Celebrities in Crisfield?

I'm just going to take a little time and do some idle speculation here. As we all know, in just 7 short months (yes it's that close) the party-affiliated voters of Maryland will be picking their Presidential candidates. One would think that a good way to meet interested voters and those who are more interested in being political volunteers than most here in Maryland would be to make an appearance down in Crisfield at the Tawes Crab and Clam Bake next Wednesday (the 18th.)

I did a little bit of checking over the last couple days only to find that most of the Presidential candidates only post their schedules a week in advance, so they just have this week's schedule up. I did see that Mitt Romney is slated to be in Colorado that day and John Edwards begins his "one America" tour or whatever he calls it in West Virginia. But part of that was a pledge not to visit states with early primaries, thus that would freeze out Maryland.

So it's up in the air at best whether we'll be blessed with an appearance from any national officeseeker. It's likely that we won't but one never knows - after all, since many of the candidates reside in Congress and the Senate they're not all that far from Crisfield to pop in and check things out. On the Democrat side that covers Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Kucinich, and Obama; for the GOP hopefuls the list goes Brownback, Hunter, McCain, Paul, and Tancredo. Congress is in session next Wednesday though so it'll most likely be many of Maryland's lesser lights who attend. Of those candidates who aren't in Congress, many of them are spending their summers in Iowa and New Hampshire.

However, another intriguing sidelight about Congress being in session is that there might be a free opportunity for the three hopefuls running for Wayne Gilchrest's seat to meet and greet voters without the incumbent being able to compete. It's been well-documented both locally and on the regional front that Andy Harris made a deep cut into the cash advantage Congressman Gilchrest enjoys. I'm quite sure Harris will be in Crisfield, and it's a fairly safe bet that Democrats Frank Kratovil and Chris Robinson will be partaking in Crisfield's finest seafood that day as well. (By the way, I did get the Harris press release but I saw others had posted it before I would've had the chance to. I even got a call from the Harris folks asking me if I got it.)

Another guy who should show up down at Somers Cove is State Senator E.J. Pipkin. No, I don't think he's running for anything this time but it gives me a segue to another press release I received from his office concerning state spending. Calling Governor O'Malley's budgetary sleight-of-hand "fiscal magic at its clumsiest", State Senator Pipkin also said:

"For the Governor to suggest that $153 million in cuts, of which some will be replaced by federal dollars, some are simply not filling vacant positions, and still more is from the savings of shutting down the House of Corrections, is nothing more than window dressing."

"I am pleased to see that the Governor is willing to make these types of efficiencies," said Pipkin. "But there is much more work to do, and not a lot of time to do it."

"I hope everyone in Annapolis is not going to point to these cuts and say ‘This is the best we can do, now we need to raise your taxes!’" added Pipkin. "As the Governor’s own spokesperson said ‘these are the first cuts, they certainly may not be the last’."

Governor O’Malley’s meager cuts represent only ½ of 1% of the states total $30 billion budget and only 10% of the looming $1.5 billion deficit.

"Who’s kidding whom?" asked Pipkin. "I have suggested putting a lid on spending increases as an effective way to fix the budget shortfall, and that would save $955 million."

Sen. Pipkin’s plan is a combination of holding the states spending growth to 2.5% for 2008, reallocation of a portion of the teacher’s pension and retirement back to the Counties where it is incurred, and legalizing video lottery terminals. The plan could net the state as much as $1.9 billion in combined savings and revenue for the 2008 fiscal year.

"This combination of belt-tightening, reallocation of fiscal responsibilities, and realizing revenue from slots, would allow the state to get its fiscal house back in order," said Pipkin, "and would not dig even deeper into the pockets of the hard working families of Maryland."

Aside from the tax on the poor (slot machines) Pipkin has some good ideas, probably from the same batch Senator Stoltzfus attempted to get through during the last regular General Assembly session.

(By the way, who's kidding who about slots? In all honesty, both the Maryland Lottery and the proposed slots act as a tax on the poor. Because no one wants to raise their income tax rates, the state provides the allure of "easy money" which works best on those who may not have a lot to spare, mostly poor, working-class, and elderly. I'll bet they don't sell a whole lot of lottery tickets in Ocean Pines.)

The looming special session is another reason for politicians to show up in Crisfield, an opportunity to interact with voters and soft-sell some of the hard decisions that will have to be made. Whether it's through spending cuts or (much, much more likely) higher taxes and more legal gambling, the structural deficit will be addressed this fall.