Thanks again to all those who attended our press conference and testified in front of the Senate Budget & Taxation Committee on Wednesday afternoon. A clear message was sent to the Annapolis establishment: the robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul budget strategy is unacceptable. Check out the TV coverage of our pre-hearing press conference.

On Wednesday March 3rd, the Senate Budget & Taxation Committee will hold a public hearing on SB141, the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act (BRFA). BRFA is the bill which allows Gov. O'Malley (D) to legally raid $1 billion from our 382 state special funds. This robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul tactic is an election year ploy that hurts small businesses, does nothing to address our $8.4 billion structural deficit, and is setting us up for MASSIVE tax increases next year.

Our friend Marc Kilmer, a fellow at the Maryland Public Policy Institute, wrote about the shell game that is Gov. O'Malley's budget in the Salisbury Daily Times this week. More specifically, Kilmer hammered home the fact that the Governor is using $389 million of non-existent federal funding to balance the budget. If this money is not appropriated by Congress, we will be looking at another deficit problem.

Once again Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's County) finds himself under the law enforcement microscope - this time for controversial, possibly illegal usage of campaign funds. This morning Annie Linskey of the Baltimore Sun writes about how Sen. Currie, chairman of the powerful Budget & Taxation committee, paid personal attorneys with money from his campaign account. AFP, along with liberal advocacy groups, condemned the use of campaign money for personal use.

Del. Frick's arrogant Tweet

The 'Culture of Entitlement' is alive and well with our legislators in Annapolis. On Thursday, 20 AFP activists from towns like Ocean City, Bel Air, and Chestertown made the long trip to Annapolis to testify on a couple of important bills. While our Field Director Nick Loffer was providing testimony on Gov. O'Malley's "jobs" bill, Del. Bill Frick (D-Montgomery Co.) made the snide comment you see above on Twitter.