In a moment of high drama, Council Member Duchy Trachtenberg threw down the gauntlet against MoCo’s seething mob of public employee union thugs. Everyone knows that the evil, cigar-chomping union bosses are running this county into the ground with their endless greed. And so the courageous Council Member Trachtenberg told them what no other at-large candidate has: I will not take your money, I will not take your support, but I will take you to the cleaners at election time! Washington Post editorial writers swooned in worship.
There’s just one problem with this story: Trachtenberg did ask the unions for their support. And they said no.
A few months ago, Duchy Trachtenberg submitted a questionnaire to Progressive Maryland seeking their backing in the 2010 election. Thirty-two of Progressive Maryland’s fifty-two affiliates are labor organizations. Their public employee union affiliates include Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, the Howard County Education Association, the Maryland State Education Association, the Prince George’s County Education Association, the United Transportation Union, and four of Trachtenberg’s worst enemies in MoCo: Fire Fighters Local 1664, SEIU Local 500, MCGEO and – get this – MCEA.
Trachtenberg’s questionnaire reads like one submitted by a true-blue labor lifer. Almost all of the seventeen questions come from a union wish list and include items like collective bargaining for public employees, card check for organizing campaigns, mandatory payments by non-union workers to unions who represent them, binding arbitration for public employee contracts and much, MUCH more. Trachtenberg answered yes for each and every union priority. And when Progressive Maryland asked her about her major endorsements, she answered, “In 2006, I received strong endorsements from Progressive Maryland, and all unions including AFL-CIO and MCEA; also endorsements from the Sierra Club, NOW, ACT, and many national and state elected leaders.” She forgot to mention her declared rejection of all public employee union backing in 2010.
Given Trachtenberg’s labor record, Progressive Maryland was not fooled and did not endorse her. But that’s OK, because Duchy said she didn’t want them anyway. Except she did, but… oh, shush!!
So Duchy Trachtenberg accepted union support and thousands of dollars of their PAC contributions in 2006.
She even gave $6,000 to MCEA’s PAC in 2007 while she was Chair of the council’s Management and Fiscal Policy Committee.
But now she says that soliciting union support is a conflict of interest. But then she did solicit union support. But wait – Progressive Maryland is not really a union, it’s kind of a union of unions, so it doesn’t really count. Right?
Oh doggone it, it’s too difficult to keep track of all this. All you have to know is that whatever Duchy Trachtenberg says and does today is the right thing. Forget whatever she said and did yesterday, or the day before that, or… well, whenever. Just trust her. After all, with a record like this, how could anybody not believe her?
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Duchy Doesn’t Want Union Support… Except When She Does
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
First Independent Expenditure in District 14
The mailer below was produced by Progressive Maryland, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters and SEIU Local 500. It promotes Senate candidate Karen Montgomery, Delegate Anne Kaiser and Delegate candidates Craig Zucker and Eric Luedtke. It also goes after Rona Kramer. Interestingly, the groups refer to Kaiser and Zucker as a part of their "progressive team" despite their membership on a slate with Kramer.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Progressive Maryland Finishes Endorsements, Announces MoCo Council Picks
Progressive Maryland has concluded its third and final round of primary endorsements, including its picks for the Montgomery County Council. The council candidates it is supporting are:
District 1: Roger Berliner
District 2: Craig Rice
District 3: None
District 4: Nancy Navarro
District 5: Valerie Ervin
At-Large: Marc Elrich, George Leventhal, Hans Riemer
The organization did not receive completed questionnaires from Nancy Floreen or Phil Andrews, so they were ineligible for endorsement.
Progressive Maryland did not make any more endorsements in MoCo state legislative races, but they did add a few candidates in other counties. We reprint their press release in full below.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Endorsements 2010
Want to know who's endorsing whom? You have come to the right place!
Following are the endorsements of MCEA, the Post, SEIU, Progressive Maryland, Equality Maryland, the Sierra Club, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters and NARAL for all MoCo Democratic primaries in which there are more candidates than seats.
Notes:
1. The Post has not yet endorsed in state legislative contests.
2. Progressive Maryland, Equality Maryland, LCV and NARAL have not yet endorsed in County Council races. The latter three may not endorse in those contests at all.
3. Equality Maryland, the Sierra Club and LCV have not finished making endorsements.
4. So far, just ten candidates have swept all available endorsements in this group. They are:
Roger Berliner, Council District 1
Marc Elrich, Council At-Large
Hans Riemer, Council At-Large
Anne Kaiser, D-14 House
Bill Frick, D-16 House
Susan Lee, D-16 House
Ana Sol Gutierrez, D-18 House
Tom Hucker, D-20 House
Heather Mizeur, D-20 House
Kirill Reznik, D-39 House
Riemer is the only challenger in this list.
5. We will add these endorsements to our tabulation as they become available: MCGEO, Fire Fighters, Police, AFL-CIO, Progressive Maryland (council), Post (state legislative), Gazette and the MoCo Business PAC, as well as updates to the above. We are not adding NOW as they often endorse far more people than there are seats (including eight D16 Delegate candidates). And we are not going to include "groups" that are little than more five people sitting around a table endorsing their buddies, or worse, each other. Fuhgedaboudit!
Friday, July 02, 2010
Progressive Maryland Announces More Endorsements
Progressive Maryland (PM) has announced a new list of endorsements, which joins its early endorsements released in May. The organization will be making one more round of endorsements before the primary, which will include the Montgomery County Council races. A candidate must receive support from two-thirds of PM's board to be endorsed.
Here's the big news in MoCo: PM picked challenger Roger Manno over incumbent District 19 Senator Mike Lenett despite the fact that Lenett has been endorsed by three of PM's biggest members: the teachers, SEIU and the Carpenters. We hear the debate over this endorsement was VERY contentious. PM's support for District 14 challenger Karen Montgomery over incumbent Senator Rona Kramer was a given. PM is sitting out the Senate races in District 17 (Forehand-Kagan) and District 39 (King-Ali) because no candidate could get two-thirds support. In House District 19, PM went for Bonnie Cullison, Jay Hutchins and Sam "Hunk of the Hill" Arora. In House District 39, open seat candidate Shane Robinson won support, adding to his growing list of endorsements. In most other races, PM stuck with the incumbents (other than in House 17, where they supported no one).
Following is PM's press release.
News Release
July 1, 2010
Contact: Rion Dennis, Progressive Maryland, 301.437.9006
Progressive Maryland Announces Second Round of Candidates Who Earn its Endorsement in 2010 Election
PM vows maximal effort to elect these “Champions of Working Families”
Silver Spring, July 1. Progressive Maryland (PM) today announced its second round of endorsed candidates for federal, state and local office for the 2010 elections. With 15,000 individual members and supporters as well as dozens of organizational affiliates, PM is the strongest pro-working families’ advocacy group in the state. PM gets vigorously involved in elections to help elect its endorsed candidates and defeat opponents. In the 2006 election, more than 90 of its endorsed candidates won.
“Thursday, our board of directors reviewed the records and questionnaire responses of dozens of candidates who seek our endorsement,” said Elbridge James, PM’s President. “It takes a two-thirds supermajority vote of our Board to get PM’s endorsement, so our endorsed candidates are truly Champions of Working Families.”
“PM will now mobilize our members from all over the state as well as dozens of affiliates and knock on thousands of doors to elect this progressive slate,” said Rion Dennis, PM Acting Executive Director. “We are focused especially on improving the state Senate, where too many pro-working family reforms have died over the past four years.”
Progressive Maryland will be making another round of endorsements before the September 14th primaries and another round before the General Election.
Here are all the endorsements including the 25 new incumbents and candidates (in bold) winning Progressive Maryland’s 2010 endorsement as of July 1:
Federal Incumbents Running for Re-Election
Senator Barbara Mikulski
Representative C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger, MD-2
Representative John Sarbanes, MD-3
Representative Donna Edwards, MD-4
Representative Steny Hoyer, MD-5
Representative Elijah Cummings, MD-7
Representative Chris Van Hollen, MD-8
General Assembly Delegates Running for State Senate
Delegate Karen Montgomery for Senator in District 14
Delegate Roger Manno in District 19
Delegate Joanne Benson for Senator in District 24
General Assembly Incumbents Running for Re-election
Delegate Adrienne Jones, District 10
Delegate Jon Cardin, District 11
Delegate Elizabeth Bobo, District 12B
Delegate Shane Pendergrass, District 13
Delegate Frank Turner, District 13
Delegate Anne Kaiser, District 14
Senator Rob Garagiola, District 15
Delegate Kathleen Dumais, District 15
Delegate Brian Feldman, District 15
Senator Brian Frosh, District 16
Delegate Bill Frick, District 16
Delegate Susan Lee, District 16
Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez, District 18
Delegate Jeff Waldstreicher, District 18
Senator Jamie Raskin, District 20
Delegate Sheila Hixson, District 20
Delegate Tom Hucker, District 20
Delegate Heather Mizeur, District 20
Senator Jim Rosapepe, District 21
Delegate Ben Barnes, District 21
Delegate Barbara Frush, District 21
Delegate Joseline Pena-Melnyk, District 21
Senator Paul Pinsky, District 22
Delegate Anne Healey, District 22
Delegate Tawanna Gaines, District 22
Delegate Justin Ross, District 22
Senator Douglas Peters, District 23
Delegate James Hubbard, District 23A
Delegate Aisha Braveboy, District 25
Delegate Veronica Turner, District 26
Delegate Kris Valderrama, District 26
Delegate James Proctor, District 27A
Delegate Joseph Vallario, District 27A
Delegate Charles Barkley, District 39
Delegate Kirill Reznik, District 39
Delegate Shawn Tarrant, District 40
Delegate Sandy Rosenberg, District 41
Delegate Maggie McIntosh, District 43
Delegate Pete Hammen, District 46
Delegate Doyle Niemann, District 47
Delegate Jolene Ivey, District 47
General Assembly Challengers
Ryan Trout for Delegate in District 4A
James “Ward” Morrow for Delegate in District 7
Mary Ann Maher for Delegate in District 9A
Eric Luedtke for Delegate in District 14
Craig Zucker for Delegate in District 14
Bonnie Cullison for Delegate in District 19
Jay Hutchins for Delegate in District 19
Sam Arora for Delegate in District 19
Nicole Williams for Delegate in District 23A
Greg Hall for Delegate in District 24
Stan Janor for Delegate in District 31
Shane Robinson for Delegate in District 39
Lori Albin for Delegate in District 42
Mary Washington for Delegate in District 43
Luke Clippenger for Delegate in District 46
Ann Arundel County Offices
Chris Trumbauer for County Council District 6
Howard County Offices
Jen Terrasa for County Council District 3
Prince George’s County Offices
Rushern Baker for County Executive
Sam Epps for County Council District 1
Will Campos for County Council District 2
Eric Olsen for County Council District 3
Karen Toles for County Council District 7
Obie Patterson for County Council District 8
Mel Franklin for County Council District 9
# # #
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Progressive Maryland Releases 2010 Scorecard
Progressive Maryland (PM), an umbrella organization of trade unions, civil rights groups and other progressive institutions, has released its 2010 scorecard. PM ranks state legislators on a 100-point scale, with 80 points coming from votes on nine bills and 20 points coming from a subjective “leadership” score. The bills deal with campaign finance reform, preventing SLAPP suits against activists, combined reporting, early learning for young children, shift breaks for retail employees, collective bargaining rights for childcare providers, a public labor relations board and the BOAST bill. Following are a few statistics from their rankings.
Highest Scores in the Senate, 2010
Paul Pinsky (D-22): 98
Mike Lenett (D-19): 97
David Harrington (D-47): 96
Verna Jones (D-44): 96
Nancy King (D-39): 96
Jamie Raskin (D-20): 95
Highest Scores in the House, 2010
Tom Hucker (D-20): 97
Roger Manno (D-19): 97
Aisha Braveboy (D-25): 96
Cheryl Glenn (D-45): 96
Saqib Ali (D-39): 95
Charles Barkley (D-39): 95
Joanne Benson (D-24): 95
Jon Cardin (D-11): 95
Bill Frick (D-16): 95
Sheila Hixson (D-20): 95
Adrienne Jones (D-10): 95
Heather Mizeur (D-20): 95
Karen Montgomery (D-14): 95
Doyle Niemann (D-47): 95
Kirill Reznik (D-39): 95
Justin Ross (D-22): 95
Todd Schuler (D-8): 95
Four Year Averages, MoCo Senators
Jamie Raskin (D-20): 96
Mike Lenett (D-19): 95
Rich Madaleno (D-18): 95
Brian Frosh (D-16): 94
Rob Garagiola (D-15): 92
Nancy King (D-39): 92
Jennie Forehand (D-17): 90
Rona Kramer (D-14): 51
Four Year Averages, MoCo Delegates
Tom Hucker (D-20): 98
Sheila Hixson (D-20): 97
Roger Manno (D-19): 97
Susan Lee (D-16): 96
Anne Kaiser (D-14): 95
Heather Mizeur (D-20): 95
Karen Montgomery (D-14): 95
Herman Taylor (D-14): 95
Saqib Ali (D-39): 94
Kumar Barve (D-17): 94
Bill Bronrott (D-16): 94
Al Carr (D-18): 94
Bill Frick (D-16): 94
Craig Rice (D-15): 94
Jeff Waldstreicher (D-18): 94
Kathleen Dumais (D-15): 93
Jim Gilchrist (D-17): 92
Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-18): 92
Hank Heller (D-19): 92
Brian Feldman (D-15): 91
Kirill Reznik (D-39): 91
Charles Barkley (D-39): 88
Luiz Simmons (D-17): 88
Ben Kramer (D-19): 84
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Progressive Maryland Announces Early Endorsements
Progressive Maryland has announced its first round of endorsements for state and county offices. The organization will make more endorsements in July.
Here are the group’s early endorsements in Montgomery County.
Incumbents
Delegate Anne Kaiser, District 14
Senator Rob Garagiola, District 15
Delegate Kathleen Dumais, District 15
Delegate Brian Feldman, District 15
Senator Brian Frosh, District 16
Delegate Bill Frick, District 16
Delegate Susan Lee, District 16
Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez, District 18
Senator Jamie Raskin, District 20
Delegate Sheila Hixson, District 20
Delegate Tom Hucker, District 20
Delegate Heather Mizeur, District 20
Delegate Charles Barkley, District 39
Delegate Kirill Reznik, District 39
Challengers
Delegate Karen Montgomery for Senator in District 14
Eric Luedtke for Delegate in District 14
Bonnie Cullison for Delegate in District 19
Jay Hutchins for Delegate in District 19
Progressive Maryland has not yet endorsed anyone in the contested District 17, 19 or 39 Senate primaries. Nor have they yet endorsed in any county-level races in Montgomery.
Following is their full statewide release.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Sean Dobson Leaves Progressive Maryland
Progressive Maryland Executive Director Sean Dobson, who has led the organization since 2006, is leaving for another job. Following is his statement.
Sean Dobson Moves On After Ten Years at Progressive Maryland
Dobson helped found PM ten years ago and served as Executive Director since 2006
May 13, 2010
Dear PM Supporters,
It is with bittersweet emotions that I inform you I have accepted a wonderful job offer to be Field Director at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy starting on May 19th. NCRP is the nation’s pre-eminent watchdog of the philanthropic sector, working to ensure it is responsive to people and communities with the least wealth and opportunity and is held accountable to the highest standards of integrity.
PM will shortly post an ad for the Executive Director job opening. Please circulate it widely and encourage talented people to apply. During the job search, Rion Dennis, PM’s current Political Director, will serve as Acting Director.
Working with all of you to build PM has been a dream job for me. Ten years ago I helped Tom Hucker and others create PM. These past four years I have served as Executive Director. Together and through PM we have made our state more progressive and created more opportunity for working families. Since 2006 we have notched impressive victories, including:
• Executing a successful election program during the 2006 election, helping 90+ endorsed candidates to win;
• Enacting the nation’s first statewide Living Wage law;
• Spearheading the drive to persuade lawmakers to invest record amounts in school construction;
• Coordinating the grassroots campaign to persuade lawmakers in 2007 to enact a progressive overhaul of the state’s income tax code, making it fairer and generating hundreds of millions of new dollars for the public sector;
• Coordinating over the past year the Health Care for America Now (HCAN) coalition in Maryland, an alliance of dozens of groups that successfully organized the public to pressure Maryland’s congressional delegation to enact historic, federal health care reform.
And PM has achieved something else that is hard to prove, but which I believe is true. As a proud ally of the labor movement, PM assists the AFL-CIO and specific unions to enact pro-worker reforms. Ten years ago, when I first started lobbying in Annapolis, such reforms almost never passed. But in the past two years alone the General Assembly enacted no less than five major pro-labor bills. To be clear, PM was the lead organization on none of these bills. But I can’t help but suspect that PM has helped change the climate in Annapolis so that more lawmakers now feel more responsive to working families – not just to the wealthy special interests that write big campaign checks.
Working with all of you has been the best professional experience of my life. I don’t want it to end – that’s why I hope you will elect me to the Board of Directors this summer.
Now let new leadership take PM to its next level of success! Onward!
In solidarity,
Sean Dobson
Executive Director
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Post vs. Apple: Endorsement Record by the Numbers
Yesterday, nearly half of the elected state and county officials in Montgomery County debated the relative endorsement value of the Post and the Apple Ballot. Today, we’ll look at the recent comparative record of those endorsements as well as others.
Below, we show the results of all state legislative and county races in MoCo since 2006 as well as the endorsements of the Washington Post, the Gazette, the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), Progressive Maryland and the Sierra Club. All races are primaries unless otherwise indicated.
All five organizations had winning records overall. But the big differences came in races in which they chose to endorse non-incumbents. The two newspapers trailed the three other endorsers, with the Gazette having almost as many losers (ten) as winners (twelve). So much for the claim in a recent Gazette article that it is a “rarity” for anyone to win without the backing of the Gazette.
Now we should not make too much out of these records. Progressive Maryland and the Sierra Club sat out a lot of races, including all of the school board contests. Progressive Maryland's requirement that two-thirds of its Board of Directors agree to its picks probably kept it out of several close races. And out of these five organizations, few would disagree that the Teachers give the most tangible aid to their favored candidates. After all, the Washington Post does not dispatch hundreds of its employees to hand out “Post Ballots” on election day.
It gets more interesting when the Apple is compared to the newspapers on endorsements on which they disagree. Here is the Apple’s record against the Post since 2006:
And here is the Apple’s record against the Gazette since 2006:
Reasonable observers can disagree on the relative merit of each endorsement. But the majority of MoCo politicians have picked the Apple over the Post and we agree. Our hunch is that even given the Post’s bloody and misinformed campaign against MCEA, Montgomery voters still have more respect for teachers than for the anonymous mandarins of the Post.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Progressive Maryland Endorses Navarro
Following is their press release.
News Release
March 27, 2009
Contact: Sean Dobson
Progressive Maryland Endorses Nancy Navarro in the Montgomery County Council District 4 Special Democratic Primary Election
Silver Spring, MD. Progressive Maryland today endorsed Nancy Navarro for Montgomery County Council in the District 4 Special Democratic Primary Election.
"Nancy Navarro was the overwhelming choice of the Progressive Maryland board of directors because of her superb qualifications and stellar record on the County School Board,” said Sean Dobson, the organization’s Executive Director. “She is a proven and successful advocate for working families and on the County Council would lead the fight to create and maintain high-quality, living wage jobs and protect the safety-net for our most vulnerable residents. She will make an outstanding addition to the Montgomery County Council."
"Progressive Maryland fights for working families across the state and I am so proud to have their endorsement," says Navarro. "As a council member, I will work with Progressive Maryland to protect working families and seniors and ensure a better future for all residents of District 4."
Progressive Maryland is a statewide, nonprofit organization that advocates for working families. It has 15,000 individual members and supporters as well as 35 organizations represented on its board of directors, including some of the strongest labor unions, civil rights groups, and faith communities in the state.
# # #
Friday, December 12, 2008
Thursday Night Smackdown!
Last night, business and labor squared off on the CARR bill in one of the more entertaining bouts of the state hearing season. But there is a lot more to this story than the controversy over just one bill. Tensions are on the rise between two of the county’s most influential groups as Budget Armageddon builds steadily to its bloody climax.
Delegates Susan Lee (D-16), Brian Feldman (D-15), Anne Kaiser (D-14), Roger Manno (D-19) and Bill Bronrott (D-16)
But first, supporters and opponents of the CARR bill made their case at the House Delegation’s hearing on local bills. Five supporters testified, including three from labor: Bonnie Cullison, President of MCEA; Bob Stewart, Executive Director of MCGEO and Sean Dobson, Executive Director of Progressive Maryland. Their main points were:
1. The bill authorizes commercial property tax hikes by the County Council but does not mandate them.
2. The residential share of the county’s assessable property base has been climbing steadily for many years.
3. Splitting the residential from the commercial property tax rates would make it easier for the County Council to raise taxes without incurring a homeowner property tax revolt.
Sean Dobson, Delegate Al Carr (D-18), Bob Stewart and Bonnie Cullison
Nine opponents testified, including representatives from four Chambers of Commerce, one trade association and four businesses. Their main points were:
1. Residential property owners benefit from the homeowners property tax credit and the 10% annual cap in principal residence tax bill increases, neither of which are available to business.
2. The cumulative impacts of the special session tax hikes and county commercial property tax increase under the CARR bill would put the county at a crippling disadvantage.
3. Businesses are reeling under the terrible economy and further cost increases will put some of them over the edge.
The arguments on both sides have some merit and mirror my blog posts on the issue. But politicians are creatures of the moment. They want to know why something must be passed now. While the supporters talk about correcting what they see as historical inequities, opponents talk about the devastating consequences of tax hikes in the current environment. Alexandra Whitaker’s Get Real Consulting was named the Emerging Business of the Year when it was in the Rockville incubator. Shortly after leaving, Ms. Whitaker claims that her business is in a “delicate state of growth” and would lose customers if they must pass on the cost of a lease increase. David Fraser Hidalgo of Sandglass Systems in Kensington said, “Any increase in property taxes would have a devastating impact on our margins and our employees.” These arguments are particularly strong in a bad economic climate and are reinforced by an anti-tax disposition among the state’s politicians. The supporters find it difficult to counter them and as a result, none of our sources believe the bill will pass next year.
Alexandra Whitaker from Get Real Consulting, Kathleen Kittrick from Verizon, MoCo Chamber VP Lisa Fadden, Joshua Bokee from Comcast
But the CARR bill debate has illuminated a number of changes in Montgomery’s body politic. Three of them are:
1. The Re-Emergence of Business
Labor is a long-time power center in the county. Of the eighteen most-influential non-elected citizens in our recent poll, six are active in the labor movement. The leaders of MCEA, MCGEO and SEIU are especially visible. But last night spotlighted an increasingly important hidden hand in the county’s policy debates: Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Vice-President Lisa Fadden. Brainy, relentless and occasionally combustible, Ms. Fadden attracts many comments from our spies.
“Smart and talented,” says one. “I think she's an intelligent advocate for the business community,” says another. One old hand comments, “She’s more effective than most lobbyists many years her senior.” And one particularly effusive spy gushed:Lisa Fadden is young, smart (really smart), brash, cute and knows what she thinks. She has no fear. She is not cut out of the old mold, in fact she represents what the future for leaders in this county look like. They are not waiting for anybody to give them permission to do or say what they think. Look out – the future has arrived.
Your author would not go that far, though we certainly enjoy covering brash characters on this blog. But Ms. Fadden is part of a youth movement that is slowly infiltrating many parts of the county’s political life. Business is one example. The Chamber of Commerce was once personified by its brilliant and imperious former CEO Rich Parsons and was thought to be primarily interested in development and the ICC. But the Chamber has diversified its interests over the last two years and is starting to mobilize its membership in ways reminiscent of civic associations. (See their revolt against Nancy Floreen’s parking space tax.) The economy is damaging the business community, but it is as politically relevant as ever.
2. Distrust is Building Between Business and Labor
The business and labor communities have a common interest in pursuing a revitalized economy. Labor in both the public and private sectors benefits from job creation, and job creation only happens when businesses are profitable. But the CARR bill dispute has interfered with their ability to work together.
Last spring, labor’s top priority was defending its cost-of-living adjustments. Many individuals inside the business world grumbled about those raises, but the business associations stayed out of the COLA debate. And none of the county’s major business associations opposed the recently-passed prevailing wage law. That silence benefited labor and isolated its opponents. But in advocating for the CARR bill, labor is pushing a measure that business considers “discriminatory” and “punitive.” Business feels the same outrage that labor would have felt had business opposed their COLAs.
School Board President Nancy Navarro offered substantial appeal to both business and labor during the County District 4 Special Election. Her campaign combined dozens of union member volunteer canvassers with influential business fundraisers. In the current atmosphere, that level of cooperation would be unlikely to occur if such an election were held today. Both business and labor may pay the price if an opening is created for candidates hostile to both of them.
3. Distraction from Armageddon
Even if passed, the CARR bill would not offer a total solution for the county’s budget problems. Judging from Senate President Mike Miller’s comments at the Committee for Montgomery breakfast on Monday, those problems are about to get a lot worse. Ann Marimow scooped the room in obtaining this post-speech quote from Big Daddy, which warrants repeating here:“There are going to have to be some adjustments,” Miller said after his formal remarks. “The county that gives big salaries and big benefits is going to have to make some adjustments.”
This is an existential and naked threat to labor, and not just in Montgomery County. Baltimore City and Prince George’s County also benefit from the Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI), which directs education aid to jurisdictions with higher schooling costs. All counties benefit from the state’s assumption of teacher pension liabilities. Both of these items are now at risk. If they are cut by the state, the public employee unions will be hit with layoffs and permanent budget difficulties in addition to the loss of their COLAs.
Labor’s political capital is limited. The more that is spent on the CARR bill, the less will be available for more important items. Refocusing on the priorities that really matter may be the only way to fend off Budget Armageddon.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The Progressive Summit
Progressive Maryland is convening an activist summit on 11/22/08 in Annapolis. Following is their press release.
Media Advisory for Saturday, November 22, 2008
From 9:00AM – 4:00PM
NEW DATE: The Progressive Maryland Education Fund Convenes Summit For Progressive Activists from All Across Maryland
With the Presidential Election Over, Hundreds of Progressive Activists Come Together To Focus On a Statewide Agenda For 2009
The Progressive Summit has been rescheduled for Saturday, Nov. 22, 9 a.m. to 4 pm. at the Annapolis Senior High School, 2700 Riva Road, Annapolis, MD 21401. Hundreds if not thousands of Maryland progressive activists are volunteering every weekend to work on this historic presidential election in neighboring states Virginia and Pennsylvania (and some full-time in Ohio and elsewhere). Understandably, the activists want to finally take a weekend off after the Nov. 4th election. As a result, our Steering Committee partners have asked the Progressive Md. Educ. Fund to postpone the Progressive Summit from Saturday Nov. 8th to Saturday Nov. 22. We agree that postponement is a great idea.
The Progressive Summit will feature leaders from the major progressive organizations in the labor, education, environmental, civil rights, health care, and criminal justice reform communities as they discuss the budget deficit, their respective 2009 agendas, and where common ground exists uniting us all.
The Progressive Summit Steering Committee Partners include the ACLU of Maryland, Advocates for Children & Youth, Center for American Progress, CASA of Maryland, Drug Policy Alliance, Environment Maryland, Equality Maryland, League of Conservation Voters of Maryland, Maryland Association of Non-Profit Organizations, Maryland Budget & Tax Institute, Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative, Maryland CASE, Maryland State Teachers Association, Mid-Atlantic Laborers' Employers Cooperative & Education Trust, SEIU DC/MD State Council, UFCW Local 400 and more. To RSVP & more information: www.progressivemaryland.org.
Who: The Progressive Maryland Education Fund
What: The Progressive Summit
When: Saturday, November 22, 2008, 9:00 AM - 4:00PM
Where: Annapolis Senior High School, 2700 Riva Road, Annapolis
Contact: Rion Dennis, 301-437-9006
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The State of Working Maryland 2008
The central findings in Progressive Maryland's new report are:
1. Rising productivity since the mid-1990s has not lead to significant gains in real wages.
2. Income inequality persists as only earners in the 90th percentile have seen any wage increases.
3. 251,000 fewer Marylanders have health insurance than in 2001.
4. The unionized percentage of the state's workforce continues to fall.
All week long, we have seen the Bush administration increase the size of its bailout to Wall Street. What about the rest of us?
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Is the Computer Tax Here to Stay? (Updated)
The Washington Post reports that Maryland’s Senate has not reached a consensus on how, or whether, to replace the much-despised computer sales tax. But Maryland Politics Watch readers have seen this coming.
Remember the now-legendary blogger interview of Senate President Mike Miller back in January? When we asked him about the computer tax, the Senate President answered, "The computer tax is not a good tax, but it’s $200 million and I’m going to fight to keep it... No one can agree on a replacement." And here’s our report on House Majority Leader Kumar Barve's comments: "The House got rid of the computer sales tax but it came back. It’s bad public policy. It’s unwise to tax businesses that are mobile," Barve stated. "But unless we’re willing to find $200 million in extra revenues, it will be very difficult to get rid of." And why was the computer industry vulnerable? "In politics, when something unpleasant has to be done, it’s usually done to whoever squirms around the least!" Barve noted that Senator Rob Garagiola (D-15, MoCo) had a proposal to replace it with a gas tax, "but that is a non-starter." Added to Mike Miller’s comments, Barve’s opinion indicates that the computer tax is not going anywhere because there is no other way to raise the money.
Mr. Miller’s and Mr. Barve’s political predictions have been proven correct. When the Republicans proposed spending cuts and tapping "unallocated funds" to pay for a repeal, the Senate rejected it. When Senate Democrats proposed an income tax surcharge on the rich, Montgomery County officials opposed it. Time is running out: the current session has less than a month left and the computer tax is due to take effect this summer.
The tragedy is that it didn’t have to be this way. Governor O’Malley never proposed this tax. The House of Delegates did not propose it. And there were other ways to raise the money. An extra point hike in the corporate income tax could have raised at least $100 million and Maryland’s rate would still have been lower than Pennsylvania and D.C., equal to New Jersey and barely higher than West Virginia and Delaware. Combined reporting on corporate income taxes could have raised $25 million. Progressive Maryland believes it could have been worth $100 million. The legislature could have kept the Governor’s original higher income tax rates on individuals making $150,000, raising perhaps tens of millions more. And the legislature could have aggressively gone after tax-cheating employers but so far has not done so.
Instead, we are left with a looming, devastating tax on a knowledge-based industry critical to the state’s future. Everyone hates it. But no one has figured out how to get rid of it. Surely the Democrats in Annapolis can do better than this.
Update: The Sun reports that a surtax on millionaires is gaining ground. Democratic Senator Verna Jones's (D44-Baltimore City) proposal would raise $230 million by instituting a surcharge rate of 6% on incomes between $750,000 and $1 million and 6.5% on incomes above $1 million. But Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett has written in opposition to the plan.
Update 2: The Governor has come out in favor of replacing the computer tax with the surcharge. However, Democratic Senator Robert Zirkin (D11-Baltimore County) has proposed to repeal the computer tax if the slots referendum passes. He also favors cutting transportation projects.
Senator Zirkin, I know my Montgomery County delegation is split on taxing the wealthy. But I would hope that all of them would stick together on opposing transportation cuts. All they hear is how horrible traffic congestion is from both their constituents and our County Council. Good luck in getting our eight State Senators to cut State Highway and transit projects in our county.
Friday, January 18, 2008
A Note on Labor Endorsements in CD4
Here's a quick observation from a labor guy on union endorsements in the Wynn-Edwards race.
The labor movement has been unusually divided between the top two contenders in CD 4: Al Wynn, the incumbent and Donna Edwards, the returning challenger. Wynn's biggest labor endorsers are the MSTA/NEA funds (the state teachers), the Washington Metro AFL-CIO, the Maryland-DC AFL-CIO, SEIU Local 400 (Prince George's local schools employees), AFSCME Local 2250 (Prince George's government employees) and the Washington DC Building Trades. Edwards' endorsers include the national SEIU, the national UNITE-HERE, UFCW Local 400 (grocery workers) and Progressive Maryland. She has also earned important non-labor endorsements from NOW, the Sierra Club and Emily's List.
When labor unions endorse, they bring either money, people power or both. In the Wynn-Edwards race, both of the leading candidates have enough money to compete. And both of them already have lots of name recognition in the district. So the labor endorsements that will matter the most will come from unions that 1. have lots of members in the district, 2. can get their members to turn out, and 3. have volunteers that can handle other tasks on behalf of the campaigns, including communication with non-members.
On the Wynn side, the most meaningful endorsements come from the Teachers. Both MCEA and PGCEA use Apple Ballots in their campaigns. But there are real questions as to whether either Apple Ballot will be used for a federal race and whether either affiliate will truly work hard for Wynn. On the Edwards side, the most meaningful endorsements come from UFCW Local 400 (grocery workers), the national SEIU and especially Progressive Maryland. PM has a large email list and engages in plenty of door-to-door work. But it will have to be just as active in Prince George's as it usually is in Montgomery to maximize its impact for Edwards.
So my best guess is that if the Teachers go all-out for Wynn, he'll have the edge. If they don't, PM will give the edge to Donna Edwards. But labor support is only one small dimension in this race. The overriding factors will be the level of satisfaction with Wynn inside the district and the relative skill each side shows in getting turnout. And the minor candidates could drain a few votes from Edwards, though none has yet demonstrated real strength in the district.
Two other interesting facts stand out. First, the 7000-member UFCW Local 1994 (the MoCo government employees) has not endorsed either candidate. Second, it is extremely unusual for a local union (SEIU Local 400) to take an opposite position from its parent. I cannot recall this happening inside my union, where the international and the regional councils closely align. It is probably a sign of the unusual volatility and strong feelings in this particular race.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Stop Slots Maryland Promises Aggressive Campaign
Aaron Meisner, Chairman of Stop Slots Maryland, promised a group of MoCo activists today that his organization would wage an aggressive campaign to defeat the slots referendum. What is his plan and will it work?
Meisner made his remarks at a public meeting of Progressive Neighbors, a liberal group based in Silver Spring and Takoma Park. He started by noting that most recent slots referenda have failed, a point previously demonstrated by Free State Politics blogger Eric Luedtke. So while slots have a 60%+ favorability in Maryland polls, victory is possible.
"We can win, but it won't be easy," Meisner said. "It's not easy to transform a grass-roots lobbying organizations into a statewide campaign. It's taking time to shift gears." Meisner indicated that the organization is recruiting political operators with statewide campaign experience in Maryland and is in heavy talks with several religious groups. He described the evolving coalition as a group of "strange bedfellows" including secular progressives, rural values voters and religious organizations. "It's a big challenge to get organized," he admitted.
Meisner did not get into specifics, but upon reading a hard copy of this blog post, he indicated that the new plan would resemble what we have outlined. Overall it seems that Stop Slots Maryland is just getting moving. As he says, they have a real challenge: radically changing the organization in the midst of waging its most critical and difficult campaign yet. It is very, very tough for any organization to change so much while on the move, but that is what has to happen for them to win.
Right now, the big questions on this issue are:
1. Will the Governor campaign in favor of the referendum?
2. How will Stop Slots Maryland raise the money needed to win?
3. How will the organization liaison with the street-level activists who will be critical to victory?
Elbridge James, President of Progressive Maryland, hinted at the answer to a fourth big question at the same meeting. When asked whether Progressive Maryland would "help lead the fight against slots," James said that the issue would be decided at a board meeting of the group in late January. "The question is will we oppose slots vigorously, oppose slots passively or not oppose them," he said. While James declined to provide a hard prediction of what Progressive Maryland would do, few of us left the meeting believing that the group would fight hard against slots. Several of the group's union affiliates may in fact support slots because of hopes to unionize casino workers, perform the construction work, or gain more public funding. This creates a significant possibility that Progressive Maryland will sit out this fight, thus lessening the chances of slots opponents.
Pay attention to this one, folks. The fighters are still in their robes, bouncing in their corners. Michael Buffer is only now reaching for the mike. I'd advise you to place your bets, but ah... maybe that's the wrong metaphor.
