Michael Swartz

Member For

1 year 8 weeks

Website:

BIOGRAPHY

Michael Swartz recently faced a choice in his life: stay in the architectural field and relocate, or change career paths in the place he's come to call home. Needless to say, Wicomico County won and despite the odds against securing wealth presented by unfriendly governments in both Annapolis and Washington, D.C. he's giving the business world a chance.

When he's not trying to make a buck, Michael can be found writing on his home website or pursuing his interest in politics. Michael has served on the local Republican Central Committee in each of his previous three home counties (two in Ohio and here in Wicomico County where he currently serves) and the Wicomico County Republican Club, where he serves as an officer and writes a monthly update for both his home site and Red County Wicomico readers. In either case, he stands against the disastrous policies being enacted against our county's will in both nearby capitals.

If Michael isn't practicing politics, working, or writing, he enjoys bowling, golfing, and summer evenings watching his adopted hometown team, the Delmarva Shorebirds.

COMMENTARIES

Perspective on the MDGOP

By Michael Swartz | 11/19/09

As most of my faithful readers know, last weekend marked the occurrence of our most recent state convention. During that convention, the state party adopted a "compromise" voting system solely for this convention and elected a new state chairman, Audrey Scott. Oddly enough, Wicomico County's delegation had the distinction of being the only county to vote against both proposals, which otherwise carried by huge margins. I'm not going to... read more »

0 Comments | Related Topics »Wicomico County (MD) |

A state budget smackdown

By Michael Swartz | 11/18/09

For the third time this fiscal year (which only started July 1st, so we're 4 1/2 months in), the state of Maryland has been forced to make budget cuts. This $360 million in budget actions brings the total to over $1 billion. Doing his best to make lemonade out of the lemons he grew, Governor Martin O'Malley related, in part: “These have not been easy decisions, but they have been necessary decisions to balance our State’s... read more »

0 Comments | Related Topics »Wicomico County (MD) | St. Mary's County (MD) | Calvert County (MD) | Anne Arundel County (MD) |

Open season on Bush appointees

By Michael Swartz | 11/13/09

In a policy reversal reminiscent of a tinhorn regime, the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) distributed a memorandum last week subjecting certain political appointees to retroactive rules regarding OPM approval before taking a civil service job. While the policy has always been in place during election years and for higher level Senior Executive Service positions, the new regulations taking effect January 1 will subject all... read more »

0 Comments | Related Topics »National |

Is Frank being frank?

By Michael Swartz | 11/10/09

I came across an interesting article in yesterday's Washington Post regarding some of the media buys which have occurred over the last couple days. The piece by Aaron C. Davis and Ben Pershing features a number of House Democrats who voted on both sides of the bill. Obviously groups like Health Care for America Now and AFSCME are giving "attaboys" to those who voted yes and condemning those who properly voted no, with notable... read more »

0 Comments | Related Topics »Anne Arundel County (MD) | Wicomico County (MD) |

A tale of three meetings

By Michael Swartz | 11/09/09

Sometimes one can go through a number of days having time to tend to personal affairs because the opportunity to engage officials isn't particularly urgent - at least not in a public venue, anyway. Those of you who took a few minutes out of your day to contact Congressman Kratovil about Pelosicare should be commended regardless of which side you were on. In my case, the skirmish was won but we lost the overall battle. Next up will be our... read more »

2 Comments | Related Topics »Wicomico County (MD) |

Pappas drops out of Governor race, endorses Hogan

By Michael Swartz | 11/04/09

Late this afternoon Mike Pappas dropped his nearly yearlong bid to become Maryland's next Governor and threw his support behind fellow Republican Larry Hogan. In his announcement, Pappas noted, "(a)fter considering all the challenges ahead and my personal requirements at home and in my law practice, I have determined that the best interest of my family and business requires that I stop my run for Governor effective immediately." He... read more »

0 Comments | Related Topics »Anne Arundel County (MD) | Calvert County (MD) | St. Mary's County (MD) | Wicomico County (MD) |

One-on-One: Rep. Glenn 'GT' Thompson (PA-5)

By Michael Swartz | 11/04/09

This morning I had the pleasure of speaking to the Pennsylvania Congressman, who was one of just 17 Republicans in the 111th Congressional freshman class. Obviously the initial conversation turned to yesterday's election results, and aside from categorizing the New York-23 race as an “outlier”, Thompson was pleased with the returns. The swing between the 2008 results favoring President Obama in those three jurisdictions presented a... read more »

1 Comment | Related Topics »National | PENNSYLVANIA |

Al-Qaeda Beats the System

By Michael Swartz | 11/02/09

In case you missed it, last Thursday a federal judge reduced the sentence of an al-Qaeda sleeper agent and enabled him to be freed-- in just five years. Disdaining a maximum fifteen-year sentence, U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm, a Reagan appointee who recently announced his retirement upon confirmation of a successor, sentenced Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri to eight years and four months in prison. al-Marri's legal team pled for a... read more »

4 Comments | Related Topics »National |

DeMint makes his case

By Michael Swartz | 10/28/09

He's not a Senator from my state (sucks to be us), but Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) came back on my radar screen last week when he promised to introduce a Constitutional amendment to establish Congressional term limits. Here, from his Senate website blog, he further explains his reasoning. The people of South Carolina have given me the privilege of representing them in Congress for more than 10 years now, and over that period... read more »

2 Comments | Related Topics »National |

Cavey drops out of MDGOP Chair race

By Michael Swartz | 10/27/09

This evening Maryland First Vice-Chair Chris Cavey announced he was dropping out of the race to succeed Dr. Jim Pelura as state party chairman: Over the past month I have traveled across Maryland speaking to Central Committees and Republican activists about the potential our party has in 2010. Most folks agree we have an opportunity to make gains electing Republicans and would be negligent to miss our chance by not being unified as a... read more »