When Ronald Reagan became President in 1981, he faced far worse economic challenges than Barack Obama did in 2009. Unemployment soared into double digits with a peak of 10.8%, while we suffered roaring double-digitand inflation and interest rates. The consumer price index registered a cumulative 25% increase for 1979 and 1980.

Voters then faced a clear choice on economic policy. Democrats at the time argued that inflation was so much a part of the American economy that we could not afford to stop it without triggering an economic collapse.

In contrast, Ronald Reagan promised a four-point economic program to reverse the slow motion deterioration of the American economy:

1. Cut tax rates to restore incentives for economic growth - reducing the top income tax rate from 70% to 50% and a 25% across-the-board reduction in income tax rates for everyone;

2. Spending reductions - amounting to a 5% cut in the Federal budget in 1981;

3. Maintaining a stronger, more stable dollar with an anti-inflation monetary policy restraining money supply growth;

4. Deregulation, saving consumers an estimated $100 billion per year in lower prices.

By 1984 Reagan's approach's success was convincing enough that he ran for reelection with a theme of "It's Morning Again in America." This campaign message was nicely summarized in this television commercial: http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU-IBF8nwSY

In fact the Reagan economic recovery was convincing enough that 49 out of 50 states voted for his reelection, including even Maryland.

Compare the Reagan economic results, with those produced by the Obama Administration and the Congressional Democrats. They chose the exact opposite set of policies, with dismal results.

Instead of reducing tax rates, President Obama is committed to raising the top tax rates. As already enacted into current law, in 2013 the top two income tax rates will rise by nearly 20%. Democrats are even proposing tax increases, which, if enacted, would hike the top Federal income tax rate to 58%. That is more than twice the top rate of 28% when Ronald Reagan left office in 1989.

Spending has soared to unprecedented levels relative to the size of the economy, with $3.7 trillion added to the debt. Regulation has increased.

So whose set of policies worked - Reagan or Obama? You be the judge:

· The Associated Press: "Employers Added 54,000 Jobs in May, Fewest In 8 Months; Unemployment Rate Rose To 9.1 Pct."("Employers Added 54,000 Jobs in May, Fewest In 8 Months; Unemployment Rate Rose To 9.1 Pct." The Associated Press, 6/3/11)

· Since President Obama's $831 Billion Stimulus Bill Passed the Unemployment Rate Has Increased From 8.2 Percent To 9.1 Percent. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS.gov, Accessed 6/3/11)

· The Average Duration Of Unemployment Increased To A Record 39.7 Weeks. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS.gov, Accessed 6/3/11)

· Washington Post-ABC News Poll: "Americans' Disapproval of How [Obama] Is Handling the Nation's Economy and the Deficit Has Reached New Highs." "The public opinion boost President Obama received after the killing of Osama bin Laden has dissipated, and Americans' disapproval of how he is handling the nation's economy and the deficit has reached new highs, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll."(Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, "Obama Loses Bin Laden Bounce; Romney on the Move among GOP Contenders," The Washington Post, 6/7/11)

· Washington Post-ABC News Poll: Nine In 10 Americans "Rate The Economy In Negative Terms And Six In 10 "Say The Economy Has Not Started To Recover." "By 2 to 1, Americans say the country is pretty seriously on the wrong track, and nine in 10 continue to rate the economy in negative terms. Nearly six in 10 say the economy has not started to recover, regardless of what official statistics may say, and most of those who say it has improved rate the recovery as weak." (Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, "Obama Loses Bin Laden Bounce; Romney on the Move among GOP Contenders," The Washington Post, 6/7/11)

As the campaign message for Team Obama takes shape, rather than being able to trumpet economic progress, instead they look for scapegoats to blame for their failures. Democrats are squandering the country's future instead of relying economic strategies already proven to work. So next year perhaps Republicans need to revive another one of our past successful campaign messages, "Had Enough?"

Mark Uncapher

Montgomery County Republican Chairman

Voters are told, " There is no way to correct having been rejected!"

Delegate Mike Smigiel

Since posting the list of the voters who the Board of Elections has listed as "rejected" after they signed a petition to take the "in state tuition for illegal immigrants" bill to referendum we have learned that lots of citizens have had their signatures rejected. Some are rather high profile citizens who you would think the election board may have known and or been able to contact to correct what ever minor imperfection in their signature or petition had led to the decision to reject their signature and effectively disenfranchise them.

Among those being "rejected" are a former presidential candidate, the husband of a former gubernatorial candidate and ambassador, three State Delegates, one member of a County Election Board, numerous central committee members and the friends., families and neighbors of some of these folks. Over seven thousand voters have been "rejected".

The reasons for these voters being "rejected" are varied but most fall into two categories, either there was a problem with the signature or there was a problem with the petition upon which a proper signature was placed. I have heard from dozens of folks from around the state who are irate over having been disenfranchised by having their signature rejected.

The first question I get is how do I fix this and who can I send my corrected petition and signature to? The answer they get from the Election Board makes them apoplectic. Voters are told, " There is no way to correct having been rejected!"

The election board is interpreting the State law that makes it a misdemeanor to sign more than one petition to mean that if your signature appears on a petition and is rejected, if you were to send in a corrected version of the signature or petition it is rejected because it is a second signature of a petition and thus in violation of state law. Clearly, anyone knows the intent of the State law is to prevent fraud from people submitting multiple signatures in a petition drive effort.

The Democratic legislative majority refuses to allow the legislature to pass legislation that would require those voting in an election to be required to show an id to prove who they are because they argue it may somehow lead to voter disenfranchisement. Yet, voters are clearly being disenfranchised from being able to pursue their constitutional obligations pursuant to Art. 16 of the State Constitution when it comes to having their legitimate signatures counted for the purpose of placing the referendum question on the ballot for the next election.

The Election Board made the decision to close the verification process of the signatures to the public.

During an election of State Officials the process of examining absentee, and provisional ballots is done in public without any incidents of note. There is no reason the same openness could not be provided to those persons who collected the signatures and handed them in with their own signature affirming they had witnessed the individuals signing each name listed.

If people were allowed to be present it certainly would assure that any questions about signatures or dates on petitions could be addressed and result in less "rejections" of legitimate signatures. Isn't the goal of the Election Board to assure that as many voters as possible are able to participate in the process?

Because the review of signatures process is closed to the public most people are unaware that their signature has been rejected. The State Election Board has no process for letting citizens know that their signature has been rejected. It is a simple, cost free process, as you can see from reading the last post to this blog. I simply eliminated the birth date, voter id number and address listed on the disk provided by the State and then separated all those who were listed as having been "rejected". We (my Chief of Staff and another computer savvy blogger friend) then posted the list so that every person across the State who signed a petition could look to see if the had been disenfranchised and the reason for their rejection.

This service should be performed by the State Election Board and there should be a list of ways that persons could rectify the reason for the "rejection". It is as simple as providing a red or green "provisional petition form" , like they already provide provisional ballots at the polls, so the question of whether the petition signature rejection reason was perfected can be addressed later.

If the election board does not decide to rectify this injustice itself, then I will submit legislation to correct the problem. In the interim I trust that the Maryland State Election Board will learn from the errors of the first set of petitions that have been provided and implement policies that will ensure that as many petition signers as possible remain on the petition and are given an opportunity to correct any minor error which is currently being used as an excuse for disenfranchising thousands of voters.

Reprinted with permission, to learn more about rejected petition signatures, see: http://delegatemike.com/?p=2783

Can You Become a Montgomery County Republican Team Leader?

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We are currently contacting Prime Republicans throughout Montgomery County -- You can help your party starting with your own neighbors.

Here is what you can do:

1. Send an email to mcrepublicans@gmail.com
with your name, address and precinct number (use your precinct number if you know it, otherwise we will look it up.)

2. We will email back a list with the names, addresses and phone numbers of 50-100 Prime Republicans who live near you or in your precinct and a short, easy to follow script.

3. You then contact these Prime Republicans, introducing yourself and asking if they might be interested in future in receiving Republican invitations and news via email, displaying lawn signs or bumper stickers or helping Republican campaigns in the future.

4. We ask that your record the information you receive online at: http://mcgop.net/signup.aspx, with the information you collect. Please be sure to fill out the "Referred by (email):" field do so can give you credit for the contacts you have made.

Complete five contacts - and we will recognize you in our website, in the newsletter our Republican Team Leader our leader board. After you reach your first group of Prime Republicans, and we can send you additional names to contact.

The Maryland Public Policy Institute

Dead Last

Originally Published in the Frederick News-Post

by Marta Hummel Mossburg

Playing guitar may win Martin O'Malley fans, but it can't change the horrible performance of the state since he rocked the governor's mansion.

Maryland ranked last in job creation over the past year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In fact, it didn't create any jobs. It lost 20,000. This follows ranking after ranking that puts the state near the bottom of business friendliness and tax competitiveness. The weight of the evidence shows.

About 200,000 people are out of work in the state compared with 110,000 when the recession began.

To explain the lack of opportunity in Maryland, O'Malley relies on his old standby that the state is stronger than other places and "is better positioned for job growth because of the tough choices (aka raising taxes) we have made together."

The holes in his theory are turning into chasms the size of Texas, however.

Texas created 37 percent of all new jobs in the U.S. since the economy started to recover, and is one of a few that has more jobs than when the recession began at the end of 2007. The actual numbers translate to 265,300 new jobs of the 722,200 generated throughout the country.

Dallas Federal Reserve economist Pia Orrenius explains Texas' strong performance this way: "Whether energy prices are rising or not, Texas tends to do better than the nation in terms of job creation. ... The state attracts businesses and attracts people due to its relatively low tax burden and low cost of living."

Its recovery is so impressive a delegation of California leaders, including Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, visited Austin in April to find out why so many of their state's businesses fled to the Lone Star State. "I don't see this as a partisan issue," said Newsom, who added that he was "sick and tired" of hearing about the mass exodus of jobs from his state to Texas.

A business relocation expert told The Wall Street Journal at the time that over 70 businesses had left California by mid-April of this year. Stand by for a future article on where Maryland businesses are going.

But it's clear the state is headed in the wrong direction. Anirban Basu, CEO of Sage Policy Group in Baltimore, said Maryland's poor job performance is due "largely to our actual business climate and our perceived business climate."

He added, "Houston is the nation's energy technology leader. It and Texas show how powerful the combination of business friendliness and technology commercialization can be."

Maryland legislators have a choice. They can continue to enact policies that make us more like tax-heavy and regulation-stifling California, or they can make it easier to create jobs and attract people.

As California's Newsom said, this should not be a partisan issue. It will be, however, if this one-party state keeps expecting the federal government and BRAC to generate wealth despite reams of evidence that strategy has failed. Maryland needs jobs to progress, not progressive theory and policies.

You can find this online at:

http://mdpolicy.org/research/detail/dead-last

Montgomery County Republicans Term County Jobs Numbers a "Wake up Call"

According to the latest Census data, the District of Columbia is now out competing Montgomery County and Maryland as a business friendly jurisdiction. During the recession Montgomery County lost 27,000 private employees. In contrast to Montgomery, the District and Arlington County saw their private sector growth of 5,000 new jobs in the most recent year for which data is available. Even within Maryland, Prince George's County is doing better, with private payrolls dropped at a slower rate than Montgomery County.

Montgomery County Republican Chairman Mark Uncapher called the latest figures a "wake-up call" for the County. "Montgomery County's relative standard of living is becoming unsustainable unless the County and the State reverses the decline in our business competiveness. Policies producing fewer jobs and reduced relative payrolls must be reversed."

The Census Data was contained in an July 1, 2001 Washington Examiner story: "Maryland businesses lead job losses"

See: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/06/maryland-

businesses-lead-job-losses

The Maryland Public Policy Institute

Myths about Social Security and Medicare

Originally Published in the Herald-Mail

by Thomas A. Firey

Last month, with the quiet of a mouse, the Obama administration released a pair of reports on the financial health of Social Security and Medicare. The programs' Obama-appointed trustees (half of whom sit on his cabinet) oversaw the reports' preparation, which led some observers to believe they would give reassuring assessments. A few partisans may have even hoped the documents would discredit Bush administration claims that the programs face problems. If so, those folks were disappointed. The Obama reports show Social Security and Medicare are in worse shape than even the Bush administration had projected. No wonder Obama officials tried to keep things quiet.

The reports do implicitly discredit several popularly held beliefs about the programs. By wading through those myths, we can better understand the reports' findings.

One myth is that Social Security and Medicare operate as savings accounts. Supposedly, workers and their employers pay money into the programs and then, if a worker becomes disabled or reaches his mid-60s, he gets his Social Security money back in monthly payments while his Medicare money covers his medical expenses. In fact, Social Security is a simple tax-and-transfer program: Money that workers and employers pay in today is immediately sent back out as Social Security checks to beneficiaries. Medicare's hospital benefits program (Part A) is likewise a tax-and-transfer program, while its Supplemental Medical Insurance (Parts B and D) is heavily financed with annual transfers from the federal government.

Another myth is that Social Security and Medicare would be fine if Congress would stop "raiding" the programs' trust funds. The trust funds exist because, in some previous years, more money was paid into the programs than was paid out. The extra money was credited to the "trust funds" and then lent at interest to the federal government - not "raided." However, there has been no extra money coming into either program since 2009, and the Obama reports expect there won't be any in the future. Instead, Social Security and Medicare Part A pay out more in benefits than they receive in taxes.

Fortunately, the programs can cover those deficits, for the time being. Social Security currently earns enough in interest from its loans to the federal government that it can cover its deficit. Medicare Part A isn't in as good a shape, however; it has to call in some of its loans each year in order to cover its deficit. The Obama reports indicate that, sometime early next decade, Social Security will start calling in its loans as well.

A common myth is that the trust funds can cover the programs' deficits far into the future. But the Obama reports estimate that Medicare Part A will have called in all its loans by 2024, and Social Security will have done so by 2036. To put those numbers in perspective, a 62-year-old today will be 75 in 2024, and a 50-year-old today will be 75 in 2036. So plenty of today's workers will be dependent on the programs when they become insolvent.

A different myth is that, once the trust funds are empty, the programs will cease to operate. But even without the trust funds, tax money will continue to flow into Social Security and Medicare Part A, and the programs will continue to pay out benefits. The benefits won't be as large as currently promised, however. Social Security benefits will have to decrease by one-fourth in 2036 in order to match the program's revenue, while Medicare will have to find some way to cover a budget gap that will grow wider each year.

So what should be done? Social Security and Medicare keep many elderly out of poverty. At the same time, Social Security is a high-cost, low-benefit public pension program and Medicare is a costly health care program that provides increasingly meager services. Serious reform of the programs will not only restore their solvency, but also preserve their poverty-fighting while not reducing people's ability to prepare privately for their retirements.

But as long as voters and political leaders continue to believe myths about the programs, serious reform will not happen.

You can find this online at:

http://mdpolicy.org/research/detail/myths-about-social-security-and-medicare

Renew Your Republican Party Membership for 2011
Online

MCRP MEMBERSHIP LEVELS:

SUSTAINING MEMBER -$25 per year

BUILDER MEMBER -$50 per year

CENTURY CLUB MEMBER -$100 per year

LEADERSHIP COUNCIL - $250 per year

FINANCE COUNCIL -$500 per year

TRUSTEE COUNCIL -$1000 per year

CHAIRMAN'S CLUB -$2500 per year

( ) OTHER AMOUNT -___

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Upcoming Events

Details at

Montgomery County GOP Website

Wednesday Jul 06, 7:00 PM

Communications Committee Meeting

Montgomery County GOP

Thursday Jul 07, 7:00 PM

First Thursday w/ Guest Delegate Michael J. Hough

Montgomery County GOP

Monday Jul 11, 7:00 PM

District 18 Monthly Meeting

Tuesday Jul 12, 7:00 PM

Montgomery County Central Committee Executive Board Meeting

Montgomery County GOP

Sunday, July 17 · 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Official Kick-Off for Maryland's Campaign for HERMAN CAIN

Tuesday Jul 26, 6:30 PM

Let's Talk Politics w/Guests US Senate Candidates Dan Bongino & Corrogan Vaughn

Chevy Chase Women`s Republican Club

Tuesday, Jul 26, 7:30 PM

Montgomery County Central Committee Meeting County

Montgomery County GOP

Saturday, Aug 06, 10AM

Precinct Training and Volunteer Orientation

Montgomery County GOP

Video of the Week Link

The Republican National Committee (RNC) released a video entitled "Economic Turnaround?" after DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz claimed President Obama has turned the economy around despite 9.1 percent unemployment and an economy taking a turn for the worse.

The video can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81LNYY25A9Y

Help Wanted

Voter Registration Chair

Responsible for the county party's voter outreach effort for registering new voters as Republicans and re-registering voters changing their party affiliation. Works with the Events Chair and with the individual Legislative District Chair.

Applicants should submit an expression of interestand a short biographical sketch of their political involvements or resume to mdmcrp@comcast.net.

GOLF TOURNAMENT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

The Montgomery County Republican Party is planning its first golf tournament. If you are interested in serving on the MCGOP Golf Tournament Committee, please e-mail Bruce Stern at bruce@sternlegal.net.

GET INVOLVED ! REPUBLICANS NEED TO APPLY ! MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS

District 16 Central Committee member Carol Bowis has taken on the task of encouraging fellow Republicans to get involved in volunteer opportunities on Montgomery County Boards and Commissions. We can help shape public policy and make our voices heard. Please help spread the word to any qualified Republican to apply for county boards and commissions that are of interest. Congratulations to Scott Graham who has been appointed to the Upcounty Citizens Advisory Board. Good luck to other Republicans who have made applications to other Committees. With persistence, and qualified applicants, we will get our voices hear!d

The County Executive has announced the following vacancies and their application deadlines:

7/8/2011

Commission on People with Disabilities

7/15/2011

Adult Public Guardianship Review Board
Alcoholic Beverages Advisory Board
Sign Review Board

To view the details of each application, go to the Montgomery County website and look for Boards and Committees, then click on Vacancy notices. Then click on the press release which interests you. Please encourage other good Republicans you know to apply as well. Our county needs to know the opinions of their citizens from BOTH parties! For all of the above, please send a letter of interest and a resume to the County Executive's office. The Mont. County website, under Boards and Commissions, lists the press releases with details about each of the vacancies.

If you have served on a Board or Commission during the last ten years or have applied and not been selected, Carol Bowis (301-229-1121) would appreciate hearing from you so that we can be more helpful in advising future applicants as to the process and interviews, etc., in the hopes of getting more GOP representation on county boards.

Anyone else who has been appointed to a County Board, please advise Carol as well, so we can congratulate you publicly.

First Thursday w/ Guest Delegate Michael J. Hough

From: Thursday, July 07, 2011 @ 7:00 PM

To: Thursday, July 07, 2011 @ 8:30 PM

Stained Glass Pub

12510 Layhill Road

Silver Spring, MD 20906

First Thursday with Delegate Michael J. Hough

Cost: $10 covers pizza and other refresments

Montgomery County Republicans gather the First Thursday of each month to discuss issues and engage elected officials and candidates.

Join us and invited guest State Delegate Michael J. Hough this July 7th at 7PM.

About State Delegate Michael J. Hough:

Member of House of Delegates, since January 12, 2011. Member, Judiciary Committee, 2011-.
Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, November 4, 1979. Attended Watkins Mill High School, Gaithersburg; Community College of the Air Force, A.A. (applied sciences), 2002; Towson University, B.S. (political science), 2007. Missile maintenance technician, U.S. Air Force, 1998-2002. Sales associate, Sears, 2002-04. Legislative aide to State Senator Alex X. Mooney, 2004-07. Member, Frederick County Republican Central Committee, 2006-10 (chair & vice-chair, 2008). Director, Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force, and Public Safety and Elections Task Force of American Legislative Exchange Council, 2007-11. Member, American Legion Post no. 297, Baltimore; Knights of Columbus. Member, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Mary's Catholic Church. Married; two children.

Photos from the June

First Thursday

with Brian Murphy

First Thursday2