The Gazette
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Gerardo Gonzalez of Riverdale purchases vegetables Aug. 1 for his daughters Janeyri, 6, and Jastelyn, 3, from Sam Taggart of the Thank God It’s Fresh Farm at the Riverdale Park Farmers Market. A Prince George’s County councilman is hoping to add calorie counts to chain restaurant menus to encourage more residents to eat healthier.
A step in a healthier direction
Prince George’s County Councilman Eric Olson’s plan to improve public health by requiring chain restaurants to provide calorie and salt content information on menus is a step in the right direction — but it’s a tiny effort in a much larger problem. About 71 percent of county residents are overweight or obese, and Prince George’s has the highest rate in the MENU LABELS state of diabetes (and obesity ARE GOOD is a risk factor for the disMOVE, BUT ease). But while requiring adMORE IS NEEDED ditional data on menus TO ADDRESS might allow for a more inCOUNTY HEALTH formed consumer — which is important — studies have shown conflicting information regarding the impact. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, New York University researchers found that fast-food customers who received calorie information continued to purchase the same amount of calories, while a Stanford University study found that calorie postings caused a decline in calorie intake. Either way, allowing consumers to be better informed is a good thing, and the impact on restaurants should be minimal. The 2010 Affordable Care Act requires restaurants with 20 or more locations in the United States to provide the information, and although the regulation has not been implemented yet, many restaurants have already started to comply. Montgomery County has had a menulabel law since 2009, and many fast-food chains in Prince George’s already provide calorie information. However, in this age where calorie information can be easily downloaded through a smartphone application, it’s clear that having information readily available won’t be the cure-all to the county’s weight woes. As David C. Harrington, senior policy adviser for the nonprofit public health organization CommonHealth ACTION and president and CEO of the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce, wrote in a Gazette commentary, “it’s easier to find a place to buy fried foods, soda and beer than it is to find a fresh piece of fruit or a green space to go for a walk” in many county neighborhoods. The USDA deems Prince George’s a “food desert,” communities without ready access to fresh, healthy and affordable food. And that’s just one layer in the battle against the bulge. Crime rates in some county communities limit the ability of children and adults to play or exercise outdoors. A lack of sidewalks or parks in some neighborhoods prevent residents from enjoying evening walks. And when nutrition education and access to healthy options are added in, even a move as significant as Olson’s decision to require calorie information on menus can appear miniscule. Unfortunately, some residents may use the menu listing as a way to get more calories for the lowest price, but hopefully more will notice alternative items on the menu that are just as filling and inexpensive, but healthier. Laudable are the county health department’s ongoing efforts to educate the public regarding the dangers of obesity and provide resources to help those who are interested; the places of worship, which often take the lead on hosting health fairs to provide information in a less clinical environment; groups such as the Port Towns Community Health Partnership, which has several initiatives underway to address community health; nonprofit organizations that work to identify shortfalls in communities that may impact health; and to Olson (D-Dist. 3) of College Park, for making an effort to improve the county’s health. In the end, however, it will take more than organizations and the government to make a difference. Residents have to make a commitment to selecting healthier options, and speak up when there aren’t better choices available. Government officials cannot — and should not — force residents to eat better. However, officials can ensure nutritious options and information are available for those who choose to live healthier.
Douglas S. Hayes, Associate Publisher
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Voter ‘fraud does exist and it does matter’
OUROPINION
The Gazette
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Thursday, September 26, 2013
You may have read the recent article by [Staff Writer] Sophie Petit, “Voter watchdog clashes with Prince George’s election board over records,” dated Sept. 5. A number of our members believe the article deserves an abundance of clarification, which I hope to address herein. Election Integrity Maryland is a nonprofit corporation that has trained volunteers who actively examine voter registrations in Maryland. Collectively, we discovered “irregularities” in approximately 16,000 voter registrations, indicating serious issues with timely record maintenance of the voter registrations, which we first reported to the Prince George’s County Board of Elections in June 2012. Among our discoveries: 416 people had death records issued yet their names were still on voter rolls; 254 voters were registered in multiple states; 19 voters had duplicate registrations in Maryland; 1,026 voters were located at addresses other than the address on their registration; 66 individuals were identified as registered out of commercial business addresses; five
voters were registered at vacant lots; and 186 voter registrations were incomplete in terms of valid mailing issues. The foregoing examples were chosen to focus on Prince George’s County, since that was the focus of Ms. Petit’s article. Some Maryland lawmakers would have us believe there is no room for voting fraud, when actually, these statewide issues should be of concern to all voters. Ironically, it is relatively easy to steal someone else’s identity to cast an illicit vote, because computerized disks sold by election boards contain considerable information on registered voters. Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act requires that the Board of Elections purge from the voter rolls those who are dead in timely fashion, including those who have not voted in two or more consecutive federal elections. But this is not always done. Election Integrity Maryland identified approximately 1,000 voters that had death notices located by the Social Security Death Index, some of whom appeared to have voted after their date of death. Our
Ken Sain, Sports Editor Dan Gross, Photo Editor Jessica Loder, Web Editor
Cathy A. Kelleher is president of Election Integrity Maryland
Does classroom ambiance contribute to achievement? Our Founding Fathers envisioned public education as the secure foundation of our democracy. A couple centuries later, the critical infrastructure in many of our schools is far too frequently descending into disrepair: structures crumble, ceilings fall, pipes leak, fungi grow, climate control malfunctions. Advocacy for reducing the tax burden abounds. Due in large part to the fiscal conservatism of recent decades, the foundation of our public schools is now cracking. It is a tribute to the dedication of educators that they frequently prevail despite these challenges. How has it become reasonable that educators often
consider an assignment in the modular classrooms a respite from the rigors in the permanent structure? Should physical plants still be in service after exceeding, and sometimes even doubling, their anticipated lifespan at completion? Children hear our collective lip service to the importance of their future. Do you think the irony escapes students crowded into dilapidated facilities? Do you believe that children are blithely unaware of differences between schoolhouses? Children can be willful, stubborn and cantankerous participants in the education process; however, children are simultaneously intelligent,
honest and insightful. Children are curiously adept at spotting incongruity coming from the adult world. Adults, ironically, seem to generate a nearly endless stream of behaviors that do not mesh with stated beliefs such as “Children Come First.” On a recent school visit with a host of dignitaries, we entered a typical first-day elementary class where an hour into the school year a teacher already had her very large class totally engaged in a floor time read-aloud. The activity ended and before transitioning to the next element of the class, she asked, “Would anyone like to know who our famous visitors are?”
A pregnant pause ensued, and in a precious moment worthy of a scene in a sitcom, one lad responded, “Uh, no!” Less than an hour into the school year, the teacher had become the most important person in the room for that group of 10-year-olds. Will Prince George’s County be able to retain teachers like her when buckets are scattered about the classroom, for months at a time, to catch the liquids from the leaking climate-control system? When will we commit to making every physical plant a welcoming structure? Kenneth B. Haines is the president of the Prince George’s County Educators’ Association.
Perrynoia strikes deep Texas Gov. Rick Perry visited Maryland last week right in the middle of Martin O’Malley’s self-congratulatory “Better Choices, Better Results” tour. O’Malley is traveling the state (except the rural areas) over the next few months promoting the accomplishments of his gubernatorial term 15 months before it ends. But Perry’s one-day visit and $500,000 ad blitz luring businesses to low-tax, business-friendly Texas is ruining O’Malley’s victory lap and unnerving O’Malley and the liberal establishment. On the day Perry arrived, The Washington Post dutifully published O’Malley’s slam on Texas, gun-control zealots tried sandbagging Perry and O’Malley kept MY MARYLAND boasting about BLAIR LEE “kicking Perry’s [behind].” Hey, what happened to civility? Funny, no one threatened O’Malley’s behind when he went to Wisconsin, New Jersey, Virginia and South Carolina attacking Republican governors on their home turf. On CNN, the two govs had a “my state’s better than yours” shootout using live statistics. Perry got off the best quip, “We pray for rain in Texas. They tax it in Maryland.” Actually, Rick Perry and Martin O’Malley have at least three things in common: they are both handsome, ambitious governors, they are both facing imminent unemployment and neither is going to be president of the United States. According to the national polls, Perry is running seventh (at 6 percent) among Republicans while O’Malley is running sixth (at 2 percent) among Democrats. So why is Perry targeting Maryland? What makes him think anyone here is unhappy? Perhaps he heard about Maryland’s net loss of 66,000 taxpayers who took their $5.5 billion net taxable incomes with them between 2000 and 2010. O’Malley’s apologists lamely counter that Maryland’s eight top billionaires still live here. Or perhaps he read about Maryland’s taxaholism problem: 40 different taxes,
fees and tolls increased during the past seven years costing taxpayers an additional $3.1 billion a year. Hey, maybe Perry is just coming here to see what a “rain tax” really looks like. Or perhaps he read about Maryland’s rural counties getting fed up with being bullied by a permanent liberal Democratic majority in Annapolis. Last year seven rural counties created the “Clean Chesapeake Coalition” opposing the environmental extremists who control state government. Thanks to the green lobby, farmers were hit with harsh, unaffordable new state controls, anti-sprawl measures devalued rural land values, natural gas mining (fracking) was rejected in favor of costly offshore windmills, and local governments were stripped of their zoning and land-use authority. There’s even a grassroots movement in five Western Maryland counties to secede and create a new state. Folks are angry about taxes, gun control, gay marriage, illegal immigration and repeal of the death penalty. Or perhaps Perry thinks Maryland voters are ready for what just happened in Colorado where three plumbers, using spraypainted lawn signs, started a voter recall effort that successfully unseated two liberal Democrats including the president of the state Senate, despite being outspent, 5 to 1, by wealthy gun control advocates. It was the first voter recall in Colorado history. And the Colorado uprising wasn’t just about gun control. The new state legislature, the most liberal in Colorado history, passed strict gun-control measures, doubled the renewable energy mandate for rural counties, permitted in-state tuitions for illegal aliens and tried to repeal the death penalty. Sound familiar? Nor was it a Tea Party rebellion. Both incumbents were defeated in Democratic districts where Democrats voted heavily while ignoring Bill Clinton’s robo calls. In the most Democratic district, the incumbent lost to her Republican replacement, a retired deputy police chief, by 12 percentage points. Or perhaps Gov. Perry saw through O’Malley’s selective data and happy face claims about Maryland’s fiscal status. O’Malley likes to cherry-pick statistics. For instance, he brags that Maryland “leads the nation in innovation and entrepre-
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findings were reported to the state Board of Elections and the local offices in the form of challenges, and a separate report of just the identified deceased voters was sent to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. These efforts received very little attention and no actual response. With regard to Maryland’s participation in the ERIC system linked to interstate cross checking of records, it should be noted that Maryland had the system well in advance of the 2012 election but, somehow “decided” not to implement crosscheck provisions before the presidential election. A little known fact is that the 2001 presidential election was won by fewer than 600 votes. Fraud does exist and it does matter. For every fraudulently cast vote, one legitimate vote gets erased. Election Integrity Maryland will therefore continue to crusade for free and fair elections in Maryland, thereby “assuring your vote.”
Dennis Wilston, Corporate Advertising Director Doug Baum, Corporate Classifieds Director Mona Bass, Inside Classifieds Director
Jean Casey, Director of Marketing and Circulation Anna Joyce, Creative Director, Special Pubs/Internet Ellen Pankake, Director of Creative Services
neurship.” True enough, in CNBC’s recent business climate rankings Maryland is ninth in “technology and innovation” (Texas is second). But the CNBC study has nine other categories including “cost of doing business” (Maryland ranks 41st) and “business friendliness” (Maryland ranks 45th). When CNBC averaged all 10 categories, Maryland ranked 40th nationally, Texas ranked second. Likewise, O’Malley is fond of boasting about Maryland’s AAA bond rating while neglecting Moody’s “negative outlook” due to Maryland’s “above average debt burden and large unfunded pension liabilities (double the median liability of other states).” Some of O’Malley’s fellow Marylanders share Moody’s concerns. Jerry Wit, chairman of Maryland Business for Responsive Government, a leading business organization, is calling on O’Malley to act because “Maryland’s problem of being an unfriendly state for business is a state problem, we need the state to take charge.” Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot agrees, calls Maryland’s economic recovery “anemic” and warns that new state revenues are coming in below estimates, especially income and sales taxes.” “We’re almost dead last in the country [in wage growth],” he says, and Maryland’s unemployment rate is 96 percent of the national rate, the highest level since the late 1990s. Franchot believes that Maryland’s progressive political agenda “is not fiscally responsible” because state revenues cannot keep pace with state government’s runaway spending levels. The problem in Annapolis, Franchot says, is, “If the House [of Delegates] wants to fund a program at $1 million, and the Senate wants to fund it at $2 million, they compromise and fund it at $3 million.” More rain on O’Malley’s victory parade but from a lifelong liberal Democrat who’s from Takoma Park, not Texas, and who’s not even running for president. Blair Lee is chairman of the board of Lee Development Group in Silver Spring and a regular commentator for WBAL radio. His column appears Fridays in the Business Gazette. His past columns are available at www.gazette.net/blairlee. His email address is blairleeiv@gmail.com.
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