Buy American Proposal

March 19, 2009

Memo To: Mayor and Board of Aldermen From: C. Paul Smith Date: March 19, 2009 Re: Agenda Item X10 – the “Buy American” Proposal ________________________________________________________________________ Unless the wording is drastically changed, I cannot support this resolution as worded because I believe it is a policy that will hurt American businesses and the American economy. I [...]

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Sustainable Practice Action Plan

March 10, 2009

MEMO To: Mayor & Board of Aldermen and to Joe Adkins, Deputy Director for Planning From: C. Paul Smith Date: March 10, 2009 Re: Sustainable Practice Action Plan __________________________________________________________________________ I am submitting these comments and proposed changes to the 18-page Sustainable Practice Action Plan (SPAP) that was presented to the Board of Aldermen on March [...]

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Overcrowding and the Property Maintenance Code

January 7, 2009

MEMO From: Paul Smith To: Mayor and Board of Aldermen Date: January 7, 2009 Re: Overcrowding and the Property Maintenance Code ___________________________________________________________________________ One item on today’s workshop agenda is a proposed property registration law. Any such registration would presumably include determining whether properties are in compliance with the City’s Property Maintenance Code (PMC). Having recently [...]

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New Businesses Can Be Good For Education

December 19, 2008

This is in response to Commissioner Lennie Thompson’s letter (Dec. 18, 2008), in which he defends the BOCC proposal that the “amount of state school construction funding allocated [by the state] to Frederick County should never be less than the amount of government economic assistance provided by the state to foreign, out of state, business [...]

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Historic overlay district for College Park

November 5, 2008

November 5, 2008 Ms. Kathy Fay 302 North College Parkway Frederick, MD 21701 Dear Ms. Fay: Thank you for your letter of October 16th regarding the proposal to establish an historic overlay district for the College Park neighborhood. I am paying attention to this debate, and I attended the Monday meeting in the Annex building [...]

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Bailout Law Embraces Socialism

November 2, 2008

Our economic crisis is the result of excessive credit and a collapse of inflated property values. Difficult economic times like this provide the temptation for America to reject its capitalism/free-enterprise system and embrace socialism. The bailout law recently passed by Congress and quickly signed by President Bush is geared to turn our economy into socialism. [...]

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Roe v. Wade Scare Ad Tactic

October 11, 2008

The selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee has been a home run for Senator McCain and the Republicans. She is a true conservative. She wants to drill for oil in Alaska, where she is governor. Not only does she say she is pro-family, but she has a large family to prove [...]

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Supreme Court Holds the Right to Bear Arms Is an Individual Right

October 11, 2008

District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. _____ (2008) On June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. ______ (2008), holding unconstitutional the District of Columbia law which prohibited the possession of usable handguns in the home. In this 5-4 ruling, the [...]

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Supreme Court Confers Habeas Corpus Rights on Alien Enemy Combatants

October 11, 2008

Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. (2008) On June l2, 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that alien enemy combatants1 detained abroad by our military forces in the course of an on-going war have a constitutional right to habeas corpus relief. Never before has the Constitution given this right to aliens abroad. This (5-4) ruling is very [...]

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2008 Presidential Campaign Heats Up

October 11, 2008

Constitutional Law Updates September 2008 No. 14 John McCain (R) vs. Barack Obama (D) The 2008 presidential campaign is already a year old, and we are less than 90 days from Election Day (November 4, 2008). Regardless of the outcome, this election has already proved itself to be one of the most interesting and intense [...]

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