Government

Conservatives have long viewed Washington as one giant, inevitable disaster waiting to happen. For conservative political strategists, part of our job is helping to frame that eventual disaster as President Barack Obama's fault. But conservatives should resist the temptation to be too Obama-centric in their criticisms of Washington's recent scandals. Yes, a president is in charge of, and ultimately responsible for, the federal government. But while Mr. Obama may be a tempting foil in the short term, especially with midterm elections on the horizon, it's important to not lose sight of longer-term objectives.

As a Baltimore resident and daily subscriber to The Sun, which carries frequent stories that place in question the transparency, credibility and competence of city government, one cannot help but wonder if all or any of the water rate rises since 2000 and planned for the future have or will be necessary and beneficial to city residents who pay the bills ("Water bill whirlpool," May 22). Most recently, there have been reports on the city's misuse of federal educational grant funds ("Audit faults schools over federal funds," May 23)

As the five-year anniversary of the Lehman Bros. bankruptcy and the collapse of the mortgage market approaches, Americans are still struggling to cope with the consequences of the Great Recession. More than 4 million households have lost their homes to foreclosure. Millions of breadwinners are still out of work. Meanwhile, households have seen an estimated $2 trillion in wealth evaporate. Pundits and politicians have spent nearly five years pointing fingers, but too few have questioned the root cause of the crisis: a deeply held belief that Americans should own their own homes and that the government should help make that dream possible.

I grew up in Dundalk and began my career in recreation, parks, and conservation with the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks. My career took me to Harford County and Los Angeles. I came home to Baltimore County in 1995 as the director of Recreation and Parks. Throughout my career, I worked with staff, elected officials, volunteers and numerous citizen organizations in the purchase and development of neighborhood, community and regional parks, and I do not understand how our current Baltimore County government can decide to sell off a major community park for development.

Once again, the Harford County government, like many county and municipal governments around the state and nation, has perpetuated the practice of running a taxpayer-subsidized business banking system. Most recently, the Harford County Council approved a loan of up to $160,000 to HP White Laboratory in Street, an honorable business that has been in operation for more than 50 years. HP White plans to spend $4 million to expand its operation and add 50 new employees to its workforce of 34. This has the potential to add substantially to one of Harford County's most respected military contracting test operations.

Due to my observance of a religious holiday at the time that Alison Knezevich reported on the Open Meetings Compliance Board's ruling on Baltimore County's approval of the so-called "rain tax" ("Board says Baltimore county gave proper notice of meeting," May 17), I was not able to give her my response. I want to commend Ms. Knezevich for calling me the next day after the article was printed. Ms. Knezevich is very conscientious and is a real asset to The Baltimore Sun. Since I couldn't make my comments in the article, I would like to share them with your readers now. The very fact that the Open Meetings Compliance Board met in closed session to issue this ruling reveals the hypocrisy of the board.

This is probably the tip of the iceberg ("Report finds disarray at IRS," May 15). Most government employees believe in large government where can you work and get a pension that you do not pay into and have health care that you do not pay into as well as paid vacation, sick time, lots of holidays and never have the department that you work in audited or held accountable for your performance because your union protects you. I am sure if someone looks...

One of the more enjoyable aspects of my public career was an excellent relationship with public safety unions. Law enforcement, fire and EMT groups were supportive of my races for the state legislature, Congress and governor. Although not unheard of, such consistent support made for some uneasy moments when national labor organizations (almost exclusively associated with Democratic candidates) were informed about public safety union support for "that Republican Ehrlich. " From a personal perspective, it was easy to separate the unique nature of public safety's job description (public protection being the No. 1 job of government)

Maryland for years benefited from its close proximity to the nation's capital, but the mandatory federal spending cuts called sequestration will be a drag on the state's economy for the next couple of years, said the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. "This retrenchment at the federal government level ... is tough this year. We are still finding out what the dimensions of this are," said Jeffrey Lacker, the Fed president. Despite the pain, the spending cuts are needed for the long-term fiscal health of the country, he added.

Last month, I received emails from two people I know but who don't know each other: one a close friend and Second Amendment supporter, and the other a regular reader who sends me news items she believes the "liberal media" are willfully suppressing. Each sent me a story link about recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security purchases of huge stockpiles of ammunition, including hollow-point bullets. A Forbes.com column penned by Larry Bell, replete with conspiratorial overtones, suggested that the Obama administration is up-arming itself while trying to disarm the citizenry.