State Circle Watch

The Baltimore Sun has just reported that Doug Duncan will anounce at 2pm today he is dropping out of the Governor’s race due to mental health concerns.

Maryland LCV will working hard to elect a pro-conservation Governor this election year, so this is big news. We hope that Mr. Duncan is doing okay and wish him the best.

As for other news… have you checked out our 2005-2006 Maryland General Assembly Scorecard yet? Just released yesterday.

More blogging as the election work heats up this summer! Filing deadline is July 3 all you candidates out there…

Regarding a potential 3rd Bay Bridge being built near his part of the Shore, Senator Richard Colburn had this to say in an AP story:

Sen. Richard F. Colburn, Dorchester County Republican, predicted traffic snarls and exploding development anywhere a bridge would be built.
“Nobody wants it,” he said. “Basically the people of the Eastern Shore don’t want to be another Anne Arundel County.”
He also thinks a new bridge should go alongside the existing spans near Annapolis because “there’s no need to take another pristine area of the Eastern Shore.”

I can’t say I disagree about another bridge causing problems — but this is the same Senator Colburn who sided with developers and fought tooth and nail against a bill to limit the destruction of the Blackwater Resort outside Cambridge.

In case you’ve forgotten, this proposed development of 3,200 houses, a conference center, retail shopping and a golf course, will be built on pristine land just outside of a national wildlife center.

And Senator Colburn has been one of the development’s biggest proponents.

Wonder how all those retirees and vacationers buying 2nd homes in Blackwater are going to get there?

So now that the Legislative Session has ended (read our wrapup here) the Maryland LCV takes a long-need vacation… or at least a nap, right?

Actually now we get to thinking about elections! Only so many weeks away…

Just today we learned that 2 of our conservation champions have decided not to run again for Senate.

District 18’s Senator Sharon Grosfeld (100% on our most recent scorecard) and District 23’s Senator Leo Green (93%) have both decided not to run for re-election this November.

Let’s make sure we replace these environmental advocates with more hundred percenters!

Lots of great press today on the passage of the Healthy Air Act — including a piece in the New York Times and a posting on the Grist blog.

With all the federal regulations on clean air slipping away I sure am proud of what our fine state is doing!

This just in — in an unexpected (and some might say secretive) move this morning, Governor Ehrlich signed the Healthy Air Act.

After months of opposition to this bill, the Governor changed his mind — all those emails and phone calls everyone made to the Governor must have been pretty darn good!