MoCo activist Dylan Shelton reminds us that fair elections laws, in place or being sought in local counties, are only one step. Power has many ways of buying elections and progressives have to recognize and combat all of them to win.

Gov. Larry Hogan has scheduled a massive bill signing, his last for the 2017 session, on May 25. But he can dangle vetoes for two more days after that, including for the Healthy Working Families Act, the paid sick leave bill. We need to let him know that a veto -- just a stalling method for the inevitable override -- is not acceptable conduct of his office.

Welcome to the Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for May 15-21

 More chapters, more activists, more activism. Note that HoCo is having an organizing meeting this Sunday, below; and “The Blueprint” in June.

Veteran political analyst Barry Rascovar sees TrumpCare as disaster for Larry Hogan's re-election hopes. "There’s no doubt Democratic candidates for Maryland governor will tie Hogan to Trumpcare.  Every candidate will be running ads with tales of how middle-class and working-class Marylanders would be hurt, how lives hang in the balance. It is a gift from heaven for Democrats. One Republican pollster called the GOP’s insistent quest to wipe out Obamacare 'political malpractice.' ”

Opponents of HB1, the earned paid sick leave bill passed overwhelmingly this year by both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly, testified that job loss and business failures would result. Business persons who actually care about both their employees and their bottom lines know different, as one of them testifies here. This blog post is reposted from Working Matters Maryland, where it appeared May 3.

In Montgomery County, a day-long session detailed "the art of navigating through fraught political waters in order to attain real political power." Regular PM blogger Hal Ginsberg was there and brings us this report.

Welcome to the Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for May 8-14. It’s a busy week (starting tonight; see below) and a busy month, with Progressive Maryland local groups and affiliates gearing up to bring progressive politics to courthouses and town halls. Plus the blogs for the past week.

In the wake of the US House GOP majority squeaker passage of a catastrophic Trumpcare bill, sent off to a US Senate that hardly wants to touch it with a long stick, here's a roundup of information on the bill and some marching orders for progressives on how we can make those who voted for this bill pay for their mistake.

From the People's Action "Progressive Breakfast" blog: the political truths behind a recent poll finding that voters in the US want more government -- more of the things that improve the economy, job security, health and the welfare of all. Arguments from the right that our "freedom" requires want and anxiety, with minimal public provision, prove out to be pretty hollow.

"We must experiment boldly in order to win the power to change our economic and political system," argues Larry Stafford, Progressive Maryland's executive director. "The future of politics lies beyond the Democratic and Republican parties, and the ground is shifting in order to make that possible. It’s up to us to build the viable alternative." This is the second of two blogs on a Progressive Caucus strategy; the first part ran May 2.