Is this Alessigate?

Last week there was coverage in both Justice for All? and Duvafiles about a possible error, omission, or (as conspiratorially whispered) coverup with campaign contributors to Ron Alessi’s County Executive bid, particularly a large amount of donations from County Council candidate MJ Caldwell.

It so happens that I’m placed in an interesting position because I tread on both sides of this issue. On the one hand, obviously I’m a local blogger and I read the other local blogs like Duvafiles, Justice For All?, National Joe-A-Graphic, etc. on a regular (if not daily) basis. For example, last night they were the ones who alerted me to the Maryland Court of Appeals decision on early voting so I expanded my line of inquiry on the topic and posted my thoughts on it. Knowing that they have a history in Salisbury and Wicomico County whereas I don’t I see these three gentlemen as a good background resource and hopefully they appreciate my reporting and perspective on events as well.

Now in regards to the e-mail that I also got from Dave Parker, I regularly receive e-mail from him that regards WCRC business since I’m on that mailing list. What makes things interesting on the other end is that I’m running for the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee with six other men, three of whom will be newcomers like myself. One of them is the aforementioned Dave Parker, and another is the original author of the note, Ed Heath. Further still, MJ Caldwell is on the ballot twice as he’s also seeking to retain his Central Committee seat. And all of us will be elected as there’s only seven people running for the seven spots.

So I’m going to give the Alessi campaign and its treasurer Robert Walton Sr. the benefit of the doubt that someone has made an honest mistake. I’m not sure why MJ Caldwell would not want to admit he gave $2500 to the Alessi campaign, I seem to think he’s allowed to do so (unless he’s reached his limit in this election cycle which is a possible oversight, hard to keep track of all these things for four years) but if he didn’t it’s also possible the state records are messed up. (“Chesapeake Dogs” brought the possibility up and it’s a good point.)

However, I agree with Hadley that the donation snafu is a matter that still should be investigated by the State Board of Elections because $2500 is a lot of money in a campaign like this and if there’s a coverup I want that out regardless of the fallout. Republicans are much better at policing their own than Democrats are, one can use Tom DeLay and William Jefferson as examples of how each party treats those accused of wrongdoing. While DeLay was drummed out of Congress based on a partisan and questionable indictment, Jefferson remains in the good graces of Congressional Democrats despite being caught with $90,000 of possibly tainted cash.

And it would be much better to have this ironed out before the primary so, if by chance something doesn’t clear the legal smell test, the Republican voters can judge accordingly and elect another candidate rather than have a nasty “October surprise” hand the County Executive job to a Democrat almost by default and possibly jeopardize the chances of other GOP members in close races.

If this puts me at odds with Parker, Heath, Caldwell, et. al. as we become the next edition of the Republican Central Committee so be it – I can live with that. I’ve spent a lot of time this election cycle trying to inform the voters so they can make a good choice and one reason why is I’m betting that, with all the facts in hand, the people in our neck of the woods will decide to vote for conservative, common sense candidates who do things on the up-and-up. The Republican Party on a national scale is having a hard time getting through the shenanigans associated with Jack Abramoff, so we don’t need problems on a local scale to taint us even more.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.