Saturday, April 10, 2010

Influence, yer doin it wrong

Wordbones points to this list of influential state representatives. HoCoRising makes some good observations about the list here.

As noted by Wordbones, Shane Pendergrass is number 15 on the list of most influential state delegates. Given her influence, she sure has a strange way of capitalizing on it. When she was offended that someone leading a prayer in the chamber on Good Friday mentioned Jesus, she "slammed down her desktop in protest." That seems to be the reaction one might expect from an angry schoolboy, not a state delegate. And then after she approached the colleague who had offended her, the only thing she was able to accomplish was to get suckered into a media pissing match.

Of course, given our current fiscal situation, having any measure of influence means you have ownership of the blame. No one said influence was necessarily a virtue.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

That list in the Gazette is a Who's Who of who the lobbyists and special interests are able to push around. When you think about corruption in Annapolis, any Senator or Delegate in the "top" is really not a friend of who they represent - just friends with lobbyists and special interests.....

Anonymous said...

We need to look at our current fiscal situation in a statewide context. Three of our neighbors (Montgomery, Baltimore, and Anne Arundel Counties) all have budget deficits that are exponentially larger than ours. They're in serious trouble. Ken Ulman has continued to address our priorities (schools and safe streets) without enacting back-breaking budget cuts. Considering the obstacles he inherited (a nationwide economic downturn, crippling snowstorms, etc.), he deserves credit for his fiscal approach.

Freemarket said...

Who said anything about Ken Ulman or Howard County? I was referring to the $2 billion state deficit. Of course, Ken Ulman has his own $20 million budget problems.

Anonymous said...

Oh come in, Ken Ulman inherited a bad economy and deficit, a snowstorm? What revisionist history are you spouting? Ulman had a $28 Million dollar surplus when He was elected, Robey never had full time County Taxpayer funded police "protection". And Robey didn't have an unused hybird in His driveway - Ulman has was $48 million and counting, He didn't inherit any of that!!!!

Anonymous said...

a simple eye-roll would have sufficed.

Anonymous said...

You can't tell me that the economic downturn and huge snowstorms didn't contribute to the county's current budget deficit. Plus, the $20 million stat that critics like to harp on will be closed by the end of this fiscal year. We'll retain our AAA bond rating. Ulman has this under control.

Anonymous said...

COULD WE SHUT UP ABOUT THE AAA BOND RATING?? it is WORTHLESS.

Read Bloomberg, WSJ, SEC filings, etc....the ratings agencies are under fire much as the municipalities who bought into their shtick.

Anonymous said...

Ulman overspent especially on ex bloggers who are now high paid county employees blogging to cover His spending fiasco!

Anonymous said...

So with the "His" quip, I'm guessing you're making Ulman out to be some sort of monarch. Clever. Since you're so certain of his spending habits and his overpaying of ex-bloggers, would you be so kind as to provide the rest of us with the statistics proving that point? I'm sure we're all curious to see where you're getting your data. You'd think such a "spending fiasco" would be getting more press...

Anonymous said...

Anon, don't you know? This is how Freemarket operates. He loves stringing together irrelevant facts and creating his own truth. Isn't this all the Republican'ts do? They must make up facts and mass distractions. Otherwise, they would be the constant minority. Its the only hope they have.

Freemarket said...

Anon 1:35- the anon you are responding to was not referring to anything I said and furthermore I am not a Republican so your comment makes no sense. Just so you know!