Democrats

My columnist and television pundit gigs have me thinking a great deal about the relative positions of the two parties heading into the midterm election cycle. For starters, the Democrats are ahead. Last November's elections gave the president a surprisingly strong victory and provided him with a comfortable margin in the U.S. Senate. These results have the usual suspects (Hollywood, academia, mainstream media) all aflutter with thoughts of an emergent progressive era in America. The picture is decidedly less rosy on the other side of the aisle.

Former Maryland congressional candidate Wendy W. Rosen pleaded guilty Friday to voting illegally in two elections and will serve five years probation and pay a $5,000 fine. The 58-year-old Rosen, who won a Democratic primary last year to challenge Republican Rep. Andy Harris in Maryland's 1st Congressional District, cast ballots in 2006 and 2010 in Baltimore County even though her legal residence was in Florida. The revelation last September ended her run. The sentence is the result of a plea agreement with the Office of the State Prosector.

A compromise in the General Assembly over legislation to undo a court ruling that declared pit bulls inherently dangerous has unraveled, turning what had appeared to be a settled issue into a dogfight between two veteran legislators. The breakdown in the understanding between Sen. Brian E. Frosh and Del Luiz R.S. Simmons — both Montgomery County Democrats — raises the chances that owners of the breed will continue to face heightened liability and the possibility of eviction. "I am extremely disappointed in Brian Frosh," said Simmons.

Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly are proposing to raise taxes on gasoline by $2 billion over five years to pay for highways, transit and other transportation projects. The legislation endorsed by the governor, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch is a complex plan that would add 2 cents to the cost of a gallon of gas July 1 and another 7 cents a year later. In 2015, it would rise by another 7 cents unless Congress passes a bill to allow states to impose the sales tax on Internet purchases.

Lies, lies, lies! This is what President Barack Obama and the Democrats tell the American public. The sky is not falling if we sequester $85 billion out of a $3.563 trillion budget. That's just about 2 percent! We are 31 percent over budget, or $1.128 trillion. The American public should demand these politicians put forth a balanced budget; we are already $16 trillion dollars in debt! Wake up people, Rome is burning! Thom Carroll, Baltimore Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Chicken Little is alive and well writing editorials for The Sun ("The GOP sequester," Feb. 22). The world will apparently come to an end when the sequester, better known as budget cuts, goes into effect on March 1. These budget cuts are apparently far more serious than the $1 trillion dollar annual deficits that we are piling on our children and grandchildren. The Sun's solution, other than to continue its never-ending campaign against Republicans, is to reduce spending where you can and tighten the belt gradually - ease the pain.

Once again, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and the Democratic Party have shown their lack of respect for Maryland residents. They chose to cost us hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue when we had a Republican governor who wanted to bring casino gambling to Maryland and they refused. Now they want us to pay a fee to support the upgrade of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. natural gas lines. And would we even be talking about a gas tax now if gambling had come to Maryland when there was a Republican governor?

I have never been as disappointed in my political party, the Republican Party, as I am today. We are definitely the Stupid Party. Over the last 12 years, I have worked tirelessly to get Republicans elected to political office, and they continue to disappoint me. My level of frustration has peaked with the recent selection of Laura Neuman as Anne Arundel County Executive ("Neuman selected as new Arundel county executive," Feb. 22). So who is Laura Neuman? I have no clue, which is telling because I can pretty much go into any county in the state and know who the political players are. I have never met her nor heard of her. And what makes me wonder most about her is that she was the choice of the three Democrats on the Anne Arundel County Council to fill the vacancy of county executive.

Many Maryland politicians spritz on Eau de Hypocrisy at least occasionally. But Gov. Martin O'Malley and fellow Democrats bathed in it with their support for the inaccurately labeled Referendum Integrity Act, an effort to make it harder for citizens to petition a law to referendum. House Bill 493 (SB 673), sponsored by Del. Eric Luedtke, a Democrat from Montgomery County, should be called the "Voter Suppression Act," as that is its clear intent. Among its highlights: •It requires that each petition page contain language saying that the information is subject to public disclosure and requires each signer to include a birth date.

A former Maryland transportation secretary who went on to become the No. 2 official in the Obama administration's Transportation Department, will return to his home state Tuesday to meet with Democrats in the House of Delegates about the touchy issue of raising money for roads and mass transit. Deputy Secretary John D. Porcari will appear before the Democratic caucus in Annapolis at the invitation of House Speaker Michael E. Busch. A Busch aide said Porcari was expected to lay out the case for increased investment in transportation -- something that would require increases in taxes or fees.