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July 14, 2025

Cambridge Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Cambridge

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Point of View Opinion

The Imprisonment of Judge Carmichael and the Suspension of Habeas Corpus by Paul Callahan

May 31, 2025 by Spy Daybook
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163 years ago o,n May 27, 1862, the Talbot County courthouse was surrounded by Union troops to support federal Provost Marshals in the arrest of Judge Richard Bennett Carmichael.   Four Provost Marshals barged into the Judge’s courtroom and bloodily bludgeoned him with the butt of a pistol in front of his jury and civilian spectators.  Prosecuting attorney J.C.W. Powell rushed to the judge’s aid, and the crier of the court ran to the window to call for the Sheriff, but both were physically subdued.  All three were sent to Fort McHenry for imprisonment.   

The next day, the federal War Department issued a press release stating that the Judge had been imprisoned for treason.  The press release was published in every major Northern newspaper and in Europe as soon as the news crossed the Atlantic.  Judge Carmichael and attorney Powell were imprisoned for over 9 months under the harshest conditions without trial or charges ever placed against them.  

These men were imprisoned and denied their basic constitutional rights to have legal counsel challenge the validity of their imprisonment, to be presented with charges, to have the government’s charges reviewed by a civilian court, to confront their accusers or to provide a defense in a civilian court of law.  All these constitutional rights were denied because the President had suspended the sacred right of habeas corpus, an act that the Constitution had granted solely to Congress and not the Executive. 

The Judge’s imprisonment for treason, as professed by the federal government, became established history for over 160 years touted by follow-on historians who simply relied upon the statements issued by the government.  This was indicative of how history recorded the imprisonment of so many other Maryland political leaders, newspaper editors and other citizens imprisoned under the suspension of habeas which denied their right to present a defense or to even publicly proclaim their side of the story.  The free press was grossly impacted by the suspension of habeas with numerous newspapers who presented dissenting views shut down or had their editors imprisoned and where the threat of such retaliation caused many others to remain compliant and not question the Executive.  

With today’s technology to digitally search thousands of official records along with historical newspapers across the globe, the actual history of Judge Carmichael’s arrest can now be told – and it had nothing to do with secession or traitorous activity. 

Judge Carmichael got the attention of Secretary William Seward in June of 1861 by sending a petition along with 48 others, to the Maryland Legislature detailing how Union soldiers had entered Queene Anne’s County and had placed themselves as a military police superior to civilian authority and were conducting unlawful searches, arrests and imprisonments and had unilaterally suspended habeas corpus to those they detained.  This document recorded in the Maryland Archives is hugely important in understanding President Lincoln’s early suspension of habeas enacted just weeks prior.  The President’s first suspension was touted as a military necessity to protect a narrow supply corridor between Philadelphia and Washington.  With Carmichael’s communication to the Legislature, we find it was also suspended in places in Maryland far removed from this supply route and for totally different reasons as well.  

Secretary Seward in learning of the Judge’s communication, issued a directive to General John Adams Dix to have the Judge imprisoned in Fort Lafayette for “treason”  and to have the arrest conducted in the Judge’s courtroom to maximize the public impact.  General Dix, however, did not act upon this directive at this time but continued to monitor the Judge.   As a circuit court Judge, Carmichael was also a Judge in Queen Anne’s County and shortly before the state elections in November 1861 the clerk of Queen Anne’s Court, Madison Brown, was arrested and temporarily imprisoned by Union troops.  Brown was running on the “Peace Party” ticket as a candidate for the Maryland Appellate Court during the upcoming state election and was just one of many Maryland political candidates that had been harassed and even imprisoned by the occupying Union troops prior to the election. Judge Carmichael had the offending military officers charged by the grand jury for the unlawful imprisonment of Brown and others, but the Union military simply relocated the charged officers outside of the Judge’s jurisdiction to prevent their trial.

Similar incidents also happened in Talbot County where dissenters were imprisoned by the occupying military command.  In Talbot County however, something very different occurred. Prosecuting attorney J.C.W. Powell learned that a Maryland politician, State Senator Henry Holiday Goldsborough, had embroiled himself in directing the Union troops on the arrest of Talbot civilians.   Goldsborough was the leader of the Maryland Senate and a strong Lincoln ally.  Attorney Powell was successful in having Talbot’s Grand Jury issue indictments against Goldsborough, along with the associated Union officers responsible for the arrests.   

The military officers were removed from Talbot’s legal jurisdiction, but Senator Goldsborough lived in Talbot County and could not avoid prosecution.  Shortly before Goldsborough’s trial General Dix issued a written communication to him stating that he was sending the military officers subpoenaed for his trial but was also sending four Provost Marshals “well armed.”  In this communication, Gen. Dix left it to Goldsborough to authorize the Provost Marshals to arrest Judge Carmichael.  In Dix’s after-action report to Secretary Seward, he noted that the Judge had been arrested in his courtroom for the maximum public impact per the stated desire of Seward.  The imprisonment of Judge Carmichael and prosecuting attorney Powell had nothing to do with treason but was simply to protect a political ally of the President and to display the power of the federal government.  The false report of “treason” was simply cover to make such a drastic measure publicly acceptable.

Some of those who read this will attempt to immediately defend President Lincoln’s actions.  Human nature has not changed in 163 years and there are many who will blindly trust and defend their chosen political leader regardless of evidence.  These events are our history which cannot be changed but which provide us with important insights and lessons that we should apply to the issues of our day.

For more on this important history to include the uncovering of the details regarding the imprisonment of the Maryland Legislature and other important Maryland leaders, please refer to my book “When Democracy Fell, The Subjugation of Maryland During the U.S. Civil War,” available on Amazon or locally at Vintage Books in Easton and Unicorn Books in Trappe.  

Paul Callahan is a native of Talbot County Maryland, a graduate of the Catholic University of America and a former Marine Corps officer. When Democracy Fell is due for release on October 3, at all major retailers to include Amazon. Image of prisoners courtesy of “The Local History Channel.”

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Filed Under: Opinion

Character Rot: Sounding the Alarm by Johnny O’Brien

May 15, 2025 by Opinion
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Most of us are aware of the damage Donald Trump is doing to government service, freedom of expression, our universities, and democracy. And the moral decay our “national role model” is inflicting upon America with his daily lying, greed, spite, and vindictiveness.

But most of us are less aware of the grave threat Trump and his spineless minions represent to our precious children, just by broadcasting his malignant narcissism every day. It is not too early to sound the alarm.

For starters, just picture our vulnerable teens bombarded by their commander-in-chief, who rules as a greedy, lawless king—where kindness, honesty, humility, and cooperation are for “suckers and losers.” Our kids, with their online tools and savvy, know this. They see and hear it every day. The most powerful leader in the world (their “leader”) is trashing the most sacred values that have defined America since its founding.

And to what effect on our coming-of-age children? At a minimum, confusion about what behavior or character counts. More frequently, they embrace the loss of moral guardrails and behave (as in Golding’s Lord of the Flies) any way they want.

This is not a theory. I first saw it recently at a boarding school for needy children I once led. It has over 2,000 students and prides itself on building character. Just four months into Trump’s leadership model, more students are flouting rules and debasing their school’s Sacred Values.

When challenged, responses include:

  • “Why should I be kind to a weak classmate?”

  • “Why do I need to tell the truth?”

  • “Why should I share credit with a teammate?”

The school’s Sacred Values—like Integrity and Mutual Trust—are being routinely tested.

Note: These behaviors seem to be more manifest in boys, who are more likely to challenge norms and authority (and who already have excessive learning difficulties these days). And, BTW, where were these teens during Trump’s first term? In late elementary and early middle school, where early character formation is founded.

What fate, then, for our children and their character? What is the future for the sacred values of our critical institutions?

Awareness of a real and present danger is always the first step to combating a serious threat. “This too will pass” is not a sufficient response to 8–12 years of socially induced character decay.

Such a grave challenge will fall first to our parents… and then to our teachers and coaches, who influence behavior the most. And then to our community, church, and political leaders—who, when organized, can effectively resist the moral decay.

But also to each of us who care about America’s character and the moral fiber of our children—those of us who still value kindness, honesty, and the greater common good, and do not want our young folks to become the “Greedy Me Generation.”

Johnny O’Brien is a former president of the Milton Hershey School and its first alumnus to lead the institution. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised at the school and graduated in 1961 before earning a degree from Princeton University and pursuing graduate studies at Johns Hopkins. O’Brien later founded Renaissance Leadership, a firm that coached executives at major corporations. In 2003, he returned to Hershey as its president. He is also the author of Semisweet: An Orphan’s Journey Through the School the Hersheys Built, and currently lives in Easton.

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Filed Under: Opinion

A Conservative Look at the Trump Tariff Policy by David Montgomery

May 14, 2025 by David Montgomery
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Editor’s Note. The Spy is pleased to welcome David Montgomery back as a contributor. When the Talbot Spy launched in 2009, David was one of our first political columnists—widely read, often provocative, and a thoughtful voice for socially conservative views. Well before his move to Talbot County, David was a respected figure in Washington, D.C. as he built his reputation as a lead economist at the Congressional Budget Office and later as a private consultant. His work on federal spending models and his successful advocacy for California’s cap-and-trade policy have impacted national environmental and fiscal policy. In his return to the Spy, David will focus on the economic challenges of our times.

I am now more puzzled than ever by the goals of President Trump’s tariff policies. He is now reducing tariffs on China in exchange for China’s offer to reduce tariffs and open its markets to US businesses.  He has announced ongoing negotiations with some 80 other countries to reduce tariffs on both sides.  China is looking like just another trading partner that has tariffs higher than ours.

There are three textbook objectives that might be pursued through tariff policy. They are strategic, retaliatory, and protectionist.  

Strategic tariffs are directed at specific countries and or industries which are deemed to be critical to national security. Thus, the United States should be reducing its reliance on China for certain rare minerals.  Likewise, any components for warfighting equipment that are now sourced from China should be switched to domestic suppliers.  This objective has always been a legitimate purpose for tariffs, but they should be selective and high—or just a ban on imports.  I thought China was the target of strategic tariffs, and I never questioned that such tariffs were in general needed. When it comes to implementing that policy, the specifics of how rapidly we could disengage our supply chains from Chinese sources needed to be considered before setting tariffs arbitrarily high.

Now it appears that we are treating China just like Europe and other countries on which we set retaliatory tariffs‚ that is, tariffs designed to match the tariffs imposed on us by our trading partners. The goal in imposing such tariffs is not necessarily to shrink trade, rather it is to put US industries on an equal footing with industries protected by tariffs of our trading partners. That is a fine objective and beneficial to both countries. The very high tariffs that Trump imposed initially seemed to have brought many countries to the negotiating table. 

If we can achieve a mutual reduction in tariffs and trade barriers with allies, articularly Europe, Japan and Korea, it will benefit both countries.  There will be more demand for goods from US industries that have been priced out of protected markets, and our trading partners will get goods for their consumers at lower cost than they could produce domestically.  That outcome could also help with our broader goal of improving manufacturing wages and output.

So now I am puzzled.   What is our objective for managing trade with China?  The current dramatic reductions suggest that the President is not pursuing a strategy of reducing trade with China for strategic reasons, he was just threatening them to get them to line up like Europe and other countries to reduce their barriers to trade. That, or this is a purely political move to deal with the stock market carnage that the high tariffs produced.  

I really hope that Walmart has not won again on this one. We do need to disengage from trade with China on goods like strategic minerals and electronics. We might not need 145% tariffs on all Chinese goods but we certainly need even more on some. 

That also lets me touch briefly on the third reason for tariffs, which I characterized as protectionist. These are tariffs designed to protect specific industries and encourage their growth here in the US. Protectionism goes further than reducing barriers to exports, though that helps.

I can enthusiastically support economic policies that are designed to recreate the traditional American family. That is, whose objective is to make it possible again for one man to provide for his wife and multiple children on one income, so that the nuclear family headed by a wife living at home, can once again become the norm. 

The plan articulated by JD Vance is that the manufacturing sector, and with it jobs that do not require expensive college education, must expand to provide that kind of income to families. I doubt that current scattershot tariff policy, or even a combination of policies likely to be implemented in this administration, would be sufficient to achieve this goal. I have a lot more hope that it could all be put together in eight years of a JD Vance administration.

The start toward this goal is protective tariffs, either for the manufacturing sector as a whole or for particular industries, not just large enough to overcome the advantage that countries like China have due to cheap or, in China’s case, forced labor. Tariffs on China probably should be 150% or more to achieve this goal–Robert Lighthizer recommends 200 to 300%–in order to increase both wages and output in US manufacturing.  Unfortunately, the same economic reasoning applies to South Korea and Japan. On top of that, protection would have to be applies to many more carefully chosen sectors to greatly improve the economic status for couples that are struggling to find a way to buy a home, have children and raise them well. Anyway, this beguiling part of the Trump economic plan has not been visible in any of his specific moves on tariffs.

So I am puzzled about what the 40 or 60 or 80 current negotiations on tariffs are intended to accomplish. In the case of China, the only serious antagonist with whom trade, we seem to be abandoning the strategic objective in favor of convincing China to eliminate tariffs and other barriers to exports from the US (a tiny fraction of imports from China) while doing nothing to reduce the flow of goods to the US from China. 

In any event, I doubt that any agreement to open China’s markets is enforceable. China has had thousands of years to figure out how to cheat on any agreement. The opacity of China’s economy means it could find ways to block US investment and exports, even after agreeing to everything that President Trump might demand.  It’s not even “trust but verify” with China. It’s more like “never trust because it’s impossible to verify”.  If we do perceive that US companies remain unable to sell in China, the tit-for-tat response would be to return to the 175% tariffs of a week ago. That at least should gain some strategic benefits, and might be implemented through incremental increases that give supply chains time to adjust.

We may or may not gain any tariff reductions out of current negotiations with China.  Just going into these negotiations to mutually reduce tariffs makes me doubt whether the current round is intended to reduce our strategic vulnerability on China. By reducing tariffs across the board we have given on the effort to shift specific supply chains with national security significance out of China is now being treated as just another trading partner with whom we are working things out. 

I’m also not seeing any efforts toward the goal that appealed to me, which is renewing good jobs that will support the old-fashioned family with all its social and moral benefits.  

Getting back to my introduction, it is not clear what objective President Trump is pursuing in the current trade negotiations.  

David Montgomery was formerly Senior Vice President of NERA Economic Consulting. He also served as assistant director of the US Congressional Budget Office and deputy assistant secretary for policy in the US Department of Energy. He taught economics at the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University and was a senior fellow at Resources for the Future. He currently serves as councilmember for Ward 3 on the Town of Easton Council. 

 

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Filed Under: Opinion

Letter to Editor: Congressman Harris, DOGE needs Oversight

February 22, 2025 by Letter to Editor
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Dear Congressman Harris,

I received your response to my email regarding DOGE operatives entering secure government databases.  Your response was that you wholeheartedly support what DOGE is doing.

I would like to point out that multiple media reports show that, not only are most of these DOGE operatives less than 25 years old with no expertise in finding “waste, fraud, and abuse,” one of them, a 19-year-old named Edward Coristine, who had a brief internship at Elon Musk’s Neurolink company, owns a company named Tesla.Sexy LLC,  which reportedly controls Russian registered web domains.  He briefly worked for a competitor company of Musk’s known for hiring reformed hackers and was fired from that company for sharing confidential company data with another competitor. 

I was concerned as you should be that these operatives have entered the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid databases, but multiple investigative media reports show that this individual was involved with entering  the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Please start the process of Congressional oversight of what DOGE is doing.  This has gotten out of hand and the public needs to know.

Sincerely,

Mark Wilson
Cambridge

Below is Congressman Harris’s response to Mr. Wilson’s original email regarding the fact that DOGE has accessed secure databases across the federal government, in particular, Social Security, Medicare, and the IRS.

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Filed Under: 8 Letters to Editor, Opinion

The Political is Personal: Reflections on DEI by Margaret Andersen

February 1, 2025 by Opinion
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As the women’s movement was unfolding in the late 1960s, all across the country women gathered in small, informal groups called consciousness raising (CR) groups—conversations that helped us identify the societal origins of problems we were facing in our individual lives. Domestic violence, rape, job discrimination, illegal abortion, the lack of birth control—you name it: These were experienced as personal problems, but their origins were in society and required political, not just personal solutions. For so many of us in my generation, “the personal is political” was a rallying call–a call for change not just in our personal lives, but in society and our social institutions.

This was a time (and it wasn’t that long ago) when there were no women in what we studied in school. Colleges were places where women could only wear dresses. Blue jeans, which became the symbol of a generation, were forbidden on campus—until women revolted. Blue jeans were a symbol of the working class and wearing them, as suggested by SNCC (the activist group, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), was a symbol of solidarity with the working class. Women demanded their rights—on campus, at home, at work: everywhere! 

We embarked on a course of compensatory education, trying to learn through any means necessary all that had been left out of what we were taught. There were few studies about women; even medical science routinely excluded women from research samples. When I was in graduate school (where I had no women professors), what we learned about women came from newsprint pamphlets, our CR groups, and whatever we could put our hands on that taught us about women’s history, lives, artistic contributions, and everyday experiences. This was the birth of Women’s Studies—or what is now often called gender studies.

My compensatory education had to offset all I had not learned about women, about people of color, about LGBTQ experiences—in other words, my education excluded more than half the world’s population. Ironically, the term “compensatory education” at the time usually referred to what was perceived as inadequate education for people of color in racially segregated schools, but we all need an education that teaches us about the full range of human experience.

As time proceeded, our efforts to “integrate” education by including the work, experiences, and contributions of women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ people became institutionalized in women’s studies programs, ethnic and racial studies programs, LGBTQ studies, and—yes–diversity initiatives: the now demonized DEI!

Now the assault on so-called DEI feels like a punch in the gut to me. I have devoted fifty plus years of my education and the education I have passed on to others in the interest of an inclusive, not exclusive, curriculum. Scholarship in these diverse areas of study has flourished and people have learned that having more inclusive educational and workplace settings actually improves performance for ALL groups. What is it that is so threatening about DEI that powerful interests are now trying to wipe it out of every institution?

I’ll hazard a guess that most opponents of so-called DEI cannot tell you what it is. Of course, many of us have sat through boring workshops intended to raise our awareness of “DEI.” A lot of us have raised our understanding of what changes—both personal and political—are necessary to achieve a more fair and equitable society—in all its dimensions. To me, DEI is just about that—respecting and understanding the enormous diversity of people living and working all around us; desiring more equitable (just plain fair) opportunities for people to achieve their dreams; and being inclusive, not exclusive, in how we think and who we think about—and value.

I take the current assault on DEI as a personal affront—an affront on all I have worked for over fifty plus years as a professor, author, and college administrator. The time is frightening and, like many of my friends, colleagues, and family members, most days I just want to crawl in a hole. I feel powerless to change the retrograde actions that are happening all around us, every day. But the changes I have witnessed in my own lifetime are vast and should not be taken for granted. We must speak out even when it feels like there are big risks in doing so. 

Even putting these thoughts in print feels scary given the retribution that is now all too common. But I ask you to remember: I am your neighbor, might have been your teacher, am not a criminal. I am an American and love my country, as I hear you do too. But before you post some nasty comment to this letter, I ask you also to think about whether you want your child, your friend, your neighbor to grow up in a country where we learn little, if anything, about people’s experiences other than our own and where powerful interests ask you to ignore the hard work of so many who fought to bring you a more inclusive, just, and open society.  

I also ask you to deeply care about anyone, maybe in your family or friendship network, who loves a lesbian or gay daughter or sibling, even when the coming out process asked them to change everything they thought they knew. Love those who cherish and embrace a trans member of the family even when their old beliefs were upended by this reality. Love those who have fully welcomed an interracial couple and their children into an otherwise all white family. Care about anyone from an immigrant background who came to this nation to seek a better life for themselves and their children.  Know their experiences; don’t believe the myths.

To all of you, my heart is with you even as I rage! 

Dr Margaret L. Andersen is the Elizabeth and Edward Rosenberg Professor Emerita, Founder and Executive Director of the President’s Diversity Initiative, University of Delaware, who lives in Oxford.

 

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Filed Under: Opinion, Spy Journal

New report reveals value of resource conservation for Shore businesses by John Horner

January 30, 2025 by Opinion
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I consider it a privilege to live and work in a place so many Marylanders associate with vacations, retirement, recreation, and quiet retreats. But as good as our parks, rivers, beaches, and charming towns are for those very activities—the Eastern Shore is equally a place of everyday living and hard honest work, schools and small businesses, boat builders and watermen. At Easton Utilities, we are invested in it all – whether we’re powering the air conditioning in a vacation home so that a young family can escape a summer heat wave, keeping the lights on in a farmer’s winter workshop, helping a local restaurant cook with natural gas, or providing high speed internet to a long-awaited new healthcare facility.

It’s easy to see how a utility company economically benefits the residents and visitors of the Shore. But all of our services would be irrelevant if not for the benefits provided by our water, woodlands, clean air, wildlife, fertile soil, beaches, and abundant seafood. These natural resources offer more than an admirable landscape and deep cultural identity, they drive our economy. Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC), in collaboration with the Delmarva Restoration and Conservation Network (DRCN), recently released a report titled, “Economic Impact of Natural Resources Conservation on the Delmarva Peninsula.” This comprehensive study highlights the undeniable benefits of the Eastern Shore’s natural resources.

Since I first began at Easton Utilities, we have made sustainability a priority. Our Easton Sustainability Campus is constantly developing new innovative ways to pursue our sustainability mission of conserving natural resources in a way that is economically viable. Located at our Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) Wastewater Treatment Facility, this campus also houses our cost-effective 2 MW solar array which was significantly grant-funded by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). In fact, our ENR Wastewater Treatment Facility’s exceptional performance regarding nitrogen and phosphorous discharge concentrations has resulted in additional grant funding year over year from MDE. These funds are reinvested in the wastewater facility for ongoing operations and maintenance undertakings in order to continue optimal performance.

In addition, from our annual tree planting initiative to our pollinator habitat, we remain committed to enhancing the quality of life in our beloved coastal communities by making environmental stewardship a priority and seeking out cost-effective projects which can help us to address the needs of both our place and our people.

Now more than ever, ESLC’s economic report reveals just how critical conservation efforts are if we want to preserve our beautiful peninsula home and unique way of life. Land conservation anchors environmental stewardship; it’s a cornerstone for preserving the Eastern Shore’s cultural heritage and its economy. By safeguarding Delmarva’s natural resources, we ensure that future generations can experience the beauty, traditions, and productive, meaningful work that define this unique region.

In my role as the President and CEO of Easton Utilities, I am ever mindful of what drives the Eastern Shore quality of life for both our employees and our customers. This new report shares in numbers what we all feel daily: the natural resources of the Shore keep us afloat. I am confident that Easton Utilities, through our partnership with the Town of Easton and Mayor Megan Cook, will continue to do everything in our power to conserve our precious region while providing for our community, and now with an even greater understanding of the essential value of our natural resources.

John Horner is the president and CEO of Easton Utilities

The report can be read here.

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Filed Under: Opinion

Presidential pasts and an impending future by Steve Parks

January 17, 2025 by Steve Parks
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Former president and now president-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated again – this time to a non-consecutive second term. (The first since Grover Cleveland, elected in 1885 and 1893.) Although I was disappointed, to say the least, about his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in November, it is clear that Trump was elected fair and square by millions of Americans I disagree with regarding his fitness for office.
Despite my severe doubts based on his first-term presidency – two impeachments resulting in party-line acquittals and four felony charges: two blocked by judicial stall tactics, another by a prosecutor’s personal indiscretion, plus one conviction with no penalties allowed – I had no choice but to respect the results and give the winner the benefit of aforementioned doubts. I say “no choice” because without evidence of anything but a straight-up electoral Trump victory meant to me – as it should to any American who believes in democracy – that he is our once and now-again president. Others I respect on the losing side upheld that rightful interpretation of constitutional law. Harris conceded the next morning. And she fulfilled her constitutional duty as vice president and president of the Senate to confirm the electoral count on Jan. 6. Remember that date, anyone? Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of the House of Representatives, gaveled his announcement of the final count to the applause of mostly the winning side. Nothing wrong with that. But compare this entirely peaceful transfer of power to that of the MAGA mob, egged on by Trump, on the same date four years ago.
Still, Trump is about to be our next president. And he was among a rich and rare assemblage of colleagues on another historic day just last week. Trump and three other former presidents, plus President Joe Biden, sat together as a far more exclusive club than the “Saturday Night Live” five-timer host club. But it was the centenarian of the hour, 39th President Jimmy Carter, whose funeral stood as a still-living memorial to the great man in the flag-draped casket – a fallible human of unassailable character, decency, integrity and the belief I have now and always did that Jimmy Carter never lied to us. All the eulogies were authentically moving and real. No embellishment necessary. One of my favorites was the bipartisan tribute read by Gerald Ford’s son Steven because these former presidential election rivals and best friends for the rest of their lives, agreed to write each other’s eulogies. Carter outlasted Ford by 18 years.
I can apply none of those accolades to the man about to take his second oath of office I doubt he will keep for a minute. I say that because I’m certain he will never take the step that could redeem himself and his idolaters: Tell the truth about the 2020 election. Are we to just pretend that he’s not the one who tried to “steal” an election? – campaigning before and after the votes were counted that it was “rigged.” It’s an impossible feat considering all the states, counties, and municipalities, not to mention the thousands of precincts you’d have to line up to pull off a stolen national election. And never mind there is zero evidence of such a widespread possibility in 2020. If Donald could bring himself to announce, or at least imply, at his inauguration in front of the president who once defeated him that, yes, Biden won that election, just as he – Trump – won this one, he could obliterate the fact-free obsession that has divided America for more than five years. Confession is good for the soul and would be for the country he now leads. Again. But Trump will never do that.
Too bad for all of us on either side of his contagious lie. You won in 2024, Mr. Trump. Mr. President. And no one seriously challenges that. Why would you contribute to keeping the country divided against itself as you did when you lacked the simple courtesy of attending Biden’s inauguration? Sore loser, for sure. Why would you now be a sore winner as well? Just to get even? Surely, you can’t expect to run again. Make the best of this term for yourself, your legacy, and for all the rest of us.
Jimmy could be watching you, Donald. But you don’t seem to care. You think Carter was a loser. But so were you in 2020. Be a man and admit it. Put an end to all the personal strife you brought upon yourself as a result. And all of us fellow Americans, too. Then get on with being the best president you can be for a more united USA.
Make America Grateful Again – grateful to be who we are when we’re all working together.
Steve Parks is a retired journalist now living in Easton.

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Filed Under: Opinion

Maryland’s fiscal apocalypse by Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr.

January 12, 2025 by Opinion
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Maryland’s State Budget is teetering on the brink of an unprecedented financial collapse. The refusal to address formula-driven mandatory and entitlement spending threatens to thrust the state into a cycle of automatic “runaway” deficits, culminating in a financial “Extinction Level Event” in the near future. Despite the gravity of this crisis, political leaders have shied away from the structural reforms necessary to restore fiscal stability. Without bold action, Maryland’s taxpayers face a perilous future.

At the heart of Maryland’s fiscal woes is the rigid structure of formula-driven mandatory spending. These formulas mandate funding levels for key programs, such as education and Medicaid, irrespective of the state’s revenue performance. 

The failure to redefine and adjust the mandatory and entitlement spending based on economic realities is not a trivial oversight; it is a catastrophic misjudgment that will surely lead to a financial collapse from which there is no recovery. The state’s budget will collapse under its own weight—not due to inadequate taxation, not by trimming the discretionary budget, but because of otherwise well-meaning mandatory spending formulas whose costs become prohibitively unsustainable as they approach reality. Senate President Bill Ferguson underscored this reality, acknowledging that entitlement programs constitute the bulk of the growing deficit. Yet, political leaders have made little progress in reforming these spending mandates.

The illusion of fiscal health under the Hogan administration was largely sustained by federal COVID relief funds, which artificially created budget surpluses. These one-time funds masked the structural deficit and deferred difficult financial decisions. However, with the federal COVID money now evaporated, the true extent of Maryland’s budgetary challenges has come into sharp focus. Moreover, the upcoming Trump administration is likely to scale back discretionary federal spending, which has traditionally bolstered Maryland’s economy due to its reliance on federal contracts and agencies. This reduction in federal support will further exacerbate the state’s financial challenges, leaving Maryland ill-prepared to weather the storm.

Another significant drain on the state’s resources is Governor Moore’s commitment to “climate investments.” While addressing climate change is a noble goal, it is fundamentally a national and global issue, not a state-specific one. Maryland’s taxpayers should not be saddled with debt for initiatives that will have a de minimus impact on global climate trends. Prioritizing these expenditures over addressing the budget crisis is fiscally irresponsible and diverts attention from urgent structural reforms.

The recent Gonzales Poll reveals that a majority of Marylanders oppose tax increases to address the budget deficit. More than three-quarters of respondents oppose increases in income, property, and sales taxes. Even among those who strongly approve of Governor Moore’s performance, a significant majority oppose new taxes. This opposition underscores the political peril of pursuing tax hikes without first addressing the state’s spending problem.

While commendable as a good first “baby step”, Governor Moore’s recent proposal to save $50 million through government efficiencies is a drop in the ocean compared to the nearly $3 billion deficit – a deficit that is projected to double by 2030. While symbolic gestures like streamlining laptop procurement and reducing underutilized state vehicles are commendable, they fall far short of the comprehensive restructuring needed and do nothing to adjust mandatory spending. 

The Moore Administration’s reliance on outside consultants, such as Boston Consulting Group, further diminishes the credibility of these efforts. Not only will the consulting firm receive 20% of any identified savings, but this agreement could cost taxpayers up to $15 million over two years. This expenditure – which has been billed as a measure to save money- epitomizes the mismanagement of resources that has plagued the state.

In a December 11, 2024, opinion article in Center Maryland, I called upon Governor Moore to “reorganize Maryland’s bloated bureaucracy” for the first time in over 50 years before considering tax increases. This reorganization should include revisiting mandatory spending formulas, recalibrating spending mandates to align with the state’s fiscal realities, addressing unfunded pension liabilities that loom like a ticking time bomb, and eliminating redundant programs through a thorough review of state operations. Recent proposals that have been quietly suggested by legislative leaders such as Senate President Bill Ferguson – such as raising the capital gains tax – fail to address the structural deficit and punish success, should be outright rejected. 

Maryland is at a crossroads. The state’s leaders must confront the hard truths about its fiscal trajectory and embrace meaningful reforms. Without immediate decisive action, the combination of formula-driven spending, evaporating federal support, and misplaced priorities will lead Maryland toward a financial catastrophe. The time for half-measures is over; the state’s fiscal survival depends on bold, transformative leadership.

Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. is a lifelong Eastern Shoreman, attorney, and former Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals Chairman.  He is co-host of the Gonzales/Mitchell Show podcast, which discusses politics, business, and cultural issues.

 

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Filed Under: Op-Ed, Opinion

Analysis: Moore’s delicate balance as the session gets under way

January 9, 2025 by Maryland Matters
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Gov. Wes Moore (D) addresses the Maryland Senate on the first day of the 2025 session, as Senate Preident Bill Ferguson (D) looks on. Photo by Bryan P. Sears.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) made the scene across Annapolis Wednesday, as tradition dictates for governors on the opening day of the General Assembly session.

He started the day at a forum sponsored by The Daily Record, presided over a meeting of the Board of Public Works, visited both chambers of the legislature for their inaugural floor sessions, met with reporters individually and in a press gaggle, and dropped by several receptions sponsored by lobbying firms and interest groups.

At each event, Moore displayed his usual irrepressible optimism about the future of Maryland, and hailed his “partners” in the legislature and advocacy community. But he also struck a sober note, highlighting the state’s challenging fiscal picture and the uncertainty over the impact the incoming Trump administration could have on the state’s fortunes.

What was notably missing from Moore’s multiple presentations, on day one of the 90-day legislative session, was a specific or defining agenda for the next three months, or a list of priorities.

Some of that will take form next week, when the governor releases his annual budget proposal. With the state facing projected deficits of almost $3 billion, Moore said Wednesday that he’s planning for $2 billion in cuts and that he’s asked state agencies to go line-by-line through their budgets and “find these inefficiencies.”

“You’re going to see them come from a collection of buckets,” he told reporters at a news conference.

Two sources familiar with the administration’s thinking said one of the largest single cuts would be a trim of about $110 million from the University System of Maryland.

Sources familiar with the budget proposal also said it will likely include what was described as a “Maryland Stadium Authority model for major IT projects.” Details were not available and it is unclear if that model would be a standalone agency or rolled into another existing department such as the Department of Information Technology.

Even if Moore achieves his targeted cuts, that would leave about $1 billion of structural deficit for fiscal 2026 unaccounted for. But he repeated his mantra Wednesday that “the bar remains very high” for tax increases.

Echoes of Hogan

As for the rest of his agenda, Moore said it will fully develop later rather than sooner, given the transfer of power about to take place in Washington, D.C.

“Over the next 90 days, we need to figure out what’s going to happen with the new federal administration,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “And that’s a huge factor.”

Moore is now halfway through his four-year term — a fact that seemed to almost surprise him when a reporter mentioned it. He came into office with a lofty agenda, vowing, among other things, to eradicate childhood poverty, reorder the state economy, build the Red Line in Baltimore and confront climate change.

Progress on those fronts has been incremental, and now Moore and other policymakers will be preoccupied by “the two storms,” as he describes them — the deficit and the incoming Trump administration. But Moore is undaunted and said Maryland’s potential will not be diminished.

“I inherited a tough economy, right?” he said in the interview with Maryland Matters. “I inherited an economy that was in a fiscal crisis, I inherited an economy that was in a multibillion-dollar structural deficit. So it’s not like that has changed — I inherited that. That was my day one reality. I think about what we’ve been able to navigate in those first years despite these choppy waters.”

Throughout the day, Moore took some not-so-subtle jabs at his predecessor, former Gov. Larry Hogan (R), without naming him.

“I inherited a structural deficit that was the largest we’ve seen in two decades,” he said during The Daily Record event. “That was completely papered over by [federal] COVID money. We didn’t actually address the structural issues.”

It’s a time-honored tactic for governors to blame their predecessors for the state’s fiscal condition and economic climate they inherited: Hogan routinely criticized his immediate predecessor, former Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), practically until the day he left office.

What’s noteworthy about Moore is that in many ways, he is promoting an agenda that isn’t dissimilar from Hogan’s, whether it’s holding the line on taxes, pushing to grow the state’s economy to generate more revenues, boosting the state’s business climate, resisting spending mandates, scaling back certain regulations, and reforming procurement practices and other government programs. And he’s been more vocal about these priorities as the state’s financial condition worsens.

“We’ve got to make it easier for businesses to come to our state and thrive and grow and grow,” he said during his news conference.

Moore, like Hogan, does not always communicate his positions to lawmakers in advance.

Two years ago, he surprised Democrats in the House and Senate with a call to end the automatic increases on the gas tax tied to inflation, but that policy remains intact. In December, he caught lawmakers off guard again when he called for the General Assembly to pass a bill to allow beer and wine sales in grocery stores and other retail outlets and have the measure on his desk by the end of session.

The bill is not one of the governor’s priorities. On Wednesday, however, he chastised lawmakers who so far appear to be digging in against his call.

“It’s not even my bill,” Moore said during The Daily Record event. “I just think the General Assembly should listen to the people on this and I think they should do the work.

“And when they do the work, I think they will come to whatever they believe to be the right solution that addresses all the concerns, all the questions. But I just think all the people in the state of Maryland have been speaking fairly clearly on this and the General Assembly has not heard it,” Moore said.

It wasn’t like Hogan once comparing the 90-day session to spring break for irresponsible lawmakers, but the comment did not soften the stance of some legislators.

“I think the House and Senate are listening to the people and small-business owners,” said Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). “The issue that the people are most worried about is closing the $3 billion deficit, appropriately.”

House Economic Matters Chair C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), whose committee has jurisdiction over liquor issues, said he “takes great umbrage” at Moore’s comments.

“We have done the work in the past,” he said. “While it might be new to him and his administration, it is not new to the General Assembly. It is not new to me as chairman. It is not new to me as a member of the Economic Matters Committee.

“I take umbrage to the fact that somehow, some way if we don’t come to his solution, we haven’t done our work — because we do our work,” Wilson added.

Wilson described himself as a supporter of Moore’s but said the governor’s approach on the issue of expanded alcohol sales “seems shortsighted.”

“It’s like you’re picking a fight with people that can fight and have just as many rocks as you do,” Wilson said. “We are an equal branch of government … and I pray that the governor realizes that we do our job and take our job seriously.”

One clear difference between Moore and Hogan: Hogan killed the Red Line, in 2015, and Moore has been working to revive it. During his news conference Wednesday he did not say what kind of mode of transit he’s seeking or how he thought potential federal funding would be impacted by the new Trump administration. But Moore was steadfast in his insistence that an east-west transit connector is vital to the economic health of the Baltimore region.

“You cannot have economic mobility if you don’t have physical mobility,” he said.

‘We’re thinking about what is possible’

Some Democratic lawmakers, after eight years of Hogan, said they’re surprised that Moore hasn’t offered them more guidance or a concrete agenda for them to consider early in the session.

“I think that would be helpful,” said Del. Pam Queen (D-Montgomery), who co-chairs the legislative Study Group on Economic Stability. “You would think, because we’re all of the same party, we’d have more of that, especially in difficult times.”

Queen, who has been in the legislature since 2016, said the third year of a term is often when a governor and his administration become more sure-footed and assertive with the legislature, “so this is the year when you’d expect that kind of thing to happen.”

Ferguson said it makes sense to see what the early policy moves are out of the Trump administration and the all-Republican Congress before fully advancing a legislative agenda in Annapolis.

Del. Regina T. Boyce (D-Baltimore City), vice chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee, said that even as they wait for a more comprehensive agenda from the Moore administration, lawmakers are intent on moving their own priorities.

“We’re thinking about what is possible with the budget,” she said. “As Speaker [Adrienne] Jones says, we won’t balance the budget on the backs of education, on the backs of health, on the backs of transportation, and ultimately, on the backs of poor people. We’ve got to ensure that we’re funding our priorities and keeping the promises we made.”

Moore told Maryland Matters that the progress his administration has made in the past two years gives him hope for what’s possible under the challenging conditions the state is facing now.

“We’ve really been able to break the back of violence and homicide in Baltimore and across the state and have real momentum to be able to go further now and get more done,” he said.

“That we’ve been able to go from being 43rd in the country in the state on unemployment to having one of the lowest unemployment rates in our country, because of the investments we’ve made, and also the investments in trade programs and apprentice programs. That we were able to lead in a time of absolute crisis in one of the largest and sustained maritime tragedies in our nation’s history and know that the bridge is being to be rebuilt on our watch with federal funding,” he said.

Asked, as he looks ahead to the changing of the guard in Washington, what the Democratic “resistance” ought to look like, Moore replied, “I haven’t put much thought into it. I say, ‘I’m not the leader of the resistance, I’m the governor of Maryland.’”


by Josh Kurtz and Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters
January 8, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Op-Ed, Opinion

Message from CWDI president for end of 2024

January 8, 2025 by The Cambridge Spy
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We have construction! If you haven’t had a chance to go by Cambridge Harbor lately, take a walk or drive and see the progress that is being made on the new Promenade (but please be mindful as it is an active construction site). As I reported in my last newsletter, Dorchester County contractors, Earth Movers, were awarded the project and have been doing work since mid-October. The project, which is funded by the U.S. Economic Development Agency, with that funding facilitated by the MidShore Regional Council, is expected to be completed by mid-summer. Also involved is the Chesapeake Conservancy, our award co-recipient, whose partnership has been invaluable since the project’s planning stage. We hosted a Ground Breaking Ceremony with the Chamber of Commerce in mid-December–you can read more about it in the Star Democrat article.

With the Promenade project as the first construction on the property, we hope that this signals to the community our commitment to providing and maintaining public access to the
Waterfront. Once this phase of the Promenade is completed, which goes from the current Wharf
to the Franklin Street boat ramp, we hope that it is enjoyed by all members of our community
and will be just the beginning of creating a waterfront area and experience that is accessible to all.

As we enter 2025 we are hitting the ground running. After meetings with the City Assistant
Manager, City Planner and City Engineer, our planning committee and board will be
participating in a multi-day design charrette in January with our urban design consultant, Lew
Oliver. These meetings, which will include the city/county/state where applicable, will form the
basis of our RFP to the development community later this year.

I want to remind the public that with increased engagement and communication with the city
and county (both the City and County Managers are now ex-officio, non-voting board members),
you can reach out to your elected officials as it pertains to the Cambridge Harbor development
just like you would for any other project. Our mission remains the same – to develop the
Cambridge Waterfront in partnership with the community to create and sustainably maintain
Cambridge Harbor as an inviting, accessible, active, and enjoyable place to live, work, play and
visit.

Our next Board Meeting will be January 15th at 4pm at the Dorchester Chamber of Commerce.
The public is welcome to attend the open session of the meeting.

If you would like to reach out to CWDI directly, you can do so via the CWDI website, where you
will find contact information for all our Board members as well as additional information on
Cambridge Harbor.

Angie Hengst
CWDI President

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

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