This is a review of sorts. I went to the State Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus "Picnic in the Park" this afternoon. Luckily they had a big tent (appropriate for the GOP) so we all stayed dry. It was fortunate that it wasn't chilly out, quite comfy tempwise. Oddly enough, I believe the park in question is outside his district, but this end of the state is so gerrymandered that I don't know which way is up. He has all of Somerset and Worchester counties, but the D's put as little of the populated area of Wicomico County in it as they could to keep the districts even. I almost live right on the line sitting here in the eastern outskirts of Salisbury.
The picnic was the first political event I've made it to down here. And it was a pretty well-run one, but since the guy's been in office since 1991, it's no surprise that they have this thing pretty much down pat.
The food was pretty good, although I have to say he grows some pretty potent cabbage. At least I assume the sauerkraut was made from his stock. But sauerkraut on a dog is a winner at any picnic I go to. He had a nice little 3 piece old-time music band, and a few of his GOP cohorts in the General Assembly were there as well. I know Page Elmore was there from the House and another lady whose name I don't recall.
One thing that stuck out was the number of door prizes he had, I'd say he had about 20 or so. Didn't win any, the guy sitting next to me did. But he also had a live auction for a bunch of various items.
Now I'd say there were probably 200 or so people there - at $25 a ticket, that's $5,000. But the auction probably made another $2,000 or so. Lot of items that went in the $100 to $250 range. And he got himself on TV (I assume, since I didn't catch channel 47's news.) The other guy who got TV face time was Brian Kilgore, who's running for our County Executive post that the voters created in 2004. He's already got his shirts, the whole Kilgore clan had them on. He's got a family built for TV/video, cute wife and kid.
So Page Elmore handled the MC duties, and there were two speakers, one that served as a speaker and introducer for Sen. Stoltzfus. That guy was a gentleman named Luis Luna, who is an assistant administrator in the national EPA. Basically, his position there is to run the actual administration process, with human resources and facilities management among his duties. But it's a post high enough where he had to be confirmed by the Senate.
Luna spoke about maintaining a good balance between the concerns of the environmentalists on one side, and the economy on the other. He saw President Bush's EPA as being fair to both, whereas previous administrations listened too much to the extreme green wackos (my words, not his.) He also touched on the change in the approach to agricultural issues in the Ehrlich administration as opposed to the Democrat governors who preceded him. It's a much more cooperative arena in Annapolis now for the farmers.
That led him into his introduction to Sen. Stoltzfus. Lowell was more brief, giving out the normal kudos to the help, and also speaking about working with the Ehrlich administration against the special interests of the Democrats. He had particular problems with the Wal-Mart bill and also the investigation by partisan Democrats into the hiring and firing practices of Governor Ehrlich. Basically, it's a scheme to embarrass the governor before the election.
(By the way, sometime ago I noted that I sent the Senator an e-mail on the subject after his comments in the Daily Times. I'm happy to say he did send a short note back agreeing with me on my view of a partisan witch hunt. I did talk to him about that today when we met to jog his memory.)
I wish I'd stuck around to hear what he thought of President Bush. Someone in the back shouted out about that during Lowell's remarks. He said he'd talk to that guy later.
But I enjoyed the time there, and I certainly didn't mind the $25, it goes to a good cause. I'm sure there will be a Democrat running against him, and since rumor has it that all the General Assembly Democrats were supposed to pony up $20,000 apiece to build a war chest for Democrat incumbents in swing districts, the extra money will be helpful. Maybe next year the rain will stay away so a few more folks may come. That will be in the midst of the campaign next year in a key season for Free State politics.
