The Soon-To-Be-Famous Cohen Postcard

It might be hard to see, so I'll summarize. It's a Cohen piece with Obama's picture that says "continue our progress by voting for the following candidates", then shows Cohen along with the African American Democrat candidates running on Tuesday. Noticeably absent are the Caucasian Democrat candidates, prompting obvious cries of racial politics, divisiveness, the same old story, and certainly NOT the politics of change and bringing people together.

How Much Money Does The City Make From Parking

This isn't what I would call a "hot button issue" right now, but I had to look this information up today, and I want to write it down before I forget it. I actually called city finance director Tim Elliot to verify this information, and was immediately reprimanded the the Political Bloggers Alliance (Local 637) for breaking their "RAM" business model for blogging: Rumors, Attacks, & Misnomers.

So, for no particular reason other than you might like to know, here are some facts about parking costs and revenues in 2010.

-The parking garages are managed by Park America. The city will pay them $1.02 million and they will manage and staff the garages and 2 lots owned by the city.

-The garages and 2 lots will generate about $3.7 million in revenue (which the city gets).

-The garages and lots will produce a surplus (profit) of about $800,000, after accounting for depreciation, the money paid to Park America, debt service on the bonds issued to build the garages, and other expenses.

-If you want to know how much money each specific garage produces, you can look at the budget for the Central Services Department.

-The garages and lots are collectively known as "off street parking" and the budget details can be found in the "off street parking enterprise fund".

-The on-street parking is listed in the budget as "parking operations". Parking operations are listed in the budget for the transportation department but as of last year they are actually a part of the police department.

-Expenditure on parking operations is estimated to be $739,000. $680,000 of that is salaries and benefits for parking enforcement officers, and the rest is gas for their vehicles, and other things.

-Parking operations revenue is budgeted at $1.8 million: $900,000 each from parking meters and citations.

-Parking operations therefore results in a surplus (profit) of about $1.06 million.

-The city plans to collect $78,500 through the sale of residential parking permits.

So, to answer the question that is the title of this post:

$800,000: profit from off-street parking (garages and lots)
$1,061,000: profit from parking operations (meters and tickets)
$78,500: sales of residential parking permits
_______
$1,939,500 total 2010 profit associated with parking.

Bowling vows to repeal 54% increase in Liquor Fees

For Immediate Release

Contact: Scott Bowling, 443-822-3170
Corey Stottlemeyer (301) 331-8028

Bowling vows to repeal 54% increase in Liquor Fees

(Annapolis, MD, October 19,2009) Today, Scott Bowling (Candidate for Alderman, Ward 3)
denounced Mayor Ellen Moyer, Finance Committee Chair Classie Hoyle, and the rest of the
Annapolis City Council for the 54-percent increase in liquor fees for restaurants, taverns,
package goods stores, and hotels and vows to introduce a budget amendment to repeal this
increase when elected on November 3rd• These fee increases on residents and businesses that are buried in the budget and passed by the Council under a cloud of secrecy must end.

According to The Capital editorial on Sunday, October 18,2009, Finance Committee Chair,
Alderwoman Classie Hoyle stated "the liquor license fees were in the budget, had anyone
bothered to look". The Capital goes on to say, "That's the problem: The council thinks it's the
taxpayer's responsibility, not its own, to know about fee increases. The Alderman would rather
tell us about awards and plastic bag bans."

"Once again, the Mayor and Council are going out of their way to hurt our local businesses in
Annapolis," said Bowling. "Worse yet, they are making these laws in a vacuum. They are not
talking to the businesses that are affected by the fee hikes."

These new fees come on top of a 30-percent increase from the previous year, placing liquor fees
in Annapolis significantly higher than Baltimore City and other Maryland municipalities.

"In these tough economic times, the Mayor and City Council should be working with businesses,
not taxing them," said Bowling. "Unfortunately, this is what we have come to expect from
Alderwoman Hoyle, Mayor Moyer, and their cohorts at City Hall."

"At best the Council was negligent in approving these fees without a more transparent process," said Bowling. "At worst, they were deceptive."

####

Yes, This Blog Is Alive

I'm going to take a minute to address the following comment that I received on my most recent blog update:

Paul A. Richards said...

IS THIS BLOG ALIVE?

No postings for 3 weeks -- then a political ad. Is this a Fox blog?

Please explain.

October 17, 2009 7:14 PM

Short answer: yes the blog is alive, and no, it's not a "Fox Blog".

And now for the long answer*.

(*Note: blogs are known for long answers to short questions.)

I started this blog like 2 and a half years ago to combat boredom. Having recently underwent ankle surgery, I was looking for a way to entertain myself without ruining the surgical precision of Dr. Holt, so I decided to use my limited writing talent and limited knowledge of politics to produce a blog that was of interest to a limited number of people.

When I started the blog, my life was RELATIVELY stable. I enjoyed a modicum of free time, and the blog thrived!

These days, the life is not so stable. My basement keeps flooding, Mrs. Politics wants me to take her out to dinner all the time**, work is growing ever busier, and various other factors have conspired to minimize my free time. Since I have no intentions of using this blog as a career or a money maker, it gets last priority and I post if and when it suits me. Lately, it's been not that much.

(**Note to Mrs. Politics: just kidding! Sometimes I have to exaggerate to increase the popularity and ratings of this blog. And if this blog is popular, we are a popular couple! Work with me.)

I am working on the Fox campaign. That's not a secret. Because my time is limited and because my opinion is biased, you see Fox updates and promotions here. However, this blog is not a "puppet" of the campaign. There are differences between policies that I advocate here and what the next Mayor of Annapolis advocates on his campaign platform.

Don't worry! Election day is November 3rd. On my calendar, November 4th is scheduled as "Bars and Cigars". But starting November 5th, I will return to my "pre-campaign and pre-crazy-work" level of blogging, and all will be well once more.

Also I hope to live blog the next council meeting, so mark your calendar!

Chris Fox TV Spot

"Fox For Mayor" Trivia Team Takes Second Place In Trivia Grandchampionship

Every Monday at the Sly Fox Pub there is a heated trivia competition. The questions are researched by an employee of Sly Fox, and up to 30 teams participate.

Mrs. Politics, ever the trivia savant, was on a trivia team aptly named "Fox For Mayor". Points were accumulated from week to week, and the top-performers were invited to participate in a playoff featuring a different format and more difficult questions.

The playoff took place this past Monday, with the "Fox For Mayor" team taking second place! Mrs. Politics, noting that posts on this blog don't always have to be about politics, asked that I post an announcement about the accomplishment.

I agreed to make such a post, and failure to do so until now has been a source of fodder from my better half for the past 6 days!

So here it is, hon. Congratulations!

Is Zina....Staying In?

That apparently might still happen. Everyone be on rumor alert.

Zina Pierre Stays In The Race.

Democratic Process Influenced By Failure of Journalism

This is a continuation of this post. I could have included all this info in the same post, but the more posts you make, the more hits you get on your blog. And the more hits you get on your blog, the more likely you are to win the lottery. Why do you think people write such drivel on blogs?

(Note to bloggers: just kidding. Just trying to entertain the masses.)

(Note 2.0 to bloggers: don't write drivel.)

So, everyone likes to make fun of the media, and for good reason---many media outlets are terrible. In Annapolis, we have the misfortune of having only one major newspaper, The Capital, which is particularly infamous for inaccuracy. This blog named itself to point out the shortcomings of the newspaper. The bumper sticker "End Capital Punishment, Cancel Your Subscription" serves the same purpose. On the rare occasions in my life when I have spoken with people important enough to have their names/stories told in The Capital, I've heard horror stories of quotes that began as "Mrs. Politics is a great girlfriend" and ended as "Mayor Moyer kicked me in the rear end".

The Capital totally missed this story. The Post and The Sun missed it too, but they have an excuse because they actually have other real stories to write about. The Capital should have uncovered this long ago. I would have uncovered it myself, buy my legal team advises me that the farther away I stay from the court system, the better.

Imagine how different the campaign would have been if Zina's legal history was reported a year ago when she entered the race. Sam Shropshire, a sitting alderman, is facing highly publicized legal troubles....and he received 9 votes. NINE. VOTES. Before this campaign, Zina Pierre had no name recognition in this town. If somebody that nobody knows was labeled as having such problems, would their campaign have even gotten off the ground? Probably not. Instead of (essentially) a 3-person race, would it have been Josh vs Trudy? Who knows what the outcome would have been?

As it is, the media missed the story, Zina was elected, and now has withdrawn. The Democrat central committee gets to pick the replacement. Cohen certainly has to be a front runner. Will McFall lobby for the nomination? I would. One can't help but think that if the media did its job, she might not have had this burden.

Pierre Withdraws From Race; Central Committee Can Choose Replacement

Whenever something confuses me in politics, I always look for the most cynical explanation possible. Such an approach is usually accurate in ascertaining the truth, and has served me well on several occasions where suspension of total disbelief was a good quality to have.

One day after Zina Pierre was officially certified as the Democrat nominee for the Mayoral election, details of legal problems surfaced. The Capital sent out an email confirming that, in the face of these revelations and citing personal reasons, Zina had decided to drop out of the race. I believe The Sun will run a story tomorrow.

To quote a poker promo from ESPN: this is beyond fairy-tale, it's inconceivable. So what now? You're going to like this. Section 4.20.150 (C) of the city code allows a candidate nominated for office to decline their nomination within 10 days of receiving that nomination. And wouldn't you know it: it's less than 10 days since Zina received the nomination. And wouldn't you also know, section 4.20.160 allows the central committee--in this case the Democrat Central Committee--to fill the vacancy with WHICHEVER CANDIDATE THEY PICK.

Here's the email from the chairman of the Democrat Central Committee:

Dear ADCC Members and Friends,

Zina has withdrawn her candidacy after the revelations of her legal
problems. We in no way urged her to do so and left it to her judgment. We feel
sad for her and all her supporters.This puts a great deal of importance on
the ADCC, that by city code is charged to name a successor by October 2. ADCC is
under no City Charter/Code restraints in our choice and we then must establish
the procedures for our choice.

We will have to meet shortly. Our meeting for September 23 is still on.
Let me know if these dates are available to the elected members: Sept. 24, 25,
26, 28, and 29. In the meantime, consult with Democrats in your wards, our
elected officials, and your own thoughts.

Still, Victory in ‘09!
Nick

The statement that "we in no way urged" Zina is of course believed by everyone to be fucking bullshit. I'm sorry to cuss but it's such an arrogant attitude that one is left with no other articulation of one's feelings.

The email chatter has been off the charts on this issue, so I'll pass that along to you. In addition to the email chatter, I've had several verbal conversations about what's happening. My promise to you, the blog reader, is that I will plagiarize equally the thoughts I heard from emails and those from phone conversations.

I enjoy email chatter, because it tends to offer the most cynical and far-fetched explanations of any given event. And as we learned at the beginning of this post, that makes it correct. Even the most amateur politico could follow the storyline. The "chosen candidate", Josh Cohen, gets in the race because he has the backing of the machine and thinks he can win with their money and influence. The "machine" is defined as Mike Busch, John Astle, Ellen Moyer, and the Democrat Central Committee. The machine got Sam Shropshire elected in this manner, and they're at it again.

I guarantee this info about Zina is not new. The machine likely dug it up when Zina jumped in the race, but sat on it in hopes that Josh would win straight up and they wouldn't have to use it. When Zina won, they sprung into action--and they worked quickly because they knew the code says Zina would have to resign within 10 days of winning the primary. I mean, think about it....Zina knows politics. She worked for Bill Clinton, and runs a lobbying firm. She had enough expertise to beat Cohen--despite his machine backing; and to beat Trudy McFall--who ran a perfect campaign for 2 years. You mean to tell me that one setback would be enough to convince her to drop out of the race for personal reasons?? Shenanigans!! I call shenanigans! The legal problems seem to deal with economic circumstances. So Zina is facing economic hardship...just like half of freeking Annapolis! A clever candidate could spin that in their favor...not bow out of the race.

You know what else is interesting?? People always talk about "ending the partisanship"...the bickering between Republicans and Democrats. But this wasn't the Republicans sticking it to the Democrats--this was Democrat skulduggery all the way!! "Incest Partisanship" is what I call it--don't be surprised if that term catches on. Heck, the Republican candidate hasn't done anything political in, like...8 years! It's not enough for the machine to retain power for their party; they have to retain power for their lineage.

Now, as far as I know, Josh has not yet been officially selected as the replacement for Zina. I know Josh on a quasi-personal level, and I will say that he's been pleasant on the few occasions we've ordered beers from the same bartender. He's commented on this blog before, and is more than welcome to offer an explanation. But this whole thing reeks of a sinister plan executed as designed.

Edit: After posting this, I spoke with someone who I consider to be reliable and knowledgeable, and that person swears the machine had no prior knowledge of these issues. It's hard to believe but I guess it's plausible. Could it possibly not be Cohen that is chosen by the central committee?

There is still much to consider. First, as the first commenter says, what a failure of journalism. If the Capital spent as much time researching their candidate profiles as they do the Home of The Week, we would have known about Zina's problems long ago.

...which brings me to another point--Zina deserves blame. The charges against her, if intentional, represent characteristics we don't want in a mayor. There were questions--including on this blog--about Zina's candidacy when she entered the race. And for every question answered, we have 3 new ones in its place.

Pierre

Zina Pierre is unofficially the Democrat nominee.