So far Democrats in Cecil County are making some noise and garnering the attention of the State Party. Congrats to everyone who’s been involved in taking this our party in this county to the next level. A special thanks to all who made it out to the melanie’s March health care reform rally in Aberdeen last week. Cecil County made their presence known at this high profile event, which featured great speakers and nearly 100 total participants. Check out melaniesmarch.com for more info on the culminating events in Washington, DC

Here are events scheduled for March, and a head-start on April for a fundraiser for Chris Sutton. Tickets to the below events will be available at the Dem Club Meeting.

March 2010 Cecil County Democratic Events:

Thursday, March 4: Democrat Club meeting. 6:30pm North East, VFW

Tuesday, March 9: Young Dems meeting. 7pm Ruby Tuesday, Elkton, MD

Friday, March 12: Bowers for Central Committee Kick-off. 7-9pm Bentley’s, Elkton, MD http://www.bowersforcc.com for more info and tickets

Wednesday, March 24: Central Committee Monthly Meeting. 6:30pm Ulrich&Ulrich, Elkton, MD

Saturday, March 27th: Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser. Details here.

Head Start on April:

Friday, April 9: Sutton for Sheriff Pig Roast. 6p-9p, Tea Barn.

http://www.suttonforsheriff.com for more info and tickets.

Congressman Frank Kratovil will be hosting 2 “How to Pay for College” forums, that have been rescheduled from the snow storms. Please check out the new dates below and contact his office if you have any questions.

Monday, February 22nd – Chesapeake College (THIS MONDAY)
5:30 PM – The Performing Arts Center
Maryland 213 & Rte. 50
Queenstown, MD

Saturday, February 27th – Fallston H.S.
9:30 AM – Auditorium
2301 Carrsmill Rd.
Fallston, MD

Friends – I want to pass along the following OPED that was published this morning in the Cecil Whig. It expresses the concerns and frustrations I have had with the hyper partisanship in Washington, DC over the last year. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to contact my office.

With warm regards,

Rep. Frank M. Kratovil, Jr.

Bipartisanship vital now more than ever

Published: Friday, February 19, 2010

On Presidents Day, we learned that two-term senator from Indiana, Evan Bayh, was the next in a line of senior members of Congress who have announced that they are not seeking re-election. Bayh cited the lack of bi-partisanship on Capitol Hill as his reason for retirement, saying “there is too much partisanship and not enough progress — too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving.”

Since coming to Congress a little over a year ago I have been confronted with the same frustrations and have been searching to find consensus among my colleagues in a more and more contentious environment.

Bayh’s retirement strikes a particular chord among moderates like me. Bayh was known as a legislator who was willing to cross party lines and put principle before politics.

In trying times we need more men and women of similar character in Congress; but instead the system has forced a good deal of them to throw up their hands and give way to the more extremist factions of both parties.

In our history as a nation we have had the most success when we have legislated from the middle. The best ideas get their start with compromise and a willingness to negotiate across the aisle, not through the political bickering that only leads to entrenched ideologies where anyone’s success equals another’s political failure.

Many who have made bi-partisanship the hallmarks of their career, have ultimately lost faith in a system that seemingly rewards partisanship and favors those who fail to compromise. After more than a year in Congress I believe that we can change this failing system and bring back the type of government that the American people want and deserve.

One area where this change can begin is budget reform. We agree that as a nation we can no longer afford to spend money that we do not have. For the sake of future generations we need to make the tough choices that American families are faced with every day. Neither party has a monopoly on good ideas, so instead of political posturing we need to come to the table and figure out a way to reform the budget process so that debt and deficits no longer threaten everything from our economy to our national security.

In my short tenure, I have tried to work with colleagues from both sides of the aisle and fought for initiatives that would encourage more openness, cooperation, and bipartisanship in Congress.

I remain dedicated to governing with the independent spirit that my constituents deserve and will continue to seek compromise and consensus while urging colleagues to do the same. If we can do this then we can make the changes to our system that will once again welcome legislators of good conscience who seek to put politics aside and move our country in the right direction.

U.S. Rep. Frank M. Kratovil Jr. is the congressman from Maryland’s 1st District.

__________________________________________________

P.S. – My “How to Pay for College” forums had to be rescheduled due to the snowstorms. Please check out the new dates below and contact my office if you have any questions.

Monday, February 22nd – Chesapeake College (THIS MONDAY)
5:30 PM – The Performing Arts Center
Maryland 213 & Rte. 50
Queenstown, MD

Saturday, February 27th – Fallston H.S.
9:30 AM – Auditorium
2301 Carrsmill Rd.
Fallston, MD

This upcoming weekend The Pampered Pet of Elkton, MD will be giving a portion of their proceeds to the Humane Society. The Pampered Pet is a Pet grooming and washing business owned by Democratic Sheriff’s Candidate, Chris Sutton.
We hope that if you or anyone you know have a dog that is close to needing a bath or a grooming to head on over to the Pampered Pet on Saturday, February 20 or Sunday, February 21 during regular business hours to support this great cause.
The Pampered Pet of Elkton is located at 229 S. Bridge Street in Elkton.
For more information or appointments, give them a call at: 410-392-5588.

A special thanks to Chris Sutton and his staff for giving back to the community!

Special thanks are in order to Stephen Crockett of Dem Talk Radio for this great piece published today, except below:

Most progressives have little respect for the Fox News generated “Tea Party” movement. However, it has tapped into a very real populist anger with the direction the country is headed in at this point in our history.

Progressives should see a real opportunity in the emergence of the “Tea Party” movement to educate the public and re-direct the anger to the real villains whose actions and policies created the many problems faced by the citizens of the United States of America. Our government has failed the American public by serving corporate interests and private profit instead of the public good…

Read the full Article and comment here.

Greetings to all,

I hope that this message arrives in time to let you know that due to the impending weather advisory that we will be canceling tonight’s Cecil County Young Democrats meeting, regularly scheduled for 7:00pm at Ruby Tuesday in Elkton.
We have yet to determine whether or not to reschedule the meeting for February, or hold off until March to reconvene.

Please note the following items that were of importance to tonight’s agenda, and e-mail me with any additional concerns leading up to the next meeting:
Adopt-a-highway scheduling for March.
MS Walk, April 24.
Young Democrats of Maryland Convention Feb 26, 27.
Possible paid jobs working for state candidates for office.

Please note- I will be sending out a follow up e-mail this afternoon on the YDM convention, including a tentative schedule of events and possible arrangements for hotels. Please do not hesitate to call me at 410-575-DEMS with any questions you have on the convention, or any other topics, as I realize that they are time sensitive.

Thank you all for your understanding,
Jobeth Bowers
President
Cecil County Young Democrats

The Republican victory in Massachusetts is the very definition of foreshadowing.

We as a party need to unite. We need to hold our congressman’s feet to the fire. Bush did more with less, yet we have a super majority. We gave the torch to our party and they’re doing just about everything they can to put it out.

Enough of this compromising BS. I voted for change, not for compromise. We need to remind our congressmen that voters turned out in record numbers to vote for change. Not compromise. We need to remind them the role independents played in the election in 2008. We need to remind them again of the role independents played in the election of Scot Brown.

Above all, we need to let fellow Democrats know it’s OKAY to question your party. It’s OKAY to be angry with your party. That means you care enough to fix it. It’s only when people stop caring when one should have concern.

If we don’t do something. If we don’t ensure our congressmen grow a spine, we’ll be seeing more “Scott Brown’s” in this years election. Even worse, we may see a “Scott Brown” in the white house in 2012.

Let this be our wake up call and not our downfall.

As I travel around Maryland’s First Congressional District, neighbors and constituents are never shy about sharing their opinion of Congress. It’s clear from these conversations that there is a deep and growing lack of trust among voters toward Congress, and as I reflect back on my first year in Washington, I have to say that I can understand why. For years now, regardless of which party has controlled Congress, “business as usual” in Washington has come to mean unbalanced budgets, inadequate oversight, and abuses of the legislative process.

On Wednesday, President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address to Congress and the American public, laying out both his assessment of where we stand and his agenda for the next year. But I believe that any discussion of policy goals must first begin with a call for broader reform of the way Congress does business. In advance of Wednesday’s State of the Union speech, here are elements of the reform agenda that I believe must be a priority in 2010.

Budget reform. In my first year in office, I was proud to support Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) budget rules requiring any bill that increases spending or decreases revenue to also identify where the money is going to come from to pay for it. Moving forward, we must now also implement meaningful discretionary spending caps, which would limit under the law the maximum allowable year-to-year increase in discretionary spending. Taken together, spending caps and PAYGO laws helped create the budget surpluses of the 1990’s, and restoring these common-sense policies would be an important step in restoring fiscal sanity to Washington. I am currently drafting legislation to establish these binding discretionary spending caps, which will be a top priority of mine in 2010.

Tax reform. In addition to budget reform, tax reform is also on my agenda for 2010. Our federal tax code is a mess of loopholes and carve outs, and we’re long overdue for a comprehensive review to determine which of these credits are working and which aren’t. We need to re-focus our tax code to make sure middle class families and small businesses are getting a fair deal. I have introduced a bill to encourage the creation of new small businesses by increasing the small business tax deduction for startup costs from $5,000 to $20,000. Common sense ideas like this are a smart way to encourage job growth to support our continued economic recovery.

Appropriations reform. Abhorrent abuses of taxpayer funds like the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” rightly draw the outrage of lawmakers and the public, but the response to abuses like this should be to reform the appropriations process, not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We need to find a way to root out the abuses and the waste without also threatening funding of important local priorities, like much-needed improvements to U.S. 404 or beach replenishment efforts to protect property, jobs, and economic activity in Ocean City. Earmark reform means more accountability and more transparency, which is why I am working on legislation to require audits for earmarks to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being targeted as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Legislative reform. At the same time we’re pursuing these policy goals, we also need to fix the rules under which Congress reviews and passes bills. I agree with critics who say that Congress sometimes moves too fast on legislation, and this has been one of my biggest frustrations in my first year in office. At times I have been successful in slowing down this pace, as in July when I joined with colleagues in both parties in convincing House Leadership not to force a vote on health care reform legislation until after the August recess. However, the rules must be changed to guarantee adequate time for review and consideration of all bills, both by lawmakers and the public. A bill I have co-sponsored would require all legislation to be posted online at least 72 hours before a final vote, and I am also working on a broader proposal to ensure appropriate consideration periods for amendments and other substantive proposals.

As Washington prepares for Wednesday’s State of the Union address, there will be a lot of discussion about what policies the President and Congress should pursue in the year ahead. I believe that reform must be the centerpiece of this agenda, and it will certainly be the central focus of my own efforts in Congress in 2010.

Here are a list of important, upcoming events in Cecil County and throughout the State that may be of interest to you.
As always, please forward this e-mail to any other democrats that may be interested in being involved!

Sunday, January 31, 2010- Voter Registration. Location/Time TBD Call 410-575-DEMS if interested (Weather permitting)
Monday, Feburary 1, 2010- Women’s Democratic Club Monthly Meeting. 6:00pm North East Library
Thursday, February 4, 2010- Democratic Club Meeting. 6:30pm VFW North East, MD
Thursday Feb 4-Saturday Feb 6. DNC Winter Meetings. See below for full schedule.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010- Young Democrats Meeting. 7:00pm Ruby Tuesday, Elkton, MD
Saturday, February 13, 2010- Volunteer Meeting for Frank Kratovil Re-election Campaign. TBD- Call 410-575-DEMS for info
Saturday, February 20, 2010- Voter Registration. Location.Time TBD Call 410-575-DEMS if interested (weather permitting)
Fri/Sat February 26-27, 2010- Young Democrats of Maryland Annual Convention.Sign up at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/event.php?eid=267893763931&index=1

Also, In an effort to reach out and assess key interests of registered democrats I will have “call sheets” available to anyone who wishes to contribute a little of their free time to calling fellow democrats and determining which issues are important to them. E-mail me directly jobethbowers@gmail.com to get more info on this important effort.

Title: Cecil County Women\’s Democrats
Location: Public Library, North East, MD
Description: Monthly Meeting of the Cecil County Women\’s Democrats
Start Time: 18:00
Date: 2010-02-01