Legum’s New Line

On Sunday, the campaign celebrated the 4th of July by marching in parades in Shady Side, Galesville and Annapolis.

Here are a couple of shots of our energetic group getting ready for the Annapolis parade:

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If you are concerned about the Chesapeake Bay and how to restore it to health, don’t miss former Senator Gerald Winegrad’s article in today’s Capital. An excerpt:

Agriculture contributes 43 percent of the nitrogen, 45 percent of the phosphorus and 60 percent of the sediment to the bay, more than any other source of these three key pollutants;

For some river systems, farm pollutants overwhelm pollution from development and all other sources;

Agriculture has met only 50 percent of its pollution reduction goals that were supposed to be met by 2010. For wastewater treatment plants, 99 percent of the phosphorus and 78 percent of the nitrogen goals have been met despite huge increases in sewerage flows and great expense, including the Flush Tax on all Marylanders; and

Reducing farm pollutants is the most cost-effective way to save the bay.

Winegrad asks, “We wouldn’t let a town of 25,000 people dump untreated human waste on open lands; why should we allow the dumping of the equivalent amount of manure from 150,000 chickens without meaningful regulation?”

Winegrad is part of a group environmental leaders that’s recommending 8 science-based measures to curb pollution into the Bay from agriculture. You can read that entire report here.

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Yesterday, the Capital published an Op-Ed I wrote about how Maryland can make its budget leaner and more efficient. Here’s an excerpt:

I have spent the past several months knocking on doors in Broadneck, Annapolis and south county, talking to Marylanders about their concerns. One topic keeps coming up: The state budget.

There’s a good reason: Maryland faces at least a $6 billion structural deficit over the next four years. We should not try to solve this problem through tax increases and furloughs. We need to take the problem head on by making government leaner and more efficient.

To do so, we need to open ourselves up to new solutions. Here are some ideas worth considering:

1. Switch most state employees to a four-day, 40-hour work week. By doing this, the state could close most offices on Friday. Police, firefighters, prisons, courts and other essential services would continue to operate on a regular schedule. Utah implemented this schedule last year and saved millions by reducing energy use 13 percent and cutting maintenance bills. Employees saved over $6 million on gasoline and had more flexibility to spend time with their families. Citizens benefit because state agencies are open later, giving them more flexibility. Maryland, with more than twice the population of Utah, could enjoy even greater savings.

2. End special interest giveaways. Maryland plans to spend over $40 million between now and 2020 subsidizing the purchase of coal. This is not only a waste of money, it runs counter to our goal of increasing the use of green, renewable resources. The state fails to even calculate the cost of dozens of other special interest tax breaks. All of these measures should be scrutinized and eliminated, where appropriate.

3. Embrace open source software. The state should stop paying millions of dollars to companies such as Microsoft for bloated software full of features most state employees do not use. Open source software is available for free or at a nominal cost. For example, while Microsoft Office costs hundreds of dollars, OpenOffice is a free alternative with virtually identical functionality. A recent study found the federal government could save nearly $4 billion a year by switching to open source software. Maryland could certainly reap substantial savings. Moreover, IT experts say open source software is now more secure than its traditional counterparts.

4. Eliminate or consolidate state boards and agencies. There are some state agencies we can eliminate completely. For example, we have an agency called the State Board of Contract Appeals, dedicated to adjudicating disputes between the state and its contractors. In 2003, a bipartisan commission recommended the agency be eliminated because the few dozen cases before it each year could be handled more efficiently by the regular court system. Seven years later, it is still around and taxpayers are on the hook for $3 million over the next five years to keep it running.

In other cases, we can consolidate functions. We currently have one group of engineers, architects and planners devoted to building stadiums and arenas (Maryland Stadium Authority) and another devoted to building schools (Interagency for Public School Construction). These two entities perform many of the same tasks and could be combined into a unified state construction agency.

You can read the whole thing here.

Please let me know your thoughts. You can reach me directly at judd@juddlegum.com or 443-510-8880.

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Last weekend, we had a very successful kickoff for the campaign. Thanks to everyone who braved the heat, especially those who hit the streets afterward to knock doors.

If you’d like to get involved with the campaign, you can sign up to volunteer here.

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As I walk door-to-door in my district, the economic diversity of the area is striking. One minute you find yourself surrounded by multi-million dollar mansions. You turn the corner and you find extremely modest homes.

The Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County recently released a fascinating report documenting the deep pockets of poverty in a largely affluent and bucolic community. Although 39% of families earn in excess of $100,000 a year, many others struggle. The report’s findings include:

Poverty. Over 22,000 Anne Arundel County residents lived in poverty as of the middle of this decade according to recent U.S. Census data, and over 7,000 of these are children.

Health. In addition to difficulties accessing housing, the share of Anne Arundel residents lacking health insurance swelled to 57,000 people in 2007, or more than 11 percent of the population.

Public Transportation. Limited public transportation imposes significant barriers on access to both work and public services for many Anne Arundel citizens. Only 3 percent of Anne Arundel residents utilize public transit to get to work.

A bright spot was in education. The report found that graduation rates have increased substantially over the last several years and the gap between White and minority graduation rates has narrowed considerably.

You can read Pamela Wood’s article on the report here.

You can check out the entire report for yourself here.

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Some great news today for anyone who cares about the health of the Chesapeake Bay. From the Washington Post:

The Environmental Protection Agency will be legally bound to clean the soiled waters of the Chesapeake Bay after reaching an agreement Tuesday to enforce tough new standards for pollution reduction.

…Under the agreement, the EPA will mandate that states limit their nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment flow into the bay in compliance with an overall daily maximum being formulated by the federal agency.

The lawsuit, in which the [Chesapeake Bay Foundation] joined with watermen, fishermen and several public officials, was filed after state governments and the EPA admitted three years ago that they would fall far short of meeting bay cleanup goals set under the 2000 agreement

More details on the agreement from the Feds press release:

The new federal strategy for the Chesapeake region released today focuses on protecting and restoring the environment in communities throughout the 64,000-square-mile watershed and in its thousands of streams, creeks and rivers. The strategy includes using rigorous regulations to restore clean water, implementing new conservation practices on 4 million acres of farms, conserving 2 million acres of undeveloped land and rebuilding oysters in 20 tributaries of the bay.

To increase accountability, federal agencies will establish milestones every two years for actions to make progress toward measurable environmental goals. These will support and complement the states’ two-year milestones…

The strategy deepens the federal commitment to the Chesapeake region, with agencies dedicating unprecedented resources, targeting actions where they can have the most impact, ensuring that federal lands and facilities lead by example in environmental stewardship and taking a comprehensive, ecosystem-wide approach to restoration. Many of the federal actions will directly support restoration efforts of local governments, nonprofit groups and citizens and provide economic benefits across the Chesapeake region.

A federal, coordinated solution is necessary because the Chesapeake Bay watershed includes six states and the District of Columbia.

Still, much work needs to be done.

First, the federal government has made promises regarding the Bay previously and has failed to follow through. Second, the settlement agreement leaves it to the states to create plans to comply with new federal pollution levels. So it will take leadership at the state level to ensure that Maryland, and all the other states in the watershed, do their part.

You can read the entire strategy, released today, HERE.

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Join us June 5 as we officially launch our campaign for State Delegate! Details below:

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Recently I wrote about the West/Rhode Riverkeeper’s annual report card and the poor scores those rivers received. Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler’s annual audit on the Chesapeake Bay, which was released this past week, helps explain the cause of the problem. According to Gansler, Maryland is inadequately prepared to deal with the environmental problems facing the Bay and its watershed. The three overriding concerns were specified as:

– pollution related to agriculture and growth

– insufficient agency resources to investigate and prosecute polluters

– inadequate penalties and fines to deter polluters

Gansler did an in-depth review of several rivers, including the West and Rhodes Rivers, both of which are in the district I am running to represent. Specific concerns in this area include:

– Nitrogen problems from septic systems which can be resolved by either connecting private homes to public sewage or installing nitrogen-removal systems for private septic systems. According to sources, there are funds available to repair or replace aging and failing septic systems from several different funds but they aren’t being used.

– Serious Critical Area violations including issues with construction, unlawful boat discharge and other blatant disregard for the laws.

– A high presence of sediments in local creeks showing that sod farms are contributing runoff.

– Considerable deficiency in funding which is due, in part, to insufficient law enforcement, particularly in regard to the collection of fines.

In general, there is a lack of awareness of environmental regulation laws, including boating behavior, farming techniques, sewage treatment, building development and a variety of general precautions for preserving the Bay. We also need to be more stringent about reporting violations, enforcing penalties and appropriating the funds we have available.

I’m running to help fix these problems and bring new energy and urgency to the task of cleaning up the Bay.

You can read the full AG audit here.

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There was fresh evidence this week that we aren’t doing nearly enough to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, particularly the rivers in the district I’m running to represent.

The West/Rhode Riverkeeper released its annual report card this weekend of the two Southern Anne Arundel County rivers. It wasn’t pretty.

You can check out the entire West/Rhode Riverkeeper report here.

The South River, which is also in my district, also received poor scores in a recent report card. You can check out the report card for the South River from the South River Federation here.

The Chesapeake Bay Program, a state/federal partnership tasked with restoring the Bay, had similar news for the Bay as a whole. Despite progress on some specific indicators, the overall condition of the Bay remains bleak.

A key graph:

Water quality, for example, is only at 24 percent of its goals. …Bay Barometer also shows that much more progress is needed to reduce nonpoint source pollution from agricultural, suburban and urban runoff.

You can read the full report from the Bay Program here.

There are three report cards but there is one overriding message: what we are doing now isn’t working.

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I’ve written previously about Del. Heather Mizeur’s open government bill that, among other things, would require committee votes to be posted online, create a real time tracking system for floor votes and allow people to sign up online to testify before a committee.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought it was a good idea. Mizeur’s bill attracted a majority of lawmakers in both chambers as co-sponsors, seemingly putting it on the fast-track for passage.

But yet, the Washington Post reported this morning that Mizeur’s bill is not expected pass this year. Why?

Some of those close to the committee say codifying anything about putting hearings online, for example, could be a bad idea because technology may change. Chairmen of some powerful committees have also told the Rules Committee they are concerned about a provision letting members of the public sign up online to testify on legislation because they fear it could lead to too many people attending hearings.

In other words, some powerful members are concerned that if we make government more transparent more people will participate. This is exactly why we need this bill. The more people who participate in government, the better government works. When fewer people participate government ends up being controlled by insiders and special interests.

Unfortunately, there are still people committed to keeping citizens on the sidelines. I’m running to help change that.

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