Larry Hogan off to a nasty start?

Maryland's governor elect, Larry Hogan, won the game, and he doesn't want you to forget it.    

According to the Washington Post, Hogan decided to do a little in-your-face victory dance at a meeting for Montgomery County business leaders yesterday, telling leaders assembled in a Bethesda hotel:  

"Now, I realize that Montgomery County was one of the three lonely counties that unfortunately voted the wrong way from the entire rest of the state."

Hogan should head back to high school for a civics refresher course.    

There is NO SUCH THING AS A WRONG WAY TO VOTE.  The Constitution gives citizens the right to vote, but it doesn't tell them how to vote.  I know the Maryland GOP has been in political Siberia for some time, but we don't do Soviet style elections here Comrade.

He might also want to head back to an elementary math class.  Those three "lonely" counties accounted for 45% of the state's population in 2010.  Antagonizing them, or treating them as marginal isn't a winning strategy for re-election, let along smooth governing.

Let's hope that Hogan decides to take a political Tums to tame the acid associated with his foot-in-mouth disease.

The World's Oldest Profession--Lobbying?

We here a lot these days about the corrosive impact of interest group politics.  In fact, Jim Webb, a former Democratic Senator in Virginia, just alleged that "the Democratic Party has basically turned into a party of interest groups.

But let's face it, where would all these interest groups be without the geishas of the political world, the lobbyists who connect interest groups to politicians.

And, lest we stop there, let's also ask where those poor lobbyists would be without a roof over their head?  Probably--GASP--in a strip mall.  Lucky for them, there's always a lobby shop from which to hang your shingle--that venerable house of political prostitution that will take your business regardless of your political affiliation (or those of your interest group clients).  Lobbying, it seems, is an end in itself.

Take Annapolis, for example.  The blue state of Maryland now seems a little more purple with the recent election of a Republican governor--Larry Hogan. So, how does your Oldest Profession respond?  Well, they start hiring Republicans of course. 

According to today's Washington Post, the Annapolis lobby shop Rifkin, Weiner, Livingston, Levitan & Silver just hired a "long time Republican strategist" as the firm's "director of business development."

And, to burnish the new 'goods' for sale at the shop, the firm quoted the co-chair of Hogan's transition team complimenting the firm's newest lady of the evening'strategist.'  

Who says we live in a partisan world?  Political prostitution is as purple as it gets. 

Random MOCO Pic of the Day--Less Blue than We thought?

I took this photograph a month ago on the way to Rock Hill Orchard in northern Montgomery County.  At the time, it just seemed out of place, uncharacteristic of Montgomery County.
 

Not only was the church celebrating a Louisiana clan who became millionaires selling duck callers, it was celebrating a clan that was becoming increasingly outspoken in its support for the GOP.  Sure, MOCO has ducks and duck hunters, but MOCO's made-it-big-types are more likely to be in government or tech sector.  MOCO is also (usually) thought of as 'terra firma' for Democratic politicians.  When I made this trip, Anthony Brown was considered a shoe in for the governor's race (in MOCO and the state). 

This sign looks prophetic now.   In the gubernatorial election, 37% of MOCO voters supported the state's Republican candidate, and eventual winner Larry Hogan.  That's a 6% point gain over the share earned in the county by Bob Ehrlich, the 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate.  

What this change means and how permanent it is remain unclear.  But, one thing is for certain--there are multiple ways to take a place's political temperature. Here's one of them!