Money is the fuel of most campaigns — all those TV commercials, T-shirts, bumper stickers and other tchotchkes can be expensive.
But by the sound of it, a lot of candidates will be running this year on less than a full tank.
The real numbers won’t be known for about two weeks, as candidates are required to close their books on Jan. 14 and file by Jan. 21. Anecdotally, though, candidates are saying they are seeing an effect. (more…)
Democrats and Republicans got together in a day of volunteer service Saturday. By Sunday, the gloves had come off and it was politics as usual.
Chris Cavey, chairman of the county Republican Central Committee, issued a statement late Sunday night criticizing David Gildea and Michael Paul Smith for their development of a ticket of candidates that will run for at least three of the expected four open council seats next year. (more…)
Earlier this year, state senators and delegates were asked by House Speaker Mike Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller to voluntarily give up to five days pay at the same time 67,000 state employees were asked to do the same.
While a spokeswoman for Busch said legislators are being asked to sign a waiver for the eight to 10 days they are being asked to give up this time around, the details on how many days each legislator gave up in January remains unknown.
Patuxent Publishing Co., publisher of this Web site is asking the 21 delegates and eight senators to voluntarily provide that information. We’ll publish what each legislator says here and let you know when they provide that documentation and keep a running tab of who releases the information and who declines the request.
Sen. Bobby Zirkin, a Democrat who represents the 11th District, said Tuesday that he will release that information.
“Why wouldn’t I release it?” Zirkin said when asked.
“The public knows how many days 70,000 state employees had to give up,” Zirkin added. “Why shouldn’t we say how many days we’re giving up?” (more…)