Recent Prince George's County News (7 May 2010)

Public Safety

• PGPolice: Police Seek Assistance in Locating Murder Suspect (2737) http://bit.ly/bg0R5V 
• PGPolice: Police Seek Assistance Locating Critical Missing Male Albert Holland (2738) http://bit.ly/cZL9ye 
• rt @ABC7News Boyfriend (Spriggs) Found Not Guilty (Wilkerson murder): http://clkurl.com/i.cfm/tw733918
• Gazette: Teenage boy shot Thursday in Temple Hills; Victim in critical condition; police searching for suspect http://bit.ly/cfKDY3
  • Gazette: 15-year-old boy arrested in Thurs. Temple Hills shooting; Fort Washington man remains in critical condition http://bit.ly/cSHrlq 
• rt @WTOP Prince George's County officers sometimes fail to give basic info http://bit.ly/a2WevC 
• Post: University of Maryland gets new public safety director http://bit.ly/aH0OhR 
• Sun: Waldorf man convicted, tried kill preg. girlfriend in Crofton; she survived gunshot to head; also faces PG charges http://bit.ly/dp9U3C 
• rt @ABC7News P.G. Senior Living Center Evacuated : http://clkurl.com/i.cfm/tw733727 
• rt @PGCrimeSolvers WANTED FOR ROBBERY http://bit.ly/a77P6b

2010 Election

• Gazette: Taylor to announce run against Edwards on Saturday http://bit.ly/9qs5XZ 
• Gazette: Edwards stands alone in Maryland in voting for congressional COLA http://bit.ly/cRSOO9 
• rt @postcrime Death penalty debate may become Md. campaign issue http://bit.ly/dpvJ1g 
• rt @Tamara4Dist9 It's not too late to join me in knocking on doors in Clinton, Sat, 10am-1pm! Hope you can help promote my Dist 9 campaign!

Other Politics

• Gazette (BLee): (Business) climate change (Why so many companies choose Virginia over Maryland's anti-business climate) http://bit.ly/d9X0dw 
• RonMiller: The nanny generals and their assault on liberty http://bit.ly/dkP6aV 
• Gazette: Counties cut training, business trip budgets; Officials look for low-cost ways to glean same information http://bit.ly/ccFIhv

Education

• Post: University of Maryland gets new public safety director http://bit.ly/aH0OhR 
• Diamondback: Staff editorial: Hitting rock bottom (re "seemingly unending Purple Line saga") http://bit.ly/aGJDhZ 
• rt @ggwash UMD tries another Purple Line route, MTA still objects.: http://bit.ly/aLaM6b 
• rt @thedbk Purple Line alignment still up in the air: http://is.gd/bZ8Ez 

Other

• Gazette: Prince George's No. 1 in tourism impact http://bit.ly/aaVqd4
• Post: Maryland reverses decision to defer $56 million payment to Metro http://bit.ly/aH0OhR 
• rt @Tamara4Dist9 This settlement will help those needing legal service in the County - Oxon Hill location will reopen! http://tiny.cc/aiq5c 
• BaltimoreReporter:More Media Bias: Hate is only bad if they can pin it on a Conservative http://bit.ly/cOndgS 
• rt @wbjsarah (Subsc.) Developers plan secure business park near Joint Base Andrews http://ow.ly/1Idxa 

Rep. Donna Edwards in the News: Cited by 'Dirty Money Watch' & Wants a Pay Raise

Rep. Edwards votes for wage increase for members of Congress.
Gazette, 3 May 2010 (Ford).

U.S. Rep. Donna F. Edwards of Fort Washington was the only member of the Maryland House delegation and one of only 15 congressional representatives nationwide to vote for a cost-of-living pay increase for House members.
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House members make $175,000 annually.

State Del. Herman L. Taylor Jr. (D-Dist. 14) Ashton, who is expected to challenge Edwards in the Democratic primary, said voting for a pay increase in the current economy sends the wrong message.

"People are getting furloughed," he said. "I took voluntary furloughs along with other state employees. I don't know if it's political theater. I think every little bit helps. It is tight times, and every dollar counts." [Full story]

Dirty Money Watch: Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md.
Examiner, 4 May 2010 (Hemingway).

WHO: Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md.

WHAT: Edwards received $5,000 from Rep. Charles Rangel's, D-N.Y., National Leadership PAC, the political action committee of the powerful New York Democrat who was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee that writes tax law.

WHY IT'S DIRTY: Rangel is being investigated on multiple issues by the House ethics committee, including failure to report income from properties he owns in New York and the Dominican Republic. A company that gave $1 million to a New York school facility that will bear Rangel's name subsequently received lucrative tax breaks, and he has reportedly solicited political contributions on official stationary. Rangel has been admonished by the House ethics committee and forced to give up his Ways and Means Committee chairmanship.

WILL EDWARDS GIVE IT BACK? Edwards did not respond to the Washington Examiner's request for comment.

THE SCORE:

Number of Democrats who have given it back: 19

Number of Republicans who have given it back: 0

DONATED THIS OR OTHER DIRTY MONEY WATCH-HIGHLIGHTED CONTRIBUTIONS TO CHARITY: Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., Rep. David Price, D-N.C., Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill., Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., Rep. Gary Peters, D-Mich., Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., Rep. Debbie Halvorson, D-Ill., Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, D-Ohio, Rep. Larry Kissell, D-N.C., Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-Fla., Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y.

YOUR TURN: You can reach Edwards' Washington office at 202-225-8699. Don't know who is your congressman? Go to house.gov and look in the upper left-hand corner. Don't know who are your state's two senators? Go to senate.gov and look in the upper right-hand corner.

Dirty Money is researched and written by Mark Hemingway of the Washington Examiner's editorial page staff, with the help of Examiner researcher Heather Hunt.

Donna Edwards' automated calls and bogus phone number

Why is Donna Edwards making annoying automated calls and displaying a bogus phone number--200-000-0650?

I realize that Congress has exempted politicians from the Do Not Call laws.

I put my number on the Do Not Call list because I DO NOT WANT automated calls.  People, like Ms. Edwards, who choose to ignore my preference, only antagonize me.  And I get angry at callers, like Ms. Edwards, who lie about who is calling.

I have written over a half-dozen times to Ms. Edwards with specific questions about issues and have never received a substantive reply.

Perhaps she ought to spend some time and money answering her constituents' questions instead of pestering them with unwanted phone calls from bogus numbers.

At this point, Donna Edwards has done an excellent job of convincing me that she should be limited to one term, and  I certainly hope some strong opponents step forward.

If you complain about crime, but publicly support criminals, what do you suppose our kids think?

Prince George's County has a crime problem--just read the archives of these discussion groups.

But while many individual who post here complain about crime, many, including some of the same people, post messages praising criminal behavior by our elected officials.

Donna Edwards, Nat Exum, Ulysses Currie,  David Harrington, Marilynn Bland, Camille Exum, house majority leader Barve--all accused of or investigated for criminal behavior, and all supported by people here.

What are our children supposed to believe about what's right and what's wrong  when the adults keep praising people who break the law.  

Do we really want to keep reinforcing the message that it is acceptable, even good, to pick and choose which laws to obey and which to disobey?  That it is good to disobey the law if you disagree with it or think breaking the law supports some noble purpose?

How do we expect our children, especially the ones tempted by gang promises to right perceived wrongs, to obey the law when we allow our leaders--the ones who should be setting an example--to ignore the very laws they pass?

ACORN and Prince George's County

(Posted 18 Oct 2008)

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Accused Registration Group Has No Voter Drives Here.
Post, 18 Oct 2008 (Helderman ).

. . . Locally, ACORN has been active in past elections and has worked on other issues, including fighting for homeowner protections and against payday lenders. But national and local leaders say they have not worked actively to register voters this year in the District, Virginia and Maryland, as they have done over the past 18 months in 21 other states.
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In 2004, the ACORN group in Prince George's County was a leading proponent of the ballot effort to amend the county charter and expand the size of the county council. ACORN came under some criticism locally because the movement was largely funded by developers, and critics believed it was an effort by then-council member Democrat Thomas R. Hendershot to retain power on the board.

Hendershot, whose home was recently raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into development in the county, was being forced off the council by term limits. Voters chose not to amend the charter, and Hendershot left the council in 2006.

The group was an issue again during February's hard-fought Democratic primary for Congress in Montgomery and Prince George's counties between longtime incumbent Albert R. Wynn and Donna F. Edwards.

In a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, Wynn's campaign accused Edwards of illegally colluding with independent groups supporting her campaign. He cited ACORN as one such group, noting that several organizations supporting Edwards all listed ACORN's New Orleans address.

Independent election law experts who reviewed the complaint at the time said they saw little evidence to support Wynn's complaint. Edwards won the election, and the complaint is still pending at the FEC.

Edwards (D-Md.) dismissed complaints against ACORN and said they will do little to solve other possible problems on Election Day, including long lines and broken machines.

"This is just politics, and it's going to go away," she said.
[Full report]

Donna Edwards, turncoat

(Posted 3 Oct 2008)

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Edwards, Cummings Vote "Yes" on Bailout.
Maryland Moment (Post blog), 3 Oct 2008 (Helderman ).

Two Maryland Democrats were among those who changed their votes on the Wall Street bailout plan since Monday, shifting from opposition to support and helping push the bill toward passage.
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"I was not prepread to walk away from this Congress, knowing we would not convene again until after the election and knowing we had done nothing at all," Edwards said.
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[Full posting ]

Comment: Apparently Rep. Edwards, almost the only member of Congress who does not share some of the blame for the current financial mess, believes that it is better to do something, even if it offers nothing to benefit her constituents and actually causes harm, than to do nothing and not cause her constituents harm.

When push came to shove, Donna Edwards voted to steal thousands of dollars from each and every constituent in order to help out the financiers of Wall Street, the makers of wooden arrows, television producers, motorsport racetrack owners,  Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands rum producers, and more.  I figured she would eventually sell out to the special interests, but I didn't realize how soon.