Sallie on the Issues

Pro-Constitution, Pro-parent, Pro-Business, Pro-Life

Pro-Maryland - putting the "Free" back in the
FREE STATE

Yes, this is an actual picture of the steps of our capitol. This sign has been there for almost two years.

Protecting our freedoms

Government's sole purpose is to protect our God given liberties. These liberties are secured by the constitutions and our laws. Our founders felt so strongly about our freedoms that they added the Bill of Rights to our US Constitution. These first 10 amendments were added to emphasize the people's rights. The right of free speech, religion, assembly, petitioning the government, due process protections and the taking of property are all included in the first 10 amendments, but the amendment that has been the most contentious is the 2nd amendment which I support. This is not a 'right to hunt' amendment. This is the amendment that makes it clear that each of us has the right to protect ourselves.

During an emergency, our rights are not suspended.

Our elected leaders are our representatives not ultimate authorities in cases of emergencies.

Yes, we do need mechanisms to deal with emergencies but these powers should never interfere with religious practices, family's access to one another, or citizens right to petition the government.

During this pandemic, here in Maryland, snitch lines were set-up so people could report on their neighbors behavior, unelected tasks forces decided which businesses could remain open and, long after the crisis was over, mask and vaccine mandates on our children remain. These government actions have only divided us and made us fearful.

We can't allow this crisis to be forgotten. I will introduce or support legislation that:

replaces unelected task forces with all elected members of the General Assembly
outlaws any forced experimental vaccine program
protects family relationships and parental rights
audits of all pandemic related money
develops citizen based "State of Emergency" legislation to address the failures of this pandemic to ensure we don't repeat the same mistakes.

Pro-life

Maryland has the most extreme abortion laws in the country.

Now more than ever we need to repeal Maryland's anytime for any reason abortion laws... Protecting life is fundamental to our whole way of life.. from our families to our government institutions.

Note: If Roe v Wade is overturned, abortion on demand will remain on the books here in Maryland.

By any standard, Maryland abortion laws are extreme and in 2022 they only became more so with the passage of HB 937, Abortion Care Access Act which provides $3.5 million a year in taxpayer money to train abortionists. No longer will physicians be required to be present when abortions are performed. Now Maryland extreme abortion laws are abortion on demand, at anytime for any reason performed by anyone.

Taxes

I pledge to never vote for a tax or a fee increase. I know it is cliche but we have a spending problem in Maryland. Our state budget has almost doubled since 2006 from

$30 to about $60 Billion.

I support Governor Hogan's initiatives to reduce if not eliminate the income taxes on senior citizens and I will continue the fight. The 2022 Retirement "Tax cuts" which were passed this session were disappointing... they fail to provide the type of tax relief take will keep our seniors in Maryland.

Making "sweetheart" deals with individual corporations, industries and businesses is not sound public policy. We need a tax structure that makes sense for individuals and businesses. That is why I support a reduction in the corporate tax rate.

These actions alone will go far in turning the tide of outward migration to other states by our workforce and our senior citizens.

But we can't stop there.... We need to review regulations on our businesses and curb spending, too.

Fair, Honest
and Secure Elections

Elections are the bedrock of our system of government. When citizens question the election process, the legitimacy of election results are inevitably called into question as well.

In 1994, I had a front row seat when the "lights went off "in Baltimore and Republican candidate for governor, Ellen Sauerbrey's commanding lead over Democrat Paris Glendening vanished. He was eventually certified the winner. Among many questionable acts, Saurbrey's team was barred from conducting a timely inspection of the voting machines.

Today, across our state we no longer have the old mechanical machines. Now, our systems are integrated and sophisticated.

To ensure election integrity, one fix is pretty simple -- require that the paper ballot audit (manual audit) which are currently conducted in all of Maryland's 24 jurisdictions months AFTER the election be done BEFORE the elections are certified. For the last two sessions, Delegate Dan Cox has introduced legislation to do just that. And I will continue the fight.

Of course the best system is to get rid the integrated systems. We need a paper ballot (can be counted with the old optic readers for speed and verified by a manual count at each precinct and have the counts called into the county board of elections office who in turn would call the results into the state board of elections.

I will also introduce or support voter ID, forensic audits, curbs on mail-in voting and enhanced security legislation to ensure every honest vote counts and only honest votes are counted.

Education

Everyone talks about offering a "world class" education and clearly with the additional $38 billion being pumped into Maryland schools over the next 10 years that is what we should expect. But instead of focusing on education, our state school board is busy shoving CRT and gender programing in the classroom. The vehicle for these changes is the "Blue Print for Maryland's future which touts "Prioritizing equity" and states that it was created based on the 'recommendations made by the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, Note the commission was comprised of a cross-section of stakeholders including education advocates, teachers, legislators and consultants---- where were the parents? Who has the greatest "stake" in education children but their parents.

I will support:

Repeal of much of the "Blueprint" and its bloated budget.
School Choice
Parents' rights to direct their children's education
Review to ensure that the state education money goes into the classroom and not more administrators
Making funding formulas fair to all counties so that Carroll County gets more than the mandates but also our share of Maryland school dollars