The Board of Public Works voted Wednesday to grant $500,000 more to medevac helicopter manufacturer AugustaWestland despite prolonged protest from a citizen who insisted the state is getting gipped.
Len Lazarick
Maryland needs more pension reform, study says
Maryland is in the same pension pickle as three-fifths of the other states, with its management of its long-term retirement obligations causing “serious concern” to the authors of a new study by the Pew Center on the States. Like 43 states facing similar problems, Maryland made substantial changes in its pension system last year. But the Pew Center report says additional reform will be needed, especially since Maryland and other states continue to short-change the recommended annual contributions to the pension system.
Bolton blasts Obama foreign policy at GOP dinner
Former Gov. Bob Ehrlich introduced former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton at a GOP dinner. “I think he’d look really good as Secretary of State in a Romney administration,” Ehrlich told the crowd. Bolton’s speech was a biting critique of President Obama. He said Obama “does not put American national security at the top of his priority list.”
Commission discusses raising Md. campaign contribution limits
A commission studying Maryland’s campaign finance laws appears likely to recommend raising current limits on campaign contributions, which haven’t been increased in 19 years. The commission took no formal vote, but seemed to reach a consensus on raising the total amount an individual may contribute to state election campaigns from the current $10,000 to $25,000 during a four-year election cycle.
U.S. Chamber ranks Maryland in top five for economic growth
For the third year in a row, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has rated Maryland among the top five states in the country for economic growth, job creation and innovation.
In its annual report on “Enterprising States”, the national chamber gives the O’Malley administration high marks for policies and conditions that help grow jobs, issues on which members of the state business community often find fault.
Juvenile Services Department allots $8.5 million for out-of-state placements
The Juvenile Services Department’s so-called “Maryland model” aims to reduce reliance on out-of-state treatment facilities for youth sentenced in juvenile court but has set aside about $8.5 million to send less than a score of them to centers across the U.S. over the next three years. The Board of Public Works last week approved four contracts to send up to 18 youth, ages 6-20 years old, to residential treatment facilities (RTCs) in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida and Arkansas.
MarylandReporter.com wins journalism award for disabilities story
MarylandReporter.com was honored Tuesday night by the Washington chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for a package of stories that uncovered the failure of one state agency to spend $38 million on people with developmental disabilities, even while thousands waited for services.
Mountain politics more elevated and bipartisan
It’s not just the topography that’s elevated in the mountains of Western Maryland. The politics seems to be as well, or at least more bipartisan. Republican State Sen. George Edwards attended the Democratic Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, as the Republican president of the county commissioners. Both were praised for working across party lines.
Voter fraud or voter suppression: right and left clash over election laws
Left and right disagree on whether efforts to require ID cards and other restrictions on voting amount to legitimate efforts to eliminate voter fraud or are really aimed at voter suppression based on a problem that doesn’t exist.
Delaney out raised Bartlett in 6th District 2-to-1, but starts out even for the general; FEC questions Bartlett’s filings
Even without the $1.7 million Democratic congressional candidate John Delaney loaned himself to defeat party establishment favorite Rob Garagiola, Delaney managed to raise twice as much money during the primary election as Republican incumbent Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, now his general election opponent.
But heading into the fall campaign, both candidates started with about $300,000 cash on hand. And Delaney’s campaign says the wealthy commercial banker from Potomac will not be financing himself, as he did for much his primary expenses.
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