Campaigning as usual bad for one businessman

Onetime TEA Party organizer and Wicomico County Council hopeful Chris Lewis is also a business owner. And while he’s not a complete stranger to the political process, recent events surrounding his downtown Salisbury deli have left a sour taste in his mouth.

It started last week when a representative of Andy Harris’s campaign contacted Lewis about stopping by his deli as part of a business tour through Salisbury’s downtown area. Last Monday the stop was called off, only to be re-added to the schedule the next day on one stipulation – Lewis, who supports Andy’s GOP opponent Rob Fisher, would have to take Fisher’s signage down.

(continued on my Examiner.com page…)

Friday night videos – episode 44

This will be a special election edition of FNV, intended to clean up the ‘Candidate Wednesday’ series, put out some new video of the Wicomico County Council race, and toss out a couple other neat things.

The last video of the ‘Candidate Wednesday’ series is that of District 38A hopeful Julie Brewington, who put together the videos and got Matt Trenka to be host.

 

It’s special to me because I helped with the production of it, and you’ll notice the line of questioning is a little different thanks to my influence. For example, the Page Elmore question was my idea.

Julie took a lot of time to speak to economic issues and comes across as a friend of business. She understands that backing us out of our doldrums will take private-sector investment, and creating the climate to encourage investment will take acts of government which reduce its scope and influence. It’s a fairly common-sense position and puts her in with the other three Republicans in the race.

The detour into property rights was a bit jarring, but obviously this is a pet issue of hers and reflects recent controversy in Wicomico County over downzoning.

She did have something of a homefield advantage because the interview was done for her website, but I think the line of questioning was pretty good. It’s also one of the most-watched local interviews so she did a good job promoting it as well. We will see if this translates into votes come September.

Last Sunday Chris Lewis held a meet-and-greet event in Sharptown, and three County Council candidates aired their view on property rights. In order they were Matt Holloway, Chris Lewis, and Bob Culver.

It’s interesting to see how candidates answer questions in a freeform format without a time limit. As it turned out this was the lone formal question asked since participants were encouraged to speak one-on-one with candidates.

One of the participants (although he ended up being there late, toward the end of the event) was Mike Ryman, LG candidate for this guy.

I encourage you to check out his website and make an informed decision if you’re a Republican. He’s got my vote.

Finally, some coolness from one of my favorite local bands, Order 6-D6, direct from the revamped Myspace. I’ll leave you with that.