The Difference between a Fiscal Conservative and Conservative Liberal is simple to see

Please read this Full Story from the Gazette.

“It sometimes borders on irresponsible to not vote for the budget,” said Sen. Donald F. Munson, who, along with Edwards, makes up one-half of the Republican membership on the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. “There is so much in that budget that applies to people’s everyday lives.”

But House Minority Whip Christopher B. Shank believes it’s more complicated than that.

“Just because you vote against a budget does not mean you vote against all of those things in a budget,” he said.

The two Washington County rivals, whose primary election showdown this fall is intensifying about 100 miles away from their district in Annapolis, traded barbs on Facebook recently over their respective budget voting records.

Munson (R-Dist. 2) of Hagerstown launched the first attack during this month’s winter storms, alleging Shank’s vote against the budget last year was a vote against snow-removal funding.

In a lengthy response on his own Facebook page, Shank (R-Dist. 2B) of Hagerstown said he was disappointed that Munson “would actually stoop to such disingenuous stunts.”

The online spat is likely a preview of a major campaign flashpoint, with Shank calling Munson’s actions fiscally irresponsible and Munson playing up the benefits his district has received due to his cooperation on the budget.

“It doesn’t make any sense for me to put so much work into a document and come out and vote against it,” Munson said. “Fact is, when that budget passes, it’s not a bloated budget. It’s pretty much bare bones where we can make it.”

Members of the budget committees who spend most of the session poring over thousands of line items take particular ownership in the final product.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/02262010/polinew202059_32548.php

Senator Don Munson, Next to last Conservative Repub in State Senate

House Minority Whip

Harassment Email from Delegate Donoghue picked up by the Washington Post

Delegate Harasser John Donoghue

Delegate accused of sending harassing e-mail
“State Del. John P. Donoghue has admitted to using another lawmaker’s e-mail account to send a harassing message targeting a Hagerstown man,” writes Erin Cunningham of The Gazette. On Jan. 21, Donoghue replied to all recipients of an e-mail that a Hagerstown man had sent to a number of state officials. However, Donoghue used Del. Peter A. Hammen’s state-issued computer and e-mail account to do so. In the e-mail, Donoghue called the man a ‘wife beater’ who had unpaid credit card debt and a protective order against him, Cunningham reports.

Please visit the Washington Post on their article.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/annapolis/2010/02/first_click_–_maryland_128.html

Delegate accused of sending harassing e-mail

State Del. John P. Donoghue has admitted to using another lawmaker’s e-mail account to send a harassing message targeting a Hagerstown man.

The incident, which took place Jan. 21, came before the Maryland General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics earlier this month, according to a letter from committee counsel William G. Somerville. But the committee voted not take up the complaint, saying that “the matters alleged are not within the jurisdiction of the joint committee,” according to a letter sent Thursday to Donoghue (D-Dist. 2C) of Hagerstown.

Now the man who filed the complaint, Jeffrey Werner of Hagerstown, says he intends to file a civil lawsuit against Donoghue.

In a Jan. 21 e-mail obtained by The Gazette, Donoghue replied to all recipients of an e-mail that Werner had sent to a number of state officials. However, Donoghue used Del. Peter A. Hammen’s state-issued computer and e-mail account and did not sign the e-mail.

In his response, Donoghue called Werner a “wife beater,” saying he had unpaid credit card debt and a protective order out against him.

Werner denies the claims, but acknowledges there was a protective order against him in 2004, stemming from a divorce filed in Baltimore County.

Werner is known for his opposition to illegal immigration and sent the original e-mail on behalf of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political organization based in Washington, D.C.

Hammen (D-Dist. 46) of Baltimore is chair of the House Health and Government Operations Committee, on which Donoghue sits.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/02262010/polinew202106_32551.php

11 Year Old Silver Spring Maryland Girl Raped by Illegal Aliens

Two Silver Spring men are being held on a $1 million bond Thursday after being arrested on charges that they raped an 11-year-old girl who, shortly after leaving the scene of the crime, helped police arrest the two men by identifying items she saw in their residence, police say.

Melquicide H. Sorto, 31, and Marcos R. Torres-Enriquez, 20, both of the 8700 block of Carroll Avenue in Silver Spring, were arrested Tuesday night by Montgomery County Police and charged with second-degree rape. Montgomery County District Court Judge William Simmons set the bond for both men at $1 million Thursday. They will continue to be held at the Montgomery County Detention Center.

Please visit the Gazette for the rest of the story.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/02252010/montnew162822_32567.php