What tax increases are these people talking about? After Obama took office, my taxes have decreased.

Instead of complaining about a nonexistant problem, why dont these people help to come up with some real solutions to get the economy going- the very serious problem that we have right now.

Dr. Jim Pelula is part of the problem not part of the solution. His mentor Bob Ehrlich soaked Marylanders with his massive fee hikes.

Hey Chum,

But as soon as O'Malley was put elected he raised $1.8 billion in taxes.

Tax Revenue is shrinking as the months go by.

So how does this make us any better under O' Malley then Ehrlich?

I thought O'Malley was suppose to save us from BGE. The rates increase more under this Governor then the last one.

To James who wrote that his taxes have decreased. This is due to "make work pay" and I would suggest that he read the 2009 IRS withholding calculator on the IRS website and articles on CNN Money and MSNBC regarding this change to withholding. Politics aside, this was a poorly thought out way to give people some extra money. It seems that each employer will be adjusting your taxes, so a married couple will get double what they were entitled to and those working two jobs will likewise be given double the benefit. Guess what, if this describes you, you will have to pay it back come tax time next year. Please Check your withholding this year, don't get suprised next year!

I have to agree with Andy on this one. They are all in this boat together.
I will not attend to hear a political hack tell me how 'this time' they will lower my taxes, or promise to spend my money on programs that work.
President Obama did that for 2 years. Nothing has changed. If anything we will be paying more.
I'd rather see them stand in the middle of the crowd and just listen. One may then understand why people are so upset. God only knows we have written our representatives, pouring our hearts and souls out to them with our concerns, via e-mail and snail mail and telephone calls.
This is our party. You had yours last night.

With that said I would love to see Mike Miller, Mike Busch and Martin O'Malley there. I think they will be hiding under their desks.

What I will do though is watch, read, digest and pay close attention to tomorrow's rally.

I did the No New Taxes Rally in Annapolis during the Special Session. All they did was laugh at us.

There has been a lot of talk of the teetering-on-the-brink state party for Republicans so of course they would like to take credit. Sort of like O'Malley took credit for domestic violence bills that Anthony Brown worked.

Gov. O'Malley passed the largest tax hike in Maryland history. It seems pretty obviously that is who they are referring to when they say tax hikes. President Obama just increased spending so much that massive tax hikes will be needed down the road.

Andy,

A few days ago you mentioned that the State spent less this year than last year in the budget, yet, I see all these Republicans talking about how spending increased 3.5%.

Which is it Andy? Are you right, or are the Republicans right because you both are saying very opposite things.

I mean, if the budget, thanks to all the federal stimulus money from DC, actually increased, that would undermine Governor O'Malley's claims of being fiscally prudent.

However, if the state spent less, including it's spending of federal stimulus tax dollars, then it would take the wind out of the sails of all these tea party folks.

Yes, we are sponsoring and promoting the events and spreading the word about the Democrats failed policies in Maryland. But, this is a citizen driven event, we are just spreading the word. There are Democrats and Independents involved as well.

In Maryland, our Republican leaders have stood up for fiscal responsibility and against O'Malley's record tax hikes and deficit spending...

If anyone wants to contribute by the way, here's the link to click through: http://tinyurl.com/cen4bm

Andy is referring to the budget sans-federal funds and sans-debt. He did not mention several items were moved from the operating budget to debt servicing/cap budget (ICC, helicopters, POS, etc). And if the press wants to report then they would report it the same way they reported Geore W. Bush's budgets... these are his budgets, but he has separate budgets for the two wars and when you factor those in the increases are xyz.

But i don't blame Andy for it. He is fed the information by the Administration and given really tight deadlines i'm sure. Unfortunately the Administration has a little trend of misleading Marylanders and reporters. Now if you were saying JW...well, at night he finds the sch...oh nevermind.

Excellent question. We're both right, in a sense.

There are essentially two parts to the budget: The operating budget, and the special funds. The operating budget is the part that handles basic obligations of government, such as education, health care, public safety, etc. It is funded with state tax revenues. It is also the part of the budget that determines whether we are in structural balance or deficit.

(There are some caveats to that. For example, there's what's called "paygo" spending, that is spending for capital projects out of the operating fund. The state does more of this in good times but in bad times pays for those things through bonds. Also, there are contributions to reserve funds that can obscure the true picture, but generally speaking, the operating budget is what determines how fiscally healthy the state is.)

The special funds include activities sponsored by federal grants and other special pots of money, like the transportation trust fund. Because federal grants increased dramatically, this part of the budget went up. But the operating budget went down.

Come clean, Justin. The tea parties are Republican citizen driven events, and in Maryland they're Ehrlich driven events.

The lavishly funded Republican party auxiliary group, Americans for Prosperity, is behind this "Astro-tea" pseudo-event, and its Maryland chapter is headed by Ehrlich crony David Schwartz with assistance from the impressive young Eastern Shore GOP activist Nick Loffer.

Do tell, Mr. Schwartz--How much is AFP paying you to sponsor, plan, organize and supervise the "citizen driven" tea parties in Maryland?

When former RNC administrator John Flynn, the Ehrlich appointed executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, left his post, he became the salaried secretary of Americans for Prosperity.

Just last night, WBAL TV featured two nice women from Republican clubs in Carroll County organizing their local tea party.

But the most tellin anecdote came when Mr. Schwartz held a thinly attended kick-off press conference for AFP's Maryland chapter on Lawyers' Mall in Annapolis. The featured speaker, Cookie Kiser of City Line Diner was introduced as "an entrepreneur, single mother, and employer of 30," but no mention was made of the fact that she's one of former Gov. Ehrlich's closest longtime inner circle supporters and the hostess of the defacto Ehrlich kitchen cabinet.

- Steve Lebowitz

The pathetic Ehrlich led MDGOP gloms on to true national grass roots movement and uses it to beg for money.

I hear all over the net and tv the likes of Rachael Madcow and Olberbite calling those who are attending the protests tomorrow "tea baggers".

Call a queer a tea bagger and you will be called a homophobe.

They are doing everything in their power to denigrate what I hope are millions across the country as kooks.
Why is it ok for ACORN to break into a home that is not theirs and the press are grovelling at their feet even as the people involved are getting arrested for breaking and entering but the common working man letting their voice be heard are a derogatory term for homos?

Wake up people. They are coming after us and it will not be pretty.

Fed up:

You are a homophobe...The reason they are calling them "teabaggers" is because that is what they were calling themselves, without any idea what other meaning that word has.

too bad the rain is gonna put a damper on the freakfest in Annapolis...only the real wierdos who don't have jobs, or lives, will be there.

See what I mean?
Such double standard and hypocrisy from the leftists!

Hey Steve,

I wish we were lavishly funded...and MDGOP just spread the word and sponsored the already existing Tea Parties. 400 people showed up in Westminster last night...even if we were trying to "astro-tea" or whatever, it wouldn't have worked like it has because of average citizens who are upset about wasteful spending and high taxes.

And yes, we do whatever we can to raise money and compete with the Democrats who control this state.

I never said the Maryland GOP was lavishly funded, Justin. In fact, I'd say you do an admirable job with limited resources.

The organizer of the Maryland tea parties, however, the Republican auxiliary group, Americans For Progress, has a combined annual budget of over $8 million and pays its state directors from $70,000 to $114,000 in annual salary, accoring to publicly available records. They also disclose over $1 million in annual payments to GOP consultants.

Your Maryland GOP predecessors made the fundraising battle even tougher for you by contributing $50,000 of state party funds to the $417,000 inexplicably paid to an international commodities trading firm owned by a close associate of Michale Steele in the waning days of the last statewide race.

I'm sure prospective donors will think long and hard about that before entrusting your party or candidates with their hard earned money in the coming cycle.

- Steve Lebowitz