No Robo Calls

Posted on July 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

When you sign up to be a candidate for House of Delegates, you get some pretty interesting correspondence. For example, today’s e-mail brings the following amazing offer:

“I just wanted to extend this great price to you and your campaign.

Robo calls for only 3 cents with no set up fees, additional charges or taxes!

They are easy to order, easy to record and they are the cheapest way to reach the voters in your district.

We can put your calls up the same day.

Thanks,

Ron

Ron Schneider, President, Premiere Political Communications, LLC

4616 Fessenden Street NW

Washington, DC 200

T  866-750-6610  F  253-295-2788  C 202-360-3663″

Umm . . . Thanks for thinking of me, Ron. Is it OK if I call you Ron? Your company can start making phone calls today? Only 3 cents? What a deal! Sounds like you provide great customer service, at low, low prices.

You probably won’t understand this, Ron, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I do NOT plan to send recorded “Robo calls” to my friends and neighbors at 3 cents a pop. However, I imagine you’ll find plenty of candidates eager to accept your generous offer.

Voters of Worcester and Wicomico Counties, please note:  Ron includes his phone numbers, in case  you’d like to give him an unsolicited phone call, preferably while he’s eating lunch or dinner.

Stay tuned for more insider notes from the campaign trail.

– John Hayden


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Election 2010 in Worcester and Wicomico

Posted on July 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

The election season is here. Fortunately, voters have plenty of time to think about the issues on the Lower Eastern Shore, and to learn about the candidates.

Jobs, education, and the environment are top priorities for people in Worcester and Wicomico Counties. Thanks to the Lost On The Shore blog in Ocean Pines for publishing concise information on the environmental voting records of all the incumbent senators and delegates on the Eastern Shore. It’s short and sweet, or short and bitter, depending on your perspective. Click here to read it.

I hope to take a close look at all the issues here on my campaign blog. You can add your comments to any of the blog posts, or any of the Web pages here. Please bookmark the Web site and visit often. I’ll try to update the blog frequently. The easy-to-remember Web address is:  http://www.VoteJohnHayden.com.

You can navigate around the Web site by clicking on the page tabs at the top. The home page is “Election 2010.” Detailed information about John Hayden, the House of Delegates candidate in District 38B, is on the page titled “Candidate Bio.” And the campaign blog you’re reading right now is on the page titled simply, “Posts.”

I look forward to talking with you, by phone, e-mail, or in person, during the coming weeks. You can reach me by phone at 443-610-3199; and by e-mail at  VoteJohnHayden@aol.com

What do you think about the issues and challenges in Maryland, especially in Worcester and Wicomico Counties? I’m willing to listen.

– John Hayden

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Posted in Election 2010, Environment, Maryland politics

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Adventure in Democracy

Posted on July 2, 2010 | 1 Comment

As promised, I drove on Thursday from Ocean City to Annapolis, where I officially filed at the Maryland State Board of Elections on West Street.

Your blogger, John Hayden, in Annapolis, cleverly disguised as a political candidate, and with a flag appearing to grow out of the top of my head.

Required paperwork: a statement of campaign-finance organization, a financial-disclosure statement, a certificate of candidacy, and a $50 check. With the first two items prepared in advance, the actual filing of candidacy at the Elections Board took about 30 minutes. I arrived at 12:30 p.m., and was the 12th candidate to file on Thursday. Only two more business days, Friday and Tuesday, left in the filing period. (Monday is a holiday.)

That makes it official. I’m now a candidate in the Democratic Primary Election for Maryland House of Delegates in District 38B, which includes all of Worcester County and part of Wicomico County.

Del. Norman Conway, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, is the only other Democrat to file so far for two delegate seats in District 38B. Three Republicans have also filed. (Del. Jim Mathias, former Ocean City mayor, is running for State Senate in District 38.)

I plan to blog about this campaign adventure every step of the way. But right now, I’m exhausted. The Fourth of July week in the Ocean City beach resort begins Friday. The pace at work will be frantic. And I still have laundry to do. The campaign commences, but as far as I’m concerned, not until after we survive the next week of work.

– John Hayden

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Posted in Election 2010, Maryland politics

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Why Would Anyone Run For Public Office In Maryland?

Posted on June 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

Why put yourself on the line, in this angry year of political hostility and economic crisis, to run for an obscure position in the Maryland General Assembly?

Read this post by Summer Burke, a New Orleans resident, and you’ll understand. It explains, in scary detail, just how dangerous the BP oil spill is. More importantly, it lays bare the political and economic crisis facing America today. It’s a long post, and the analysis sounds exaggerated – it can’t be that bad, or can it? Also a little bit of crude language, but ignore that. Do you think Ms. Burke is over-the-top, in the following brief excerpt?

“No separation of corporation and state means there are no people with hearts in charge — only ego-driven take-it-all ballers who feed the greedy green machines inside themselves. And they will not leave until we kick over the tables in the temple.”

Sounds like righteous anger, to me. One more excerpt:

“In America, I’m convinced now, we’ve got a three-party system: the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Gangster Party. The Gangster Party consists of about 17 dudes who secretly run everything. You think that’s a crazy notion? Look at the hierarchy of everything else in nature. It’s alright, they have their place — I mean, Reptilians need to exist, too, in the grand scheme of things — but are we supposed to let them win?

That paragraph makes you want to sit down on the floor and weep. Or you can stand up and do something.

“The Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Gangster Party.” Not my words, Ms. Burke’s. I wish I’d had that insight before she did. Pretty good political analysis, I’d say. Maybe the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are not as bad as people like to think. But it does seem that it’s the Gangster Party that’s calling the shots. Are politicians standing idly by and enabling the Gangster Party, for campaign money and other considerations to be named later? It sounds cynical in the extreme, but it also sounds sadly true.

A reporter phoned a few minutes ago to tell me she’d received a press release from a local politician, announcing his intention to run for Maryland House of Delegates in District 38B (Worcester County and part of Wicomico County). She was wondering if I still plan to go to Annapolis on Thursday, pay $50, and file to be a candidate? Run against two well-known Democrats, both of whom I admire, not to mention the Republican candidates?

Yes, I’m going. The papers are filled out. How can I not stand up and do something?

– John Hayden

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Posted in Election 2010, Maryland politics

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