David Ferguson, executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, vowed Tuesday that he or someone else affiliated with the state GOP will show up each time O’Malley attends an out-of-state event, starting this weekend in South Carolina.
O’Malley, frequently mentioned as a potential 2016 presidential contender, is planning to make an appearance Saturday at an “issues conference” in Charleston at the invitation of South Carolina state Sen. Vincent Sheheen (D), a 2014 gubernatorial hopeful.
Ferguson said he will counter with a press conference with GOP leaders in Columbia on Friday and be at the event site Saturday in Charleston.
“Anytime O’Malley goes and makes a stop on his presidential parade, we’re going to follow him and let people know who the real Martin O’Malley is,” said Ferguson.
Ferguson said the effort — dubbed the “No Left Turn Tour” — is an outgrowth of previous work to arm Republicans in other states with background material on O’Malley, the former chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, when he visits.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not exactly a fan of Governor O’Malley. O’Malley should be challenged at each step of the way about his poor record here in Maryland as he begins his run for President.
But the one question that I have is this: how does this help elect a single Republican in the state of Maryland?
Every day that is spent out of state is time that could have been spent preparing the 2014 election. Every dollar that is spent on these trips is one dollar that could have been spent on a GOTV effort to turn out the vote next November.
As a matter of fact, the upcoming South Carolina trip has already seen one casualty: the MD GOP Pathfinders training originally scheduled for this Saturday in Salisbury had to be postponed two weeks in order to accommodate Ferguson’s trip to South Carolina.
Instead of worrying about O’Malley’s left turns as he’s in South Carolina, I’d rather worry about stopping the perpetual left turn of our state government here at home.
Look, I’ve got no persona animus towards David Ferguson or Diana Waterman. But this is a categorically insane plan to execute as the Maryland Republican Party begins building toward the 2014 General Election. This does absolutely nothing to help us win the Governor’s mansion or win more seats in the General Assembly. And for the life of me I can’t figure out why anybody would greenlight this plan during a contentious Chairman’s election.
At the end of the day, this is Diana Waterman’s plan. She gave the go to execute it, and I believe Republicans across Maryland are owed an explanation as to why money is being spent on a plan that won’t help elect a single Republican next year. I mean if Maryland Matters, our resources and talents need to be used here….
