From Red Maryland

Editor’s note: This is “continued” in spite of the fact I hadn’t put the original on Red Maryland.

My plan today was to dissect Frank Kratovil’s recent response to me on his “cap and tax” vote in Congress a couple weeks back, but instead I bring you this.

At the moment, Jim Pelura remains as the Chair of the Maryland Republican Party despite having a 20-10 “no confidence” vote against him Saturday. What’s noteworthy about that vote, however, is that the counties (including Wicomico) provided all ten of his supporting votes, going 14-10 against Pelura. On a strict basis that would not be a 2/3 majority required to remove him but obviously members of each Central Committee would be free to make their decision if and when a special state convention is called. (This would require twenty days’ notice so the earliest such a convention could occur would be mid-August.)

My cohort Dave Parker brought up an excellent point in an e-mail to members yesterday afternoon. It does an excellent job of summarizing one of two points I’d like to make here.

Unless the Party HQ is bugged, somebody (and possibly three somebodies) in the room had to have leaked confidential Party information to the press! Or can somebody advance another explanation?

We were in executive session. We were REPEATEDLY admonished to avoid talking to the press because everything we did was strictly confidential! Yet somebody who couldn’t keep from betraying the Party immediately broke ranks with the rest of us.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that the Maryland GOP is fast becoming a circular firing squad. This anti-Pelura push is going to dominate the headlines and even become the sidebar whenever a good Republican candidate tries to get into a local or statewide race.

Back on Wednesday I was told by Charles Lollar that he would announce his intentions this week and I’m presuming he’ll toss his hat into the Governor’s race. Here’s a very solid candidate from the GOP - business background, a small amount of political experience yet not enough to be considered an insider, military veteran, nice family, and a financial watchdog who I would guess is going to make that a campaign plank. (Don’t tell anyone but he’s a minority too.)

But instead of that being the totality of the story you can bet that there will be some mention of the “troubled” Maryland GOP, with its “embattled” leader, Jim Pelura.

I have a question for those reading my post today. Can you name the head of the Maryland Democratic Party? I’m sure I could look it up and I seem to recall he’s fairly new because their last leader left before his term was up. But no one noticed because it’s not something the leading (liberal-leaning) news outlets made a big deal of. On the other hand, any internal fissure in the GOP is big news around Maryland!

The Democrats may have their own rifts and I’ve been told by Page Elmore that when the Democrat caucus in Annapolis gets together there’s plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth. But when push comes to shove their team goes by the saying that Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis made famous: “Just win, baby.”

Has Jim Pelura made mistakes? Certainly, but anyone else placed in his position would too.

And it’s why I brought up my original posting plan at the top. The two people who head our state and our nation have also made mistakes - unfortunately those are bigger and much more costly, particularly to our wallet and our freedom.

Neither Governor O’Malley nor President Obama are leading in a manner that is taxpayer-friendly but seemingly the only other people (besides me) connected with the Maryland GOP who are bringing this point up are at party headquarters; meanwhile a large number of the elected officials are apparently more interested in cutting deals for themselves or trying to fetch whatever is left to them by the Democrats as they bulldoze their way through another term of dominance.

It was pretty much a given that we on the conservative side weren’t going to get a whole lot of financial help from the Maryland Republican Party. Since the GOP has little pull in Annapolis (or Washington, for that matter) the special interests who thrive on shifting power their way weren’t going to open their wallets to us. It’s going to be up to our candidates to work hard and use their message to fundraise, as it should be.

The Pelura controversy is an unwelcome sideshow at a time when GOP candidates need to be making news by proposing great alternative ideas to the Democrats’ ancient “tax-and-spend” playbook and we in the grassroots need to be choosing which candidates we’ll back and fighting the true enemies we can depose in 2010 - Martin O’Malley, Barbara Mikulski, Frank Kratovil and his other six Democrat cohorts who “represent” Maryland in the House of Representatives, and a host of other local and state officials who stand in the way of limited, Constitutional government.

By attacking Pelura some in the Maryland Republican Party provide just the distraction needed for those Democrats, named and unnamed, to continue their mismanagement and plunder. Let’s get back to focusing on them and let Jim Pelura finish his term in peace.