 12,000 phone calls to gun owners. According to Brat’s filings, about $21,000 was spent printing mailers and making robocalls.

Similarly, it was already widely known that Cantor’s biggest donor was Wall Street. And though his fundraising numbers — $5.4 million so far in this election cycle — had been the envy of congressional colleagues, they are now the symbol of how out-of-touch he was. Conversely, it’s almost impossible to profile Brat’s typical donor, because he had so few.

Other gleanings from the campaigns’ reports:

  • Brat raised $206,000 through May 21, and at least an additional $16,600 after that, while Cantor raised $5.1 million, and another $298,000 just since May 21.
  • The majority leader brought in $2.1 million from PACs. Not a single PAC gave to Brat’s effort.
  • Cantor had hundreds of donors who maxed out their donations to him — $2,600 for the primary race — while Brat had 12 donors who gave the maximum amount, one of whom is a family member.
  • Cantor received just 21 percent of his campaign cash from Virginia residents, according to OpenSecrets’ latest analysis, which covers large individual donations (over $200) from 2013. Brat didn’t even raise money in 2013, but in 2014, 81 percent of the money from his large individual donors came from Virginia residents.
  • Cantor raised at least as much from donors living in D.C. ($193,000 in 2013 alone) as Brat raised overall. The challenger received just $50 from the District.

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June 27th, 2014

6/27/2014

0 Comments

 
I write about this election and now the followup court proceedings to encourage good people to run for elected office.  I know the system is so crony as to work against good candidates for office but use these methods and go to court to fight for the rebuilding of free and fair elections in Maryland.

Today I want to look at the final issue I must prove in court as regards voiding these democratic election results----would the election results have been different if not for these election violations?  The answer is a resounding YES!  The combination of extremely low voter turnout combined with my 6,500 votes placing me at 1% of total of registered democrats will prove that the election could have and would have had different results.  Any election news commentator would say------this candidate is 10% away from the front-runner so is still in 'striking distance'.  Indeed, with only 10% of votes separating Anthony Brown and Cindy Walsh and 72% of registered democratic votes available to win-----the only conclusion is that Cindy Walsh would have garnered that 15% needed to win this election.  No one of those 72% wanted Brown, Gansler, or Mizeur so they would have voted for Cindy Walsh----at least 15% had they had just a moderate exposure to my campaign.  See why it was so important to keep even my name out of this democratic primary coverage?

CINDY WALSH FOR GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND WOULD HAVE WON IF NOT FOR SYSTEMIC ELECTION FRAUD.

One thing all Marylanders know is that in no venue is the citizen allowed to openly ask questions of these political candidates.  A moderator decides what is asked and in almost every case that moderator asks the same talking points Brown, Gansler, and Mizeur discuss.  The small venues that allowed my campaign access were almost always ones that allotted 1 minute for the candidate to say her name and the office for which she ran.  One event allowing 3 minutes actually changed the rules in mid forum when they heard my platform dismantled O'Malley's policies and the moderator made clear that the goal was to continue O'Malley's policies.  Sadly, these are  black election venues. The neo-liberal dismantling of public justice, Bill of Rights, and equal protection will hit people of color and women the hardest as is already seen by last decade's massive corporate fraud of people's retirement investments-----overwhelmingly hitting these groups afforded no equal protection.  This is why these election violations are going to court as civil rights violations as well as election rigging.  Dismantling the US Constitution will damage every citizen of America.
  How can you have an informed electorate if people are denied any access to questioning and answers to the greatest issues?  The judge in this case is required to consider if these violations kept the voters from being that informed electorate.

Below you see one of many comments on my campaign website.  It is clear if not for the censure of my campaign I would have had the votes needed to win this election.


What can be done about the automated phones calls? They have been annoying & disruptive! Please don't give up Cindy! We found about you the day after we early voted

keep us posted and networking I will!!! Good Luck!!!


Let's look at the duplicity of the media outside these election violations and polling frauds by looking at the headlines after the election.  Whether local or national media----whether election businesses or political pundit all you saw in the news was that Anthony Brown won a decisive victory with a wide lead over the two contenders.  His 12% was decisive over Gansler and Mizeur's 5%.  THOSE FRONT-RUNNERS!

Below you see one national media outlet----albeit the Philadelphia Inquire of political commentary----but aren't they all now?  All of these media outlets know the polling was rigged.....they know Brown won with 12% of the vote and they know I am contesting this election and none of this will be mentioned.  If I win the case and the election is voided as needs to happen----the media will not say a word.


You will know you are tuned to a labor and justice media outlet if they are talking to you about the issues in my race.

The importance for neo-liberals to place a person of color or woman as the face of these policies lies strongly to the dismantling of equal protection and move to third world society that always pushes women and people of color to the lowest extremes.  This is Clinton neo-liberalism folks.

Anthony Brown Wins Democratic Nomination In Maryland Gubernatorial Primary

The Huffington Post  | By Samantha Lachman




Posted: 06/24/2014 9:12 pm EDT Updated: 06/24/2014 9:59 pm EDT
Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown won the Democratic nomination in the race to succeed Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), the Associated Press reports.

Brown emerged from a field of candidates that also included Attorney General Doug Gansler and state Del. Heather Mizeur. He had held a commanding lead in the polls throughout the race and had picked up endorsements from much of Maryland's Democratic political establishment, including O'Malley, so his Tuesday evening win read as more of a coronation than a surprise.

Gansler had tried to tie Brown to the state's troubled rollout of its online insurance exchange, since Brown oversaw the Affordable Care Act's implementation. However, Gansler's strategy proved unsuccessful, as the state's voters ultimately didn't blame Brown for the website's structural problems. Gansler did get Brown to admit during a candidate debate that he should have taken a more active role in guiding the exchange's development.

Brown is widely expected to be Maryland's next governor, given the state's strong Democratic tendencies. A November win would be a historic one: Brown would be the state's first black governor.



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It was Brown's disciplined reticence that contributed to record-breaking low turnout!  Who knew?  We all thought it was a repudiation of these 3 candidates.  Brown simply needed to wait silently as O'Malley's political machine worked----only it did not work well enough.  Even the union and justice leaders that campaigned hardest could not put lipstick on these neo-liberal pigs!

What is historic is a candidate winning a primary for governor with 12% of the registered voters-----that is something to write about! 

Anthony Brown wins Md. Democratic nod with shrewd but gutless campaign

  • Washington Post
1 of 35 Marylanders go to the polls In the Maryland primary, voters chose candidates for governor, attorney general and local offices. Robert McCartney Columnist Robert McCartney’s column on local issues appears Thursdays and Sundays in The Post’s Metro section. June 25

“Cautious” and “shrewd” are two words that fairly describe Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown’s wildly successful campaign strategy for winning the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

“Opportunistic” and “gutless” are others.

The safe, easy route prevailed. Brown parlayed a shiny résumé, blue-chip endorsements and a message of bland generalities to secure a landslide anointment as the state’s likely next governor.

His campaign theme: “Building a Better Maryland for More Marylanders.” Who would argue?

But Brown’s refusal to take bold, forward-looking positions on major issues means Maryland voters are set to elect a new chief executive without having a clear sense of where he wants to lead the state.

Governor Democratic Primary Lead Win
Votes %Won


Anthony Brown          236,037                51.29%

Douglas Gansler         111,497                 24.23


Heather Mizeur            99,913               21.71


100.00% of precincts reporting 0:19 See more results


Sure, Brown would govern as a liberal in the mold of his patron, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D). But the Democrats who effectively voted for a third O’Malley term did so without a clue about how it might be different from the first two.

Brown and his team should have been willing to say more, for the sake of securing a true mandate for action. Instead, his disciplined reticence contributed to such voter boredom that the primary had the lowest turnout in memory.


______________________________________________

Here is Politico----the Washington political journal.  They make this race seem like a landslide for Brown-----and as we know, Brown is the Clinton pick to be a raging neo-liberal. 

Brown won by 58% to 21%----WOW!  Doesn't sound like the 12% to 5% at all does it? 

This is why the American people have not been able to fight this neo-liberal takeover of the democratic party and the same goes for the neo-conservatives and the republican party.  The media are completely providing propaganda and not journalism on these elections and it is why people truly caring about elections in America are demanding the voters be allowed the opportunity to become informed on all issues and candidates.


Did you know that Ben Cardin's campaign re-election had that primary completely blacked-out in the media around Cardin's Baltimore district-----not one word on the Senate primary was heard during the primary.  With 8 challengers in this race none of them were known to the public.  As usual Cardin was re-elected by around 10% of registered democrats in his district.  This then becomes the pollster's 'likely voters' cohort when polling.  ONE GREAT BIG ELECTION FRAUD.

Democrat Anthony Brown wins Maryland governor primary
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Brown will face GOP businessman and activist Larry Hogan. | AP Photo

By STEVEN SHEPARD | 6/24/14 9:26 PM EDT Updated: 6/25/14 11:32 AM EDT Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown won the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, defeating two challengers in a race marked by personal attacks and a debate about the legacy of potential presidential candidate Martin O’Malley, who has governed the state for the past eight years.

Brown led Attorney General Doug Gansler 58 percent to 21 percent when The Associated Press called the race, with 5 percent of precincts reporting. State Del. Heather Mizeur was third, with 19 percent of the vote.

The race between Brown and Gansler was ugly from the start. Before Gansler even declared his candidacy, he was embroiled in two scandals: Maryland state troopers alleged he misused his state police vehicular detail, ordering officers to speed and break other traffic laws; and a photo emerged of Gansler at a Delaware beach party at which underaged attendees appeared to be drinking alcohol.

(Full results from Maryland's gubernatorial primary)

Also last summer, an audiotape emerged of Gansler suggesting that Brown had little to offer voters other than the historic nature of his candidacy. “I mean, right now his campaign slogan is, ‘Vote for me, I want to be the first African-American governor of Maryland,’” Gansler told a group of campaign volunteers last July, according to The Washington Post. “That’s a laudable goal, but you need a second sentence: ‘Because here’s what I’ve done, and here’s why I’ve done it.’”

In April, Gansler dismissed the notion that Brown’s military service was relevant experience to be governor. “You know, I’m running against somebody who has never managed anybody, never run anything,” Gansler said at a forum in Bethesda. “You know his ads are about how he was a lawyer in Iraq, and that’s all fine and good, but this is a real job.”

More recently, Gansler’s television ads accused Brown of opposing President Barack Obama in 2008 — Brown and O’Malley endorsed then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) — and have criticized Brown’s leadership on the problematic implementation of the federal health care law in Maryland.

On the other side, Brown’s ads suggested that Gansler’s stance on universal pre-Kindergarten sounds like that of a Republican candidate (Gansler told POLITICO last week those ads and mailers have mischaracterized his position), and a pro-Brown super PAC aired a television ad resurrecting the state-trooper and underaged-drinking scandals.



Brown and Gansler were both well-funded, but polls never showed the attorney general erasing Brown’s early lead. Brown had the support of most of the state’s Democratic political establishment — including O’Malley, Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin.

Mizeur’s campaign, on the other hand, was publicly financed — which hamstrung her against her more cash-flush opponents. “We always knew with less resources and with a restriction on how much I could spend overall that we wouldn’t be able to get my ads on TV till the last three weeks of the race,” Mizeur said last week.

Brown will face GOP businessman and activist Larry Hogan, who won Tuesday’s Republican primary, in November. Democrats have controlled the governor’s mansion for all but four of the 45 years since Spiro Agnew left Annapolis to become Richard Nixon’s vice president.

The specter of the term-limited O’Malley loomed large over the primary. Gansler and Mizeur both praised O’Malley on social issues in pre-election interviews with POLITICO, but said he fell short on the state’s economy — with Gansler hitting O’Malley mostly from the right on the economy, and Mizeur hitting him from the left.

Brown, who was O’Malley’s lieutenant for all eight years in Annapolis, put little distance between himself and the incumbent during the campaign.

“I think Gov. O’Malley is going to be viewed … as a very successful governor because of the results that we’ve achieved over or during his administration and his leadership,” Brown told POLITICO last week. “I think he’ll be judged as a governor that got results for the people of Maryland.”
___________________________________


You can see the voter turnout falling with the advent of Clinton and neo-liberal capture of the democratic party and political system.  Clinton ran as a progressive labor and justice candidate and then served the democratic constituents neo-liberal policies that killed the democratic majority of labor and justice.  Clinton did this by lying about his intent.  If you notice the 1998 election with Clinton had democratic voters faced with a democratic candidate that killed the democratic base as much as the republican candidate and that is when you see the voter turnout fall.  Democrats were electing progerssive labor and justice and getting republican neo-liberals.  Obama did the exact thing as he campaigned as progressive labor and justice.  We all came out to voter still naive as to the degree of capture of the US election system and he is serving to the right of George Bush for goodness sake.  So, the American people are feeling these elections are rigged and as we see in this one Maryland election the election rigging is complete and it is all illegal.

Will a judge rule with this overwhelming evidence that this election would not have had different results had Cindy Walsh not been censured?  It would be impossible not to.  The evidence is stark.  Will a judge rule that there is direct prejudice in this censure based on platform? Again, the evidence is stark. The low voter turnout is not a symptom of voters not caring about politics-----it is the overwhelming capture of politics by these political machines that are then allowed to act with impunity in breaking all election law that has people feeling they have no recourse.

 OUR ELECTION LAWS REQUIRE THAT CITIZENS BE FREE AND INTELLIGENT IN ENGAGING THEIR RIGHTS TO VOTE.

Please think about the organizations whose mission is protecting election rights------who make 'getting out the vote' and voter protections at the polls' a priority but then participate in this very act of rigging elections by breaking election laws meant to allow equal access to the election process to all platforms and citizens wanting to run for elected office.  Maryland ACLU, Maryland Leaque of Women Voters, NAACP, the National Lawyer's Guild-----all tasked with protecting civil rights and liberties and all silent and/or participating in rigging these Maryland elections.

MAKE NO MISTAKE----THERE IS NOTHING PROGRESSIVE ABOUT NEO-LIBERALISM.  IT IS ONLY REGRESSIVE.


Voter turnout for the Maryland gubernatorial primary: About 22 percent


Bill Boteler votes in the state's primary elections at the Annapolis Middle School on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Capital Gazette, Joshua McKerrow) (Joshua Mckerrow/AP) By Jenna Johnson June 25 About 22 percent of eligible Marylander voters appear to have cast ballots in the contentious gubernatorial primary Tuesday, which is higher than some had predicted but still a new low for a state that has seen participation in primaries gradually dwindle.

Unlike past years when gubernatorial primaries lacked competition, the Democratic and Republican contests this year both featured slates of viable candidates. The Democrats, in particular, spent millions of dollars on television advertising in an attempt to set themselves apart from their competition.

There were tense debates, controversial scandals and rounds of attacks lobbed between Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, who won the Democratic nomination with about half of the votes, and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler. In the final weeks, supporters of Del. Heather R. Mizeur (Montgomery) flooded Twitter and Facebook with talk of her candidacy.

But it just wasn’t enough to get most voters to show up.

Of the more than 3 million Democrats and Republicans who were eligible to vote in the primary, about 667,500 did so, according to results from nearly all precincts on Wednesday morning. Participation was about the same in both parties.

During the last gubernatorial primary in 2010 — when Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) easily won their primary battles — more than 25 percent of eligible voters participated.

Back in 1994, nearly 40 percent of voters cast ballots in the gubernatorial primary, but participation has been steadily falling since then. In 1998, it was 28.6 percent. In 2002, 30.8 percent. In 2006, 29.6 percent. Then 25 percent in 2010 and 22 percent this year.

_______________________________________________

This would be LOL if it was not so sad.  WYPR was the king of election rigging.  It acted with impunity in openly lying about the election making sure the citizens of Baltimore did not even know there were candidates in the democratic primary that were not neo-liberals. 

WYPR ACTUALLY SAID AFTER EARLY POLLS SHOWED NO INTEREST IN THE CANDIDATES RUNNING----'IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THE CANDIDATES WE PUT IN FRONT OF YOU----THEN DON'T VOTE'! THEY LITERALLY SAID THIS.

So, when people listened to WYPR and stayed home----WYPR pretends to be indignant.  These are people with no moral compass attending our public media outlets and this has to change.  WYPR's actions were so hostile to my campaign.....mocking the citizens of Maryland's right to free and fair elections.....they need to lose their licence and be charged with a felony assault on democratic elections.  A corporation like Johns Hopkins should not be attached to public media anyway.


WYPR was the leader in the media blackout during the senate race of Ben Cardin----they are a chronic problem in election rigging.


Excuses aside, Maryland voter turnout an embarrassmentIn other countries, voters face real obstacles to exercise their right


June 25, 2014|Dan Rodricks

In Ukraine last month, some people braved the threat of violence to get to the polls to vote for a new president. According to news reports, heavily armed men in ski masks tried to scare off voters by smashing ballot boxes and blocking entry to polling stations in the eastern part of the country; election officials were threatened, some kidnapped.

In Maryland, we just had a primary election to nominate candidates for governor — you know, like the president of Maryland — and the voter turnout was embarrassingly low. The vast majority of registered Democrats and Republicans did not participate.

There were no masked gunmen, and no election judges were abducted. So why did so few Marylanders exercise a right that — pardon this purple flourish — people all over the world have fought and died for?

Excuse me while I list excuses.

I'll start with the obvious: We take voting and the democratic process for granted. We think, "Someone else will do it," and they usually do. We've had breathtakingly low voter turnout before — see Baltimore City elections, 2011 — but not so low that the majority of us gets embarrassed and swears never to let it happen again.

We also want to be entertained. If a contested election isn't entertaining, if it isn't exciting, we stay home and watch something that is. Apparently, even with Doug Gansler running for governor, the Maryland primary wasn't entertaining enough for more than a small percentage of registered Democrats.

I could go on, so I will.

Here's another: The Maryland primary was moved from September to June, and people weren't ready for it. This reminds me of a brown T-shirt I saw on a guy at the state fair 20 years ago: "I'm so poor I can't even pay attention." I'm not sure what that has to do with the 2014 election, but I'm channeling it. I mean: You didn't know there was an election this month? There weren't enough TV commercials alerting you to the fact?

Here's another theory about low turnout: Early voting might be a culprit. I used to think it was a good idea, but now I'm not so sure. Easy voting is sold as a convenience for citizens who are really engaged and diligent about getting to the polls, but now I'm thinking that early voting might just diminish the specialness of Election Day.

Election Day should be a celebrated civic event, highly anticipated, a dress-up affair, a red-letter day, your big chance to be a good citizen.

But look what happened: A week of early voting set a record for a primary. More than 140,000 Marylanders went to the polls to cast votes between June 12 and June 19.

That means they didn't have to go June 24.

So we didn't have much of a Primary Day.

I know: There are many other reasons. People are sick of politics and politicians. People are still worried about the economy, their jobs, their households. People think their votes do not matter, especially in Maryland, where Democrats dominate and set the public agenda statewide year after year.

And, with one or two exceptions, the leading candidates were pretty — let me be polite — ordinary.

Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, the favorite in the Democratic gubernatorial primary — nice guy, but not a lot of that vision thing there. He ran a careful campaign designed to put him across the finish line first. Brown represents a safe choice; he represents continuity and stability, and that might have been all Democrats are looking for this year.



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June 26th, 2014

6/26/2014

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CENSURING A CANDIDATE BECAUSE OF PLATFORM IS THE ISSUE FOR ELECTION VIOLATIONS IN MARYLAND.  THE DIFFERENCE FALLS BETWEEN NEO-LIBERAL AND LABOR AND JUSTICE PLATFORMS IN THE MARYLAND DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND THEY ARE ENTIRELY IN OPPOSITION.


I do want to spend today and tomorrow talking of the court challenge of this primary election so people understand the extent of corruption in the system and to encourage more people to run for office with the idea of challenging this process if it continues to operate illegally.  Movement of operations and oversight from public institutions to private non-profits often funded by the rich and corporations sets the stage for these abuses in the system.  If private media becomes the only source of election coverage......if public media is allowed to skirt FCC and IRS election laws.....if the state does not provide rigorous outlets for political discussion in communities across the state to assure the opportunity for citizens to be informed and intelligent when going to cast a ballot-----

THEN YOU DO NOT HAVE A FUNCTIONING ELECTION PROCESS----AND MARYLAND RECEIVES A GREAT BIG 'F'.


My task in this case will be to prove there were violations so severe as to change the results of this primary election.  This will be easily done.  I must prove I was a viable and legal candidate and since Supreme Court rulings in the past use terms like 'cannot exclude because of platform' and 'can select candidates with strong public support' that the exclusion from election venues occurred as a consequence of my platform.  I have proven through the polling debacle the claim of 'strong public support' was not there.  I contend that 501c3s have the obligation of participating in ways that do not damage a candidate's campaign so none of the above should matter.  It is obvious if a candidate is left out of major venues.....damage is done.  It is obvious if exclusion from smaller local events occurs to a great degree.....damage is done.  The targeting of Prince George's County and Baltimore City for the greatest of election violations is not only a civil rights issue but targets a population that would most readily embrace the issues encompassed in my platform and this is willful and deliberate.  I do not believe I should have to prove platform is the issue as 'damage' should prevent exclusion, but I will focus on the issue of platform because of the previous Supreme Court rulings regarding the FCC election laws and media participation---the largest factor in electioneering.

The Maryland Democratic Party has for a few decades been controlled by Clinton neo-liberals.  O'Malley is a neo-liberal politician who controls much of the Maryland democratic apparatus and as governor appoints the people to head agencies like the Maryland Board of Elections, Maryland public universities, and Maryland Public Television.  I go further to contend that since the politicians in Baltimore work for the Baltimore Development Corporation and Johns Hopkins which write all of the city's public policy-----and the fact that they are both the most neo-conservative of institutions----the Baltimore democratic committee are largely neo-conservatives.  Anyway you look at the Maryland Democratic Party today it is 'neo'.  What does 'neo' mean?  The conservatives of the republican party will say that neo-cons are not republicans----hence the term RINO just as labor and justice of the democratic party will say that neo-liberals are not democrats-----hence the term DINO.  Both neo-conservatives and neo-liberals embrace global markets, global corporate control of the economy and government, and what they call free market although everyone knows what we have today is not free market.  The republican and democratic platforms both are tied to the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights albeit with different interpretations.  We are guaranteed rights as citizens to legislate....we are guaranteed rights to equal protection under Rule of Law.  We are guaranteed protection under the Bill  of Rights.  The republican and democratic platforms are built with these rights central to the party.  Republicans differ from democrats in wanting free enterprise -----which we do not have now---- while democrats want regulations enforced that enforce labor and justice laws  and public institutions to protect civil rights and liberties.

NEO-CONS AND NEO-LIBERALS DO NOT WANT ANY OF THIS.  THEY WORK STRICTLY TO MAXIMIZE CORPORATE PROFITS AND TO HAND CONTROL OF THE ECONOMY AND GOVERNMENT TO CORPORATIONS.  THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT EITHER PARTY PLATFORM STATES.  NEO-CONS ARE NOT REPUBLICANS AND NEO-LIBERALS ARE NOT DEMOCRATS YET THEY HAVE GAINED CONTROL OF BOTH PARTIES AND ARE MOVING THE US TOWARDS THIS STRUCTURE OUTLINED IN THE TRANS PACIFIC TRADE PACT.

This is what I mean when I identify 'platform' as the reason for my exclusion from the democratic party primary events in the Maryland race for governor.  Yet, it happens at all levels of political races.  Neo-liberals controlling the democratic party today are willfully and deliberately excluding candidates that have this labor and justice platform.  Republican voters are feeling the same exclusion hence the large number of 'unaffiliated' and the extremely low voter turnout.  It is not lack of interest----it is apathy caused by chronic and systemic election fraud.


Below we see the contradiction in philosophy-------one wants to dismantle all of the public structures that provide oversight and accountability and public justice.  It wants to privatize all that is public to send all the power of public policy and enforcement of that policy to corporations-----

THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.

No matter how many times a candidate says they support public justice, or strong public education, or strong public health care.....when they are neo-liberals working to deregulate and consolidate all industries to a global corporate they have no intention of protecting these issues.  Throwing these progressive bones is what media labels a progressive candidate.  As you can see Brown, Gansler, and Mizeur all support public private partnerships, Wall Street development and financial instruments of leverage and credit that have mortgaged the future of Maryland.  They all support dismantling the public sector, none speak of the ranking of Maryland at the bottom nationally for fraud, corruption, and lack of transparency, and they never mention Trans Pacific Trade Pact TPP ----the very policy towards which all legislation in Maryland works because of neo-conservative/neo-liberal control of politics.


THIS CLEARLY DELINEATES BETWEEN ISSUES WITHIN A PLATFORM AND CLEARLY SHOWS THAT THOSE ESPOUSING A LABOR AND JUSTICE PLATFORM ARE COMPLETELY CENSURED IN MEDIA AND LARGE 501C3 VENUES.  IT IS THE PLATFORM THAT DRIVES THIS EXCLUSION.


Neoliberalism
From Wikipedia,

Neoliberalism is a form of economic liberalism, which advocates support for great economic liberalization, free trade, open markets, privatization, deregulation, and reductions in government spending in order to enhance the role of the private sector in the economy.[1][2]



National Democratic Platform
  • Moving America Forward
  • Rebuilding Middle Class Security
    1. Putting Americans Back to Work
    2. The Middle Class Bargain
    3. Cutting Waste, Reducing the Deficit, Asking All to Pay Their Fair Share
    4. Economy Built to Last
  • America Works When Everyone Plays by the Same Rules
    1. Wall Street Reform
    2. 21st Century Government: Transparent and Accountable
    3. Lobbying Reform and Campaign Finance Reform
  • Greater Together
    1. Strengthening the American Community
    2. Protecting Rights and Freedoms
    3. Ensuring Safety and Quality of Life
  • Stronger in the World, Safer and More Secure At Home
    1. Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq
    2. Disrupting, Dismantling, and Defeating Al-Qaeda
    3. Responsibly Ending the War in Afghanistan
    4. Preventing the Spread and Use of Nuclear Weapons
    5. Countering Emerging Threats
    6. Strengthening Alliances, Expanding Partnerships, and Reinvigorating International Institutions
    7. Promoting Global Prosperity and Development
    8. Maintaining the Strongest Military in the World
    9. Advancing Universal Values

    ___________________________________

Heather was assigned the moniker of progressive because she supports some social issues that are deemed progressive.  Yet, she is solidly in the Clinton camp of neo-liberals as her views of economy and business go.  Embracing a Wall Street everyone knows is predatory and rife with fraud and corruption as an answer to development while supporting corporate subsidy and corporate tax breaks that are needed for our government coffers to do these public works clearly shows this conflict.  Pushing the neo-liberal sound bite that the economy is suffering because of the need to shed even more business regulations when the state suffers from absolutely no oversight and accountability leading to extremely high levels of fraud and corruption shows Mizeur is not a progressive.  Commercializing our public universities is what has created the high tuition that Heather says she will work to lower not to mention compromising the one unbiased source of all public data.  Embracing a transportation public private partnership of this magnitude in this environment of fraud and corruption and lack of oversight while not mentioning that simply rebuilding oversight and accountability first would bring the money to government coffers to publicly finance the entire project shows you are a neo-liberal.

Read Heather's plan to use innovative financing options



Read Heather's plan to facilitate greater commercialization of academic research.

Read Heather's plan to fund much-needed infrastructure projects across the state


Read Heather's plan to Streamline Our Regulatory System


Brown, who is running in the Democratic primary for governor, released the five-point plan on Tuesday.

At the top of the list is using innovative financing to pay for infrastructure. Brown led an effort to better define public-private partnerships in the state last year.

Using a P3 for a transit project of this size is rare.
The four candidates expressed support for the decision to seek a public-private partnership (P3) to build the Purple Line


Please look at what these politicians say and how these progressive issues fit in with the larger visions of economic and business models and you will see-----giving more and more of our public sector control to corporations and tying the state to ever larger amounts of global corporate investment in lieu of collecting corporate taxes and giving corporate subsidy-----prohibits the interjection of these progressive issues.  This is why time and again we elect these neo-liberals running as progressives and watch as they ignore all those progressive promises.  NEO-LIBERALISM CANNOT BE PROGRESSIVE----IT IS REGRESSIVE.

The Maryland Assembly passed the most private and profit-driven health system in the nation; Baltimore has one of the most privatizing and tiered K-12 reform in the nation that will serve as a platform to expand across Maryland and the Maryland Assembly passed these laws to allow this.  Maryland and Baltimore are at the bottom for fraud and corruption that is killing the middle/working class----and that is not what a democrat would allow---it is a neo-liberal policy of profiting any way possible.  So, we know Maryland has a political system controlled by neo-liberals and neo-cons and this is why it is the candidates on the democratic primary side that always see exclusion from the election process.  It is strictly based on platform of rebuilding oversight and accountability of corporations and government and holding global corporations at bay and building a domestic economy fueled primarily on small and regional businesses.

The State of Maryland allows contract awards to go to national and global corporations that then subcontract to Maryland businesses and force bids so low as to put Maryland small businesses out of business.  This process exists at state and local levels. So, how are you advocating for small business development when you work within this contracting dynamic?  The objective of global corporations is to take all consumer market share and eliminate small and regional businesses.  Do you hear anyone in the democratic race shouting that this is the problem of losing businesses in Maryland?  That is how you know you are dealing with neo-cons and neo-conservatives.

IT'S A HOSTILE TAX AND REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT THAT IS CREATING HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT AND A STAGNANT ECONOMY SAY NEO-LIBERALS!  NO, IT IS GLOBAL CORPORATE CONTROL OF OUR ECONOMY AND THE FACT THAT THEY ARE PUTTING ALL SMALL AND REGIONAL BUSINESSES OUT OF BUSINESS.



BELOW YOU SEE WHERE NEO-LIBERALISM HAS TAKEN THE MARYLAND ECONOMY AND THE SOLUTIONS OFFERED BY CANDIDATES LIKE MYSELF.  THE POLICY STANCES ARE AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM----ERGO----THE REASON FOR EXCLUDING MY PLATFORM FROM THIS DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND.

1. Living Indicators. The use of financial indicators like gross domestic product (GDP) and the Dow Jones average to assess the performance of the economy gives priority to false values. We currently see just how invalid these financial measures are: GDP grows, but jobs don’t. The Dow Jones climbs, but wages are stagnant and foreclosures continue. Neither is a valid measure of the kind of economic performance we need.

Replace financial indicators like GDP with indicators of human- and natural-systems health as the basis for evaluating economic performance. The Bhutan experiment with a happiness index is an excellent start.

2. A Real Wealth Money System. Wall Street control of the creation and allocation of money concentrates the power to set national priorities in institutions that recognize no interest beyond their own profits. As we become ever more dependent on money to meet our basic daily needs, this control becomes ever more complete—and more destructive of all that we truly value.

Decentralize and democratize the money system so that it redirects the flow of money away from Wall Street speculators to productive Main Street businesses. We once had a system of community banks, mutual savings and loans and credit unions that were locally rooted and served local needs. But that system has been largely dismantled and transformed into too-big-to-fail Wall Street mega-banks that suck wealth out of communities and depend on government subsidies and protections. There is nothing esoteric about the banking system we must create. It looks a great deal like the system we had before the start of banking deregulation in the 1970s.

3. Equitable Distribution. Wall Street political influence has produced trade, fiscal, workplace and social policies that create ever more extreme inequality by suppressing wages and eroding protections, services and safety nets for those who do productive work to increase profits for the owning class. Aren’t we glad politicians restored tax breaks for the very rich so they could continue to inflate their claims against the real wealth of the rest of us?

Implement fiscal, workplace and social policies that distribute income and ownership equitably. Equitable societies are healthier, happier, more democratic and avoid the excesses of extravagance and desperation.

4. Living Enterprises with Living Owners. An ideology of market fundamentalism has embedded a belief in public culture that the sole purpose and responsibility of a business enterprise is to maximize financial returns to its owners. This belief, combined with a system of absentee ownership and instantaneous trading of corporate shares, encourages short-term over long-term thinking and strips corporate decision making of concern for social and environmental consequences. 

Recognize the primary purpose of any enterprise is to serve the needs of a living community. Favor living enterprises with living, locally rooted owners who have a direct stake in the social and environmental consequences of the firm’s management decisions—people who are looking not for maximum financial return, but for a living return that includes a healthy community and natural environment. This means favoring cooperative, worker- and community-owned enterprises and discouraging the speculative public trading of corporate shares.


5. Real Markets/Real Democracy. The institution of the global corporation is designed to facilitate the creation of global-scale, legally-protected concentrations of economic and political power dedicated to extracting social, environmental and governmental subsidies to advance the exclusive and narrow private interests of financial elites beyond public accountability. This violates the principle of shared and distributed power foundational to democracy and a market economy.

Create real rule-based markets and democracy by breaking up concentrations of corporate power, barring corporations from competing with human beings for political power and implementing rules and incentives that support cost internalization.

6. Local Living Economies. Fragmented local economies dependent on global corporations for jobs and basic goods and services leave people and nature captive to the financial interests of distant institutions that have no concern for their well-being or accountability to their interests.

Pursue local economic development programs that build diversified, self-reliant, energy efficient, democratically self-organizing local economies comprised of locally-owned living enterprises devoted to serving local needs.


7. Supportive Global Rules. Global rules put forward by institutions like the WTO that are largely captive to corporate interests circumvent institutions of democracy to support the other six Old Economy dysfunctions.

Restructure global rules and institutions to honor and serve life values and local control.

Leadership in framing and popularizing a vision for a New Economy must come from We the People. We are the one’s we’re waiting for.

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June 25th, 2014

6/25/2014

0 Comments

 
As you will see below Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland received 6,500 votes or 1% of the democratic vote. Antony Brown supposedly won this race with only 12% of registered democratic voters. My campaign with just a little media coverage---with access to major venue coverage----would have easily won.


I want to thank those of you having voted for me.  It is not in vain as I take this election result to court these votes prove I had support and was active in this race.  As you see with today's post.....the entire Maryland election process is corrupt and the election rigging willful and deliberate.  I should have no problem with winning in court, but if corruption extends to this Maryland Circuit Court----I will appeal.  Meanwhile, I am preparing to file in Federal Court the case against the organizations committing these election violations and the primary candidates that participated knowing my campaign was being illegally excluded.


Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland has proven that with the final vote showing the supposed winner Anthony Brown at 12% of registered democratic voters to Cindy Walsh’s 1%-----I could have easily won this election with just a moderate media exposure and participation in the forums and debates that should have included me.  I could have easily won with a platform of ending corporate fraud and government corruption and holding global corporations at bay while building an domestic economy in Maryland driven by small and regional businesses.  It is this platform that motivated the exclusion from this primary race.

St. Mary’s College performs what looks to be the most academic and reliable polling in the State of Maryland yet it too uses methods that diminish accuracy like automated calling and small cohorts for extremely low polling figures.  As you can see below, St. Mary’s does not post its polling model even as it says the information is coming so we do not know how they randomized, what the protocol for failed calling attempts was, etc.  The other polling agencies like Gonzalez, Sun, Washington Post use models that make polling data irrelevant.  The percentages that make it to media for each candidate always include those methods with higher margin of error and ‘likely’ voter cohorts.  Again, it is not cost or time that figures into these choices of polling methods because a handful of people working just a few hours can call 1,000 voters.  It is a willful and deliberate attempt to use polling data to manipulate the election process.


 

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April’s MPoll results are in!

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You are on the Welcome (Home) Page of INSIGHTS, The Maryland Poll’s  blog.   The Maryland Poll , a.k.a. the MPoll, was conceived from two years of research toward starting a public opinion polling research center within St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s Political Science Department.  My professional reasons were to develop a pedagogical model incorporating more technology and involving more public service in my political science classes as well as steering my own professional career in that direction.  (Personal reasons may have included a knee-jerk response to certain members in the House of the US Congress who absurdly continue to insist that ‘we don’t do science in political science.‘)

Much of our activity will involve gathering together public opinion data  from polls conducted within and about Maryland.  We will also conduct our own MPolls.  We conducted our first poll from April 10 – 13 and the results were published April 18, 2014.  Polls are planned for the fall semester during the Maryland 2014 Gubernatorial Election.

Thus, the project is multidimensional.  As mentioned, the MPoll will conduct polls.  INSIGHTS, MPoll’s blog, will gather polling data and will provide straightforward commentary as nonpartisan as is possible.  As another aspect of our public service mission, INSIGHTS will also publish background information on polling and how to interpret polling data.  The idea is that, in addition to professional commentary, INSIGHTS will offer the necessary background the layperson would need to analyze polling data.

We could say that commenting provides another useful measure of public opinion.  INSIGHTS as well as Hosted Blogs are open for comments that further the discussion by presenting a more diverse range of opinions and ideas about public opinion and political goings-on that affect or attempt to influence the opinions of persons residing in or near Maryland.  Most often, the primary demographic of concern will be eligible voters.

All comments will be moderated.  Not all comments will be accepted.  In most cases, it likely will be that we are too overwhelmed at the moment to respond but we also hope to maintain a reasonable level of decorum.

 

About Candidates v. Polls

Coming soon.  We should have content up by the end of January on most of this site.

Thank you for your patience.

About Interpreting Polls Coming soon.  We should have content up soon on most of this site.

Thank you for your patience.

About Polling Techniques Coming soon.  We should have content up soon on most of this site.

Thank you for your patience.


As I show elsewhere in the evidence provided, the various polls greatly exaggerated the candidates favored to win.  When the public is shown these irrelevant stats it creates the apathy for voting for a candidate they would actually want.  Psychologically, it is known that voters tend to follow the front-runner and this is why the exaggerated figures for Brown, Gansler, and Mizeur were created with manipulated polling standards like margin of error and selected polling groups of ‘likely’ voters.  Can you imagine when voter turnout hits 10-20% how small and homogenous that polling pool of likely voters become?  Why would polls include all republican candidates even as they barely polled and not all of the democratic candidates?

The media identified the apathy of voters as ‘not caring’ but we know the apathy is from an inability to exact change to a system voters know is rigged.


 

Undecided voters dominate in new gubernatorial poll

April 23, 2014|By Michael Dresser  Baltimore Sun

 

The poll strongly tracks previous surveys of the race and shows little sign that any candidate is gaining significant ground. For instance, a poll released by The Baltimore Sun in February showed Brown with 35 percent, Gansler with 14 percent and Mizeur with 10 percent.  On the Republican side Hogan polled at 13 percent and Craig at 7 percent.

The methodologies of the two polls were significantly different. Unlike the St. Mary’s poll, The Sun's poll used live callers and concentrated on 500 likely voters rather than all registered voters. The college’s automated poll surveyed 954 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3.17 percentage points.


 

Look at this media representation of the Maryland democratic primary race for governor.  The polling numbers are so skewed it is a mockery of the election process.  Again, the use of likely voters, a subset so small as to be useless in attaining actual polling data.  Is it illegal for media and polling agencies to deliberately skew these polling data in a way that willfully and deliberately damages the campaign of other candidates?  Yes, it is.  It is also illegal for organizations participating in these election events to use these polling data everyone knows are skewed.  I can assure this court, Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland gave the larger venues participating in this primary election this information on polling as the primary progressed.  Allowing these polls saying Brown was polling at 46% of likely voters right before the primary election and ending with 12%  of registered democratic voters -----this is a crime.  It takes away all voter enthusiasm to participate and tells prospective candidates and those like me that this system is so corrupt you will not have a chance.  There is no way the Maryland Election Board does not have staff with enough knowledge on polling methodology to know these polls were willfully and deliberately misleading the Maryland voters and skewing the primary election.  As you will see below Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland received 6,500 votes or 1% of the democratic vote. Antony Brown supposedly won this race with only 12% of registered democratic voters. My campaign with just a littlemedia coverage---with access to major venue coverage----would have easily won.

 

 

Maryland Politics

Lt. Gov. Brown holds commanding lead over Democratic rivals in Maryland governor’s race

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From left, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, Del. Heather R. Mizeur (Montgomery) and Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, the Democratic candidates for governor of Maryland. (Matt Mcclain/AP)

By John Wagner and Peyton M. Craighill June 10   Washington Post

Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown holds a commanding lead over his Democratic rivals for governor, according to a new Washington Post poll, two weeks before a primary election that most voters are not following closely and that is likely to attract a low turnout.

Though nearly half of likely voters say they could still change their minds, the poll found backing for Brown across a broad demographic range — and deep support among fellow African Americans — and showed that Brown voters are firmer in their allegiance than those siding with the other candidates. With scant evidence that attacks on Brown’s management skills, particularly his handling of the state’s health insurance exchange, have damaged him, the poll shows no obvious path to victory for the other Democratic hopefuls in the June 24 primary.

Statewide, 46 percent of likely Democratic voters support Brown, while 23 percent back Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and 16 percent support Del. Heather R. Mizeur (Montgomery), according to the poll.

Analysts said Brown’s lead is formidable in the race, in which early voting starts Thursday.

“Absent a gigantic mistake from the Brown campaign, this is probably over,” said Donald F. Norris, chairman of the public policy department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. “I think the only strategy left for a candidate in Gansler’s situation is to attack, attack, attack, and that’s likely to backfire.”



If Gansler is too aggressive, Norris reasoned, he could strike voters as desperate and wind up driving voters to Mizeur as an alternative.

 

 

Here's the breakdown of votes in the primary as of 2:26 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Maryland Board of Elections, with 1982 of 1988 precincts reporting:

Republican
Larry Hogan/Boyd Rutherford: 43.01 percent
David Craig/Jeannie Haddaway: 29.12 percent
Charles Lollar/Ken Timmerman: 15.51 percent
Ronald George/Shelley Aloi: 12.36 percent

Democrat
Anthony Brown/Ken Ulman: 51.29 percent
Doug Gansler/Jolene Ivey: 24.23 percent
Heather Mizeur/Delman Coates: 21.71 percent
Cindy Walsh/Mary Elizabeth Wingate-Pennacchia: 1.4 percent
Charles Smith/Clarence Tucker: 0.72 percent
Ralph Jaffe/Freda Jaffe: 0.65 percent




The following results are from early voting (June 12 to 19), as reported by the Maryland Board of Elections.

Democrat
Anthony Brown/Ken Ulman: 57.71 percent
Doug Gansler/Jolene Ivey: 20.82 percent
Heather Mizeur/Delman Coates: 19.4 percent
Cindy Walsh/Mary Elizabeth Wingate-Pennacchia: 1.05 percent
Ralph Jaffe/Freda Jaffe: 0.51 percent
Charles Smith/Clarence Tucker: 0.51 percent

Republican
Larry Hogan/Boyd Rutherford: 42.79 percent
David Craig/Jeannie Haddaway: 31.95 percent

Charles Lollar/Ken Timmerman: 13.74 percent
Ronald George/Shelley Aloi: 11.53 percent


If you look at all of the election result coverage it almost always refers to the percentage won of votes casted and not percentage of total registered voters.  You see below the extremely low percentage of registered voters who actually voted.  As the group at St. Mary’s College stated in the article on polling…..the problem is the failure to educate the voters.  This speaks to the inclusion of all candidates and platforms and it speaks to the election venues available to the citizens of Maryland.  The fact that there is not a Maryland State election platform that allows all candidates access to forums and debates all over the state shows the capture of this election system.  The fact that organizations tasked with the mission of free and fair election oversight, like the Maryland League of Women Voters, use the same arbitrary polling guidelines and front-runner status and openly work to make sure a candidate with a certain platform does not have videotaped exposure on its website shows a captured election system.  When the University of Maryland is telling me it uses a 15% polling threshold and Maryland Public Television and Maryland League of Women Voters uses 10% and they all are allowing all republican candidates mostly polling lower than these thresholds in all forum events while excluding democratic candidates because of platform-----you have a captured election system.  As I pointed out, the private non-profits that are taking over this duty all express prejudice and as I have proven, do it in ways that are illegal and violate election law.  The law states that the voters have the right to go to the polls with freedom and intellect to participate as an educated electorate.  Denying viable candidates the right to exposure and access to major forums and debates whether on media or tied to a 501c3 event willfully and deliberately damages a candidate’s campaign and works to keep people from this ballot intellect.

I ask that you look as well at the final percentages of registered voters for each candidate to see how this actual count compares with the polling numbers given to us all through the governor’s race.  Don’t forget that we just came through the most media campaign advertisement blitz of the primary election period so these percentages would be a peak.  You will notice that these percentages are closer to the St Mary’s poll in April where most of the candidates barely broke 10% and many were around 5%.  These are the polling numbers used by major venues to exclude Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland and the arbitrary nature is obvious.  I would say that it is obvious as well that some polling agencies provided polling numbers that were so inflated and unreal as to set the stage for some candidates being labelled front-runners and meeting guidelines.  Again, this kind of polling is so irrelevant and excludes candidates who are relegated to the ‘undecided’ and ‘other’ category that it fails to meet the Supreme Court ruling about identifying candidates as viable or strongly supported by the public.

 

2014 Primary Election Results - Maryland Governor

UPDATED 2:22 PM EDT Jun 23, 2014

 

Governor - Dem Primary

June 25, 2014 - 08:26AM ET

Maryland - 2033 of 2033 Precincts Reporting - 100%

 
Name    Party   Votes     Vote %



Brown, Anthony   Dem  235,974   51%
Gansler, Douglas  Dem  111,444   24%
Mizeur, Heather Dem  99,84  22%
Walsh, Cindy  Dem  6,441   1%
Smith, Charles  Dem  3,296  1%
Jaffe, Ralph    Dem   2,995  1%



Governor - GOP Primary

June 25, 2014 - 08:26AM ET

Maryland - 2033 of 2033 Precincts Reporting - 100%

 
Name  Party  Votes   Vote %



Hogan, Larry    GOP   89,100  43%
Craig, David   GOP   60,357   29%
Lollar, Charles  GOP    32,155  16%
George, Ron  GOP    25,613    12%


Read more: http://www.wbaltv.com/politics/2014-primary-election-results-maryland-governor/26550226#ixzz35eavyG7j



Brown ---------236,000 of 2,000,000 registered democratic voters =  12% of the vote

Gansler ------- 111,500 of 2,000,000 registered democratic voters =  6% of the vote

Mizeur -------  100,000 of 2,000,000 registered democratic voters =   5% of the vote     

Walsh -------  6,500 of 2,000,000 registered democratic voters =  1% of the vote

 

23% of registered democrats voted

 

 

 

Hogan ------  89,000 of 1,000,000 registered republican voters =  9% of the vote

Craig ------- 60,500 of 1,000,000 registered republican voters =  6% of the vote

Lollar ------ 32,000 of 1,000,000 registered republican voters =  3% of the vote

George ----- 26,000 of 1,000,000 registered republican voters =   3% of the vote

 

21% of registered republicans voted.


 

Please look at these final election results with the actual percentage of registered voters per candidate to see the 12% of voters for Brown to see these figures have been super-sized from the start.  There is no reasonable explanation that after the last few weeks of concentrated campaign advertisement and after several months of media saturation of this one candidate that he only garners 12% of registered democratic voters ----other than democratic voters did not want this candidate that is now declared primary winner with 12% of the voters.  Meanwhile, Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland is not far behind with 1% of the vote and completely censured in the media and major forum and debate venues.

The expedited nature of this election process denies me the ability to subpoena all of these polling tools to verify the voracity of methods.  I would as well have used the subpoena to have an official set of guidelines for forums and debates from the institutions I have quoted.  I feel confident because of the irrelevant methods we do see and the extreme inflation of the polls to the reality of the election that I have proven the invalidity of polling as a method of exclusion and identifying a candidate as viable, a front-runner, or having strong public support.  Everyone in this primary race knew these polling figures and methods allowed this inflation of percentages as did the organizations using polling to exclude arbitrarily.  As the final results show only one candidate meets the 10% polling requirement of Maryland Public Television and Maryland League of Women Voters and none meet the polling requirement of University of Maryland’s 15% polling.  If this court allows these polling agencies to arbitrarily inflate results to effect the conduct of these elections, the election process in Maryland will remain corrupt and disillusioned voters left with no government agency protecting free and fair elections.

The court must recognize the systemic fraud and corruption in this democratic primary system at all levels of operation and rule this primary election result invalid and recognize that replicating the primary with the system without reform would be impossible.  I will be requesting in my Federal Court lawsuit against the defendants listed that the Federal government place an oversight decree on Maryland Elections Board and the Maryland Democratic Party and monitor the behavior of elections in the state over several election periods until all entities involved in the election process understand and develop good standards of operation while participating in elections.  The candidates in the democratic primary are all guilty of Federal election law and as such will be tried under felony indictment.  This should give this Maryland Circuit Court further reason to declare this democratic primary void with no second primary.

Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland did all that was possible to identify, report, mitigate, and seek resolution to the violations listed in this complaint.  I should not be denied my place in this election for governor.  Since I had the ability in February 2014 to register as a general election candidate for governor with the Green Party, I request that this be allowed now by suspending this one time the requirement to file for this general election status by February 2104.  I request the court assess financial penalty to those government agencies assigned to protect elections and my rights as a candidate to include candidate filing fees for myself and my Lt Governor and for the costs of electioneering over the course of several months.


 

Polls Potential Democratic primary match-ups [hide]Primary trial heats for 2014 gubernatorial race

Poll

Anthony Brown

Doug Gansler

Heather Mizeur

Undecided

Margin of Error

Sample Size



Brown-Ulman Internal Poll conducted by Garin-Hart-Yang
(September 11-15, 2013)

43%

21%

5%

31%

+/-4.0

608


Gonzales Research/Marketing Strategies Poll
(October 1-14, 2013)

41%

21%

5%

33%

+/--

403



Baltimore Sun Poll
(February 8-12, 2014)

35%

14%

10%

40%

+/-4.4

500



Washington Post Poll
(February 13-16, 2014)

32%

15%

9%

39%

+/-3.5

1,002



The Maryland Poll
(April 10-13, 2014)

27%

11%

8%

54%

+/-3.17

954



WPA Opinion Research
(May 6-7,2014)

34%

20%

7%

40%

+/-4.9

400










AVERAGES

35.33%

17%

7.33%

39.5%

+/-1.86

644.5

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org






0 Comments

June 24th, 2014

6/24/2014

0 Comments

 
VOTE FOR CINDY WALSH FOR GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND TODAY ALL ACROSS MARYLAND AS THE ONLY CANDIDATE WITH A PUBLIC JUSTICE, OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY PLATFORM THAT WILL HOLD THESE GLOBAL CORPORATIONS AT BAY AND BUILD A DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF SMALL AND REGIONAL BUSINESSES.



As I walked to the polling booth in Maryland to vote I stopped and talked with three people on the way as well.  I listed the platform issues of my campaign without letting them know who I was and we talked for a few minutes----these people saying exactly what I say in my blog every day.  Everyone supports the issues in my platform.  When we finish talking I introduce myself as a candidate for governor and none of them know me but say they will vote for me.  Meanwhile, WYPR, Johns Hopkins' corporate 'public' media has staff who have been involved in all the primary events lamenting the voter turnout----no knowing just what to do to get more people out to the polls.  Remember, it was WYPR that literally said-----

IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THE CANDIDATES WE PUT IN FRONT OF YOU----THEN DO NOT VOTE.  THERE'S THE PROBLEM.

This capture of elections in Maryland is what makes these global corporate neo-liberals and neo-cons operate with impunity when it comes to public policy that is killing the citizens of Maryland and is directly behind the rising taxation hitting the middle/working class.  I just want to remind the citizens of Maryland of some of the more well-known corporate give-aways and remember, we do not have to give all of this away to keep large corporations in the state.  In fact, we want them to leave so we can rebuild the small and regional businesses that rely on good service and quality products to win market-share.

I listened this morning about the rising sea levels and how it will affect the US coastline.  Predictions of anywhere from 12-30 inches in sea level rise over just a few decades is not hyperbole----it is scientifically valid.  So, let's look at Maryland to see how the corporate pols operate with total disregard to the citizens of Maryland and the state and local revenue spent on behalf of these corporations.


Below you see the infamous Exelon/Harbor Point debacle that had every sector in the city of Baltimore out and protesting because the level of corruption was breath-taking.  This deal was so openly racketeering by Baltimore City Hall and Mayor Rawlings-Blake and the political pay off of developers and political contributions is astounding.  Baltimore City is indeed third world in its level of fraud, corruption, and lack of transparency.

Just a quick overview of the problems ------Exelon just finished a merger deal with BGE that required the corporation to keep its headquarters in Baltimore so the city did not have to provide this tax break to keep this corporation in the city-----it gave it away for absolutely no reason.  The developer is building on land that is a known toxic waste dump that should be simply made into a green space at best until toxic waste cleanup can be done but the city is allowing a high-rise right on water's edge on this site.  Residents in nearby communities are concerned about the toxic chemical barrier being penetrated as it will compromise the integrity of the seal of toxic chemicals that will leach into the water and be released by air.

Equally as troubling is my reference to the rise in sea level and this development will have the taxpayers paying to build a sea wall around this entire Harbor East development that should never have been allowed to be constructed on water's edge.  It is all public malfeasance and will cost taxpayers countless money to implement and maintain.


THE PUBLIC AND MEDIA OUTCRY WAS IMMENSE AND THESE CORPORATE POLS IGNORED IT BECAUSE THEY WORK FOR THESE CORPORATIONS AND NOT THE CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE AND MARYLAND.

Activists plan protest against $107M in city financing for Harbor Point development


Hearing on TIF financing scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall
About 100 protesters object to the $107 million in tax increment… (Baltimore Sun photo by Luke…)July 16, 2013|By Luke Broadwater | The Baltimore Sun


Activists plan to protest the $107 million in city financing requested for the waterfront Harbor Point development.

The Fair Development Campaign will hold a demonstration in front of City Hall at 4 p.m. Wednesday to protest the tax increment financing plan

"Time and again, the city has awarded our resources to wealthy developers at the taxpayers’ expense in the hope that money will trickle down," states a news release from the group. "This model has failed. The Harbor Point TIF deal is more of the same."

The activists said they expect dozens of Baltimore residents to attend the event, including the homeless and unemployed workers. 

Immediately following the rally, the City Council's taxation committee will hear testimony about the request for more than $100 million in city-issued bonds to pay for the project's roads, pipes, public parks, promenade and other infrastructure. The 30-year bonds will accrue millions in interest over time.

Under the deal, the developer Michael S. Beatty is required to pay back both the bonds and interest through his projected tax revenue. If the tax revenue falls short, the project will be assessed a special tax, according to proposed legislation. 

The $1 billion Harbor Point development is the planned home of Exelon's new regional headquarters, a Morgan Stanley facility and other office buildings, residential towers, stores and a hotel.

Currently, the site is assessed at $10 million, but the Baltimore Development Corporation projects it would be valued at $1.8 billion for tax purposes when developer Michael S. Beatty completes it.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has said the Harbor Point project would create thousands of jobs. In addition to the tax increment financing, the development is benefiting from more than $100 million in tax breaks.








O'Malley is king of corporate brown-nosing giving these corporations anything they want no matter the cost.  He has single-handedly mortgaged the future of Baltimore for decades unless Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland takes to court these bogus corporate tax breaks and public private partnership deals that even a third grader would know are against the public interest.

YES, POLITICIANS ARE SWORN TO PROTECT AND SERVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE-----IN THIS CASE THE CITIZENS OF MARYLAND.  IT IS PUBLIC MALFEASANCE WHEN THEY KNOWINGLY THROW THE PUBLIC UNDER A BUS.


Makeover Monday: Hyatt resort spa gets $1 million revamp

USATODAY 6:04 p.m. EDT September 17, 2012(Photo: Hyatt Regency)

The 10-year-old Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa & Marina on Maryland's Eastern Shore today sports a new, $1 million spa and salon.

The waterfront resort, about 90 miles from Washington D.C., spruced up its guest rooms, lobby and dining areas in 2009. But earlier this year, it updated its 18,000-square-foot Sago Spa & Salon.

The 400-room resort's located in Cambridge, Md.

So where did the $1 million go?

The money was spent on everything from the new limestone reception desk to a new design inspired by the Chesapeake Bay in a color palette of golden hues, steel blues and earth tones, says Caroline Gould of the Washington D.C. design firm, RD Jones and Associates, which completed the revamp.


Sago has a renovated steam room and sauna, a larger retail area and a new co-ed relaxation room. Also, its salon was expanded to allow for more stations for manicures and pedicures, hair styling and make-up application.

The redesign is based on an abstract interpretation of its Eastern Shore location, so you'll see nautical-inspired wall sconces and natural textured wallpapers, Gould says. The spa was named after a strong underwater grass in the Chesapeake Bay that provides life and nourishment to the water and inhabitants.


_____________________________________________

Above you see more money spent to make a luxury hotel more luxurious even as it continues to lose money and the state allows bonds.  Raise your hands if you know a massive economic collapse is coming soon that will be broader and deeper than the one in 2008------EVERYONE THAT READS REAL JOURNALISM.  So, will there be an uptick in the near future?

OF COURSE NOT----THERE WILL BE A DEFAULT ON THESE BONDS FOR THE STATE OF MARYLAND AND THE PRIVATE PARTNERS WILL BE INSURED AGAINST ANY LOSSES.


The idea that any region is lucky to have tourism jobs that not only pay poverty wages but the lowest poverty wages around is an insult to the citizens of the Maryland Eastern Shore.  They need good solid manufacturing and small business opportunities that allow them to prosper----not toil as people living in third world countries do with these same resort areas.

Easton is a wealthy enclave that wanted this in their neighborhood and got it.  We are not against people being wealthy------we are against corporate and wealth subsidy at the expense of the greater population.


The reference to Rocky Gap is just a look at the pattern of economic development that makes no sense and is done simply to placate people connected to the politics of Maryland.  We are supposed to be happy with the solution of handing this resort having huge taxpayer investment to private corporation for gambling which is exempted from paying taxes on the gambling proceeds......this is why you do not hear Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland in any media or large 501c3 venue----the corruption is complete.

IT IS LOL IF IT WAS NOT SO PITIFUL.



The Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO) functions under the provisions of Title 10, Subtitle 1 of the Economic Development Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.

The legislative purposes of MEDCO are to: relieve unemployment in the State; encourage the increase of business activity and commerce and a balanced economy in the State; help retain and attract business activity and commerce in the State; promote economic development; and promote the health, safety, right of gainful employment and welfare of residents of the State.


We need to look at what MEDCO is backing and as with  MECU ----Maryland Employee Credit Union------it is the public sector paying for what will prove to be public malfeasance on the part of elected officials.  This is not a democrat only issue----the republican party is just as crony and corrupt as republican voters know.

Rocky Gap II?Our view: The state-backed Cambridge Hyatt has been a winner for the Eastern Shore, and its struggles pale next to those of its Western Maryland predecessor


June 12, 2013  Baltimore Sun

Henceforth, let there by a rule that nothing can be compared to Maryland's failed investment at Rocky Gap, located just outside Cumberland in Western Maryland, except for Rocky Gap and perhaps any other $55 million white elephant loss that comes along. We know Rocky Gap. Rocky Gap is an acquaintance of ours. Sorry, Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay resort in Cambridge, but you're no Rocky Gap.

Incidentally, let us insert a reminder here. Even the infamous Rocky Gap hotel and conference center isn't Rocky Gap anymore. The place was turned over to private investors last year and is now the Rocky Gap Casino Resort. With slot machines and table games (along with the lakeside hotel and Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course they picked up for a bargain price), they are unlikely to lose money. The state even lowered its share of slot machine revenue just to be certain.

The Rocky Gap legacy — its star-crossed history and cost to taxpayers — lives on, however, and naturally it came up with news that the state-owned Hyatt, another project financed by the Maryland Economic Development Corp., is having trouble paying the bills. The state recently withdrew $2 million from a reserve fund to meet debt service.

Admittedly, the situation isn't good — not for the 400-bedroom hotel, not for investors and not for Cambridge and Dorchester County. The resort hotel business in general has been on the rocks since the economic downturn and is only now showing signs of life across the country. The Hyatt is meeting its operating costs but operating in the red because of its bond payments. The reserve fund could be depleted later this year, and bond holders are likely taking a hit (but probably won't seek foreclosure).

That's nothing to celebrate. But it's also not something to call a disaster on the scale of Rocky Gap. And it's certainly not time to talk about underwriting the business with slot machines, table games, poker or any other form of expanded gambling. (Seriously, does every economic hardship now require that a casino be authorized in response?)

The fact is, the Hyatt was a success and arguably continues to be one despite the drop in revenue that's been eating away at reserves since 2010. Ask anyone who has been there. It's a first-class facility with a spa, golf course and marina on a gorgeous location convenient to both the Washington-Baltimore area and the Maryland-Delaware beach resorts. But more importantly, its presence has helped transform Dorchester County, not only by creating travel and tourism-related jobs but in changing how visitors perceive a part of the Eastern Shore that was once known as much for racial unrest as anything produced by its native farmers or watermen.

Cambridge in the summer of 1967 was where H. Rap Brown — a militant activist who would surely be seen as a terrorist today (were he not currently in jail serving a life sentence for an unrelated murder) — told his fellow African-Americans to riot and burn the place down. What ensued was four years of racial violence followed by decades of economic hardship and poverty. The county still has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state — even slightly higher than Baltimore's.

But the situation has unquestionably improved since the 2002 opening of the Hyatt,
made possible by MEDCO's $120 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds. The Dorchester County of today may still be suffering, but it has potential. Indeed, in the pre-recession years after the hotel opened, county residents' big concern was the fast pace of construction and the volume of new arrivals to their communities. It was not until 2008 that the bottom fell out and bookings dropped by 30 percent. It might even have recovered by now except that sequestration has taken a huge bite out of hotel spending by the federal government and its contractors.

That was never the case in Cumberland, where the isolated Rocky Gap seemed a pie-in-the-sky concept even before it opened in 1998. The Hyatt, now the county's second-largest employer with as many as 700 jobs in the summer peak season, has survived most of its 11 years without teetering on default. That alone sets it apart from its politically motivated Western Maryland counterpart. It's hard to believe there's anything wrong with the Hyatt that can't be cured by an uptick in tourism, in its conference trade and in traffic on U.S. 50. The nonrated bonds aren't even the responsibility of state taxpayers.

Certainly, a case could be made that MEDCO might want to look at resort projects more skeptically in the future. But it would also be a mistake to evaluate the Hyatt in Cambridge solely on the recession-related red ink on its ledger and not on the benefits it has provided to the surrounding community for the past decade.



____________________________________________

Below you see the development plans that everyone knows is bad policy but is it stupidity or is it deliberately calculated to keep the public on tap to make sure a corporation brings in profit and pays no taxes?  Right now any tax base this hotel would have paid----and believe me all the TIFs and breaks given for zoning have those taxes at a minimum are now being used to keep the hotel solvent.  So a large sum of revenue is going to keep a hotel-----in the midst of tons of hotel space that have a crisis in filling rooms----going to Hilton. 

Note when this deal finally started-----2006-2008. This is exactly when all the press was calling the US economy and the stock market a 'HOUSE OF CARDS'. 


Greenspan and Geithner had just refused to acknowledge and prosecute massive subprime mortgage fraud and the fraud exploded and imploded the economy all between 2006-2008 and all politicians knew this was happening.  Remember, I am not a rocket scientist----I simply read the financial news.

So, O'Malley pushes to place this albatross on the neck of the citizens of Baltimore and Maryland knowing the economy was going to crash in a big way and a recession would no doubt be deep and long.  He knew the business would not be there-----he built it because of a Master Plan of Baltimore Development Corporation and Johns Hopkins that projects 50 years out in development.  They say the loses to the citizens living in Maryland now do not matter----we are building for the 21st century and we are going to do it our way!!!!

What Baltimore's downtown needed was thousands of small businesses supported by people employed and earning a Living Wage.  You cannot do that in Baltimore because the public policy keeps most Baltimore citizens in poverty and unemployed----unable to provide the product consumption to fuel a domestic economy.  THIS IS DELIBERATE.


The Hilton Baltimore is a 757–room hotel located on West Pratt Street in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Initially proposed in 2003, actual construction of the city-owned venture took place between 2006 and 2008 as part of the Baltimore Convention Center.

Despite Losses Baltimore Won’t Sell Taxpayer Funded Hilton Hotel

Losses mounting for financially troubled hotel

November 1, 2013 by Brian Griffiths Watchdog Wire


The City of Baltimore decided to do an extensive investigation into the city-owned Hilton Hotel. And their decision on this matter
shows exactly why you don’t do stupid stuff like build city-owned hotels in the first place:

There’s too much money tied into the city ownership of the Hilton Hotel to put it on the market, Baltimore City officials said Thursday. 

City officials said the hotel is not for sale and that they would expect to lose tens of millions of dollars by putting it on the market. They said restructuring the debt is not an option, and they believe the hotel will turn a profit in 10 years. 

This study indicates the Hilton is outperforming other hotels in the city and that holding onto it will pay off down the road.

Read the whole thing. The city has lost money on the hotel for years because it could never meet the revenue projections promised by its supporters, which some predicted at the project’s inception given its comparison to similar projects in other cities that had been completed at the time. Since then the hotel hasn’t exactly been swimming in profits; just last year the hotel had to withdraw money from their reserve fund in order to pay their bills after running up over $54 million losses since its opening. Of course, any sale of the hotel would certainly create political headaches for one Governor Martin O’Malley. Remember the city-owned hotel was O’Malley’s brainchild all along. Once created, O’Malley used the construction of the hotel to engage in one of his favorite sports; throwing development dollars to Democratic operatives. The hotel wound up being developed by Ronald Lipscomb, notorious developer, Democratic fundraiser , and boyfriend of disgraced former Mayor Sheila Dixon. Despite his flaws and issues with jurisprudence, O’Malley called Lipscomb “a man of vision, talent, and commitment to the greater good.” And to top it off, O’Malley was able to create the hotel, enrich a crony, lost the new Hilton company headquarters to Virginia despite his support of a public financed hotel, and then attempt to blame former Governor Bob Ehrlich for the failure of the hotel when it was preordained to fail in the first place.Needless to say that selling the hotel would be an admission that Martin O’Malley failed, something that the Governor can ill-afford to have as he embraces on his Titanic-like Presidential campaign. While there are obvious political reasons that would make Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake want to protect O’Malley and her Democratic cronies, there is no legitimate reason to keep the hotel in city-controlled hands. With $54 million in losses and counting, there is no reason to believe that the Hilton is going to turn a profit at any time in the near future. In a city that is in serious financial straits, with crumbling schools, dilapidated infrastructure, and not enough police in order to keep basic order in all parts of the city, something has got to give. If the Baltimore sold the hotel right now and was able to get out from under the cost of operating the hotel and the cost of the debt service of the hotel, it would in a small way reduce the fiscal burden that the city faces, and would cut the city’s losses at around the $54 million mark where it currently sits. Baltimore would then be able to redirect the funds from the occupancy tax (which are partially funding hotel operations right now) back into its general fund so that it can be used for city-related endeavors which are not related to competing with the private sector. Baltimore’s inability to admit defeat and sell the Hilton is just another example of how city elected officials either don’t understand basic economics or don’t take their role as fiscal stewards seriously. It’s time for the city to cut its losses, get out of the hotel business, and try to focus on fixing the myriad of problems facing Baltimore. Brian Griffiths




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June 23rd, 2014

6/23/2014

0 Comments

 
As a progressive democrat I love the Federal government and the ability of this highest structure of government to pass law that standardizes rights across the county....it is a necessity to have this structure in a country as large as ours.  The problem occurs when these centralized government structures start handing all power of policy or legislation to one person---the President, the governor, or the mayor/county executive-----leaving out the legislative body.  That is what neo-liberals and neo-cons are doing right now.  The formation of commissions is one step in this process with the executive appointing these bodies that then pass policy without the legislative body.  Executive orders, once used with extreme rarity have been more and more common under Clinton/Bush/Obama installing policy that they know would not pass through a legislative body.

Remember, the Trans Pacific Trade Pact recognizes only a global corporate tribunal as the body able to change laws that are included in these treaties and these treaties effect every avenue of life.  All of this requires a centralization of government as seen in nations like China.

This is why you are seeing an inability to engage on any public policy issues and it is why all your rights as citizens are being totally ignored.....neo-liberals and neo-cons are working to install all of the structures leading to this TPP global corporate tribunal structure.  It is why as well this election for governor in Maryland refused to allow a candidate fighting against this structure to be heard.  Brown, Gansler, and Mizeur are the only three democratic candidates because they are all neo-liberals ready to continue to install this global corporate structure that takes all legislative power away from the American people and the citizens of Maryland.




Centralized government

From Wikipedia

A centralised government (spelled centralized government in American English) is one in which power or legal authority is exerted or coordinated by a de facto political executive to which federal states, local authorities, and smaller units are considered subject


This morning I listened to a report that the Baltimore County administrators were going to integrate the Baltimore County Library System technology with the county's in an effort to save a few million dollars.  Remember, the county wastes a few million dollars on any number of corporate subsidies or outsourcing to private businesses which end in costing more money than if the public sector did the work itself.  So, this is not a cost-cutting issue......it is the centralization of technology at a time when government at all level is selling public data for revenue that is the problem.

The library administrators were concerned about the lose of control of these technology staff and department for just that reason.  Libraries are tasked with making sure the patrons using their sources have privacy issues met.  The county on the other hand sells public data and this library database will be no different.  Control extends beyond who is checking out what or using computers to visit what websites------it allows the county control of censuring websites through intranet services.  If you think that far-fetched know that Johns Hopkins Library and its internet service affecting all campuses -----a large pool of employees and students-----does this already to an extent.  Intranet servers can censure and do.  So, when a library system that is for some the only way to access the internet loses control to allow freedom of content and privacy-----


Librarians across the country hit the protest lines when Obama and a neo-liberal Congress passed laws that allowed NSA to collect library patron's data and librarians were told they were legally bound to silence in the Federal government's collection of that data.  We know know that the NSA is Wall Street and Wall Street is selling the data collected to overseas governments and organizations so none of this is being kept private---no matter how much they tell you it is.  So yet another sector of employees----this time librarians-----are being told that what used to be their duty to protect the public is no longer their duty.  If you think this is about saving a few million dollars of public money----look at the billions of dollars lost each year to corporate fraud and more billions given away in corporate subsidies and tax breaks.

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY FOLKS!

Mount Prospect Public LibraryPrivacy and Confidentiality of Patron Information Policy


October 2009

Administrative Modification4Illinois Records Confidentiality Act (75 ILCS 70/1-2)(75 ILCS 70/1) (from Ch. 81, par. 1201)


Sec.1. (a) The registration and circulation records of a library
are confidential information. No person shall publish or make any information contained in such records available to the public
unless:(1)required to do so under court order; or(2)the information is requested by a sworn law enforcement officer who represents that it is impractical to secure a court order as a result of an emergency where the law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that there is an imminent danger of physical harm.The information requested must be limited to identifying a suspect, witness, or victim of a crime. The information requested without a court order may not include the disclosure of registration or circulation records that would indicate materials borrowed, resources reviewed, or services used at the library.If requested to do so by the library, the requesting law enforcement officer must sign a form acknowledging the receipt of the information. A library providing the information may seek subsequent judicial review to assess compliance with this Section.This subsection shall not alter any right to challenge the use or dissemination of patron information that is otherwise permitted by law.(b)This Section does not prevent a library from publishing or making available to the public reasonable statistical reports regarding library registration and book circulation where those reports are presented so that no individual is identified therein.(b-5)Nothing in this Section shall be construed as a privacy violation or a breach of confidentiality if a library provides information to a law enforcement officer under item (2) of subsection (a).(c)For the purpose of this Section, (i) “library” means any public library or library of an educational, historical or eleemosynary institution, organization or society; (ii) “registration records” includes any information a library requires a person to provide in order for that person to become eligible to borrow books and other materials and (iii) “circulation records” includes all information identifying the individual borrowing particular books or materials.(Source: P.A. 95-40, eff. 1-1-08)(75 ILCS 70/2) (from Ch. 81, par. 1202)Sec. 2. This Act may be cited as the Library Records Confidentiality Act.(Source: P.A. 86-1475.)



THIS IS A MOVEMENT AWAY FROM FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND PRIVACY.  NOTE AGAIN, THIS POLICY ONLY SAVES A FEW MILLION DOLLARS AT MOST AND HANDS IT TO A GOVERNMENT USING PUBLIC DATA SALES AS REVENUE.



When President Obama or Governor O'Malley say they promote OPEN GOVERNMENT-----this does not mean transparency to the American citizens of government operations-----quite the opposite.  It means that any public information wanted will be sold to the highest bidder. 


THIS IS HOW YOU KNOW YOU HAVE A NEO-LIBERAL RUNNING AS A DEMOCRAT-----DO YOU HEAR YOUR POL DECRYING THE WHOLESALE MARKETING OF ALL CITIZEN'S PERSONAL DATA?


Sales Of Public Data To Marketers Can Mean Big $$ For Governments August 26, 2013 10:00 PM 

DENVER (CBS4) – Roughly 60 percent of the mail we get can be classified as junk mail, but sometimes that flood of mail seems nonstop, and the pitches are often unsettlingly specific. This tends to happen particularly after major life events.

A CBS4 Investigation has uncovered that government agencies at all levels are selling personal information to marketing companies.

Eric Meer is a small business owner who works out of his home in Denver’s Stapleton neighborhood. Meer says he was deluged by direct mail after registering his small business with the Colorado Secretary of State. He says many of the ads he received were deceptive asking him to pay fees that he wasn’t required to pay.

Meer had a hunch the Secretary of State was selling his business information to marketing companies. CBS4 confirmed his hunch was right. Last year, the Secretary of State brought in $59,000 for business registration data.


“It feels like a betrayal,” Meer said. “Because our government is supposed to protect us, not to sell our information and profit from us.”

Spokesperson Andrew Cole confirms the Secretary of State sells business information for monetary amounts ranging from $200 to $12,000, depending on frequency and amount of information requested. But, Cole says the fees only cover the costs of running the databases.

“We are not looking to make money,” said Cole. “We charge to cover our costs.”

According to Cole, there is no way to opt out of these lists and anyone can buy them, even scammers. There is no screening process.

“It’s a public database,” Cole said. He said it’s “meant to be public” and part of running a transparent government.

The Secretary of State also sold voter registration information — including names, addresses and political party affiliation of voters — for $58,000, last year.

Do you ever notice a surge of confusing mail after refinancing, a foreclosure, or buying a house? The Denver Clerk and Recorder made $32,000 last year selling home sale data.

It happens in college, too. The University of Colorado Boulder buys names from the SAT for 33 cents each and names from the ACT for 34 cents each for recruiting purposes. CU sells student information to private meal plans and storage companies for $15,000 a year.

Even death is for sale. The Social Security Administration sells a “Master Death Index” for 7,500 each. The result, an onslaught of letters to surviving family members asking to purchase a home.

Local marketer Becky Seely has purchased lists in the past and says it’s clear these agencies are catering to marketers.


“What average consumer needs to know the deaths that happened in the last three months or the new businesses that registered?” asks Seely.

But she says most of the time we put ourselves on marketing lists without realizing it. The most common ways our information is collected and then circulated is when we enter a contest, use a valued customer shopping card, register a product, subscribe to a magazine or even give money to a charity.

“It’s kind of an endless black hole of lists, unfortunately,” Seely said.

The Direct Marketing Association has blocked every state effort to create a mandatory “do not mail” registry similar to a do not call list. However, the same group offers its own registry that promises to cut down on the junk mail you receive.

The Direct Marketing Association says you cannot stop bills, statements, notices and political mailings. The group also offers a deceased Do Not Contact list.
_______________________________________________
At a time when identity theft is ubiquitous one wonders what information is going out as regards SS information from our government.  We know that the NSA is acting illegally as regards data collection and distribution to outside parties so how do we know the article below honors the idea that only legal information can be attained in these data sales?  Can you imagine the personal history one can attain from a lifetime of SS information in building identity?

One expects that things like census data are sold in bulk data but when every avenue of public life is opened and made easily attainable-----and for sale---as the article above has a citizen saying----I FEEL BETRAYED BY MY GOVERNMENT.

The need to do this for revenue whether Federal, state, or local is precisely the problem of lost corporate revenue and the sending of that revenue collected to these same corporations as subsidy.


NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS DO NOT SEE PUBLIC JUSTICE OR BILL OF RIGHTS BECAUSE THEY DO NOT SEE YOU AND I AS CITIZENS.



Social Security
Open Government Initiative

Social Security Data

Social Security has a long history of collecting data to carry out our mission. Our data are about people-their wages, their identifying information, their employers, their addresses, and much more. The first regulation we published included a commitment to the public to safeguard the personal information entrusted to us. This commitment is as solid as it was when Social Security began in 1935 and is further strengthened by privacy laws. We cannot publicly release much of our data because it is protected by the Privacy Laws, the Internal Revenue code, and other statutes. While some of the data can be anonymized, much of it cannot. Our open government data transparency efforts recognize these constraints and all releases will protect privacy in accordance with all applicable laws.

Here, we aim to provide you with convenient, one-stop access to high value datasets along with explanations about the data. As you browse the catelog below, click on the dataset title to see more information about the dataset. The following datasets have all been submitted to the federal government data catalog, Data.gov where you can view the catalog of SSA data along with data from many other agencies.


_________________________________________


The HIPAA laws overseeing patient privacy used to be taken so seriously we were taught at hiring orientation with a health care center that no information on patients are to be spoken in any public areas.  Elevators used to be the problem when two doctors would chat about a patient case with the general public in the elevator.....that was prohibited.

Now, there is absolutely no restrictions by private health providers in selling medical data as we see with the private Medicare Advantage and the making of money by these health insurers on the data they assemble from the people paying for their insurance plans.  We know restricted data is being released and we know patient names are indeed left attached to these data often......even as we are told names are not associated with data.  Research shows that corporations buying the data have no trouble identifying the name of patients even if the name is not included.....

THERE IS NO PRIVACY NOW AS REGARDS YOUR MEDICAL DATA AND ALL THAT IS TIED WITH PRIVATIZING AND PROFITIZING THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY.


(“HIPAA”).1 The Privacy Rule standards address the use and disclosure of individuals’ health information—called “protected health information” by organizations subject to the Privacy Rule — called “covered entities,” as well as standards for individuals' privacy rights to understand and control how their health information is used. Within HHS, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) has responsibility for implementing and enforcing the Privacy Rule with respect to voluntary compliance activities and civil money penalties.

AIS's Medicare and Medicaid Market Data: 2014

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_____________________________________________

When we centralize such extensive systems like data systems we are placing into the hands of a few all the power of information and how it is disseminated.  In Maryland we already have a problem with having grand announcements by politicians that a policy has been successful as shown by data only to find the data was skewed.  It is of no value to the American people if we find years later the data was skewed.

In modern history data was collected and analyzed by our public universities by academics with the goal of providing unbiased and accurate information.  Today, corporatization of our universities has created the inability to rely on that source and as we see more and more data centralized and taken from the realm of more and more people-----there goes the whistle blowers who see problems and report them.  We already have a war on whistle blowers as the people in power take the nation more towards autocracy.

In Maryland, we have had the executive offices of governor and mayor/county executive garner more and more control of public policy with the creation of commissions that then decide public policy behind closed doors and without legislative approval and those commissions are appointed by these very executives----governor, mayor, or county executive.  This centralization is what is taking all power of the people to participate in government-----it is allowing corporate pols to deal only with corporations and their bidding----and this consolidation of technology and data further erodes the hands on opportunity of the citizens of Maryland to know what the real information is and how it is processed.

We know as well with these neo-liberals and neo-cons----that the IT is handled by private corporate contractors having exposure to what is told to citizens as kept private by the government.  This was the big issue over the building of these health systems whether at the Federal or state level----private corporations are directly exposed to private information when government outsources everything to these large corporations.

We know that many programs in NSA are run by Wall Street and all that data is in turn sold overseas to governments that now have our private information and we have no idea where it goes from there.

THIS IS CRITICAL FOLKS!  YOU ARE WATCHING AS THIS CENTRALIZATION LEAVES THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND CITIZENS OF MARYLAND WITHOUT ACCESS TO MUCH OF THE DATA COLLECTED AS A MEANS OF KNOWING WHAT WE ARE BEING TOLD IS TRUE.


What Is a Centralized Organizational Structure?




  • Written By: Mary McMahon
  • Edited By: Shereen Skola
  • Last Modified Date: 31 May 2014  Wise Geek


A centralized organizational structure is an approach to handling decisions that concentrates the power at the top of a hierarchy. A limited number of people have the ability to make decisions and they are senior members of the company or organization. This contrasts with a decentralized organizational structure, where higher-ups delegate authority down a chain of command to allow employees at many levels to make decisions. There are advantages and disadvantages to both structures that may be considered in the course of developing or modifying an organizational structure.

This approach can be seen everywhere from small businesses to large companies. A business owner with only a few employees may prefer to make all the decisions for the business in a centralized organizational structure. Employees must discuss any planned activities or concerns with the owner, and cannot independently make decisions, except in very controlled circumstances. This allows for greater control over business operations.

At large companies, the centralized organizational structure is typically paired with a very large and heavily tiered hierarchy. As people work their way up the hierarchy, they have more authority and more connections to people who can make decisions. At the very top lie the handful of people with the ultimate power over activities at the company. These can be members of a board, or chief officers, depending on how the business is organized.

Ad One advantage of centralized organizational structure is efficiency. When decisions need to be made, they are made quickly, because no consultation is necessary. However, the disadvantage to central control is that it may take a long time for issues to reach the people who can make decisions. They are often overloaded with work and it may take some time for an issue to come to their attention. In a decentralized structure, autonomy at lower levels can allow for faster resolution of minor problems because they do not need to be escalated through a series of tiers.

Another potential flaw of centralized organizational structure is stagnation. Upper officials of a company may not be in touch with workers, or could lag behind on industry developments. When they are the only people making decisions, it may be hard for a company to move forward and promote progress. This structure can also contribute to a more hidebound culture where employees feel less valued. People trusted with decisions tend to feel more connected to their employers, and may be more prone to stay in the long term
.
0 Comments

June 21st, 2014

6/21/2014

0 Comments

 
It sounds as though I am taking on the world in this one contest for Governor of Maryland but please remember, the failure of oversight and accountability by the Maryland Elections Board and Maryland Attorney General for a few decades has allowed the entire election system to skirt Rule of Law and create what all Marylanders know is a very, very, very crony political system.  This extends to the republican party as well----I am simply a democrat wanting a real democratic party in the State of Maryland.  We will take these complaints all the way to the Supreme Court as we cannot have a democracy if we are unable to have people in elections for whom voters want to vote.  I am not so centered as to think everyone wants to vote for my platform or me, but if we are to have more people running with more platform stances the citizens of Maryland want.....this one campaign is trying to open that door.

THERE ARE CLOSE TO 700,000 UNAFFILIATED VOTERS NOT PARTICIPATING IN PRIMARIES AND TURN OUT FOR THOSE REGISTERED WITH EITHER MAJOR PARTY IS AS LOW AS 10-20% IN SOME ELECTION CYCLES AND IN SOME DISTRICTS.  THIS IS CLEARING A CRISIS IN DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS.


Back to the primary election and Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland winning the democratic primary:

The office of Governor is very powerful in that this office has the power of appointment and oversight and accountability for all state agencies.  I wrote a week ago how I would fill these agencies and this is the last of the list of state agencies needing to be filled by the new governor. 

ALL OF THE OTHER DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR ARE GLOBAL CORPORATE POLS-----ONLY CINDY WALSH FOR GOVERNOR HAS THE PLATFORM FOR A DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND GOVERNING IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST!




  • MARYLANDHistoric St. Mary's City Commission

  • Once again, Cindy Walsh has a passion for history and architecture and will be a strong advocate for preservation all over the state and the funding needed

  • MARYLANDHousing & Community Development

    This is the agency that will allow me to interject some fairness and balance in development and distribution of state money.  I will make sure that Federal, state, and local money spent meets all agreements regarding low-income and moderate housing and that funds get to the Eastern and Western counties for their development plans.

  • MARYLANDHoward County
  • MARYLANDHuman Resources
    I will be hiring a lot of state workers as I rebuild oversight and accountability and I will make sure these new-hires are mostly Maryland citizens.  I will not outsource except in rare occasions.  I will have an appointment to this agency that wants to protect workplace/employee rights.
  • MARYLANDInformation Technology
    I will build a state agency of internal tech people who will work for public interest and eliminate technology and state data as revenue makers.  Computer systems need to protect all citizens privacy and personal data.  Why are we building an entirely new health system when Medicare already has one?

  • MARYLANDInjured Workers' Insurance Fund
    All of these worker's benefit funds have been left unfunded because of the level of corporate subsidy and lack of tax collection.  I will see funding levels are met and best practices delivered to workers.


  • MARYLANDInteragency Committee for School Construction

    I make no bones about being against Wall Street funding for school construction.  I will tap the state revenue we already have---and it is plenty for all school construction.
  • MARYLANDInternational Affairs

    I will not abandon global marketing as I know it benefits some but money will be directed domestically for the most part.

  • MARYLANDInterstate Agencies -- Maryland Memberships

    I will appoint a person that takes a close look at inter-state commerce  to be sure we are building partnerships with regional  institutions, to know revenue sources for the state, and to network on behalf of issues like environment and development.

    
  • MARYLANDJuvenile Services

    I will not only fund this agency but make sure we have community-friendly directors throughout the state and an emphasis on ending school to jail pipeline.
  • MARYLANDKent County
  • MARYLANDLabor, Licensing & Regulation

    I will completely rebuild oversight and accountability in this agency.  This is a critical agency for fraud and corruption.

  • MARYLANDLegislative Services

    I will build a structure that sends all of the current legislative issues to communities all over Maryland. We need the citizens of Maryland aware and active in all public policy-making.  This is easy to do!

  • MARYLANDLt. Governor

    You will like Libby Pennacchia---she is an educator and music teacher and has as her top agenda fighting for liberal arts and humanities in all public schools

  • Maryland & the Federal Government

    I will not only look to this agency as a revenue source for bringing money to Maryalnd but I will be demanding that the Federal officials do their job in oversight and accountability and partner in building structures that stop fraud and corruption.

  • Maryland African American Museum Corporation

    Museum corporation?  Really?  I will make sure state funding meets all equal opportunity requirements and cultural agencies thrive.
  • Maryland Agricultural & Resource-Based Industry Development Corp.

    I am interested in sustainable small business development and rural development that sends manufacturing and farming more than tourism.  I do not like the name Development Corporation for a state agency if it takes too much local voice away as happens in Baltimore.
  • Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund

  • Maryland Aviation Administration
  • Maryland Clean Energy Center
    Solar energy and funding going to homeowners and oversight of greening funds to make sure we are spending money in public's/environmental interest.  Natural gas export is out....natural gas for public transportation in.  Coal-fire power plants out---public wind farm in.
  • Maryland Economic Development Corp.

    This is where we go from money spent on global markets to that of domestic markets. This doesn't have to be excludive...it simply means the driver of Maryland's economy is domestic business.

    
  • Maryland Emergency Management Agency

    We will look at how Maryland is tied to Homeland Security and NSA in civil protection.  Protecting people does not mean losing civil liberties and rights

  • Maryland Energy Administration

    I will work hard to bring all energy back to public/regulated utility status

  • Maryland Environmental Service
    I am a passionate environmentalist who knows the damage comes from big business and developers....I will protect the rural areas with an eye on local voice in policy

  • Maryland Food Center Authority

    I will fully fund all safety net agencies
  • Maryland Health & Higher Educational Facilities Authority

    We have a crisis of categorizing corporations as non-profits especially in the health care arena.  ACA and the Maryland health reform makes hospitals profitable so they do not need subsidy.  Private higher education has now become corporate and not needing subsidy.  I will look at which institutions are benefiting and look to public universities and health care first.


  • Maryland Health Benefit Exchange

    We are dismantling the very private and profit-driven system and replacing with Expanded and Improved Medicare for All
  • Maryland Health Care Commission

    There is nothing more important than keeping our health agencies public.  Outsourcing some public work is not bad----health care needs strong public support.
  • Maryland Health Insurance Plan

    Expanded and Improved Medicare fdor All replaces all need to have different funding sources for Maryland citizens---everyone is covered for what they need.
    
  • Maryland Higher Education Commission

    I am dismantling all of the corporate structures attached to higher ed and making sure our community colleges have a strong path to 4 year universities as well as vocational training.

    
0 Comments

June 21st, 2014

6/21/2014

0 Comments

 
Weekends I do not blog but  share actions and in this election season speak to the primary races and soon to be general elections in Maryland.

As I stated earlier, it is the duty of the Maryland Attorney General and the Maryland Election Board to enforce both Federal and state election law.  The Maryland Attorney General would let the US Attorney General's Office know election violations are happening in the state.  If these agencies fail to uphold Rule of Law, it is the Maryland Circuit Court responsible to provide justice for someone experiencing election fraud.  It is the Federal Election Commission charged with investigating and providing justice for someone experiencing election fraud.  If the FEC fails to do its duty.....then the Federal courts come into play.

MAKE NO MISTAKE-----ALL OF WHAT I SPEAK IN THIS ELECTION IS INDEED CLEAR ELECTION VIOLATION AND SYSTEMIC FRAUD.  YOU ARE WITNESSING STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES REFUSING TO ACT IN THEIR CAPACITY TO PROTECT AND SERVE----TO ENFORCE RULE OF LAW.

This is no small matter and it reflects why more and more American people are not voting or feeling their votes do not matter.  It is a systematic dismantling of our election system.  We heard just recently that in Maryland over 630,000 voters are unaffiliated with a party and it is because of these illegal election practices. 

THAT'S 1/3 OF MARYLAND VOTERS AND THOSE STILL IN PARTIES HAVE AN EXTREMELY LOW TURNOUT.  IT IS THE SYSTEMIC ELECTION FRAUD THAT CREATES THE APATHY.

A political campaign is a non-profit entity and as such are susceptible to the same election laws as everyone else.  So, when a candidate in a race participates in an election event or organizes an event that willfully and deliberately excludes candidates in that race------they are guilty of election violations.  The practice of having one candidate invite two others to a forum or debate, deliberately leaving out others in a race constitutes a 501c3 violation of election law that says----do not damage a candidate's campaign.  The same is true when these same candidates participate in an election event hosted by other organizations knowing that event violates election laws of excluding other candidates in a race.

When Anthony Brown invites Gansler and Mizeur to debate-----when Gansler, Mizeur, and Brown participate in forums while Cindy Walsh is protesting exclusion from these events as they walk by to the stage venue----they are actively breaking election law.  Violating election law is a felony offense and as the guideline show below-----any candidate elected having committed a felony shall be ineligible to hold public office.


Keep in mind, this systematic censure of one candidate's campaign is VERY serious election violations.  We will ask that the democratic primary results be disqualified and no democratic candidate move forward in the general election.

At the same time, Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland seeks her opportunity to participate in these elections and requests a reprieve from the election statute requiring registration for the general election by February 2014 allowing her to register as a Green Party candidate in Maryland's General Election of 2014 for Governor of Maryland.


MARYLAND STATUTES AND CODES Section 16-1001 - General penalty provisions. Listen § 16-1001. General penalty provisions.


  Disqualification of candidate found in violation.- A candidate who is convicted of any practice prohibited by this article shall be ineligible to be elected or appointed to any public office or employment for a period of 5 years following the date of the conviction. 
 

[An. Code 1957, art. 33, § 16-1001; 2002, ch. 291, §§ 2, 4.] 

MARYLAND STATUTES AND CODES Section 5-101 - In general. Listen § 5-101. In general.
 


(a)  Applicability.- This subtitle governs the process by which an individual becomes a candidate for a public or party office in an election governed by this article. 

(b)  Compliance required.- An individual's name may not be placed on the ballot and submitted to the voters at an election unless the individual complies with the requirements of this title. 
 

[An. Code 1957, art. 33, § 5-101; 2002, ch. 291, §§ 2, 4.]   



_____________________________________________

Cindy Walsh for Governor was told time and again that 3 of the democratic candidates would not appear at an event if I was invited, the candidates arranged their own debates/forums exclusive of me, and on many occasions physically saw me protesting my exclusion from events.  Media constantly referred to the democratic race in ways that defined the contest with only 3 candidates in the race.

When someone knows an operation is acting illegally and chooses to participate with no acknowledgement of said crime they are now guilty of the crime itself.  If you walk into a gambling activity and find it to be illegal but sit down anyway to participate-----you are just as guilty as those organizing the event.  If any or all of those democrats for governor had refused to participate and/or made an official protest of illegal actions those charged with enforcement would have been pressured to act.  It is the failure at all levels to report and refuse to participate in illegal activities that has allowed Maryland's election system to become systemically criminal.

Cindy Walsh even went to Jon Cardin----candidate for Maryland Attorney General and head of the Maryland Assembly Elections Committee -----to complain about the fraud and he said----'that's the way we do it in Maryland'.


Since the entire democratic primary was rife with fraud there is no way any one candidate can win this election.  It is therefor necessary to void the primary election results and require the Maryland Democratic Party be monitored for a period of several gubernatorial election cycles by both state and federal officials for adherence to the letter of the law.


Pursuant to 18 USCS § 594, whoever intimidates, threatens, coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner, at any election held solely or in part for the purpose of electing such candidate, shall be fined or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

The statute prosecutes individuals who conspire to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States or any agency thereof in order to violate election laws. 


Pursuant to 18 USCS § 241, two or more persons are prohibited from conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any state, territory, commonwealth, possession, or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him or her by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his or her having so exercised the same.


42 USCS § 1985 provides that an action for damages where two or more persons have conspired to:

  • deprive any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of equal privileges and immunities under the laws;
  • prevent or hinder the constituted authorities of any state or territory from giving or securing to all persons within such state or territory the equal protection of the laws; or
  • prevent by force, intimidation, or threat any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote from giving his or her support or advocacy in a legal manner toward or in favor of the election of any lawfully qualified person as an elector for President or Vice President, or as a member of Congress, or to injure any citizen in person or property on account of such support or advocacy.
In any case of conspiracy as set forth above, if one or more persons engaged therein do, or cause to be done, any act in furtherance of the object of such conspiracy, whereby another is injured in his or her person or property, or deprived of having and exercising any right or privilege of a citizen of the United States, the party so injured or deprived may have an action for the recovery of damages occasioned by such injury or deprivation, against any one or more of the conspirators.
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June 20th, 2014

6/20/2014

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THIS IS A LONG POST BUT PLEASE GLANCE THROUGH TO THE END-----IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO SOCIAL SECURITY AS OUR LAST RETIREMENT ASSET.  AS ALL OTHER WEALTH ASSETS WERE STOLEN THROUGH FRAUD OR CORPORATE BANKRUPTCY SCHEMES----WE NEED EXPANDED SOCIAL SECURITY WITH STRONG MONTHLY PAYMENTS TO ALLOW SENIORS SAFETY FROM POVERTY.


CINDY WALSH FOR GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE SHOUTING FOR SOCIAL SECURITY AND THE ONLY ONE THAT WILL NOT PRIVATIZE IT!

Today, I want to remind folks that neo-liberals are working with neo-cons to end Social Security even as both republican and democratic voters are shouting they want these programs kept healthy.  So, as Cummings, Mikulski, and Cardin, Sarbanes and Van Hollen shout against Chain CPI------against cuts in Social Security monthly payments-------the Federal Reserve has been manipulating inflation rates to zero so as to reek havoc on our social benefits and to allow Federal Reserve policy like QE and zero interest to continue long after inflation rates climb to unacceptable levels.

Now, if I see fire in a theater and do not yell fire and dozens of people die -----am I guilty of neglect?  OF COURSE I AM GUILTY.

IF YOUR POLS HAVE NOT BEEN SHOUTING THAT THE FEDERAL RESERVE AND THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY USING MANIPULATED DATA TO SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER SENIOR'S SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENTS----NOT TO MENTION VETERANS AND OTHER PENSIONS TIED TO INFLATION----THEY ARE WORKING WITH WALL STREET IN CUTTING YET ANOTHER PUBLIC WEALTH ASSET ILLEGALLY.
  They do that because they are neo-liberals, not democrats.


This article below is a great example of how the Federal Reserve is manipulating the inflation figures to give zero and 1% inflation when everyone knows inflation is greater than 5%.  I do disagree with this author's assessment of 2% inflation on food.  It feels far higher than that.  Whole Foods is now called 'Whole Paycheck'.

What neo-liberals and neo-cons have done over a few decades is allow the Federal Reserve to change the way it calculates inflation and when Bernanke and Obama came on board, neo-liberals turned to openly manipulating the heck out of inflation numbers just as Wall Street banks use market manipulations to boost profits.  Calculating Cost of Living and inflation in ways that do not reflect current conditions means you do not have a legitimate government.  We would have to look closely at law to determine it illegal.  Politicians take an oath of office that states they are to protect the American people.  These rogue pols we have in office think it funny that power has been captured to the point we cannot stop this open assault on our wealth.  The problem is that there are 300 million of us and maybe a few million people working for the rogue few.  Simply vote these pols out of office by running and voting for labor and justice candidates in all primaries.

A democratic government does not manipulate figures to hurt its citizens-----that is an autocracy.




'Various estimates of what the annual rate would have been over the past four years 
if earlier methods of calculation had been continued come up with numbers in the 5%-to-10% range'.


As this article shows the CPI is connected to lower wages leveling rising costs to give this lower inflation rate.  That does not mean we are not experiencing high inflation-----it simply means our low wages off-set those prices by not allowing us to purchase things.  This in turn creates the conditions of stagnation-----US citizens cannot purchase or consume so the economy is stagnant.  This is how neo-liberals and neo-cons are deliberately keeping the economy stagnant as they expand overseas earning billions of dollars in profit while moving US citizens deeper into poverty.

Economy & Policy

If There’s No Inflation, Why Are Prices Up So Much? Many of the costs faced by typical American households are rising faster than the official inflation statistics indicate.

By Michael Sivy @MFSivyMarch 12, 2013  Time



Last week, I ran out of ink for my printer and ordered some more online. My computer automatically pulled up the previous order, and I was shocked to see that the price of the ink cartridges I was buying had gone up 25%. To my mind, ink always seems overpriced. Manufacturers sell printers cheaply because they know that they can make lots of money on the ink. For the same reason, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil is said to have sold millions of cheap kerosene lamps in order to make big profits selling kerosene. But since ink cartridges were already priced way above cost and official statistics show little general inflation, why had ink gone up 25% in less than a year?

Price hikes for a particular item here or there don’t qualify as inflation. If one thing gets more expensive but something else gets cheaper, that’s what economists call a relative price change. Inflation is a simultaneous increase in prices across the board. Some measures of inflation, such as the GDP Deflator, track price changes that affect businesses as well as those that affect consumers. But the Consumer Price Index is supposed to focus on inflation at the consumer level. And the CPI has recorded minimal increases over the past four years. Since the recession ended, the 12-month change in consumer prices has averaged 2% and has never been as high as 4%.


There are lots of other ways to gauge inflation, however, that give very different signals. Gold was $930 an ounce when the recession ended, and today it’s $1,583. So if you believe in the gold standard, prices have increased 70% in four years – or an annualized rate of 14.2%. Of course, many economists dismiss the gold price as an archaic indicator. So it may be more meaningful to look at price increases over a broad range of commodities. The Reuters CRB Commodity Index, which tracks the prices of coffee, cocoa, copper, and cotton, as well as energy, is up 38% over four years, or 8.6% at a compound annual rate.

It may well be that these increases in the cost of raw materials aren’t translating into broader inflation because the economy is so weak. For sustained inflation to get going, workers have to be able to demand higher pay to make up for increases in their cost of living. And today, whatever inflation is caused by the rising cost of raw materials is being offset by below-normal increases in wages. Indeed, that’s one of the factors causing the decline in real after-tax household income that I wrote about last week.

That may result in price stability for the overall economy, but it isn’t great news for middle-class American families. It’s true that some important costs have remained moderate. Food prices may fluctuate from season to season, but overall they have risen at only a 2% compound rate since 2009. And in the current real estate market, housing costs haven’t gone up much either. Nonetheless, many of the everyday costs that Americans face have risen a lot.

The price of gasoline has gone up from $2.60 a gallon when the recession ended to $3.68 today. That’s a 41% increase in four years, or an annualized rate of 9%. Taxes have gone up almost as much. Federal, State and Local income taxes and social charges (Social Security payroll taxes, for instance) have risen 35% over four years, an annualized rate of 7.8%.

(MORE: Not Knowing About This Credit Report Can Burn You)

Perhaps the most telling indicator – albeit a slightly facetious one – is the Big Mac index, popularized by the Economist magazine. McDonalds hamburgers are available in many countries and their prices reflect the cost of food, fuel, commercial real estate, and basic labor. The price of a Big Mac, therefore, can be used to compare the economies of different countries – or serve as a bellwether of inflation in a single country. Since the recession ended, the cost of a Big Mac in the U.S. has risen from an average of $3.57 to $4.37, or 5.2% a year.

So why haven’t these more rapid increases shown up in the Consumer Price Index? One reason is that the index itself has been modified in a variety of ways over the past 35 years. Fluctuations in home prices have been smoothed out, for example. And the index has been adjusted periodically to reflect changes in what people buy, particularly if they shift from more expensive items to cheaper ones. Such revisions to the CPI have tended to reduce the official inflation rate, on balance. Various estimates of what the annual rate would have been over the past four years if earlier methods of calculation had been continued come up with numbers in the 5%-to-10% range.

Several conclusions can be drawn from all this. First, there is no absolute and objective gauge of inflation. Any particular measure is simply one way of making the calculation, based on a host of assumptions. Second, a number of the costs that middle-class households face are going up considerably faster than the CPI. Printer-ink cartridges may be a particularly obnoxious example, but they’re not the only case where prices are rising more than official statistics indicate. At the moment, these trends aren’t highly visible because the economy is so sluggish. But as the recovery continues, there’s every reason to think that they will become more widespread.


____________________________________________

The failure to address the COLA and CPI relevancy for decades has always been met with fixes needed to keep Social Security strong.  What is called Chain E is this fix.  We had a super-majority of democrats holding both chambers of Congress and a democratic President and we could not get a vote for Chain E----because they are all neo-liberals, not democrats.

What has happened with the Federal Reserve's Bernanke and Obama is worse-----they have manipulated by no legal means the inflation to zero reeking havoc on the economy as they will no longer be able to keep the market under control when inflation cannot be hidden.  That is what is about to break loose under Yellen.  So, what is happening now supersedes the argument below between Chain E and Chain W-----it is outright criminal manipulation simply to allow Wall Street to leverage and move free money to the top in record amounts while moving you and I deeper into debt and our social benefit payments like Social Security falling substantially.  Since Obama and Bernanke came on board seniors have had several years of zero and 1% COLA increases to Social Security instead of the 3-4% for decades----- at a loss of a hundred or more dollars a month.....that is a lot especially as costs spiral at 30% or more.

This article is a good explanation of the real debate and how Chain E starts to account for current cost of living.  Please glance through to see the arguments from both sides.  Note that the increase in allotments to Social Security recipients with Chain E will maybe cut the life expectancy of the SS Trust by a few years.  The calculations saying this are conservative at best and the effects may be minimal.  So, Chain E is the policy we should see from democrats.  Only a very few in Congress are advocating it.


Current Issues in Economics and Finance Social Security and the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly

May 2003Volume 9, Number 5 Contact Author JEL classification: J14, E31 View PDF version
7 pages / 136 kb
Authors: Bart Hobijn and DavidLagakos  Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Some argue that social security benefits should be adjusted using a price index that reflects the spending habits of the elderly rather than those of workers. This study suggests that if such an index were adopted today, over the next forty years benefit levels would increase and the social security trust fund could become insolvent up to five years sooner than projected.

Social security benefits, paid monthly to almost 30 million Americans,
are automatically adjusted for inflation once a year. The goal of this cost-of-living adjustment is to prevent a decline in the purchasing power of retirees’ benefits. Under the current system, the adjustment is tied to changes in the consumer price index (CPI), the benchmark measure of inflation produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In recent years, the indexing of social security benefits to the CPI has come under considerable scrutiny. Many policymakers and academics have argued that the CPI overstates price changes for individual goods and services,1 while others have questioned the techniques used to combine these changes into an aggregate measure. In this edition of Current Issues, we examine another, less frequently discussed weakness of the indexing procedures—the linking of benefit changes to price movements that affect the working population rather than retirees.

Currently, adjustments to social security benefits are based on the CPI-W, a measure that captures price changes in the average set of goods purchased by urban wage earners and clerical workers. The purchasing patterns of the typical retiree differ significantly, however, from those of the typical worker: Medical care, for example, constitutes a much larger share of total expenditures for seniors.

Mindful of these differences, some have urged that social security benefits be adjusted using a price index that captures the spending habits of older Americans.2 Since the early 1980s, the BLS has calculated such an index: the consumer price index for elderly consumers (CPI-E). This experimental index has never been used to adjust benefits, however, and while several congressional bills have been put forward on the subject, none has passed.3

Our analysis addresses a simple question: How would adoption of the CPI-E to index social security benefits affect the level of benefits paid and the resources of the social security trust fund, which finances the benefits that seniors receive? Our calculations suggest that introduction of the CPI-E would present policymakers with a serious trade-off: By choosing to maintain the purchasing power of seniors over time, they would accelerate the projected insolvency of the social security trust fund, known officially as the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund.

We find that between 1984 and 2001—the years for which data are available—annual inflation under the CPI-E was on average 0.38percent higher than it was under the CPI-W, with medical care accounting for much of the difference.4 Accordingly, we estimate that if the CPI-E had been adopted in 1984, the average benefit in 2001 would be 3.84percent higher, or roughly $408 more per year per recipient. Our calculations also reveal that if the index were adopted today, the OASI trust fund could become insolvent five years sooner than the currently projected 2043, provided that inflation for the elderly continues to exceed inflation for workers at the average annual rate observed between 1984 and 2001.


Differences between the CPI-W and the CPI-E


If inflation rates under the CPI-W and CPI-E tended to coincide in any given year, then the economic implications of switching to the CPI-E would be minimal. However, as Chart1 illustrates, important differences do exist.5 Most significantly, for all years in our data except 1999, CPI-E inflation was higher than CPI-W inflation, with an average annual difference of 0.38percent. It is worth noting that this difference was higher in the early period of our sample than in more recent years. Specifically, in the 1984-93 period, it was 0.50percent, and in the 1994-2001 period, 0.22percent.

The underlying reason for these differences can be found largely in the weights of the major goods categories that make up each index—weights that represent the share of total expenditures that each category constitutes (seetable). Housing represents a much larger weight for the elderly, 45.9percent, than the 37.6percent for urban workers. Similarly, medical care makes up 10.24percent of the CPI-E, compared with 5.06percent of the CPI-W. Each of the other major categories has a smaller weight in the CPI-E—in fact, transportation, education, and food have substantially smaller weights for the elderly.

To identify the categories most responsible for the difference in inflation under the two indexes, we recalculate for each category what the difference would have been if that category had been excluded from both indexes. These counterfactual differentials help explain which categories increase and which diminish the CPI-E–CPI-W difference.

Chart2 presents our results. The bar corresponding to each category represents the counterfactual CPI-E–CPI-W differential that results from excluding only that category from each index. Note that by excluding any category that increases the CPI-E–CPI-W differential, we obtain a counterfactual difference that is smaller than the currently observed average of 0.22percent. Likewise, the exclusion of any category that decreases the difference gives a counterfactual that is larger than the actual difference.

From the chart, we see that housing, apparel, medical care, recreation, and transportation have increased the CPI-E–CPI-W differential between 1994 and 2001. As expected, medical care is the largest single contributor to the difference, owing to the fact that seniors spend more on this category than do workers and that medical care has experienced much higher than average inflation over our sample period. The same is true for housing. Apparel, transportation, and recreation, however, are categories with below-average inflation, upon which seniors spend less in general than do workers. It follows, then, that these categories increased the CPI-E–CPI-W differential.

Conversely, the categories education, food, and other (made up largely of tobacco products) tended to reduce the difference between the indexes. Education did so primarily because the typical senior spends less than the typical worker on college tuition, which has experienced above-average inflation since 1994. The same holds true for “food away from home” and cigarettes, which are components of food and other, respectively: both are higher inflation goods upon which seniors spend less.



Maintaining the Purchasing Power of Seniors


The differences between the CPI-W and the CPI-E clearly have implications for social security recipients. We contend that adoption of the CPI-E would increase benefits in times of above-average inflation for seniors. But by how much would they actually increase?

This question is apt to be of interest to policymakers as well as to current and future social security recipients, because the answer will suggest just how significant the benefits of CPI-E adoption will be relative to the costs. That is to say, although in theory it is worthwhile to ensure that the real value of benefits remains constant over time, in practice it is also important to confirm that declines in the real value of benefits are, or could be, substantial before a new index is employed. Differences each year of a few cents per beneficiary, for example, likely would not justify the costs to the BLS and the Social Security Administration (SSA) of calculating the CPI-E and readjusting benefits.6


We argue that increases in benefits resulting from CPI-E indexation would in fact be significant. This assertion is based on our calculation of what average OASI benefits would be today if the index had been adopted in 1984, our first year of data. We find that overall, benefits in 2001 would have been 3.84percent higher. This percentage corresponds to an average monthly benefit of $912, as opposed to the current $878, which sums to $408 annually per beneficiary.7 Thus, assuming that the CPI-E reasonably represents the spending patterns of the elderly, seniors have experienced a nontrivial drop in their spending power since 1984.

The Effect of CPI-E Indexation on the Social Security Trust Fund


The OASI trust fund, operated by the Social Security Administration, is projected to become insolvent in 2043 because of the prospective aging of the U.S. population. It is therefore important to consider the effect that adoption of CPI-E indexation might have on the fund’s future resources.


If inflation continues to be higher for the elderly than for workers, introduction of the CPI-E now would no doubt speed up insolvency. Accordingly, the question we address is, When would the OASI trust fund become insolvent if indexation were to begin today? To answer this question, we consider three possible scenarios for the fund, each with a different assumption about future differences in inflation for the CPI-E and the CPI-W.

The Social Security Administration arrives at its current estimate of fund insolvency by assuming, among other things, that future inflation will be 3percent each year. We take this to be the SSA’s best estimate of future inflation under CPI-W indexation, or equivalently, its best estimate of inflation under CPI-E indexation assuming no future difference in the CPI-E and the CPI-W. Our analysis compares this 3percent scenario with two others. We consider when insolvency would occur assuming future inflation rates of 3.38percent and 3.22percent per year—figures projected by the SSA that correspond to inflation rates for the elderly that are 0.38 and 0.22 percent higher, respectively, than the current 3percent rate under the CPI-W


For consistency with the SSA’s forecasts, we report these projections by incorporating several of the agency’s terms: the income rate, the cost rate, and the trust fund ratio. The income rate is defined as the fund’s payroll tax receipts expressed as a percentage of the taxable payroll. It is essentially the average payroll tax rate faced by contributors to the fund. For example, the income rate of the OASI trust fund in 2001 was 10.88, indicating that the average earner paid 10.88percent of his or her salary in taxes to the fund. The cost rate consists of trust fund outlays expressed as a percentage of the taxable payroll. As long as the income rate exceeds the cost rate, tax receipts will exceed outlays and the fund will accumulate assets. However, when the cost rate exceeds the income rate, the fund’s asset holdings will be diminished whenever the interest income from the assets does not cover the gap between spending and tax receipts.

Chart3 presents the income rate and the projected cost rates under our three scenarios of future inflation rates. The implicit assumption behind these scenarios is that CPI-E indexation will affect projected OASI outlays but not projected tax receipts. Therefore, the projected income rate according to our scenarios coincides with the rate projected by the Social Security Administration. What differs under the three scenarios is the projected cost rate.


Worth noting from Chart3 is that according to the current 3percent projection of inflation, the fund would start running a deficit in 2018. Under each of the other two scenarios, the fund would begin to operate at a deficit in 2017. Not evident from the chart, however, is the more important question of when the trust fund will become insolvent.

To answer this question, we introduce another key term used by the Social Security Administration: the trust fund ratio. The ratio expresses the OASI trust fund’s level of asset holdings at the end of the previous year as a percentage of the current year’s outlays. For example, a trust fund ratio of 247 in 2001 indicates that asset holdings at the end of 2000 were 2.47 times expenditures in 2001. This means that without additional income and at 2001 expenditure levels, the trust fund would remain solvent for another 2.47 years. A trust fund ratio of zero indicates that the fund would not be able to make any expenditures without additional income—the point at which we consider insolvency to occur.

The projected trust fund ratios under our three future inflation rate scenarios are depicted in Chart 4. The chart shows that the current projection for fund insolvency is 2043, which is equivalent to the scenario of adopting the CPI-E and experiencing no future difference in CPI-E and CPI-W inflation. Under the other two scenarios, however, this date will come sooner. When inflation for seniors is 0.22percent higher each year, we estimate that the fund will become insolvent in 2041--two years earlier than currently projected. When it is 0.38percent higher per year, we estimate that insolvency will occur in 2038—five years earlier.


Because the difference between inflation for seniors and for workers was lower in the later part of our sample period, it seems reasonable to consider the 0.38percent difference for the entire period as an upper bound on the future difference between the two indexes. Thus, our estimate of CPI-E indexation accelerating OASI insolvency by five years can likewise be thought of as an upper bound. Similarly, because seniors experienced higher inflation in all but one of the past eighteen years, our assumption of zero higher inflation for them in the future can reasonably be thought of as a lower bound. Therefore, our estimate of insolvency two years sooner—derived from the later years of our sample data—offers our best approximation for the future, given recent trends.

Limitations of Our Study

Our analysis has several limitations that warrant addressing. For one, it is unclear just how accurate our measurements of inflation for seniors are, since the BLS acknowledges that the sample of older Americans associated with the CPI-E is small.11 Thus, the weights used to calculate the index are potentially inaccurate, suggesting that our observed average difference in inflation of 0.38percent is inaccurate as well. Even so, it is unlikely that our fundamental observation—that seniors have experienced higher than average inflation—is inaccurate, since much of the higher inflation for seniors is attributable to medical care, an observation that we know to be reasonable. Correcting for the small sample might affect the magnitude of the difference somewhat, but in all likelihood it would not affect the sign of the difference.12


A second limitation is the scope of the CPI-E sample. The sample now consists of persons sixty-two and older, whereas OASI benefits are paid to many spouses and other, younger relatives of former beneficiaries, as well as to the retirees. There is no reason to believe that the relatives of former beneficiaries, particularly the younger ones, have expenditure patterns that match those of people sixty-two and older. Furthermore, not everyone sixty-two and older actually receives OASI benefits, although these individuals could be included in the CPI-E sample.13

Third, even if the CPI-E accurately measures the cost of living for OASI beneficiaries, our specific estimate of trust fund insolvency might still be high. This is because the Social Security Administration already predicts a higher rate of inflation for future benefit adjustments, 3.0percent per year, than the roughly 2.5percent experienced in the past two decades.
Thus, if current inflation trends continue, future benefits forecasted by the Social Security Administration would be too high. This scenario implies that the point of insolvency would be later than currently predicted, both for the SSA’s estimate using the CPI-W as well as for ours using the CPI-E.

Finally, our estimate does not incorporate the effect that expected higher benefits might have on retirement decisions. If the CPI-E was adopted, more people might retire at sixty-two instead of sixty-five. Such early retirements presumably would increase the burden on the OASI trust fund, which could bring about insolvency even sooner. Indeed, it is unclear just how prevalent this phenomenon would be, and, more significantly, how much it would burden the fund. A detailed examination of this subject would certainly be worthwhile.

Conclusions
It is widely acknowledged that the social security system is likely to run into serious funding problems—up to and including insolvency—sometime in the middle years of this century. This analysis considers the implications to the system and to retirees of basing cost-of-living adjustments to benefits on a consumer price index for elderly consumers, rather than on the current index for workers.

We find that inflation as measured by the index for the elderly has been consistently higher than inflation as measured by the index for wage earners, with a 0.38percent average annual difference since 1984. Much of the difference can be attributed to medical care, which constitutes a much larger share of total expenditures for the typical senior.

Accordingly, we estimate that if inflation for the elderly continued to be higher than inflation for workers, and if reindexing of benefits were to start today, the effect over the next forty years would be to increase social security expenses and move the trust fund as much as five years closer to insolvency than currently projected. The actual outcome would depend on how persistent higher inflation for seniors is in the future. The trade-off facing policymakers, therefore, is between prolonging the solvency of the social security trust fund and maintaining the purchasing power of seniors over time.


______________________________________

Congresswoman Brown has it right.  Social Security will be just fine even with Chain E raising benefits with just a few tweaks.  The one mentioned here and in Congress is raising the cap of payroll tax payment.  Right now people earning over $106,000 are not taxed as everyone else and need to be.  That alone would bring Social Security to where it needs to be in the long term.  Increasing payroll tax just 1% overall would assure solvency through this century.  So, we have many different people calculating the Trust fund level and its longevity----right now I do not trust those counting the Trust.  We know all of the payroll taxes since Reagan have been placed in the US Treasury and not the Trust and Reagan tripled payroll taxes just to make sure there would be enough for when baby boomers retired so it seems odd we do not have enough now.

As Congresswoman Brown states -----Social Security is a benefit that protects women the most and we do not want it privatized as neo-liberals and neo-cons are trying to do.

OBAMA'S 'MY RA' IS THAT PRIVATIZED STRUCTURE REPUBLICANS HAVE BEEN TRYING FOR DECADES TO IMPLEMENT TO END SOCIAL SECURITY.



Congresswoman Corrine Brown currently represents Florida’s Fifth Congressional District. She serves as the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, and as a senior member on the Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Social Security

Ever since the Democrats created the Social Security System in 1935, it has not only formed the centerpiece around which Americans plan their retirement, but has provided piece of mind by providing benefits to both disabled workers and the children and wives of deceased beneficiaries. Currently over 3 million Floridians are receiving Social Security benefits. Including over 100,000 in my District alone.

Social Security is especially important to the millions of women who rely on it to keep them out of poverty. Elderly unmarried women, including widows, get over 50 percent of their income from Social Security. Women tend to live longer and tend to have lower lifetime earnings than men do. They spend an average of 11.5 years out of their careers to care for families, and are more likely to work part time than full time, and when they do work full time, they earn an average of 70 cents for every dollar men earn. These women are our mothers, our wives, and our daughters - and we must save Social Security for them.

Social Security benefits are also crucial to the poor and people of color;  Approximately 49 percent of African-American beneficiaries rely on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income.

Let’s be clear. There is no immediate crisis in Social Security’s solvency and it does not contribute to the deficit. If Congress does nothing, Social Security will deliver full guaranteed benefits until at least 2037. Even after 2037, without any changes, the trust funds can pay more than 75% of benefits. That said, Congress would be prudent to begin modifying the program’s structure well before the shortfall begins.

In order for it to remain politically popular, however, Social Security must not be seen as a “welfare program.” For example, if all wages above $106,800 in 2009 were taxed and counted toward benefits, Social Security would remain 95% solvent for the next 75 years. High earners and their employers would pay more, but these top earners would also receive higher benefits. Thus, the program would continue to serve as an investment for all Americans and garner broad legislative support.

I remain strongly opposed to any plan that privatizes Social Security. I have always fought against putting Social Security funds into the stock market. The recession has shown how swings in the stock market could be devastating even for careful investors – let alone the millions of people without enough cash to open a mutual fund.

I also oppose increasing the retirement age or cutting benefits for the middle class. Although average life expectancy has increased since Social Security was created, the life expectancy for working class people has not.  Expecting them to work beyond age 65 is unnecessary and unjust.

If you need help with social security, visit my Social Security and Medicare Assistance page.



____________________________________________
Indeed, as neo-liberals pretend to fight for Social Security Obama has used executive orders to begin building the structure to privatize Social Security----my RA.  Has your pol been shouting that is what myRA is about?  I hear nothing in Maryland.  If your pol was indeed working to protect SS they would be in front of every camera and writing on their webpages how bad this policy is.

Remember, you do not have an election if a candidate runs for office on one platform and does just the opposite after elected.  Obama has not made subtle changes----he is to the right of Bush.  WE ARE NOT HAVING ELECTIONS IN THE US FOLKS----SAME THING HAPPENING IN MARYLAND POLITICS---


Keep in mind Obama is building this structure with the idea that any pol elected in 2016 will be a neo-liberal or a neo-con and continue to use this privatized plan.


Wait, wasn't privatizing Social Security a bad thing when Bush proposed it...? now it sounds like Obama is proposing the exact same thing...


of course liberals cheer wildly when Obama says it.



'In offering his new "MyRa" proposal, the President said: "MyRA guarantees a decent return, with no risk of losing what you put in."

Yes, and you can keep your doctor too.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on the voters! That's the Savage Truth'!


Wednesday, Feb 5, 2014 07:43 AM EDT  Salon

The quiet war on Social Security: Meet the dark side of MyRA

Some Democrats want to expand Social Security -- but a new effort to push 401(k)-style accounts poses a real threat David Dayen

You cannot understand the Obama administration’s new retirement savings account, known as “myRA” (short for my retirement account), without understanding the underlying dynamic inside the Democratic Party over retirement security. In this sense, myRA is a deliberate distraction from the emerging movement to expand Social Security, to ensure everyone has a measure of dignity in retirement. 

A year ago, the Social Security expansion movement was limited to dreamers, and had little to no clout on Capitol Hill. But thanks to some dogged determination, liberals began to recognize that the country stood at the precipice of a retirement crisis.
Years of conversion from defined-benefit pensions to defined-contribution 401(k)-style plans made returns uncertain and subject to the vicissitudes of the stock market (as well as the greed of mutual fund managers, who subjected accounts to high fees, eroding the balances). Meanwhile, the savings rate plummeted amid stagnant wages (indeed, the savings rate is currently at historically low levels). What was once a three-legged retirement stool – pensions, savings and Social Security – had been whittled down to one. And the only viable way to avoid a disaster of baby boomer seniors falling into mass poverty is to expand the last leg of the stool, Social Security.

This notion of expansion gradually began to pick up adherents, from activist organizations like MoveOn.org and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee to think tanks like the New America Foundation. In November, Elizabeth Warren endorsed expanding Social Security in a speech on the Senate floor. The expansion movement had some momentum, and tangible legislation from liberal Tom Harkin and moderate Mark Begich to rally behind.

It is in this context that you must place the myRA policy. The Obama administration clearly heard the growing demand to do something about retirement. In a speech in Pittsburgh the day after the State of the Union address, President Obama said that “if you’ve worked hard all your life, you deserve a secure retirement,” adding that most workers don’t have a pension anymore, and while “a Social Security check is critical … oftentimes that monthly check, that’s not enough.”

But instead of going ahead and endorsing Social Security expansion,
Obama introduced myRA, a glorified savings account deducted from your paycheck in amounts as little as $5. It’s portable from job to job, and it earns a small amount of interest, the same as the Thrift Savings Plan for government workers. The account can never go down in value, and it’s backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Plus, you can withdraw the funds whenever you want without a penalty.

This is a nice thing to have, but has little to do with retirement. Americans don’t need a new savings account vehicle; they need higher wages so they can actually manage to save a few dollars out of every paycheck.

The accounts are capped at $15,000: After that, the account holder must roll them into a Roth IRA, subjecting the money to the whims of the market – and handing it over to Wall Street fund managers. You can see myRA in this context as a veal fattening pen for small savers before they get led into the Wall Street slaughterhouse. The administration has yet to finish the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, which would force investment advisers to act in the best interests of their clients. Until that gets done, it’s foolhardy to funnel more savings into Wall Street’s hands.

The administration would tell you that the myRA is a small-ball solution merely because it was all they could accomplish without Congress’ involvement, and that it’s a good first step, to get people to think about saving for retirement. But you have to understand what the administration wants Congress to do about retirement security. The president said it in his Pittsburgh speech: “Let’s fix an upside-down tax code that right now gives the wealthiest Americans big tax breaks to save, but does almost nothing for middle-class folks, doesn’t give them the same kinds of tax advantages … And we need to give every American access to an automatic IRA on the job, so they can save at work.”

The president rightly calls out retirement tax preferences that flow to the wealthy; in fact, these subsidies are massive – over $140 billion a year – and the New America Foundation study on expanding Social Security identifies them as a source of revenue that could pay for the entire expansion. But that’s not what the president wants to do. He wants the middle class to get the same kind of subsidies so they can open their own IRAs – automatically enrolled IRAs, in fact (a behavioral economics nudge, to force people to invest). He wants to double down on a failed system where retirement savings are leashed to the stock market.

That’s the real battle over retirement security inside the Democratic Party. The Obama wing wants the private market – in this case, private retirement accounts – to solve the problem, while the progressive wing wants government to act and deliver a defined benefit through Social Security. Given that Social Security, even in its current state, is the most effective anti-poverty program in America, and 401(k)-style accounts have hastened a crisis, I know which approach I would choose.

It’s pretty clear, then, that myRA is an effort to distract from the burgeoning Social Security expansion movement,
 offering an alternative that remains grounded in the private market, to throw liberals off the trail. In fact, in a perfect example of how allergic the administration is to using government solutions in this area, even the myRA – a simple savings account – will be run by a private-sector money management firm. The White House chooses not to see how a government program that has been efficiently run for over 75 years can do the job of delivering dignity in retirement, without having to build a better mousetrap.

It’s fine to want to make the current mess of the employer-based retirement account system better – the aforementioned Tom Harkin has a bill to do just that – but liberals shouldn’t take their eye off the prize. They have the simplest, easiest-to-explain solution to this crisis:
expand Social Security, and use the hundreds of billions in retirement tax preferences to pay for it. Anything less is a poor substitute.

_______________________________________________

Heather Mizeur is taking Obama's my RA privitization of Social Security to the state level with her version of retirement savings that will eventually eliminate the state contribution to payroll tax payments.  Remember, your Social Security payroll contributions have both a Federal and State contribution, so Mizeur is working with Obama in privatizing both.

Mizeur is a neo-liberal running as a progressive.  Ending Social Security---how progressive is that?


Sure we face an unsure future Heather----Wall Street is stealing all of our wealth assets----AS YOU KNOW! 

Simply rebuilding our domestic economy to end the capture global corporations have on our economy will end the boom and bust recessions.  Simply rebuilding oversight and accountability to recover tens of trillions of dollars in wealth assets stolen through corporate fraud will send our wealth back to you and me.


Provide a Secure Retirement for All Marylanders


After working for their entire lives, Marylanders deserve a secure and dignified retirement. Under our current system, too many workers face an uncertain future. By establishing a state-run savings option, we can make it easier and more affordable for Marylanders to save for a secure retirement.

Read Heather's plan to create a state-run retirement savings fund.




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    Cindy Walsh is a lifelong political activist and academic living in Baltimore, Maryland.

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