Early voting has already begun. It is a week until the general election on November 2^nd. And then the signs will come down and the robocalls and mailings will stop for another two years.

This will be my last posting until after the election so I wanted to share a few thoughts from my win, lose or draw speech.

First, thank you to everyone who voted for me in the primary and made me your nominee. I hope that I have run a campaign worthy of the honor. Thank you to everyone who voted for me in the general election. I hope that I have earned it. Thank you to my outstanding volunteers and long-suffering family who have gone that extra mile for me. Thank you to my wife and daughters who have hardly seen me since July.

I don’t think I’ve met any candidates who are running for the wrong reason. They all have the purest of intentions. I disagree with some of their philosophies and policies. It is interesting just how much we all have in common. We all want a better future for our children. We all want a cleaner environment. We all want to feel safe.

I’ve met a lot of people and learned about a lot of interesting groups while on the campaign trail. I hope that those relationships will continue in the future. There are a lot of civic-minded people out there doing great things for their communities.

 Has the campaign changed me as a person? Yes and no. I’m still the book-worm with all sorts of ideas for new laws and repealing old laws. But I’ve increasingly come to realize that the government is not going to solve all the problems facing us. You are.

 My faith in the American people has grown. The people are angry but they don’t know what they are angry at. The people have lost faith in themselves. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we’ve had the answers all along. The people will create the jobs and get the economy moving again through small businesses. The people will clean the environment through their individual actions. The people will make themselves safer by locking their doors, reporting crimes and not being afraid of their own neighborhoods anymore. Government has a role to play, but it’s a supporting role to the people.

 Win, lose or draw, I am excited about the future and plan to do my part to protect it.

 Keep an eye on the papers and the internet to find out the results and DON’T FORGET TO VOTE CHIAPPELLI!

Thank you Teachers for endorsing me. I am proud that Maryland’s schools have been ranked number one in the nation for two years in a row. I hope we can extend that record for the next four years.

On a personal note, I am a product of public education. I went to the Public Honors College (St. Mary’s College of Maryland) and then to the University of Maryland School of Law. We have a good system.

I would not have progressed as far as I have without the help of public education, in-state tuition which has remained affordable and student loan financing. Thank you teachers and thank you Democrats for creating this ladder of opportunity to for me to climb up.

I am proud to have received the Sierra Club endorsement! They are a group with a serious mission and they only endorse a few candidates. I am very honored to be included in that select group. I hope that I am able to live up to our shared ideals.

While I was standing outside of the polls on election day, a fellow rode up and wanted to know if I stood for freedom or not. Of course I said yes because I can’t think of a single candidate who opposes freedom. (Actually I just thought of a couple, some of whom I am running against.)

 As it turns out, his biggest issue was the helmet law in Maryland which mandates that a biker must wear a helmet or face fines and possible criminal conviction.

I have to confess that I do not own a motorcycle and I have never actually ridden a motorcycle. My wife has. Her whole family, my in-laws, are big motorcycle people. Once you turn three in her family, you learn to ride a bike. She’s not kidding, I’ve seen the photos. My father-in-law owns Deer Park Cycle in Westminster doing repairs and restorations. (Trying to get you some business, Jack!)

I think it’s absurd to have a law that forces people to wear helmets. To me, it seems like a good idea to wear a helmet, but that’s just my opinion. And that’s my point. It’s your skull. It’s not the government’s business what you choose to do with it. It is if you are interfering with the life, liberty or property of another person. But wearing a helmet is a personal decision. I don’t see how the government can justify this law.

I would proudly sponsor the legislation to repeal the helmet law in Maryland. To answer that voters question again, yes I stand for freedom.

Vote for freedom, Vote Chiappelli.

Thank you Democrats from the Fighting 31st for picking me as your nominee for the House of Delegates!

4,059 of you voted for me during the Primary and I appreciate each and every one. Now here’s the tricky part, I need you to do it again and bring three friends with you for the General election on November 2nd.

Vote Chiappelli!

I’m running for the House of Delegates to Protect the Future.

What the heck does that mean? How will the voters be able to tell if I’ve protected the future in four years? How am I going to define success as a Delegate?

Ask any politician ever if they have been successful during their term and they will say “Yes.” Because nobody wants to admit that they’ve been a failure. Even if they campaigned on position A and position B gets passed, they will define that as a success. That’s why politicians get such a lousy reputation.

I’m not naive enough to think that I can go down to Annapolis and pass my specific wish list of legislation. I do hope that I can be more successful than our current delegate who has a perfect .000 batting average for getting legislation passed.

First Goal: Pass a bill.

Many of the items on my legislative wish list involve expanding freedoms to the good people of Maryland. We all do better, the economy does better, when more people have more freedom. The reverse of this position is that a lot of bad legislation gets proposed and passed which limits freedom. I hope to help defeat those bills.

Second Goal: That you have more freedoms available to you in four years than you do now.

A good economy depends on good government. Wise tax policy can help boost the economy. The hard choices we will have to make in the next couple years will have an impact on the economy. Everyone is talking about job creation, including me. We need smart government to help create jobs.

Third Goal: That you have a job and more money in your pocket in four years than you do now.

I want to empower the people of Maryland. Electricity provider competition has given the average family the power to vote against BGE. Alternate energy sources, like solar and wind, give people the power to control their own, well, power. Wise farming policies give people the power to control their own food supplies. We are all stewards of our environment. We all have the power to protect ourselves from crime.

Fourth Goal: That you, the people, have the power to control your fate instead of being left to the whims of the government or big business.

I hope you give me the chance to be your delegate this fall. And I hope you measure me against these four goal. And I hope that I pass!

Protect the Future: Vote Chiappelli.

I’m a big fan of clean water. I look forward to the day when I can go swim in my local creek and not have to worry about toxins or diseases. I want to be able to stand in the water up to my waist and see my feet in clear water. I want to catch the large fish and large oysters (the size of dinner plates!) that Captain Smith bragged about when he first visited the Chesapeake Bay in the 1600’s.

Take a look at the map of the fighting 31st. Clean water is the environmental issue locally.

Delegate Kipke raised awareness about a year ago about the poor conditions of Marley and Furnace Creeks. Recently Redmond and Dwyer held a public meeting about the poor conditions of Rock Creek.

What concerns me about these awareness campaigns is that everyone is still playing the blame game. Whose fault is it that the local waterways are still dirty?

Some blame private landowners with leaky septic tanks, others blame government for letting the pumping station infrastructure decline. The unpleasant truth is that we’re all to blame. Every one of us contributes a little bit to the run-off and pollution going into the waterways. And every one of us needs to accept responsibility to clean it up.

True, the single biggest thing that the government can do is to upgrade the pumping stations to prevent untreated sewage from flowing into the creeks. That’s been a huge problem. Some money has been allocated. The notorious Cox Creek Wastewater Treatment plant is finally scheduled to get some much needed (and expensive) upgrades.

The next crusade will be in dealing with stormwater runoff. A major storm, like we’ve seen frequently this summer, can undo years worth of progress on cleaning the waterways.

When the environmental movement first took off in the 1970’s, rivers were literally catching on fire, fish were choking on trash and industry pumped raw untreated wastes into the creeks through big pipes. Things have changed for the better. Nobody is afraid that Rock Creek is going to catch fire. Not only is it illegal to throw your trash into the water, but it’s unseemly and rude as well. Major industries have to comply with the Clean Water Act.

But the population of the watersheds keep growing. As we solve one problem, a new problem comes along to replace it. As we removed lead from gasoline and increased fuel economy, more people started to drive farther. We have to keep running just to stay in place.

Clean water should not be a political issue. President Richard Nixon recognized as much when he signed the Clean Water Act. We need to stop playing the blame game. There is plenty of blame to go around. We need to work towards solutions.

                 This past week I completed advanced training in foreclosure defense. The recent statistics are ridiculous. Since April 2008, there have been approximately 250,000 foreclosure filings in the State of Maryland. Odds are that you know somebody who has gone through a foreclosure or is about to go through a foreclosure.

                It’s going to get worse. The foreclosures are affecting the middle class and “good” loans. Commercial real estate is about to take a hit. And, if you remember two years ago, the foreclosure crisis managed to bring the entire global economy into a recession.

                Some homes can be saved. Others cannot. The wisdom is determining which is which.

                It seems like a no-brainer. The banks want their money back and the homeowners want to stay in the house. If the homeowners can afford anything reasonable, the banks are better off reducing their profits by modifying the loan and getting some income rather than spending huge sums on the foreclosure process and ending up with a damaged property when the angry homeowner rips the sink off the wall before they are evicted.

                From my experiences, the most frustrating part about foreclosure defense is trying to get someone from the bank on the phone who can talk about a loan modification or even negotiate a deal. That’s why I’m very pleased with the new mandatory foreclosure mediation passed by this year’s General Assembly. It forces the banks to come to the same table as the homeowner to discuss options. It doesn’t violate anyone’s right to contract or their right to private property. It simply forces them to talk for two hours, even if no agreement is reached.

                That’s all my clients and I want!

                A large Democratic majority voted for the bill. Delegates Kipke and Schuh also voted for it and I thank them for it. The third member of our delegation voted against it.

                The good news from the recent training was the large number of attorneys who have stepped forward in this crisis to take on pro bono clients and go to bat for the little guys. It’s stuff like this that makes me proud to be a lawyer.

                Do I have any solutions at the governmental level to the foreclosure crisis? I have a few suggestions, mostly procedural tweaks to the current system.

                Do I have any solutions at the individual level? Yes. Deal with the situation as early as possible. Take a realistic look at your finances. Is your mortgage payment 35% or less of your gross monthly income? If yes, you’re probably okay. If not, look into getting a cheaper house. Squirrel away at least two months worth of mortgage payments for a rainy day. And banks, I’m embarrassed even to have to tell you this: a positive cash-flow is better than a negative cash-flow. Talk to the people, they want to pay you.

                Protect your future. Vote Chiappelli.

On Monday, July 19, 2010, the County Council voted to allow residential wind power in Anne Arundel County. Although the bill is modest in scope and contains a number of restrictions on size, location and energy output, it is a big step forward.

I was honored to testify in favor of the bill on July 6^th. Windpower is good. It’s good for the economy. The installation and maintenance of windmills creates jobs. Those jobs by necessity have to be local. You can’t outsource those jobs. It’s good for the environment and the Chesapeake Bay because it produces electricity without any waste. If the windpower replaces coal or oil power, it will reduce the amount of mercury, nitrogen and particulate matter entering our ecosystems. It’s good because windpower is local power and it reduces our dependence on foreign regimes or the whims of the marketplace.

And because it allows private landowners to install the systems, it doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime!

One of the issues that came up was the appearance of windmills. The new bill contains height restrictions and other restrictions to minimize the negative visual impact of windmills. I’m of the opinion that windmills represent the future. When I visit my family in Pennsylvania and see windmills on the sides of the Appalachian mountains, it looks like progress. It looks like hope.

 In short: wind power is good.

Protect the Future: Vote Chiappelli.

I love books. I’m a big reader.

When people ask me why I’m running for office, I tell them the truth: I read a lot. I read a lot of books about the various problems facing the world and then I read a lot of books about various solutions to those problems. I like to solve problems. I don’t see other candidates or existing office-holders tackling some problems or approaching them with the right solutions. I would like a chance to try.

I just finished a book “From the Bottom Up” by Chad Pregracke. It’s the true story of Chad and how he decided to clean up the Mississippi River. There was trash, so he went out on his boat and picked it up. The rest is just elaboration. It was very inspirational and it reminded me why I’m running for office. Sometimes there are simple solutions that we just haven’t tried for some reason.

While I’m on the subject of books, let me heartily endorse the Book Thing of Baltimore (www.bookthing.org). Free books! Stop by on weekends and drop off your old books and pick up as many free books as you can handle. It’s awesome!

Hi.

I am running for the Maryland House of Delegates for District 31. As a delegate, I hope to lower taxes on the middle class, protect the health of our children, clean the environment and expand our freedoms. We are all heading into the future together, it’s worth protecting.

I have a campaign blog at www.VoteChiappelli.com . While the Baltimore Sun has generously allowed candidates to have blogs on their site, I haven’t mastered the art of linking the two blogs.