District 19 Senate challenger Roger Manno is distributing this flyer criticizing incumbent Mike Lenett for allegedly stealing budget and tax-related ideas from Delegate candidate Sam Arora.
Many of the ideas advanced by both Lenett and Arora date back to documents produced by Progressive Maryland in 2004, as well as a January 2010 report from the state’s Department of Budget and Management. But we are skeptical that this line of attack will be meaningful to voters. The best politicians tend not to be generators of ideas themselves, but are intellectually curious people who seek out great proposals from others and work to get them passed. Voters care less about where a good idea comes from than about whether it becomes reality.
Update: Roger Manno told us that the above flyer, which carries his authority line, was only distributed at one meet-and-greet.