Lower Shore AFP chapter goes uptown

Last Tuesday the Greater Salisbury Building became the meeting place for about 35 activists who wish to steer political discourse on the Lower Shore as part of Americans for Prosperity.

To begin, however, we took a short detour to learn a little bit about the hosts at the Greater Salisbury Committee and how the building, a former bank, became the home for a number of nonprofit groups. While AFP won't be moving in anytime soon it was nice to be able to use their room for our meeting.

Joe Collins spoke first, reminding those who were new to AFP that the "Constitution must remain the supreme law of the land" and that "fiscal conservatism is the way to prosperity." He also let us know that the TEA Party movement locally was "gaining momentum."  After exhorting us to get into active engagement, he passed out something very near and dear to my heart.

I've never thought of myself as a "warrior" or an "educator" but that what Joe described me as and more as he distributed a booklet form of my 2009 monoblogue Accountability Project. I've never seen it in print before so I didn't realize it turns out to be 17 pages (!) between descriptive text and the actual charts. So I briefly told the group about the thought behind the Project and why I went into it. I also let them know I'm considering something similar for the Maryland and Delaware Congressional delegations - that task would by necessity be ongoing since Congress meets essentially year-round.

After going through my work, Joe described a little of what Julie Brewington would be discussing - her "political awakening" at the most recent Wicomico County Council meeting.

But first Julie wanted to mention a cause she was partial to, as a National Rifle Association chapter is "building" here on the Eastern Shore. It was one of many "small victories" a movement like ours needs to start with and can achieve.

One small victory she and others were seeking with the help of AFP was getting the County Council meetings moved from their usual 10 a.m. Tuesday morning slot to a more public-friendly evening time. After asking to speak at the last meeting and writing a letter to make the request formal, she described her morning at the County Council gathering and noted that one Council member, District 5's Joe Holloway, has advocated a similar idea since becoming a Council member.

Nor do all of the meetings have to be in the evening. It seemed that the consensus of those attending was that a fair compromise could be gained - perhaps every other or every third meeting could be an evening meeting. Apparently it's been tried before, though, with little success.

For a next step, Julie encouraged those who could to attend the next County Council meeting, which will be on July 21st at 10 a.m. In the meantime, the Daily Times has developed an interest in the topic and there's a story on the subject upcoming (it could be in today's edition as I haven't seen it.)

Nick Loffer treaded some familiar ground as he again went over some basics on writing letters to the editor, and on communications for our cause in general. Since many of the attendees were first-timers it was a good refresher course.

For me, the more interesting item from Nick was finding out that there will be an upcoming health care forum locally featuring Dr. Michael Gloth, who is an author and medical director at several Maryland geriatric facilities, including the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. While the date and time is still pending, it sounds like an event that could be worth attending for a perspective not given in the mainstream media.

Other upcoming events on the AFP agenda include the Tawes Crab and Clam Bake this coming Wednesday, the aforementioned Wicomico County Council meeting, and possibly arranging transportation for the September 12th TEA Party in Washington, D.C. It's an ambitious agenda but we have enough motivated people to do so - in fact, we had a volunteer who's continuing the agenda item of writing good letters to the editor as I speak. We can look forward to many more cogent letters espousing the view that the proper role of government is a limited one.

The date and location of the next AFP meeting has not been set, but there's a pretty good chance I'll find out and pass it along somehow in the days to come.