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David R. Brinkley, Maryland State Delegate.

  August 11, 2001 - The Daily Record Online (MD)

Source: http://www.mddailyrecord.com/archives/2_35_statewide/businessnews/49212-1.html

NEWS SUMMARY: Maryland lawmakers mostly failures

By STAFF & WIRE REPORTS

If as in high school it takes at least a 60 percent to pass, then 23 of Maryland’s 47 state senators and 82 of its 141 delegates failed.

That’s according to the “test” proctored by Maryland Business for Responsive Government (MBRG), a pro-business organization headed by Robert O. C. “Rocky” Worcester. The grades are based on how often lawmakers voted with MBRG on select bills during the 2001 session (i.e. universal health care, collective bargaining).

Not one of the 105 failures — that’s right, 56 percent of the entire General Assembly failed — was a Republican. And not one of the lawmakers to score better than 80 percent was a Democrat.

Among the top scorers: Carroll County’s Del. Carmen Amedori (94 percent), Western Maryland’s Sen. Alexander X. Mooney (94 percent) and Del. David R. Brinkley (93 percent), Baltimore County’s Sen. Andrew P. Harris (93 percent) and Harford County’s Sen. Nancy Jacobs (92 percent).

With the introduction later this year of two new Internet domain names, .biz and .info, trademark owners will have a better means of preventing cyber-squatters from stealing their domain names, says Maxine Lans Retsky of Baltimore-based Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe.

“The companies responsible for registering new domain names for .biz and .info will offer trademark owners ways to protect their marks before the domains become available to the general public,” Retsky said. “Fighting domain name infringement is costly. While the new protections do not guarantee a third party will not register an infringing domain name, they should help trademark owners avoid blatant piracy.”

From the good point file this week ... If adults don’t work for free, why should kids?

“Paying young people for good grades not only increases their academic performance in school, it also prepares them for the real world — where performance equals rewards,” says Dr. Robert Butterworth, president of the Los Angeles-based International Trauma Associates.

Butterworth maintains that poor school performance is rarely a result of a lack of academic ability, but a failure of parents to become involved in their youngsters' schooling. He recommends using the methods that industry uses to motivate its employees -— rewards and positive involvement.

If we are what we eat, then Americans are, in increasing numbers, cows. That’s right. Second-quarter 2001 data shows consumer demand for U.S. beef remains strong.

According to a peer-reviewed demand index, demand increased 5 percent the second quarter of 2001 compared to the same quarter the previous year.

“After a 20-year downturn, the beef industry has shown an increase in 10 of the last 12 quarters,” said Dan Hammond, chairman of the Cattlemen's Beef Board.

When it comes to employer-sponsored health benefits, more than half of 10,000 workers surveyed want more choices and are even willing to pay more to receive them, according to Watson Wyatt, a Washington-based consulting firm.

Fifty-four percent of employees also prefer paying larger co-payments at the time a service is received, while 25 percent prefer paying higher premiums.

“Allowing employees to choose from a variety of health plans is associated with employee satisfaction, and consumers are now demanding a choice of physicians and treatments,” says Steve Richter, a senior health-care consultant with Watson.

To increase worker productivity, provide free breakfast, lunch, soft-serve ice cream, popcorn and other goodies, recommends Brian Stowell, president of a New Hampshire cabinetry company, who says the technique is reaping great rewards for him.

The goodies, you see, are delivered once certain goals are met.

“It wasn't fun anymore. Now our teams manage themselves, work together, communicate like never before and are extremely focused on the overall goals of our company and on the bottom line,” Stowell said.

We don’t doubt or dismiss Stowell’s approach. But it did get us to wondering: Didn’t employees formerly do their work in exchange for pay?

Authority: Friends of David R. Brinkley - Sallie M. Brinkley, Treasurer

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