Showing posts with label counties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label counties. Show all posts

Thursday, January 19, 2017

A Balanced Budget


Pop Quiz, gentle readers. Imagine you’re the governor of Maryland and you have to balance the state budget. That means that there have to be budget cuts. Where do you want to make the cuts?
  1. Cut a from each county budget equally.
  2. Cut from the wealthiest county budgets--they can handle the cuts best because they have the most money to begin with.
  3. Cut from the aid package that was put together to help Baltimore City, specifically from programs to help schools, neighborhoods and libraries. Also reduce support for state workers, Maryland’s disabled residents and Prince George’s Hospital.
If you answered C, you must be Governor Larry Hogan. Hi, Governor. I didn’t know you read this blog, but I’m flattered.
Maryland’s ~super moderate~ governor balanced the state budget this year. Hooray! Of course, he did it at the expense of Baltimore City, just weeks after he spoke at the inauguration of new Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh and swore commitment to improve the city after the civil unrest that followed Freddie Gray’s death. One of the governor’s spokesmen said the proposal reflected the governor’s priorities for minimal spending. Fair enough. But wouldn’t it be wiser to cut from a place that isn’t as vulnerable as Baltimore City?
Gov. Hogan announcing his new budget. Photo courtesy of YouTube. 
I’ve got some quotes from the governor himself and I thought I’d share them with you. Afterwards, if you’re so inclined, call his office and read them to him. Let’s remind the governor of his commitment to Baltimore City. And if he’s unwilling to listen, let’s elect a new governor who will dedicate himself to defending the people of Baltimore.

"I want you to know that you do have a partner,”--Gov. Hogan to new mayor Catherine Pugh
"With a renewed partnership between the governor's office in Annapolis and the leadership in the city of Baltimore, we can truly change Baltimore and Maryland for the better."--Gov. Hogan at Mayor Pugh’s inauguration

“We've got to do something about it.”--Gov. Hogan about the violence problem in Baltimore
“[My budget will include] no serious cuts to any agencies or programs"-- Gov. Hogan about his 2018 budget proposal

You can contact Governor Hogan here

For more information on Hogan’s budget and his promise to check out these Baltimore Sun articles:
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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

About Maryland

Who loves Maryland? I do! It's the best state in the U.S.A. Where else can you get Old Bay shirts at your local grocery store? I want everyone to feel safe in Maryland. We're a good state, full of good people, and I am confident we can resist the rising tide of fascism together. Here's how you, fellow Marylander, can learn more about where you live and protect the American people and American democracy.
Maryland is known as a blue state. It’s likely to go blue in most presidential elections, so in that sense, it’s blue. But the truth is actually more complicated. Maryland has a Republican governor and many of its districts swing solid red. With the current atmosphere, it’s scarily likely that there could be even more Republican victories in Maryland in the future. And with each victory, district lines get redrawn, “voter fraud” bills get passed, and Maryland becomes North Carolina.
LoyalOpp stands in strident opposition (ha) to the behavior of North Carolina, and Republicans in general, and we hope to make our beloved state a better, more tolerant place. To start with this, we want to provide a general overview of information about politics and the atmosphere in Maryland.
Let’s begin with some statistics about Maryland
  • Total population: 6,016,447 people
  • About 22.4 percent of the population is under 18 years, and 14.1 percent are older than 65 years
  • Maryland is 52 percent white (non-Hispanic), 30.5 percent black, 0.6 percent Native American and Alaska Native, 6.5 percent Asian, 0.1 percent Pacific Islander (including Native Hawaiian), and 9.5 percent Hispanic or Latino. In addition, 2.7 percent of Marylanders identified as biracial.
  • There are 403,900 veterans living in Maryland
  • 14.5 percent of Marylanders were born outside of America
  • 89.4 percent of Marylanders over 25 have a high school degree
  • 37.9 percent of Marylanders over 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher
  • 67.9 percent of men and 64.1 percent of women are in the civilian labor force
  • The median household income is $74,551
  • There are 276,630 firms owned by men, 209,119 owned by women, 203,394 owned by minorities, 314,903 owned by non-minorities, and 50,976 owned by veterans in Maryland.
  • 95% of Marylanders have cracked a crab open with a large chunk of wood at least once.
Credit goes to the US Census Bureau (http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/24), except for the last fact, which I made up.


Next,  with some good news sources for Marylanders in general. These are a bit city-centric, but they do a really good job information on state politics. Want to know what Hogan is up to? Curious about what the city council actually does? Just start here.
The Baltimore Sun
  • This is probably Maryland’s most famous paper. It does a really good job covering the inner workings of Maryland’s government, along with the specific inner workings of Baltimore. Also, check out Kevin Kallaugher's political cartoons.
The Kojo Nmadi Show
  • If you’re more of an auditory news hound, this is a good choice for you. His Politics Hour is a thing of beauty and the show demonstrates how good journalism isn’t just a thing papers do. Host Kojo Nmadi does an excellent job covering the politics of the DC Metro area and he hosts a variety of other great analysts, especially Tom Sherwood, who serves as a guest every Friday.
The Washington Post
  • Even though it’s not technically from Maryland, the Post covers news in the general DC Metro area (I won’t call it the DMV and you can’t make me). A good way to follow both news in Maryland and the surrounding areas.
Counties
This is a brief overview of all of Maryland’s counties and their political alignments. If you’d like more info on them, never fear! LoyalOpp will be running a more detailed analysis of each one in the upcoming months. MD counties have an official coalition that works to address issues facing the entire state, which I’ve included the link to.
The hottest issues in 2016 were the state budget, education, transportation, taxes, public safety and ethics. This will also be getting its own post, but check out their website in the meantime. Now, onward to the counties.



Key:
Solid-the party won a percentage over 60 in the 2016 election
Weak-the party won within two percentage points in the 2016 election
Map credit is geology.com
Congressional Districts

By Department of the Interior - National Atlas of the United States (http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/congress.html), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30930540
I have a headache. Anyway, here are Maryland’s districts. If you’re thinking “wow, that looks gerrymandered,” you’d be right. It’s one of the few dirty tricks that both parties subscribe to doing.
  • District 1
    • Counties: Worcester, Somerset, Wicomico, Dorchester, Caroline, Talbot, Queen Anne’s, Kent, Cecil, Harford, Baltimore County, Carroll
    • Representative: Andrew P. Harris (Republican)
  • District 2
    • Counties: Harford, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Howard, Anne Arundel
    • Representative: Dutch Ruppersberger (Democrat)
  • District 3
    • Counties: Howard, Montgomery, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel
    • Representative: John Sarbanes (Democrat)
  • District 4
    • Counties: Prince George’s, Anne Arundel
    • Representative: Anthony Brown (Democrat)
  • District 5
    • Counties: Prince George's, Charles, Calvert, St. Mary’s
    • Representative: Steny Hoyer (Democrat)
  • District 6
    • Garrett, Allegany, Washington, Frederick, Montgomery
    • Representative: John Delaney (Democrat)
  • District 7
    • Howard, Baltimore County, Baltimore City
    • Representative: Elijah Cummings (Democrat)
  • District 8
    • Frederick, Carroll, Montgomery
    • Representative: Jamie Raskin (Democrat)
More Information on Maryland’s voting records from 2014 and 2016,

Next week, we’ll start doing overviews of specific counties. I plan on starting with Montgomery County, the one I know best, and then working my way outward from there. After the county profiles are posted, we’ll go into electoral district profiles. I’ll also try to cover the national news. Feel free to leave a comment with a suggestion, and have a great new year, gentle readers.
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