Thursday, July 27, 2006
Rick’s Campaign Speech - 7/27/06
Hello everyone and welcome to beautiful downtown Arbutus – the hometown of Governor Bob Ehrlich! Does Arbutus LUV its native son?
My name is Rick Martel and I’m running for Maryland State Senate in District 12.
I would like to thank Governor Ehrlich for being here today to personally endorse and support my campaign, and I’d also like to thank my family, my wife, Kim, and children, Patrick, Kate and Meg, my friends, colleagues and everyone here for coming out today to support and celebrate this event with me.
I stand before you today with a great sense of awe and humility, but with an even greater sense of call and purpose.
A mere seven weeks ago I was asked by my family and friends if I would consider running for our District’s State Senate seat. This request was not taken lightly. For the next two weeks I thought, prayed and talked it over with my wife, Kim, my children, my closest friends and other family and friends. Their overwhelming sense was that this is the time and this is the call.
I am not a politician. I am like you, a very concerned Maryland citizen who is deeply concerned by what I have seen take place in the Maryland legislature over the past four years.
Four years ago we elected Governor Bob Ehrlich with a clear mandate to go to Annapolis and effectuate change.
In less than four years Governor Ehrlich has:
Turned a 4 billion dollar deficit inherited from the prior administration into consecutive billion dollar surpluses;
Reduced government bureaucracy by seven percent;
Created an environment for job growth – our unemployment rate is only 4%;
Reduced welfare rates to lowest levels in 40 years;
Blocked 7.5 billion dollars in new taxes.
All the while he has worked to implement the largest funding increase in history for K-12 education including historic school construction. He has worked to protect our environment enacting the historic Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act, and provided record funding to preserve open space, protecting 60,000 additional acres of land.
Governor Ehrlich, you have a right to be proud of your record, and I say thank you for a job well done, for which all of Maryland should say thank you in November by sending you back to serve another four years and complete your mandate of “Changing Maryland for the Better”!
I also want to thank you for taking the heat…
For taking on the 40 year entrenched Party in power in Annapolis – and winning,
And for your recent wins in State and Federal courts;
For demanding respect in an atmosphere where civility is lacking; and
For standing up for the kids of Baltimore City.
When Governor Ehrlich attempted to send state aid to assist Baltimore City public schools, state aid was refused by the incumbent senator, the Democratic legislature and the mayor – to save their political face – at the expense of the children.
I am here today, along with the other members of Team Ehrlich: Joe Hooe and Al Nalley for Maryland House of Delegates, and George Kapusinski for County Council, to promise to help you in your next term, to work with you instead of attempting to thwart and block your efforts to change Maryland for the better like the incumbents in District 12 have done these last four years.
Let me ask you all a question:
Does it bother you, who voted to elect our hometown Governor by almost 60% in 2002, that the incumbent Senator and Delegates from District 12 voted straight liberal party line and voted to override the vetoes of your own hometown Governor?
As I see it we have a real problem in Annapolis which must be addressed! The balance of power between conservatives & moderates on one hand and liberals on the other is out of kilter. There has been a greater and greater polarization between the two parties with the result that there is no negotiation, no compromise and no consensus building going on down there, with the result that Maryland citizens are being harmed with bad legislation!
The liberals in Annapolis, including the incumbents in District 12, are no longer in the mainstream and they are voting more like Baltimore City or Prince George’s County representatives rather than the more moderate views of you the majority in District 12.
Just recently when Governor Ehrlich appointed a Catholic theologian and a rabbi to the committee assigned to discuss embryonic stem cell research, I was shocked to hear a liberal Senator say, “We have the votes,” that is, to overcome any such ethical input!
Which is like saying: “Don’t talk to me, don’t reason with me, don’t try to interject morality or ethics into this very sensitive subject! We already know how we’re going to vote.” Now, who is really close-minded and intolerant!?
Is this what you want to continue?
When we all found ourselves staring down the barrel at a 72% BGE rate increase – because of the failed 1999 attempt of the current Legislature leadership to deregulate and place an artificial cap on rates, Governor Ehrlich stepped in and brokered a deal which would give us all a choice: 144,000 Marylanders chose to opt out.
However, the Maryland Legislature, Mike Miller leading the Senate and Michael Busch the House of Delegates, called a special session – to pass their own legislation that sounded better, but was, in reality, not better – and sold Maryland consumers down the river – for a delay of only 11 months to full market rates we are now saddled with 10 years of unwanted, and virtually unknown, interest payments – they took away our choice!
When Governor Ehrlich attempted to veto this bad consumer legislation, they ran back to Annapolis to overturn it; they didn’t care that it was bad for Maryland – they know they had the votes to do it and, as always, they did not want Governor Ehrlich to get any credit.
That’s the way it’s been – and worse yet, that is what will continue unless you vote for change for your State Senator and your Delegates, simply put:
A vote for the incumbent Senator is a vote for Mike Miller and against your Governor Bob Ehrlich;
A vote for the incumbent Delegates is a vote for Michael Busch and against your Governor Bob Ehrlich;
A vote for me is a vote for Governor Ehrlich and against arrogant, power-seeking, re-election-driven, career politicians desiring status quo, and a vote to work with and not against Governor Bob Ehrlich to face the serious energy and economic issues, as well as moral issues of our day.
This is the time, this is the call. We are called not just to be hearers, but doers. We have been passive too long, too afraid of offending, too afraid of exercising our First Amendment rights to be heard, and look at the result. It is time to come off the sidelines and be heard in Annapolis.
I am Rick Martel, I am answering your call and I am asking for your vote. I will listen to you, I will work for change and I will be your voice in Annapolis. It’s time to run a new standard up the flagpole.
God bless you,
God bless Governor Ehrlich
And God bless the State of Maryland!
Thank you!