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July 27, 2025

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

3 Top Story Point of View J.E. Dean

The Sad Case of Senator Thom Tillis by J.E. Dean

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In Washington, D.C., a city used to surprises, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis delivered a big one on Sunday. After joining Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) as one of only two Republican votes against supporting a full Senate vote on President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” he announced he will not run for reelection in 2026.

Senator Tillis, a two-term senator, is only 65 years old, middle-aged compared to some of his colleagues. He might have run two or even three more times. But, thanks to President Trump, Tillis stated he will be going home to North Carolina to spend time with his family,

Tillis’ decision is good news for Democrats. They may pick up a seat that otherwise would have remained Republican.

But the decision is bad news for America. Immediately after Tillis announced his decision, Trump condemned and threatened him.

As Tillis put it, “I did my homework on behalf of North Carolinians, and I cannot support this bill in its current form. It would result in tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for North Carolina, including our hospitals and rural communities. This will force the state to make painful decisions like eliminating Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands in the expansion population and even reducing critical services for those in the traditional Medicaid population. “

Political scientists tell us that there are two types of representation in the Senate. Some senators vote with their party on most votes. Other senators do their best to represent their constituents. Tillis was one of those latter senators.

I would describe him as courageous. Trump offered this take on the senator: “Thom Tillis has hurt the great people of North Carolina. Even on the catastrophic flooding, nothing was done to help until I took office. Then a MIRACLE took place! Tillis is a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER! He’s even worse than Rand “Fauci” Paul!”

The President absolutely hates Senator Paul. Incidentally, Paul’s opposition to federal spending and increasing the debt limit are similar to the positions taken by our own Andy “Handgun” Harris. The difference, of course, is that Paul is willing to disagree with the President and vote against legislation inconsistent with his principles. Andy doesn’t have that problem. Remember he voted “present” on the Big Beautiful Bill in the House.

Thom Tillis will not be in the Senate after the 2026 election and, despite my disagreement with him on many issues, his retirement is unfortunate. The Senate needs more members willing to represent their constituents rather than more senators who rubber stamp their party leaders’ positions whether or not they agree with them. But more important is what Tillis’ retirement tells us about the Senate—It is not working.

Tillis was already tired of the fierce partisanship in the Senate before King Donald Trump conceived of a Big Beautiful Bill as the best means of preventing the Senate’s deliberation on the details of the Trump agenda. The bill represents Trump giving the middle finger to Congress, which is supposed to be a co-equal branch of government.

Tillis’ retirement tells us that the Senator concluded serving in the Senate is a waste of time. That conclusion should be deeply troubling to all of us, in part because so many other Republicans appear untroubled with Trump dictating the law of the land.

Maryland is fortunate to have Senate representation that contrasts with that of most Republicans. Senator Chris Van Hollen aggressively represents his constituents, as did former Maryland Senator Ben Cardin. It may be too early to say Senator Alsobrooks will uphold the same high standards, but initial indications are encouraging.

I wish Senator Tillis well. I hope his decision, as disappointing as it is, will prompt other Republicans to ask themselves an important question:  Is the Trump agenda in the best interests of my constituents?

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Maryland Democrats will have a Contested Primary – not a Coronation by Clayton Mitchell

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“Speak out, you got to speak out against the madness
You got to speak your mind, if you dare.”

  • Crosby, Stills, and Nash (“Long Time Gone”)

By any measure, the Democratic primary for governor in 2026 should be a contest and not a coronation. Yet some political observers have rushed to dismiss Ed Hale’s future candidacy with smug certainty. They claim he has “no shot” citing age, novelty, and conventional political wisdom. 

Such elitist snobbishness ignores the fact that Maryland is heading toward a convergence of an unaffordable fiscal deficit emergency and an expensive energy crisis. Democratic voters deserve an honest debate about who is best suited to navigate it, not a stage-managed walkover for Governor Wes Moore.

Ed Hale may be new to electoral politics, but he is no stranger to leadership or Maryland. As a business executive who built 1st Mariner Bank from scratch, revitalized Baltimore’s Canton waterfront, and brought the Baltimore Blast into national prominence, Hale has created tens of thousands of jobs, stewarded capital, and invested in communities without government bailouts or tax increases. He has succeeded in the arena where results matter, where failure costs more than just lost votes. 

Governor Moore, by contrast, has presided over a self-inflicted failing fiscal environment. His latest move, a hiring freeze and buyout program for State employees announced behind closed doors and away from reporters’ questions, reveals the depth of Maryland’s financial strain. According to reporting by The Baltimore Banner reporter Pamela Wood, Moore’s administration is scrambling to claw back one hundred twenty-one million dollars just to keep the next budget year in balance. 

This is the same governor who once boasted about solving the state’s structural deficit. He flooded state agencies with over 5,000 new hires and increased spending, only to later shift blame and quietly trim the ranks once the fiscal pressure he had created became undeniable.

Worse yet, Moore’s green energy agenda has thrown Maryland’s electric grid into crisis. Power plants are being shuttered prematurely while new domestic power generation lags far behind. To avoid rolling blackouts, PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator, was forced to keep the Brandon Shores power plant open until at least 2028 under an emergency reliability contract because Moore’s energy policy lacked the basic grounding in engineering and economics. The cost? Over one billion dollars… with every dollar to be borne by budget-strapped ratepayers. 

These are not abstract concerns. They are real life consequences of Moore’s appalling, absentee leadership. 

Moore’s tax hikes, fees, and surcharges – from digital advertising to real estate recordation to vehicle registration – are draining Maryland families and businesses. And as the structural deficit reemerges next year (and again the year after and the year after that), there are already whispers of a Special Session to address the budget’s shortfalls in the next few months.

Voters should ask: If this governor is as visionary as he claims, why is Maryland in a fiscal and energy panic under his watch?

Those quick to write off Hale’s candidacy also overlook a basic fact. Governor Moore’s supposed invincibility rests on political inertia, not popular mandate. The notion that Prince George’s County and Baltimore City alone will secure Moore’s nomination presumes that voters in those jurisdictions are satisfied with their new high energy bills, surging taxes, and shrinking government services, which were all created during Governor Moore’s watch. That is a patronizing assumption. 

Maryland Democrats, whether they are Black, White, Hispanic, urban, suburban, or rural, are paying attention. They all know “BS” when they see it.

As for Hale’s age, the concern is overwrought. No one seemed bothered by Donald Trump’s or Joe Biden’s age until the political winds shifted. What voters are increasingly seeking is not youth, but competence, stability, and candor. Ed Hale offers all three. 

Hale is not running to burnish a resume or test presidential waters… he is not looking for a political career. He is running because he is deeply concerned about the state he loves and believes it is being mismanaged by an administration long on slogans and short on solutions.

Finally, the idea that this election cycle is all academic unless Larry Hogan jumps in the race is more of the same Beltway punditry that always overestimates name recognition and underestimates timing and message. The Democratic primary is the only fight that matters. It will determine whether Maryland Democrats continue marching toward tax and spend progressivism without brakes or rediscover a sane path of fiscal moderation and honest, competent governance.

No, the gubernatorial contest will not be a coronation for Wes Moore. Not if voters have a say… and not if Ed Hale has anything to do with it.

Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. is a life-long Eastern Shoreman, an attorney, and former Chairman of the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals.  He is co-host of the Gonzales/Mitchell Show podcast that discusses politics, business, and cultural issues. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Homeland Security Threatens Canada Goose Migration by Hugh Panero

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The announcement that President Trump has ended all tariff negotiations between the US and Canada has increased hostility between the two nations. The administration has recently turned its attention to ending the unlawful entry of Canada geese into the US, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

Kristi Noem, the Secretary of DHS said, “It has come to our attention that these migrating geese from Canada bring Fentanyl into US, rape and harrass our non-migrating goose population and have affiliations with the notorious MS-13 gang.” Noem (aka Ice Barbie) is no friend to God’s creatures. In her memoir, she described killing her dog Cricket for having an aggressive personality. 

Officials on both sides of the border were left scratching their heads regarding this shift in US strategy, sparking a heated debate over border security and bird migration policy. Over 3.2 million Canadian Geese migrate to the US each year. According to Noem, “we became suspicious of the migrating birds based on the precision of their V-shaped flying pattern, an indication of military training.” 

Supporters of the administration’s effort to stop this unchecked Canadian goose migration point out that these large birds purposely come to the US pregnant, hoping to claim birthright citizenship as soon as the young Goslings emerge from their eggs. They also claim this species is very aggressive, disrupts our air traffic control systems, harasses golfers, takes over water nesting platforms constructed for our US-based Osprey population and shits on everything.

Border Buffers, Bird Barricades, and An Avian Iron Dome

Sources confirm that an unprecedented number of geese are now making their way to the US in anticipation of the US Air Force establishing a “No Fly Zone”. Some Geese have been seen flying with banners that say “FLY OR DIE”. DHS reportedly has big plans to utilize satellite AI technology to create an Avian Iron Dome (AID) to protect our northern border.” In the meantime, DHS is deploying drone surveillance and strategic waterfowl aerial barriers along our 5,500 mile northern border. “We’re taking every measure to ensure national waterfowl security,” an unnamed DHS spokesperson stated. “This is not just about protecting American turf; it’s about maintaining sovereignty.” 

Legal Status and Immigration Policies

Masked ICE agents have been massing on our northern border, and there is talk of mobilizing the National Guard and even the Marines. Legal experts warn that the situation could challenge existing laws governing wildlife and immigration. “Are these geese refugees or illegal aliens? Does the Migratory Bird Treaty Act provide due process protections or impose restrictions?” mused one concerned attorney. Some advocacy groups are calling for “Amnesty for the Gaggle,” and pushing for sanctuary bird policies that allow these winged migrants safe entry to parks and lakes, citing their right to pursue happiness. 

Public Reactions and Political Spin

Public opinion is fiercely divided. Politicians have stirred controversy, claiming the goose migration poses a significant national security threat, claiming “even birds must respect borders”. Others hail the geese as a welcome symbol of multicultural integration and point out that these birds make the ultimate sacrifice each year to our hunters, and that stopping their migration would harm our vibrant hunting economy and hurt small businesses.

Historians note that Canadian Geese played a crucial role in feeding the first settlers on the Eastern Shore, as described by James Michener in his book, Chesapeake. 

Many experts believe the sudden US aggression towards the Canada Geese migration into the US is President Trump’s retaliation for Canada’s refusal to become America’s 51st state and his inability to implement higher tariffs against our former ally. In an unhinged rant on Truth Social, Trump said, “I hate everything Canadian, especially their very untalented celebrities that have migrated to the US like Justin Bieber, Ryan Reynolds, and the unfunny, scum, Mike Meyers from Saturday Night Live. We should expel them all.” As for the Canadian Geese, he added, “All that squawking is about to come to an end.” Disney, bowing to pressure from the administration, has announced it will no longer include Canada geese in any of its upcoming animated children’s content and will remove images of the species from all of its copyrighted materials. 

As this migration debate intensifies, it’s clear that we may never view these seasonal feathered visitors in the same way again. 

Hugh Panero, a tech and media entrepreneur, was the founder and former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and media, as well as satire, for The Spy.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

 Access Denied by Maria Grant

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The best way to make sound decisions is to have access to accurate information. Under the current administration, gaining access to accurate information is becoming increasingly difficult. Let’s take a quick review of information that is no longer accessible thanks to Trump’s revised policies. 

The White House has removed official transcripts of President Trump’s public remarks from its government website, replacing them with selected videos of his public appearances.

The Trump administration told federal health agencies such as the CDC to temporarily stop communicating health messages, which included memos, reports, online posts, and website updates. Scientific meetings, including advisory panels, had also been temporarily cancelled. 

The Social Security Administration has stopped reporting current call waiting times and other performance metrics. (Recently, phone lines have been jammed and crashing. One woman reported waiting eight hours and 44 minutes on the phone and then was required to make follow-up calls.)

The Trump administration has refused to provide information sought by Congress regarding several investigations and inquiries. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has the authority to investigate whether an administration has improperly withheld authorized funding in contravention of Congressional Directives. At the heart of the issue is a process known as impoundment which would allow the President to stem the flow of federal dollars even if Congress instructs otherwise. More to come on this issue as final revisions to the ”big beautiful bill” are made public. 

Trump fired 19 agency inspectors general. They play a key role in investigations and audits that uncover fraud and abuse. The American public will no longer have access to that information.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a series of restrictions to the press that include banning reporters from entering huge segments of the Pentagon to which they formerly had access. The media is also barred from the offices of the Pentagon’s senior military leadership unless they have Hegseth’s approval and an escort. 

 Trump plans to limit the classified information that is usually shared with both houses of Congress. 

One of Trump’s executive orders gives Trump greater power over independent regulatory agencies such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission which issues recalls and safety warnings; the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees markets; and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures bank deposits. Critics claim these new restrictions limit the autonomy of independent agencies and shield corporations from accountability, while centralizing more power with the administration and limiting valuable information to consumers. 

It’s no surprise that limiting access to information can result in poor decision-making and increases susceptibility to misinformation. Lack of information can affect personal health, economic decisions, and more. 

In contrast, full access to information encourages citizens to get actively involved, contribute ideas, and express points of view on various issues. It also enables users to accomplish tasks more efficiently. In short, access to accurate information empowers individuals by providing knowledge and fostering transparency. 

Clearly, full access to information is pretty much the opposite of what’s happening with this administration. Instead, the current philosophy seems to be trust me. I know what’s best. I’m looking out for you. And there’s no way you can refute what I’m saying because you don’t have accurate data. 

Without access to accurate information, all of us become less committed, less strategic, less intuitive, and less analytically competent. 

Is the concept of withholding information and thereby making the public unable to push back with facts just one step in Trump’s current playbook? Clearly, a lack of facts means a lack of accountability, which also means full steam ahead on the Trump agenda. 

Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, who seems to be becoming more powerful each day, frequently engages in practices that impact transparency and impede the flow of information. He prefers phone calls over emails, making his actions and influence more difficult to trace. A former Trump senior advisor stated that Miller is “comfortable with misinformation to advance his cause.” Others state that his anti-immigration rhetoric is pure propaganda. 

Francis Bacon once wrote, “Knowledge itself is power.” The reverse is also true. Lack of knowledge leads to lack of power. When the masses lose power, those in control gain more power. Something that Trump and his henchman Stephen Miller are making their primary goal.

Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Rabbit, Rabbit. By Jamie Kirkpatrick

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(Author’s Note: This recalls a Musing from December, 2020.)

It just so happens that the first day of this new month falls on a Museday, the weekday formerly known as Tuesday. I hope you all remembered to say “Rabbit Rabbit!” when you woke up this morning. If you did, July will be lucky for you. If you didn’t, you might want to stay in bed for the rest of the month. Just sayin’…

In case you don’t happen to practice rabbit-rabbitology, it works like this: upon waking on the first day of a new month, you must immediately say “Rabbit! Rabbit!” If you do, you’ll have good luck throughout the month. However, if you should happen to forget, well, some things are better left unsaid. Despite what Wikipedia thinks, this is not just a silly superstition; it’s a cold, hard fact—just ask all the lucky individuals who hit the lottery after shouting RABBIT RABBIT like a lunatic on the first day of their lucky month.

Some rabbiteers, especially British ones, believe it’s essential to invoke three rabbits upon waking, not just two. I think that’s a bit of overkill but so what? We need all the luck we can get these days. Who knows? Maybe if I remember to say “Rabbit! Rabbit!” on the first day of August, I’ll wake up to find out these last few months were just a bad dream.

Rabbits, especially ones with cute little feet, have always been associated with good luck. Why is that? Why don’t we have key chains featuring curly pig’s tails or furry llama’s ears? I’m surprised that PETA hasn’t done as much to protect rabbits’ feet as it has to safeguard all those feisty minks from the mean furriers who would make them into fashionable fur coats. My wife has one such coat hidden away in a closet, far from the prying eyes of any anyone who might make her life miserable if she wore it to the grocery store on some frosty winter day. She claims it isn’t really hers —“it belonged to my mother!”—so, of course, she’s not culpable.

Back in the day, we used rabbit ears for better reception on our old black-and-white television sets. Was that because their ears were as lucky as their feet? What about their little cottontails? Aren’t they lucky, too? All the rabbits I know have refused to comment on the matter.

Rabbits abound—as they are wont to do—in literature. Peter bedeviled Mr. McGregor in his garden. Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail are beloved by generations of children, as is Margery Williams’ “Velveteen Rabbit.” It was the White Rabbit, running late as usual, who led Alice down to Wonderland, and that same rabbit caused my generation to tune in to Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane. My own two children loved their tactile storybook “Pat the Bunny,” while I, reader of record in our household, preferred Richard Adams’ debut novel, “Watership Down,” a wonderful story about a nest of rabbits seeking to establish a new home after their old warren was destroyed. That book was rejected seven times before Rex Collings, Ltd, a one-man publishing operation in London, saw the light in 1972. The book won several major awards and became a series on Netflix. How’s that for good luck!!

Some people believe luck is self-made. One works hard or practices hard, and, lo-and-behold, one gets lucky. Maybe, but I prefer to thank those two (or three) little rabbits who are working hard to send a monthly dose of good luck to all those of us who believe in them. I think of them akin to Santa’s elves, laboring away up in their North Pole workshop, big ears and all.

Rabbits have always been symbols of fertility. At Easter, one even shows up with a basket full of colored eggs, a mixed metaphor if ever I saw one. Maybe that’s a rabbit’s dirty little secret: a rabbit can even get lucky with a chicken.

I’ll be right back.

Jamie Kirkpatrick is a writer and photographer who lives on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay. His editorials and reviews have appeared in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Washington College Alumni Magazine, and American Cowboy Magazine. His most recent novel, “The Tales of Bismuth; Dispatches from Palestine, 1945-1948” explores the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is available on Amazon and in local bookstores. His newest novel, “The People Game,” hits the market in February, 2026. His website is musingjamie.net.

 

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Thinking Back, Thinking Forward by Al Sikes

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As I reflected on a dinner several nights ago, a simple fact was recalled: I had not talked about my earliest jobs, well, forever. But in dinner conversation new friends seemed interested. So let me put my reflections in context.

I was a 13-year-old cotton picker. I picked cotton before most farmers could afford a  machine that did it. By the way this was a Saturday morning job—leisure time cancelled. Video games—not around. However, sweat unlimited.

Plowing out boxcars came next and this was before the Grain Haulers of America union protected its workers from wheat dust.

Both jobs were humbling. I was working between school terms with young guys whose technique was much better than mine. I didn’t cost the grain elevator much which made the job possible. Today, companies are forced to pay the minimum wage. In New York it is trending by government mandate toward $30 an hour—productivity be damned.

In the cotton fields, beyond endurance, women with very small children were on their knees (you walked on your knees at plant level while picking) and then retreated to the cotton wagon to nurse their babies.

And I will never forget day three: plowing out rail box cars at the local grain elevator. “Plowing out” refers to getting every last kernel of grain out of a railcar filled with wheat from Oklahoma and Kansas. The wheat dust was thick.

On day three I was at the doctor’s office with a respiratory illness due to breathing in the dust. I had refused to use a face mask because the regulars didn’t wear one. My next day back at work I was masked. When I would change the filter (soft cotton) the other guys could see the moist black coating. The filter was a proxy for our lungs. By the next week many had bought a mask and showed up looking like me.

Which brings me to America and its constantly shifting realities. The grain elevator’s union made sure in its next negotiation that the workers were provided masks by the company—labor defeated capital. And in the case of cotton picking, machinery was soon to take over. Free markets do not quit spinning.

All this was my Dad’s plan; I am sure with Mom’s counsel. Later he made it possible for me to drive to Alaska and work on a maintenance crew at Elmendorf Air Force Base. I look back on these experiences—thank you Dad. Mom and Dad were instrumental. And, I was also getting my first lesson in the effectiveness of collective action.

Increasingly it is said artificial intelligence (AI) will cause the youthful job market to shift to making and doing things because AI will replace a lot of the “white collar” jobs. My Dad was not concerned with AI, but he did want me to understand sweat and the importance of learning how to do things correctly.  I was particularly conscious of the latter but maybe moved more decisively by the former.

The old days are not going to come back. But if I still had a teenager in the house, he/she would be bothered by lessons from my Mom and Dad. The 20th Century helping to instruct the 21st.

In reality few are going to earn a living playing some version of sport, yet today many youth spend much of their summer at camps that teach the next rung up the ladder. Or, an upper-class family summer might be spent in overseas travel. Or an internship with a friend of the family.

My parents wanted me to understand the world I was going to live in. My Mom, for example, made me take typing with the girls; it turned out to be useful as I typed email while many of my peers dictated to their secretaries.

The world today is changing much more rapidly. Along with changes we all talk about, privilege is being downgraded. Distinctive talent is in demand. Productivity has become an even more essential part of a business plan. Up and coming companies must compete with the scale of the big ones; big companies have less cost in their inventory.

Life happens. Markets spin. Intelligence is aggregated; algorithms analyze it. The answers do not yield to our desires. It is best to have a 360-degree understanding of how life works. Maybe Harvard should add a trade school.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Out of the box thinking on siting solar electric generating panels By David Reel

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An ambitious, though some would suggest an unrealistic, “green energy” agenda for Maryland has been and is a top priority of a majority of the members in the Maryland General Assembly and Governor Moore.

During the final days of the 2025 General Assembly session, that agenda was advanced when Senate Bill 931, a bill with only one Senate sponsor from Montgomery County, was approved.

Understanding the profound negative impact of this proposed new law on the Eastern Shore, every member of the General Assembly representing the Eastern Shore voted no on final passage of SB 931 in a bipartisan display of unity and solidarity.

Their efforts were thwarted by a super majority in both the Senate and House of Delegates, where, as always, a minority may have their say, but the majority will always have their way.

SB 931 was signed into law by Governor Moore in late May and takes effect on July 1, 2025.

In response to the final version of SB 931, a new advocacy group was launched. 

The Farmers Alliance for Rural Maryland (F.A.R.M.) is a grassroots organization of Maryland farmers and agriculture advocates committed to protecting and preserving Maryland’s rural landscapes and way of life. 

According to their website, F.A.R.M. intends to oppose eminent domain initiatives, state preemption of local zoning laws, and any proposals that threaten the future of Maryland agriculture, such as commercial solar fields, data centers, battery storage, power lines, and warehouse centers on zoned agricultural landEven before Governor Moore signed SB 931 into law, F.A.R.M. launched a petition drive using the provisions of Article XVI, Section 1 of the Maryland Constitution. 

That article states: “The people reserve to themselves power known as The Referendum, by petition to have submitted to the registered voters of the State, to approve or reject at the polls, any Act, or part of any Act of the General Assembly, if approved by the Governor, or, if passed by the General Assembly over the veto of the Governor.”  

The first step for SB 931 to be on a referendum on the next statewide general election ballot required F.A.R.M. to filing at least 20,053 validated petition signatures to the state board of elections by May 31, 2025 

Despite best efforts by F.A.R.M. leaders and volunteers, F.A.R.M. narrowly missed meeting the required number by that deadline.

This matter is far from over.

Following the failed petition drive, the leaders of F.A.R.M. said they are not giving up the fight. 

Some will say any future F.A.R.M. efforts on this matter, especially in the legislature, to repeal all or parts on this new law will be an exercise in futility.

I strongly disagree. 

It will not be easy. It can be done.

A grassroots advocacy initiative, focused on the General Assembly and Governor Moore to adjust the new law, could succeed, especially when F.A.R.M. already has a key grassroots resource in place.

That resource is the sizable number of voters who signed F.A.R.M.’s petition on SB 931. 

These voters have already demonstrated support for and a commitment to F.A.R.M.’s views

They can be mobilized in a grassroots campaign to deliver F.A.R.M.’s messages to legislators and the Governor before and during the 2026 General Assembly session that is only seven months from now.

There are key positive messages F.A.R.M. grassroots advocates can deliver early and often. 

  • F.A.R.M. supports the concept of solar energy panels to generate electricity.
  • F.A.R.M. supports placing solar energy panels on sites other than agricultural land, e.g., brownfields, parking lots, rooftops, industrial sites, airport fields, and median strips. 
  • F.A.R.M. supports returning all land use planning decisions, including approvals of solar power infrastructure sitting back to their historic and proper place with local governments.
  • A 2016 decision by Chesapeake College to install solar panels over a parking lot on their campus in Wye Mills provides a case study on an “everyone wins” outcome.The installation of the solar panels was reported to have produced enough power in one year to offset approximately 45 percent of the college’s energy demand.

Chesapeake College’s Interim president at that time said, “Solar energy has propelled our renewable energy production. In the first year, the array produced 2.25 million kilowatts of electricity at a cost of $106,000. This represents a savings of $85,000 off of grid prices. We anticipate similar savings on utility bills over the next 19 years, which doesn’t include any additional solar installations constructed.”

Last but not least, the Baltimore-based Abell Foundation offers the following thought in their report Getting Solar Siting Right — “Maryland has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to increase its renewable energy capacity and protect vital agricultural land.” 

Next year, with “out of the box” thinking, the General Assembly and the Governor can do both.

David Reel is a public affairs and public relations consultant who lives in Easton.

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Moore’s DOGE Trick: Hiring Spree, Fiscal Crisis, and the Magic Act of a Freeze by Clayton Mitchell

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“And it really doesn’t matter
If I’m wrong, I’m right
Where I belong, I’m right
Where I belong.

See the people standing there
Who disagree and never win…
And wonder why they don’t get in my door.”

  • The Beatles (“Fixing A Hole”)

Less than three years after promising to rebuild Maryland’s government by staffing up thousands of long-vacant positions, Governor Wes Moore is abruptly slamming the brakes with a statewide hiring freeze, voluntary buyouts, and a quiet dismantling of the same workforce he spent most of his term rebuilding. It is the kind of maneuver that only a technocratic spin doctor could try to dress as “responsible, deliberate, and innovative,” as Moore declared in a staff memo… a memo that conveniently avoided on-the-record questions from the press.

Thanks to Pamela Wood’s reporting for The Baltimore Banner, we now know the Moore administration is planning to eliminate jobs, freeze hiring, and consolidate offices, all to patch together $121 million in savings for the upcoming fiscal year. 

But let us not forget how we got here. Moore and his confederates in the General Assembly are scrambling to paper over the consequences of their own lamentable budget decisions.

This is not fiscal responsibility. This is window dressing. The $3 billion in total cuts being trumpeted by Moore’s legislative allies, such as House Appropriations Chair Ben Barnes, are a direct reaction to a budget that exploded in size under Moore’s watch. The very structural deficit the governor now claims to have “put in order” was fueled by his own free-spending, tax-hiking agenda. This is the same agenda that grew the government faster than Maryland’s economy and imposed long-term obligations with no long-term plan or stable sources of revenue.

When Moore took office, he repeatedly criticized the Hogan administration for leaving the government too lean and hollowed out. He promised to hire at least 5,000 workers to fix what he described as “chronic understaffing.” He called it a moral mission to restore public service. He even launched a program to funnel laid-off federal workers from the Trump administration into Maryland’s civil service. 

What happened to those promises?

Pamela Wood’s Banner report notes that the Moore administration will not say which vacant positions are being eliminated or who will be eligible for buyouts. They will not even disclose the terms of the buyouts. 

That silence is telling. 

The truth is likely inconvenient: many of the jobs Moore so proudly filled are now being quietly erased, and the state has nothing to show for them except a ballooning payroll and worsening public services.

AFSCME Maryland Council 3, which represents more than 26,000 state workers, warned about “chronic understaffing, dangerous working conditions, and unsustainable workloads.” It turns out the Moore administration’s hiring binge was a mirage. It was indeed a public relations effort masquerading as governance.

Republicans, for their part, are crowing about this U-turn. Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey correctly labeled the move a “textbook example of how Republican fiscal discipline ends up saving the day.” House Minority Leader Jason Buckel went further: “The level of government employee growth under this administration is unaffordable and unsustainable.”

They are right… but this was no accident. Wes Moore is not reluctantly cleaning up someone else’s mess. He is cleaning up his own mess with a broom made of broken promises.

The Moore administration blew out the budget with permanent programs and short-term thinking, pretending federal COVID dollars and accounting gimmicks would somehow carry the day. They oversold Marylanders on the fantasy of expanded government and undersold the cost. 

And now, barely sixty days after declaring victory over the deficit, the Moore administration is quietly hollowing out the government again. This time it is not for ideology, but out of sheer desperation.

The same governor who campaigned on a message of “leaving no one behind” is now turning his back on the very workforce he promised to rebuild. The Moore administration’s so-called turnaround is no triumph.  It is a cautionary tale of reckless expansion followed by quiet retreat, all packaged in the language of innovation.  

I hope his supporters see the irony of Moore’s DOGE program.  This mismanagement from our part-time governor is not acceptable.

Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. is a life-long Eastern Shoreman, an attorney, and former Chairman of the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals.  He is co-host of the Gonzales/Mitchell Show podcast that discusses politics, business, and cultural issues.

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Clashing Cross Currents by Al Sikes

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Several days ago New York City’s dominant political party—Democrat—selected Zohran Mamdani to be its candidate in the general election for Mayor. Many were startled anticipating the much blemished Andrew Cuomo the likely winner. He, after all, had the support of big wigs including Bill Clinton and Michael Bloomberg.

Mamdani by most accounts is charismatic. He identifies as a Shia Muslim. He ran as a Socialist. He called for making busses “fast and free”, for a million new housing units and to have the City get into the grocery business so prices would be lower.

Mamdani’s selection followed a week of news about the upcoming marriage of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in Venice, Italy. The stories were filled with excess the couple will purchase with millions of dollars.

The selection of Mamdani and the Venice marriage are heavy with cultural dissonance. I can easily imagine quite a few people who voted for Donald Trump being aghast at the wedding extravaganza, while being shocked and dismayed by Mamdani’s victory.

It will be said by strict devotees of capitalism that Bezos earned his right to be extravagant. Certainly Amazon, the company he founded, is enormously successful. So too Berkshire-Hathaway, the company Warren Buffet built. Buffet’s lifestyle is said to be modest and frugal. Is this generational? Or just personal?

Presumably, President Donald Trump’s success is some sort of composite.  His residences: Mar a Lago and the White House (the house George Washington built). And regardless of what he is called—right winger, populist, pragmatist—he is certainly transactional. If you worship at his rhetorical altar, you are a winner.

America can be confusing. And politics often sends conflicting messages. And one of today’s conflicts encircles truth. A quick analysis (today’s preferred format) had Iran’s nuclear work sites we bombed devastated. Interestingly the Pentagon said not so quick—the setback was months not years. I suspect default bias will have Trump supporters choosing his description. History would say give us a few years.

And I suspect more conservative voters will say of Mamdani’s success—“it could only happen in New York”. My take: we have entered a new generation of what the Hollywood scriptwriter’s muse blasted: “I’m mad as hell and can’t take it anymore.” The movie Network and the muse Howard Beale.

New Yorkers were fed up with Andrew Como and the debilitating cost of living. And joining New Yorkers, most are fed up with the extravagance embedded in the celebrity marriage. And Donald Trump?

America was founded on principles; we should all periodically refresh our memories of the founding documents. Maybe many who attended the “No Kings” rallies were fed up in our departure from the founding principles.

Yet today in Washington and elsewhere transactionalism is dominant. Regardless of the dramatic fiscal chasm Mamdani’s programs would create, he knew how to tap the “mad as hell” voter. And in Washington the President is counting on political transactionalism to deliver the “big beautiful bill”. If you are a Republican member of Congress and vote no Trump will come after you. Fiscal principle: be damned.

A culture shaped by winning regardless of principle produces celebrities not heroes. Recall in an interview Trump said of John McCain, who was a Vietnam war hero: “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, okay? I hate to tell you.”

As commentators frequently say: here is my take. John McCain was a hero. Celebrity billionaires are undermining capitalism. And our lack of fiscal discipline will result and I hope soon, in a voter backlash or, as Donald Trump might say “the biggest backlash ever.” Our excesses will demand it.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

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It’s Good to Be Back: A Journalist Returns to His Talbot County Roots

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Madagascar at sunset in front of the famous Baobab Alley, 2024.

Publisher’s Note. The Spy is pleased to announce that Zack Taylor will be joining the Spy team beginning with this first article. Zack will focus on public affairs on the Mid-Shore, particularly in Talbot County. Since this contribution is biographic, we’ll leave it to Zack to introduce himself. 

The other day, as I was sitting in my car waiting for a dozen geese to dawdle across the road, I thought to myself it’s good to be back. 

I grew up in Easton. Lugged that ridiculously huge bookbag to the Country School every day, snuck off to Burger King at lunch in high school, biked to Doc’s Quick Shop for smokes, and even rolled the bowl once or twice. 

But after college, I flitted off to seek my fortune afield, reappearing with declining frequency on obligatory holidays and to check on the old folks. After I became a news reporter across the Bay, it dawned on me that this is what I want to do. This is who I am. 

Eventually, opportunity knocked, and provided me work at various American embassies overseas, in Asia but mostly Africa. There I continued as a communications writer with USAID, the government’s development arm, knocking out speeches and press releases and for ambassadors and agency directors to be delivered at events like handovers of mosquito nets, launches of projects supporting HIV orphans, or sent to local newspapers and the agency’s website. 

The best part of the job, by far, was the many field trips I took to see and report on the results of USAID assistance in real time. Sometimes they involved hours of driving through the middle of nowhere, when a village would suddenly randomly appear and giddy locals cheer our arrival, delighted that something was breaking the monotony of their often-bleak lives, and that someone actually cared about them.

Onsite, we would watch as our partners would counsel pregnant girls, measure babies’ biceps to check for malnutrition, or distribute oral rehydration salts to prevent diarrhea, one of the leading causes of preventable death in Africa, or a fortified paste called Plumpy’nut, which restores malnourished children to health. 

I’d love to share links to some of these stories, but they are all gone. The USAID website went dark days after the new administration’s DOGE dismantled the entire agency on the altar of savings. With a budget of about $40 billion a year, funding USAID was a drop in the bucket to the government, but I can tell you firsthand its value was immeasurable. 

As agency communicators, we touted USAID as the “premier development agency in the world.” And it was. We significantly reduced global poverty, provided emergency shelter to victims of natural disasters, and saved millions of lives from preventable diseases. More important though, was the soft power our international leadership brought the United States. 

After the second Iraq war, perceptions of the United States needed a re-set and USAID communications began in earnest. We started promoting our assistance as partnerships with host country governments to help improve their standing with skeptical constituencies and build goodwill. When results showed decreases in rates of maternal and child mortality, death from preventable diseases, and increased agricultural production, it was always a team effort.    

What did that get us? A lot. In Senegal, where I did my longest tour, our development relationship was a factor in the country agreeing to host the U.S. military’s annual Flintlock exercise, a huge regional training to curb the spread of extremism and terrorism in West Africa. 

When the Ebola crisis struck in 2015, Senegal allowed the U.S. to use part of its international airport in Dakar as a staging base to store supplies, would later be channeled to the affected countries based on specific need, containing the epidemic to Africa and keeping American lives safe. 

When USAID was shuttered over the course of just two weeks – without any review of potential reforms that would improve its efficiency (effectiveness was never in doubt), thousands of American staff found themselves overseas and in D.C. out of work, their programs decapitated without any sort of plan to draw-down and neatly close the projects in hopes of the work somehow continuing. 

But for me, the saddest part was the impact on local staff we left behind, many of whom are some of the best and brightest public health specialists, agronomists, and environmentalists their country has to offer, who lost not only their good jobs, but their platform to help improve the lives of their compatriots. I think back on these colleagues as some of the finest people I’ve ever encountered. I am in touch with dozens of them, from doctors and lawyers to chauffeurs I spent hours with on those long, dusty roads. 

The last of the Americans, all dedicated professionals and many with master’s degrees in International Relations and stellar performance evaluations, will be unceremoniously shipped back home by July 15. Their chances of finding new development are slight in a development industry that’s lost 40 percent of its financing with the U.S. withdrawal. Organizations still holding on, including the United Nations agencies we worked closely with, are reeling, and hardly hiring mode.    

Virtually all of us, some just a few years shy of eligibility for pensions we planned our future around, are charged with re-inventing ourselves. When I see so many of my former colleagues at the height of successful careers obliged to add that ominous green “Open for Work” border on their profile photo, my heart breaks, even though I’m in the same boat. I am sure these highly skilled and smart people will be OK, and we all collectively cheer for those who announce new positions. Still, there are stories of despair, depression, even suicide. 

As for me, I’m OK too, despite being a bit long in the tooth for today’s job market. My experience as a development communicator, promoting an idea – that the United States is a benevolent global friend helping forlorn nations improve their lot through consequential assistance in health, economic development, education, and yes, promoting the American ideal of freedom, good governance, and civil rights – doesn’t track well in today’s stateside economy. Here, comms is about marketing, flashing shining objects and making noise to sell commercial products.

So, what’s this poor boy to do?  Go back to what I love. Telling stories and informing people about happenings in their communities that affect their lives. It’s exciting for me to be able to come full circle and really dig into what makes my longtime spiritual center, and now again my actual home, tick. I feel a great responsibility with my new opportunity to ply my trade in a place that I love, and hope I can entertain as well as inform the Spy’s readers as I do. 

If you notice a guy on the street who looks vaguely familiar save for a few wrinkles and a touch of grey, yeah, it’s me. Nice to see you again. Drop me a line at [email protected]

   

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