NEWS
January 19, 2010
Why has The Sun been quiet on the "Cadillac" health care plan debate? If you're an ordinary citizen who has a "Cadillac" health care plan, you will pay a 40 percent excise tax on the plan. Unless of course you're a union member or government employee and have a "Cadillac" plan. Then you will not pay the tax. President Obama promised to change the way Washington does business. Special interests and the influence of lobbyists was going to end. It's time for The Sun and the national media to call him on it. Len Bollinger Send your comments to talkback@baltimoresun.
NEWS
May 28, 2010
It seems that the Baltimore City Council has once again sided with special interest groups instead of the health and welfare of Baltimore City residents. The beverage tax is a way to raise significant revenue without a significant cost to consumers. It is hard to believe that business owners will suffer due to a 4 cent tax. If the City Council were serious about raising revenue, they would increase it to 10 cents. If consumers chose not to purchase unhealthy beverages due to a 4 cent increase, so be it. Milk and juice are excluded from the tax and can be healthier options.
NEWS
By Ralph Benko | March 2, 2010
We send our elected representatives far from home to conduct the people's business. We send them to Washington, D.C., where they form what our flyboys (and flygirls) call "a target-rich environment" for the lobbyists and for the political party leadership. We send them far from us ÃÂ
to conduct our business. There was no other way in the 18th and 19th centuries and most of the 20th. In the 21st century, of course, this is absurd. As things now stand, it is too easy for lobbyists and party leadership to get at our elected legislators.
NEWS
July 26, 1994
It's election season, and everyone wants candidates to talk about the issues. That includes special-interest groups.This year, every organization from the Maryland Diabetes Association to the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association is bombarding politicians with questionnaires designed to pin them down on matters near and dear to their hearts.These surveys make candidates uneasy. In Anne Arundel County, District 32 state Senate candidate Ed Middlebrooks says that's because many of them seek firm "yes" or "no" answers to complex issues, leaving no room for a middle ground or an open mind.
NEWS
By John Fairhall and Karen Hosler and John Fairhall and Karen Hosler,Washington Bureau | February 17, 1993
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton was right about everything except the timing when he warned Monday that special interests would begin attacking his economic program "within minutes" of the conclusion of his speech to Congress tonight.In fact, the attack has already begun, from coal companies and presumably from other industries concerned about an expected broad-based energy tax.On Capitol Hill, three representatives of ARCO, a major oil and chemical company, met in secret yesterday with six aides to members of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, and discussed the tax issue over turkey sandwiches.
NEWS
By Melissa Harris and Melissa Harris,sun reporter | February 23, 2007
A proposal aimed at reducing the influence of special interests in legislative campaigns by having Maryland taxpayers pay for them was debated in a state Senate committee yesterday. The bill's primary Senate sponsor, Prince George's County Democrat Paul G. Pinsky, said the bill would reduce the appearance of favoritism among legislators and enable candidates to focus on issues, not fundraisers. To be eligible for "public financing," candidates would have to raise seed money in sums of $5 or more from about 350 registered voters in their districts in addition to $6,750 in other contributions.