I commend The Sun for it's measured and respectful response to Gov. Larry Hogan's State of the State Address("Hogan misses the difference between campaigning and governing," Feb. 4).
Along with House Speaker Michael E. Bush, I too was a bit insulted by Mr. Hogan's (and other Republicans') criticism of Maryland as a state everyone either is leaving or wants to leave. I like it here, and I'm from Florida!
The only citizens I hear criticizing Maryland are the few malcontents who yearn for the wide open spaces where they don't have to put up with living with others. Compromise is anathema to their concept of "conservative."
I was also stumped and frustrated by the contradictions in the governor's speech — and I voted for him.
One of the conservative themes we hear frequently is "personal responsibility." Though conservatives preach this when criticizing the "takers" who receive government benefits, personal responsibility is no less central to efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
Yet Governor Hogan seems to give farmers and poultry producers a free pass by saying that the restoration of the bay shouldn't disproportionately fall on one group. This even though he admits there's too much phosphorous, nitrogen and sediment entering the estuary.
If the farmers' business-model is polluting the bay, they need to change it. Is the governor failing to connect the dots here, or is he just pampering special interest whiners?
He goes on to attack stormwater management fees — the childishly nicknamed "rain tax" — as unfairly levied against a few counties "against their will."
Unfairly? Really? What happened to that noble principle of personal responsibility? The counties being taxed are the sources of the runoff.
They should stand up and take responsibility. How much wailing would we hear on both sides of the aisle from counties that don't border the bay, such as Garret and Allegany, if they were included in this tax?
The hypocrisy and contradictions are tiring.
Jeff Stennett, Gambrills