Public Money

When it comes to public money for private schools and oversight of charter schools, the Harford County Board of Education and the administration of Harford County Public Schools have it right by being opposed. When it comes to public money for private schools and oversight of charter schools, the Harford County Board of Education and the administration of Harford County Public Schools have it right by being opposed. In the school system's recently-released 2012 legislative platform, Harford County Public Schools is against any public funding of private education and it's equally opposed to any new laws that would allow charter schools to operate without being required to comply with "state law and [Harford school]

As President Barack Obama recently headlined the last of a record-breaking number of fundraisers for his reelection bid, it is important to understand that the extraordinary rise in presidential fundraising efforts in recent decades is an unintended consequence of our campaign finance system and that these dynamics are changing the ways that presidents allocate their most precious resource for both campaigning and governing: their time. President Obama's 220 fundraisers for the Obama Victory Fund, a joint committee benefiting both the Obama-Biden reelection campaign and the Democratic National Committee, exceed the combined total of 208 fundraisers headlined by his five immediate predecessors for their reelection campaigns and national committees in their third and fourth years in office: 86 by George W. Bush; 70 by Bill Clinton; 24 by George H.W. Bush; three by Ronald Reagan; and 25 by Jimmy Carter.

Editor: The Harford county Board of Education's opposition to any public money for non-public schools, while regrettable, is understandable. The board sees no responsibility for the education of Harford County children not in their corporate system; the board's business is preserving its monopoly on education tax dollars for their corporation; however, your editorial of Dec. 2 is a chilling, exclusionary and discriminatory statement not shared by all Marylanders. Many Maryland voters support school choice reforms and policies so parents aren't economically denied freedom of school choice.

The House of Delegates added an amendment to a fast-moving racetrack subsidy bill that prohibits any of the money from being used for political donations. Del. Luiz Simmons, a Montgomery County Democrat, offered the amendment . "When we are handing out public money like Baskin-Robbins ice cream, we ought to make certain the money is used for the purpose that is intended. " The bill would divert $1.2 million from slots revenue to Ocean Downs, a racetrack and casino location on the Eastern Shore as long as it has 40 live racing days.

Thank you for exposing the misuse of our tax dollars via mailings in the article "Freshman tap congressional perks" (March 28). My representative, Frank Kratovil, made the top 15 of the list. I have received about five of his taxpayer extracted propaganda pieces. They are even bold enough to say "Paid for at taxpayer expense." Shame on him. Shame on all of them! Our government is nearly broke and they are glorifying themselves with money I could use for my family. Mr. Kratovil needs to give me and my fellow citizens back our $320,679.

Marylanders get a chance next year to see if they can improve the political game by paying for it.Barring another delay, about $2.7 million will be available to help finance races for governor in the primary and general election.Forces for good government hope public financing will shift power away from $1,000-givers by providing public dollars to candidates if they accept spending limits."The current system is corrupting because it encourages even well-intentioned people to go where the money is," says Phil Andrews, executive director of Common Cause of Maryland.

Two years ago, the NFL formed a special committee to deal with a crisis more dire than free-agent salaries or the use of instant replay to review referees' decisions: stadiums.The league, though America's dominant sport on television, at the box office and even in T-shirt sales, had fallen woefully behind in terms of jazzy venues. Baseball was opening acclaimed Camden Yards clones every year, but football had failed to establish even an acclaimed old stadium.But now, through a combination of franchise relocations, threatened relocations and multimillion-dollar political campaigns, the NFL has roared to the lead in the stadium game.

While I agree that Jay Davidson mismanaged the Baltimore Grand Prix and was a poor CEO, he does make one valid point ("City must do more to support Grand Prix," Dec. 4). Other cities are succeeding at running these races by contributing more public money to it than Baltimore is. The reluctance to do so clearly shows how Baltimoreans have a narrow minded, small town attitude. Meanwhile, we throw money at Hollywood for productions like "Homicide" and "The Wire" that do nothing but destroy the city's image.

The house on High Street is typical Baltimore. Three stories. Brick exterior. A simple house in a city dotted with thousands like it.Typical, that is, until you consider that taxpayers paid nearly $400,000 to turn this once vacant shell into housing for nine homeless men - in a neighborhood where sales often go for $80,000.The transformation of the house near Little Italy is one brick in the foundation of a $300 million rebuilding of Baltimore. Endowed with public money, this neighborhood improvement campaign has been spearheaded by Housing Commissioner Daniel P. Henson III and Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.

Criminal misuse of public money is more than cops and robbers stuff. Putting someone in jail for it is not the end of dealing with scandal in government. There is always a larger issue: How and why did someone get away with stealing public money? Can the taxpayer be sure something like it won't happen again?Those questions are particularly pertinent in the aftermath of the Maryland State Games scandal. This was no theft of petty cash by a clerk. A lot of money -- perhaps more than $1 million -- was either siphoned off for personal use or otherwise diverted to purposes not authorized by the legislature that appropriated it. And the swindlers were high-ranking state officials, one of them the deputy secretary of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

If there was a shocker in the recent accounting of the spending on food at the governor's and mayor's skyboxes at M&T Bank Stadium, it wasn't that taxpayers are footing the bill for public officials to chow down on beef tenderloin and crabcakes. The surprise was just how little such gourmet grazing costs. Because the state and city governments' deals with the stadium provide them not only free skyboxes but also food at cost, both the governor and mayor fed hundreds of people for under $3,000 a season.

Using public money, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake treated guests to $2,920.52 worth of food and nonalcoholic beverages in the city's skybox during a recent Ravens season at M&T Bank Stadium, records show. At eight Ravens games during the 2010 season and a 2011 U2 concert, Rawlings-Blake and her guests, who included friends, family and political allies, spent an average of about $325 a game. The city has not yet responded to a request for documentation of money spent during the 2011 season.

Editor: The Harford county Board of Education's opposition to any public money for non-public schools, while regrettable, is understandable. The board sees no responsibility for the education of Harford County children not in their corporate system; the board's business is preserving its monopoly on education tax dollars for their corporation; however, your editorial of Dec. 2 is a chilling, exclusionary and discriminatory statement not shared by all Marylanders. Many Maryland voters support school choice reforms and policies so parents aren't economically denied freedom of school choice.

While I agree that Jay Davidson mismanaged the Baltimore Grand Prix and was a poor CEO, he does make one valid point ("City must do more to support Grand Prix," Dec. 4). Other cities are succeeding at running these races by contributing more public money to it than Baltimore is. The reluctance to do so clearly shows how Baltimoreans have a narrow minded, small town attitude. Meanwhile, we throw money at Hollywood for productions like "Homicide" and "The Wire" that do nothing but destroy the city's image.

When it comes to public money for private schools and oversight of charter schools, the Harford County Board of Education and the administration of Harford County Public Schools have it right by being opposed. When it comes to public money for private schools and oversight of charter schools, the Harford County Board of Education and the administration of Harford County Public Schools have it right by being opposed. In the school system's recently-released 2012 legislative platform, Harford County Public Schools is against any public funding of private education and it's equally opposed to any new laws that would allow charter schools to operate without being required to comply with "state law and [Harford school]

Thank you for exposing the misuse of our tax dollars via mailings in the article "Freshman tap congressional perks" (March 28). My representative, Frank Kratovil, made the top 15 of the list. I have received about five of his taxpayer extracted propaganda pieces. They are even bold enough to say "Paid for at taxpayer expense." Shame on him. Shame on all of them! Our government is nearly broke and they are glorifying themselves with money I could use for my family. Mr. Kratovil needs to give me and my fellow citizens back our $320,679.

President Bush has established a White House office to funnel public money to faith-based charities. Similarly, Mayor Martin O'Malley's "Baltimore Rising" initiative will use churches as publicly funded "faith partners" to combat youth violence. Do such initiatives violate the Constitution's separation of church and state? Are faith-based groups better able to meet human needs than secular ones? Do you support awarding public money to faith-based charities? We are looking for 300 words or less; the deadline is March 26. Letters become the property of The Sun, which reserves the right to edit them.

It's handy and it's dandy. Easy to fold and easy to hold. When you see your favorite politician, pass it on. When you see your local sports team owner, be sure to share. Because here it is for the very first time: The definitive, dead-on, no-excuses checklist. If your city can't check off each of these items - ahem, pay attention, Baltimore - then maybe it should think twice before throwing public money at a sports arena or stadium. 1. Is private money available? Here's a new formula: If Team Owner is worth anywhere in the neighborhood of two times the cost of a proposed arena, let him sign the check.

Annapolis public housing officials failed to spend nearly a third of the money allocated by the city for public safety, prompting Mayor Ellen O. Moyer to announce yesterday that the city wants a bigger say over how the agency uses the funding. Moyer, who has been quarrelling for years with the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis over funding for crime prevention and its direction, said she was surprised to see a July letter in which housing officials said they used $136,000 of the $200,000 the city had provided in the past fiscal year.