Mark answers ten questions posed to him from RED MARYLAND, the Premier blog of conservative and Republican politics and ideas in the Free State.

1. Give our readers a little insight to your background?

I am a father of three children, husband & small businessman. My values are rooted in blue collar Baltimore, where my parents taught me that we live in an “Opportunity Society”. In an Opportunity Society, you can and will have a better life than your parents if you work hard, become a lifelong learner, pursue innovation and take-on risks. Indeed, my parents didn’t have a college education – yet all four of their children went to college and have had a better life. Looking ahead, I am deeply concerned for all of our children and grandchildren because of the out-of-control federal and state spending and fiscal irresponsibility. How can our children and grandchildren inherit the Opportunity Society if they’re paying 70-75% of their income to governments (local, state & federal) in the form of taxes? This is precisely why I am running for the Maryland House of Delegates. I want to renew Maryland’s Opportunity Society so that our children and our grandchildren can have a better life than us, just as we have had a better life than our parents.

2. Who is your political lodestar? What shapes your ideological background?

While I was a student at George Washington University, I had the pleasure of meeting Ronald Reagan. Reagan’s optimism and conservative values challenged the status-quo in Washington and beyond, so that America could be renewed as an Opportunity Society. His faith and belief in people, not government, still resonates today.

3. What prompted you to run for office?

Out of control federal and state spending caused me to run for this office. This spending is ruining our country and our state because it’s mortgaging our children’s and grandchildren’s future. If left unchecked, government will control and regulate every aspect of human life --- from the kind of energy that you purchase, to the kind of healthcare that you can receive.

See all of Marks responses to the following questions at Red Maryland:

4. Pension/retiree health care and Medicaid fuel Maryland’s chronic budget deficits; what measures would you propose to address them?

5. Many Republicans are concerned about the bloated size of Maryland government; what government programs or agencies (if any) would you cut, reduce, or eliminate?

6. Many counties' budgets are being crippled by Maintenance of Effort requirements; would you support eliminating or reducing those requirements?

7. What proposals would you champion to help Maryland businesses and entrepreneurs?

8. Two of the most important issues facing Maryland are concerns with transportation and the environment; on which issue do you place a greater priority, and how would you address it?

9. Following on that last question, Maryland passed cap and trade legislation in 2009 and the Maryland Department of the Environment is working with environmental special interests to write the regulations. If elected what would you do to mitigate or nullify what are sure to be economically ruinous dictates?

10. If you had a choice of any Republican to be the nominee of our party for President in 2012, who would they be?

Check out Red Maryland to see Mark's aswers to all of the questions.

Read the personal endorsement of Mark by Brian Griffiths of Red Maryland at http://blog.briangriffiths.com/2010/09/my-personal-endorsements.html