Jim Ireton – Page 5

36th Annual Tawes Crab and Clam Bake in pictures and text

I know a lot of people have been waiting with bated breath for this, so let me tell you that if a picture is a thousand words this will be a post upwards of 32,000 words. And I didn’t think I took all that many pictures.

Nor did it seem like this year’s edition had the crowds that previous recent Tawes gatherings did. Perhaps this falls in the category of anecdotal evidence, but I climbed up to the top of the bleachers and took this panoramic photo just before 1 p.m. – a time you would think there would be huge, long lines.

And it also seemed like fewer businesses were there this year, too. Of course, you had the regulars:

Both of these entities are there every year, with Eddie Heath providing the tent “fencing” for another longtime client, the Hebron Savings Bank. And it goes without saying that this event is an important part of Somerset County’s economic development.

But I spied a couple new entities I was unfamiliar with, too.

The Great Bay Wind Energy Center is being pushed by Somerset’s economic development team, as they seek a 65-turbine complex. Despite its name, the wind farm is planned for an inland site near Marion Station.

The second could be an exciting development on the entertainment front.

The first concert at The Amphitheater at Heron Ponds will be a free show featuring local ’80’s bands on August 24; a shakedown cruise if you will for its first major event featuring country singer Kellie Pickler on August 25.

They also win the creativity award for keeping the beer cold.

If you’re scratching your head as to why I found it humorous, here’s a wider view.

But the reputation of the Tawes Crab and Clam Bake was built on the perception that it was the place for Maryland politicians to see and be seen. Despite the smaller crowds, this year was no different.

Of course, you had the two party tents. I’m biased, so the GOP goes first.

The Democrats had a smaller rendition, but I think part of the reason is, as I found out, there’s only two counties represented there. (The Republicans generally pool Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester into theirs.)

One advantage the Democrats had was a little grassy area for easy sign placement.

They had the usual fare: Obama, Cardin, Rosen, Conway. Norm Conway? He’s not up this year, is he?

Nor is Blaine Young of Frederick County. But he is planning a 2014 run for Governor on the GOP side so he secured his own tent.

But the granddaddy of all political tents didn’t belong to a party or a candidate. Instead, it belonged to a lobbyist.

It even had fans stationed along one side of the perimeter.

Unfortunately, you cannot read the cards, but various politicians had reserved tables inside the tent. These two were saved for Delegate Cheryl Glenn and State Senator Joan Carter Conway. They weren’t the only ones.

However, I must say that Bereano is bipartisan – a goodly number of the pictures below were shot in front of his tent, which was conveniently across from the GOP tent.

And as I said above, those who wanted to see and be seen were in Crisfield, the southernmost city in Maryland. (Bet you non-locals didn’t know that.) I have a lot of these photos, so I suppose I’ll begin with statewide races and work my way to local ones.

Since I already revealed Blaine Young had a tent for his 2014 gubernatorial bid, I’ll start with him enjoying his lunch within.

To be honest, this was the biggest splash his nascent campaign has made, as he has a little catching up to do with two of his fellow presumptive GOP contenders. Larry Hogan (right in photo below) was in the house, sporting his Change Maryland logo with Red Maryland blogger and state YR head Brian Griffiths.

Griffiths is apparently an equal opportunity gladhander, since he’s also here with Harford County Executive David Craig, the unofficial-official candidate for Governor in 2014.

On the other side, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman is thought to be considering a run for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. He’s on the right, Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt (who introduced me) is to the left. I’m also told Peter Franchot, who may run in 2014, was there as well but I didn’t see him.

There was one other statewide candidate there, at least that I’m aware of.

Let’s just put it this way. I arrived at 11:00, and Dan Bongino was there 15 minutes later (note that the event officially started at noon.) The photo below was the second one I took. He stayed and sweated it out (literally) until almost the bitter end.

And while I show him by the GOP tent in this picture, he was all over the Somers Cove complex getting votes.

And they didn’t forget to get more volunteers, as the Bongino signup sheet was prominent on this table.

An advantage Bongino and other challengers had was the fact the incumbents were working today in Washington. So Ben Cardin couldn’t walk the grounds gathering votes, and nor could Andy Harris in the local First District race. But Harris had a good volunteer turnout.

Opponent Wendy Rosen had her own small posse of backers, too.

I had never met Rosen before today, so I wanted to put a face to a name. She’s a nice enough lady, but when she remarked something along the lines of Republicans selling their souls to the Koch Brothers, well, let’s just say the class envy card isn’t accepted here.

The Second District could have much better representation with this lady, who obviously approves this message.

It was nice to see her get some airtime, although the local TV station isn’t in her district.

I wish I had gotten a better photo of Third District hopeful Eric Knowles (on the right) but this will have to suffice.

While most state and local politicians aren’t on the ballot for awhile, there is one exception. Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton is up for re-election in early 2013. Here he’s on the left (which seems to be the norm) but being bipartisan is Delegate Charles Otto, on the right.

General Assembly members from near and far came to participate. Delegate Mike McDermott was rolling up his sign as the day wound down.

State Senate Minority Leader E.J. Pipkin had one of his supporters in tow.

Here’s that Brian Griffiths guy again, in front of the Bereano tent with Delegates Kathy Szeliga and Justin Ready. Truly, though, it’s better Griffiths be in front of the camera and me behind it than the other way around.

And maybe politics is in the future of these two lovely young ladies – after all, they’ve won one contest already. The outgoing Miss Crustacean and Little Miss Crustacean will turn over their crowns at the Hard Crab Derby in September, but Hannah Adkins (left) and Jessica Wilson (right) seem to be having fun with their titles for now.

They definitely have winning smiles.

And by next week those who normally frequent the Somers Cove Marina can have their facility back.

So with that another Tawes Crab and Clam Bake is in the books. Next year should be a little more active since the 2014 campaign will be in full swing.

Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of my local blogging cohorts there. Since Jackie Wellfonder was busy coordinating Dan Bongino’s effort she may not put anything up on her Raging Against the Rhetoric site, but Julie Brewington of Right Coast Conservative was snapping a number of shots for herself while Jonathan Taylor of Lower Eastern Shore News has his observations as well.

Political perspective on poultry

As part of the opening ceremonies for the Delmarva Chicken Festival, we heard from a number of poultry industry figures, the agriculture secretaries of our respective states, and local representatives to Congress.

I’m going to have a more broad view of the proceedings later this weekend, but I wanted to point out some of what was said about the poultry industry, which event co-chair Robbie Tarpley Raffish called “one of the most important things we can teach our children.”

Leading off the proceedings was Senator Tom Carper from Delaware, who sent the regards for many of his colleagues on the Hill, including fellow Senators Coons, Cardin, and Mikulski. Carper stated the government has many roles to play, but they did not create jobs. Instead, their task was “nurturing the environment for job creation.”

Carper went on to talk about opening up foreign markets to agricultural products, in particular focusing on Mexico, Russia, and China, which was accessed through Hong Kong. He claimed President Obama has been “very forceful” in trying to open up new markets to agriculture in general and poultry in particular. Carper claimed that 80 percent of Delaware’s agricultural business is poultry, and with plenty of Mountaire chicken being cooked on the premises that figure doesn’t seem to be a stretch.

Another interesting tidbit from Carper was his assessment that poultry interests had achieved a success in eliminating both the ethanol tax credit and foreign tariff. This was considered a success because over half the cost of raising a chicken comes from feeding it. I have to agree that corn should be grown for food, not fuel.

Compared to Senator Carper, Rep. Andy Harris spoke quite briefly, believing “we should thank God for the poultry industry” and arguing that federal regulations are killing the poultry industry. “We get the message” from farmers who want the government off their back, said Harris.

There was a little bit of friendly rivalry between the two agriculture secretaries.

Maryland’s Buddy Hance led off by bragging about Maryland’s agricultural prowess, but noted as a grain farmer on the Western Shore he and his cohorts appreciated the poultry industry. One out of five people on Delmarva work for the poultry industry, said Hance.

Ed Kee of Delaware welcomed us to southern Sussex County, joking there was a bill in Delaware to annex the remainder of Delmarva to the state. (Some of us wouldn’t mind – politically a greater Delaware incorporating the Eastern Shore would likely be at worst a swing state and possibly a “red” one.) But Kee made the great observation that “the best environmentalists are the farmers.” (If I may add my own observation: I don’t know what political conditions are like in Dover, but that’s something surely lost on Annapolis.)

The last political word went to Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton, who welcomed the festival to Salisbury and called our fair city one which knows the importance of the agricultural industry. He also promised “we will do everything we can to keep Perdue here.”

So that was what was said. It’s also worth stating that a large segment of local legislators were representing themselves at the festival. From the city of Salisbury were Ireton and City Council member Laura Mitchell, and Wicomico County’s delegation from County Council numbered six of the seven (missing was at-large Council member Matt Holloway.) Similarly, state Delegates Addie Eckardt, Charles Otto and Mike McDermott stopped in as well as both local Senators, Rich Colburn and Jim Mathias, the one Democrat who stopped by the GOP tent to say hello. As well, at least four local Delaware state legislators were present.

I was also told that Congressional candidate Wendy Rosen was there along with Harris, but since I wouldn’t know her by face I can’t verify this. I do know that GOP U.S. Senate hopeful Dan Bongino will be at the festival tomorrow morning as part of an Eastern Shore campaign swing (he’s also stopping in Ocean City.) Hopefully he’s home this evening brushing up on poultry concerns, although if he speaks to Carper and Harris he could get a reasonable primer with the exception of the Obama remark by Senator Carper.

I’m told next year’s event will be in Snow Hill, so GOP hopefuls for state offices should notate their calendars now for a trip to Worcester County in mid-June, 2013. Just because it’s an odd-numbered year doesn’t mean name recognition is unnecessary and smart candidates are out cultivating the base.

The next step

Now that the primary is behind us and the Maryland General Assembly session will come to a screeching halt by midnight Monday evening, there’s an obvious focus on the three races we will have at our local level: the Republican nominee (most likely Mitt Romney) for President vs. Barack Hussein Obama, the U.S. Senate race featuring Dan Bongino against political lifer Ben Cardin, and the Congressional race which will pit Andy Harris against the most likely Democrat winner, Wendy Rosen (who, by the way, was once a Republican.)

But we also need to keep a couple things in the back of our mind. One is that the citizens here in our fair city are less than a year away from electing a new mayor. (I say new because, quite frankly, what has Jim Ireton done to deserve re-election? Then again, what did he do to deserve election in the first place?) We will also have the City Council seats currently held by Shanie Shields in District 1 and Debbie Campbell in District 2 to vote upon. (For the sake of this post, I’m going to assume the new district boundaries will mostly reflect the old ones – Lord knows the three-person Camden crew on City Council won’t select a model which makes sense and redivide the city into five Council districts because at least one of them would be out of a job.)

It’s my understanding that Shields will not seek re-election in her majority-minority district, and while it would be a tough sell for a Republican to win there it wouldn’t be a stretch to have a conservative win the seat – the city election is non-partisan and has been for some time now.

And while Campbell has faced opposition in both her initial election bid (Mike Dunn in 2005) and subsequent re-election try (Muir Boda in 2009) it seems like prospective candidates are easier to find when the district elects three seats as they did in 2011 than the one-seat race we have in the other cycle coming up next year. But there’s no reason to leave Campbell unopposed should she decide to run again, particularly since she’s part of the Camden crew.

So far only one person has gone public with his intention to run for city office, but there’s been no fleshing out of his platform up until now and the campaign is still in its earliest stages. Unlike federal or state office, there’s really no need to begin a campaign until this fall considering it covers a city of just 30,000 people.

But those conservatives who are interested should be making the push over the summer in attracting grassroots support and financing for their run. Truth be told, the city seems to have fallen prey to a power struggle between the Camden crew and the mayor as to who’s really in charge, and in my estimation both are fighting over a sinking ship as things currently stand. I’ll grant that a lot of dead weight is being placed onboard by the state and federal governments, which will leave a new chief executive boxed in to some extent, but these aren’t times when the city can be placed on a glide path like it could a decade ago.

Nor is it too early to consider what we can achieve for a number of county offices which haven’t had turnover in decades. While the bulk of county Republicans only came into office in 2006 or 2010 (exceptions are County Council members Gail Bartkovich and Stevie Prettyman), most of the Democrats have been there for well over a decade and their offices may not be getting the fresh leadership they deserve. It’s time to make them earn their office rather than let them cruise in for another four years. A good goal for local Republicans would be to fill up the 2014 ballot – actively seeking a person to run for State’s Attorney, even after the filing deadline, paid dividends in 2010.

Focus on 2012, but don’t forget 2013 or 2014.

Early to rise

As the calendar turns to 2012 and the political calendar becomes focused on the presidential primary, over the weekend we had our first prospective 2013 Salisbury City candidate announce the possibility he would run.

That’s right – Adam Roop announced in January, 2012 for an election to be held in April, 2013. Roop made his statement before perhaps a dozen supporters according to a Daily Times story by Jennifer Shutt. The story presumes he will be running for mayor, but Roop made no firm commitment to a particular office. Bear in mind, however, that based on where Roop resides he would either have to challenge Jim Ireton to become the new mayor or District 2 Council member Debbie Campbell, whose term also expires in 2013. Neither Ireton nor Campbell have confirmed their desire for another term at this time.

As a point of comparison, I did a little research and found that Ireton announced his mayoral bid in November 2008, just five months before the election. In that 2009 race, Jim won a four-person primary over then-City Council Vice-President Gary Comegys, former City Council member Bob Caldwell, and 2005 candidate Mike Della Penna before again defeating Comegys in the general election. Out of that field, Comegys declined to run for re-election in 2011 due to illness, Caldwell was elected to County Council in 2010 before his death in October 2011, and Della Penna has finished well out of the money in both previous runs. In short, the time is indeed ripe for new contenders in the political arena.

But will announcing so early create a problem? There’s no question Adam Roop has a little bit of name recognition based on his real estate ventures, but he’s not nearly as well known for his community involvement – it’s a shortcoming he addressed in his statements. And if elected, Roop would be the youngest mayor Salisbury’s had in some time as he won’t turn 30 until June of 2013. By comparison, Jim Ireton will be 43 years of age by the 2013 election – still, that’s younger than any member of Salisbury’s City Council, where the current roster ranges in age from 46 to 62.

In my observation, Roop may have been better served by getting involved more in the community first before making an announcement. Certainly there is some lead time required in plotting a political campaign against an incumbent officeseeker but running for office is far more than putting together an attractive logo and hosting a gathering for would-be supporters. Yes, it’s good to know that one of those who may be running for re-election in 2013 will not go unopposed, but there’s such a thing as looking too eager to serve.

The struggle within

It’s been a week since Salisbury City Council approved a City Charter amendment to place the city attorney under the supervision of the council rather than under the mayor. That vote stemmed from a June incident when Mayor Jim Ireton advised the city attorney not to attend a closed session of City Council because insufficient public notice was given beforehand. The charter amendment was approved by a group of three Council members who have become the new majority in a run of 3-2 votes; interestingly enough all three hail from the same Camden neighborhood.

Continue reading “The struggle within”

Protesting Jim

Unfortunately I could not be there to see this with my own eyes, but both published and eyewitness reports indicate that Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton attended a small protest today at the local office for Congressman Andy Harris.

The reason for the protest was to show support for a document called “A Contract for the American Dream,” with the title obviously a play on the Republicans’ “Contract With America” from 1994 and 2010.

So let’s assume Jim Ireton is foursquare behind the document – what is he backing?

It begins with a call to rebuild America’s infrastructure. That’s commendable, but they go beyond roads, bridges, and utilities in calling for “national and state infrastructure banks.” To me, that’s code for more federally- and state-controlled land, whether through outright acquisition or regulating usage. Money should be allocated for these tasks, but preferably at the local and state levels and for meaningful, development-friendly projects like expanded highways or new utility lines – not wasted on items like public transit or bike paths few use.

The second point: creating “21st Century energy jobs” – in other words, continue to subsidize expensive and inefficient “renewable” sources at the expense of proven fossil fuel technology that we have in plentiful supply. When the market is ready, someone will tap into those renewable sources. Jim, it’s not time for that yet.

Thirdly, we’re asked to “invest” (read: throw money at) public education. So much for educational choice, right? And the idea of “universal preschool” fits right in with a plan for indoctrination. It makes me wonder what their definition of a “high-quality” teacher is. Mine would be one who teaches critical thinking instead of regurgitating the latest propaganda.

The fourth point is “Medicare for all,” which equates to a single-payer health care system. Lefties have been pining for this for years, always saying we’re not in step with the rest of the industrialized world. So where do those who can afford it come to get medical care again? (Hint: it’s not Cuba.)

Idea number five is to “make work pay;” in other words enact a so-called “living wage.” We have a “right to fair minimum and living wages,” they say. What part of the Constitution was that again? It’s not in my copy. We’d be better off abolishing the minimum wage, since those who own businesses know all about working long hours for little pay. If a worker is only producing a net three dollars an hour for the company, that’s what they should be paid.

Sixth, they want to “secure Social Security” by – guess what? – raising taxes on the rich. They would eliminate the tax cap on earnings so every penny of what one earns would be taxed. How about giving us all a break and beginning to sunset the program instead?

The “soak the rich” philosophy continues with item number seven, which would be to not just eliminate the 2001/2003 Bush tax cuts but enact a “millionaire’s tax.” We see how well that works for Maryland, don’t we?

Number 8 continues the class warfare by calling for a .05% tax on each Wall Street trade, which supposedly would raise $100 billion a year. Besides the fact that we’re talking chump change in this era of trillions, the effect of such a tax would be to destroy billions in wealth as the stock market plummets in reaction to the toll. Of course, when the desired amount is not raised they’ll simply increase the tax, continuing the vicious cycle.

Ninth in the order is bringing the troops home. I can agree with that in part – there are a lot of countries we don’t necessarily need to be in. But we also need to give those troops we leave in the field the tools and strategy for victory. If we want to rout the Taliban, well, let’s stop playing around and throw out the silly rules of engagement which bind our hands. The enemy has no rules of engagement, why should we?

And finally, they call for restricting free speech in the most “catch-all” of bullet points:

We need clean, fair elections – where no one’s right to vote can be taken away, and where money doesn’t buy you your own member of Congress. We must ban anonymous political influence, slam shut the lobbyists’ revolving door in D.C. and publicly finance elections. Immigrants who want to join in our democracy deserve a clear path to citizenship. And we must stop giving corporations the rights of people when it comes to our elections and ensure our Judiciary’s respect for the Constitution. Together, we will reclaim our democracy to get our country back on track.

So let’s follow this to a logical conclusion – everyone here gets a vote whether they’re here legally or not (and will be rewarded for breaking the law to get here), elections will be publicly funded (except when a candidate chooses not to follow those rules – *cough*Barack Obama*cough*), lobbyists won’t be allowed but “czars” will, and corporations will lose their right to free speech but unions won’t.

But the last sentence of the document provides the fatal flaw, and one needs to ask Jim Ireton whether he really believes this.

Our nation is NOT a democracy – it is a republic. If we were a democracy, we would soon be defunct under the tyranny of the majority. As the old parable goes, a democracy is where two wolves and a sheep vote on what’s for dinner.

While Jim Ireton had the majority of those who could be bothered to vote in the 2009 Salisbury city election, that was by no means a clear mandate. And having a so-called “contract” signed by 125,000 Americans is invalid in the face of millions of voters who desired the more conservative direction Harris and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives have attempted to push government toward. I’ll see the backers of the “Contract for the American Dream” and their puny 125,000 total nationwide and raise them the 30,000 additional citizens here in the First Congressional District who gave Harris his mandate by voting for him. If Frank Kratovil had 125,000 votes he would have only lost by 30,000 instead of 35,000.

Shoot, the 9-12 rally back in 2009 did better than that.

But if this is what Jim Ireton truly stands for – a group of items which would effectively federalize much of government and make princes paupers by taxing the producers of society – then we really need to find a conservative challenger for him in 2013. He’s leading Salisbury in the wrong direction, and real help needs to be sent on the way.

One man’s opinion

I have all the respect in the world for Muir Boda, and once I read the letter he had published in the Daily Times yesterday I decided to reprint it here as well.

As a citizen of the City of Salisbury and one who has been actively involved in city politics for the past couple of years, I have grave concerns over the process with which the City Council handled the budget process this year. I do feel some good things came out of the budget, such as removing furlough days for Police Officers and reducing the number of furlough days for the remaining city employees.

My concern is solely on the process and what appears to be a lack of negotiation and communication between the Office of the Mayor and the City Council. I have an even greater concern with the fact that the Council did not schedule a work session between the public hearing and the vote on the budget that included their amendments. Many ideas and suggestions were brought forth in the hearing and should have been discussed and considered before final passage.

I am also concerned that the Council was so quick to schedule an emergency session to override the Mayor’s veto. This was not an emergency; June 30th would have been considered an emergency, not June 8th. There still would have been plenty of time to for the Council to reach out to the Mayor to work on getting the budget to where all could have agreed.

This is very disappointing and their actions as a council are in contrast to what some on the council campaigned against and have complained about concerning past councils.

Reaction to the letter in the Daily Times comment section has been limited but seems to consist of bashing his supposed alliance with SAPOA and praise for Laura Mitchell. It doesn’t address the letter itself, so I took these (anonymous) people to task:

Whether Muir Boda would have voted for or against the budget is irrelevant to the conversation. He is correct that the city’s budget process was acrimonious and didn’t need to be done in such haste – that was his point.

I happen to think more people should have voted for Muir Boda as I did, but we are stuck with the Council we have because the people spoke back in April based on campaign promises of sweetness and light among the Council if the Camden crew were elected. Well, looks like too many of us were fooled again.

Now I don’t expect the mayor and council of any community to get along 100 percent of the time; in fact, a little bit of tension and rivalry can be a good thing. And Lord knows I’m certainly no Jim Ireton cheerleader but the depths we’ve descended to in this town are ridiculous. Where Muir’s argument is strongest is where he contends there was no big hurry – although Mayor Ireton was quick to slap his veto on the budget as presented by Council, there still was plenty of time for the two sides to discuss a compromise before the override.

However, Muir is somewhat incorrect on one key point: to not have a budget by June 30th would have against the City Charter, which stipulates the budget must be passed by June 15th (SC7-21 here.) Otherwise, the mayor’s budget would have been the one in force. Still, there was some time to work things out but both sides instead made a public show of rejecting the other’s budgetary guidance.

On another subject, I’m sort of curious what led Laura Mitchell to override the veto. (Guess I could e-mail her and ask, or she may enlighten us with a comment here.) Considering that there were three votes in pocket coming from the Camden mob, hers was the swing vote between the mayor’s budget and Council’s proposal. On the other hand, Shanie Shields is definitely the odd person out in this edition of Council and it will be interesting to see how that District 1 race shakes out in 2013 since she won’t run again.

All in all, Boda is correct in pointing out this is another black eye in Salisbury politics. Between the veto override and his favorite watering hole closing, last week was a bad one for Mayor Ireton. While one can always find a new hangout, the budget setback makes me wonder whether he will have the desire for another term in 2013 himself?

A Third Friday report and review

For some time, the city of Salisbury has highlighted its downtown Plaza one day a month, as the powers that be chose the third Friday of each month for the event.

The new Third Friday logo.

As they promoted their new logo, it was my first opportunity to enjoy the festivities. Normally I’ve had one of two conflicts: league bowling or a Shorebirds game. Since neither was in effect Friday night, my significant other and I went down to see what it was all about.

Looking west down the Plaza.

It was a sort of sparse crowd when we arrived, as folks were just getting set up. This picture was taken just before 6:00 and, as you can see, there wasn’t much going on.

The local artist whose professional moniker is “Y-Hate” was making the rounds with a bucket of mud. Why? To do these temporary sidewalk paintings. They’ll be gone and off to the storm sewage system with the next good rain; ashes to ashes and all that.

Floral mud art by Y-Hate.

The mud art in context with the landscape.

The second picture was taken roughly 6:45 and you can see business picked up a bit.

I guess when the Third Friday concept was hatched, it was based on the “Arts on the Plaza” portion of the Salisbury Festival. Just like at the Salisbury Festival, 3F was promoting themselves at this event too.

Third Friday had a table at its own event.

Indeed, there was an art show indoors at the building which used to house the Escape restaurant (more on that building later.) I didn’t get any pictures of the artists’ work, but I did scope out the shows.

Also, there was music. Ben Rayne is a guitarist who picks out a location in the Parker Place lot and sets up most warm months.

Guitarist Ben Rayne, playing at Parker Place.

Yet he wasn’t among the ‘featured’ artists. J Guy and Carter were the two acoustic musicians set up on the makeshift stage in front of the WMDT-TV studios.

The acoustic duo of J Guy and Carter, from Easton way.

Meanwhile, way down the street at Flavors one could find the acoustic sounds of Goatbag vocalist Josh Pryor.

Josh Pryor relaxes after his set.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware he was playing until after he was finished. But I imagine it was a departure from his other job singing with what could be best categorized as the goth metal stylings of Goatbag.

And that leads me to my first complaint. Maybe it’s because I’d not been to Third Friday before, but my perception was the activities would be conducted within the Plaza and perhaps a bit around the corner. Maybe these signs were a bit confusing.

Signs were there to point out the 'schtuff.'

Then again, it pointed into the Plaza. But other vendors were farther down Main Street and I had no idea until I wandered down to the Flavors end of the block. That’s where I found this guy.

Mayor Jim Ireton enjoying the festivities.

He was holding court in Flavors, and was nice enough to pose for this shot after briefly discussing the disagreement between a $78 parking space and a $100,000 condo before retreating inside to reunite with his rapidly-warming beer.

As I mentioned last night, both featured artists were selling their wares.

The tip jar and CDs of J Guy and Carter were right by them on stage.

Josh Pryor worked on building up his contact list.

Gee, were they figuring the sales tax on their tip jar or CDs? I should be careful though, since I may get Josh Pryor ‘Cold Busted.’ (Inside joke.)

Yet that’s a serious omission if done with enough volume.

And speaking of sales and songs, peace sells – but who’s buying?

The Peace Alliance of the Lower Shore had a table - I bet they do every month.

I had a brief disagreement with one of the women handling this table because she had a flyer that claimed 39 cents of each federal dollar went to fighting wars and handling veterans affairs. This pie chart by the Concord Coalition begs to differ. Sure, I know, to these guys 20 cents out of a dollar is too much, but we do need to “provide for the common defense” somehow.

Let’s go back to the pretty pictures, shall we?

Looking west in the Plaza again.

I took this one as the sun was setting and lighting turned from natural to artificial.

Again, the crowd managed to increase as the evening wore on – I took the top one about 6:30 and the bottom about 8:00. One nice thing about the Plaza is the photographic opportunities different lighting scenarios provide.

Obviously the focus of the event is on the arts. So what were these ladies doing here?

The Salisbury Roller Girls.

Promoting their upcoming matchup, of course. Then again, this poster does have artistic elements in it.

A spiffy poster to promote an upcoming bout.

I could see that hanging in someone’s den, particularly if they’re interested in sports memorabilia.

Keeping my promise of earlier in the article, I wanted to share something I noticed about the Escape restaurant. It almost looked like the Rapture hit there a few months early.

The vacant Escape Restuarant looked like it was set for another night's business. It's been closed since last fall.

It sort of creeped me out that the place looked like it was ready to open for another night’s business, as if the owners expected to be back later that evening and never arrived. Maybe that’s intentional (because who needs to see yet another obviously vacant space downtown) but the care didn’t extend outside the building.

The porch for Escape no longer is a musical venue - at least until someone makes it so.

It’s a place begging to be a musical venue but no one was there.

Still, a lot of merchants downtown get a share of the revenue brought in by the additional foot traffic. Here’s a nice young lady in Mike’s Downtown Deli closing up shop after what was hopefully a successful evening for them. It was a successful night for me, too, as I snagged a former advertiser once again (see sidebar.)

Mike's Downtown Deli closes for the evening.

While I was down there, I spoke to one business owner who’s attempting to solicit financial support for a second day per month where downtown stays open through the evening. Some have even suggested we do this every Friday night, but I don’t think the concept would last if done too often.

The way I see it, what makes Third Friday work to the extent it does is the fact it stands out from the other days of the month. It seems to me that the concept could be expanded to a second day of the month only if the weather is conducive for strolling (as it was on Friday) – in the wintertime this may not be enough of a draw to convince people to leave their homes for an event with multiple indoor venues.

My other suggestion would be to simply put out the information on where musicians are playing and artists are setting up. Had I known Josh Pryor was down at Flavors I may have wandered down to hear a few songs. Like this article in spots, Third Friday has a certain disjointed character which may appeal to some but not others. Since I’m not really a member of the arts-and-croissant crowd, the main draw for me would be the music so I want to know who’s playing where.

The flowers set the stage for this shot.

As the event closed up, most people packed up to go home while a few others drifted down to Flavors to catch the ‘after-party.’ And while 3F was an interesting event, I’d like to see it supported better by the local community since I don’t think there’s going to be any city money involved hereafter. (The businessman spearheading the effort for a second day per month is going the private donation route – the only city involvement would be to close down the Plaza to traffic.)

I’ll likely drop by next month to see what’s new and unusual, so why not do so yourself? The Plaza looks better with a few hundred people in it than it does when it resembles the vacant patio of Escape. Obviously there’s a lot to do in the summer, what with Shorebirds games, various festivals, and the draw of Ocean City nightlife, but it wouldn’t hurt to take a little time and support some local businesses either. Once the crowds come down, the buzz will follow and the event will kick into a higher gear.

The next Third Friday is June 17. There is no Shorebirds home game that night, festivals usually run two nights, and Ocean City isn’t going anywhere. You have no excuse.

Salisbury Festival Saturday in pictures and text

I didn’t get to the festival as early as I would have liked, but I found plenty to write and take pictures about (as did my significant other, who took the above photo and several others I’m using here.)

Once we arrived, there was a pretty decent crowd milling around where the riverside stage was.

Some were sitting by the river watching the action on the other side while enjoying a late lunch.

In fact, the food court was pretty busy when we arrived about 2:00.

But I had hustled downtown because I wanted to check out the classic cars before they split the scene. This 1964 Chevy Nova, owned by Anthony and Jeannette Smith of Delmar, was my personal favorite.

Certainly it’s aged better than I have, since we share the same vintage.

Wandering along Main Street, we saw that many familiar groups had tents, with this one being perhaps the most overtly political in a non-election year.

And if that wasn’t right-wing enough for you, even the militia was there.

Oh wait, I doubt that’s the militia you were thinking of. Certainly the guy behind the table doesn’t look all that conservative.

A key theme of the event was recycling, with this large recycling bin prominent along North Division Street.

I’m not sure just what kind of sign it was, but this is where I ran into newly elected City Councilwoman Laura Mitchell. Take from that what you will, but I have an observation: wouldn’t a truly aware artist have integrated the street’s left turn arrow into the chalk display? It would have saved some chalk! Not that there wasn’t a lot of it used along the street, like this detail.

This was placed underneath the Arts on the Plaza sign. Even as that aspect of the festival was winding down about 4 p.m. there was still a significant crowd in the Plaza.

It was a little more relaxed on the west side of the Plaza, as some just took the opportunity for a pleasant stroll.

Turning the other direction, there were a few who ventured to the end of the Plaza for exhibits.

And it wasn’t all visual art, as performances were scheduled all day – like the Footsteps Dance Academy featured in this photo by Kim Corkran.

A local church had street performers in front of their tent, as well as a bubble machine to attact attention (photos by Kim Corkran.)

Another growing influence for the Salisbury Festival is the craft beer industry.

They sponsored a Friday brunch and Saturday evening’s craft beer tasting which went on at the riverside stage.

Meanwhile, this family came by, oblivious to the beer drinking. (Photo by Kim Corkran.)

As one can imagine at this event, local bloggers were coming out of the bushes to cover it.

Those in the know will appreciate how that picture and the next picture go together – it’s from one of the newest Plaza merchants who had his store open for business yesterday.

But the Festival didn’t end yesterday evening.

Those who like the carnival midway can still get their fix this afternoon as the rides will be running from 1 to 5 before we all pack up and prepare for another week in Salisbury. Downtown will return to its staid, businesslike self – at least until the next Third Friday.

But if you weren’t downtown yesterday, you missed a good time with some very nice weather once the sun popped out mid-afternoon. Even Mayor Jim Ireton needed a constant presence there.

In case you’re wondering, there were musical acts down there too, but I’m saving that for a future post. Look for that over the next week.

Tales from the voting booth

A quick update…

First, I can almost guarantee that I won’t have the results from Salisbury’s election first tonight because I have a job to do. It pays better than this site, although if the advertisers from another somewhat disgraced site wished to invest in mine this enterprise may make me more coin than my job.

Anyway, I voted today around 3:00. There were two items I found worth mentioning.

First, I asked about turnout at my polling place (Wicomico Presbyterian) and I was the 375th voter. If this is relatively accurate then I think turnout isn’t going to be much greater than 15 to 17 percent, and that doesn’t bode (no pun intended) well for the challengers. It’s the faithful voters who showed up in the primary who are voting in this election, too – so the results will likely be similar. Had there been 500 voters at the precinct I believe the challengers had more of a chance. Let’s hope I’m wrong on that one for Muir Boda’s sake.

If it were up to people who read monoblogue and Two Sentz, though, Muir would be a shoo-in. Here’s the results of our joint poll:

Muir Boda, 34 votes (38.2%)
Laura Mitchell, 22 votes (24.7%)
Terry Cohen, 14 votes (15.7%)
Orville Dryden, 13 votes (14.6%)
Tim Spies, 5 votes (5.6%)
Bruce Ford, 1 vote (1.1%)

Of course, I think the influence of having an ad for Muir Boda on my site and Laura Mitchell on Two Sentz just might influence the poll. If nothing else, I suppose that proves blog advertising works (see first paragraph above.)

Finally, I had a nice complement from the young lady who’s running Laura Mitchell’s campaign, or at least I presume she does. She thanked me for my fair coverage of the race, and not jumping into the rumor mill about Laura’s living arrangement.

Now maybe there was something to the rumor, but since the protagonist seemed to backtrack from it I doubt it. And hers wasn’t all that important of an issue, just like who Jim Ireton sleeps with was but a sidebar to the real issues surrounding the mayoral race two years ago. It hasn’t affected his job performance, although I was pretty skeptical about that anyway.

So after tonight’s count we will probably have an idea of who will be representing District 2 for the next 4 1/2 years, since the next time these seats will be contested will be the fall of 2015. Unless it’s close enough to require an absentee count and we end up in a tie, I think the top three in the primary will prove to remain in those positions.

If so, beware – it’s open season on landlords and other small businessmen in Salisbury.

Updated City Council financials

With less than a week to go until the General Election on April 5th, the candidates are trying to raise money for the final push. My analysis of the latest report will be broken into two parts: total money raised, and money raised since the initial reports were completed on February 23rd.

Total contributions to date:

Muir Boda – $3,250
Tim Spies – $3,010
Terry Cohen – $2,836
Orville Dryden – $2,750
Laura Mitchell – $1,970
Bruce Ford – $310

Since the first report – this shows contribution trends:

Laura Mitchell – $1,820 from 31 contributors
Muir Boda – $1,615 from 16 contributors
Terry Cohen – $681 from 15 contributors
Tim Spies – $650 from 13 contributors
Orville Dryden – $650 from 6 contributors
Bruce Ford – no contributions, aside from a loan to himself

Once again we have two groups of contributors giving to two separate candidates. Terry Cohen and Tim Spies are now the largest beneficiaries of this trend since eight of Spies’ 13 donors also gave to Cohen. Some key donors among them were Dana Kennan ($100 apiece), Scot Disharoon ($100 to Cohen), P.E. Bolte ($100 to Cohen), S.J. Disharoon ($100 to Spies), and Todd Smith ($100 to Spies). All are listed as a Salisbury address.

On the other hand, Muir Boda has broken away from Orville Dryden to some extent. While they were nearly joined at the hip on the first report, only five of Boda’s 16 contributors also gave to Dryden. Largest among them was the Maryland Realtors PAC, which gave the maximum $250 to both. Also maximizing their contributions to Boda were Deborah Anderson of Salisbury (Boda’s treasurer), Jonathan Boda of Santa Monica, California, and John Cannon of Salisbury. Jeffrey Benner of Salisbury also gave Boda $100.

Dryden received a major contribution from F.M. Young of Salisbury, who donated $150.

Perhaps the most “independent” candidate was Laura Mitchell, whose contribution list didn’t feature a single person who gave to another candidate. However, there were some well-known Democratic elected officials on the list – Trudy Andersen and Harry Basehart from the Wicomico County Democratic Central Committee, Delegate Rudy Cane, and Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton. Andersen and Basehart gave $115 and $140, respectively, so I would consider them “major” contributors. Others who fall into that category include Lynda Donaldson of Selbyville, Delaware ($125), Michael Weisner of Salisbury ($140), Sharon Barto of Parsonsburg ($100), R. Neill Carey of Salisbury ($100), and Patrick Bostian of Salisbury ($250).

This report also revealed that Mitchell had made $150 from 4 contributors prior to the last report, so she was correct in stating she didn’t meet the $600 threshold at that time.

Apparently Bruce Ford is self-financing his campaign at the moment, loaning his coffers the $494 in expenses he paid in the last reporting period. He reported no other contributions.

But Laura Mitchell seems to be the political flavor of the month – even opponent Muir Boda gave Mitchell a total of $45. Whether that will haunt him in the end remains to be seen, but the biggest money seems to be moving to the race between Mitchell and Boda for that number three slot – Cohen and Spies could be considered shoo-ins, while Dryden and Ford may be too far in arrears to have a good chance at leapfrogging two or three spots, respectively. The contributions seem to reflect that reality.

And what of the two who didn’t make it? Michael Taylor didn’t file a report, as presumably he didn’t raise or spend any money after the primary. But Joel Dixon spent the remaining $715.81 after paying his bills on a good cause, as he donated the remainder of his campaign account to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

As was the case before the primary, I should also send kudos to Brenda Colegrove, the Salisbury City Clerk, for making these reports available in a timely manner. It’s nice to get this information before the election to assist in this important decision.

And a note to Tim Spies: this time when you cite my information, print the whole thing.

For Salisbury City Council

As promised, tonight I’m going to endorse three candidates for Salisbury City Council.

Last night I alluded that I had four candidates I liked and four…well, not so much. While all eight who are running should be commended for stepping up and doing so, the stark reality is that some are more qualified in my eyes than others. There are reasons I wouldn’t recommend voting for these four.

Unfortunately for Michael Taylor, he falls into the category of a really good guy who I simply don’t know enough about in a public situation to know if he’d be a good fit. I simply think this election occurred at a time in his life where he couldn’t make the case for himself due to his job – once we move to fall elections (assuming he remains in his current job at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center) Michael should have more time to wage a campaign in the public sphere.

Having said that, I think when the opportunity presents itself Michael should attempt to become more publicly visible. Taylor has some great ideas and thoughts (and perhaps a few hardy backers.) Hopefully next time around he can have the time to put up a campaign worthy of them.

Tim Spies is sort of a sad case in that I supported him last time. But this time around he seems more bitter and combative; while that can be a good thing at times he’s picking on an industry which, like it or not, should have a place at the table. He’s also lashing out at those he may be working with if he wins.

The clincher, though, was saying we may need a tax increase at the AFP forum. With the state eagerly seeking ways to extract more money from our pockets yet again the last thing we need is someone who’s only too happy to raise taxes and fees.

In the next case, Orville Dryden seems to fall back too often on the mantra of “working together,” and the impression I get is that he’s not completely thought through some of the issues he’ll have to face should he win. I know he lives right in my neighborhood and it would be nice to have someone on this end of town represent us, but it should be the right person and he doesn’t strike me as the right person.

Similarly, if Bruce Ford doesn’t care if he wins or loses, neither should I. But I think the worst offense he made during the campaign was when he responded that, “I believe that housing initiatives such as Mayor Ireton’s Safe Streets program are properly considered as crime fighting initiatives.” I don’t, because I haven’t seen Ireton’s neighborhood initiative as much as a crimefighting tool, but more of an effort to damage a number of small business people who may only own a rental house to help with their income. The larger players could afford these restrictions, but not the small fry.

So those are the four I don’t support, meaning my choice comes down to Muir Boda, Terry Cohen, Joel Dixon, and Laura Mitchell.

I liked Muir Boda enough in the 2009 campaign that I openly wished there were two seats available for both he and Debbie Campbell (and I sold him advertising space for this election.) While Salisbury made a bad overall choice two years ago they have the opportunity to begin to rectify that oversight and I recommend they do.

In Terry Cohen’s case, while she hasn’t always made moves I agree with I can’t see a reason why enough of the challengers would be an improvement. She is a quite thorough person (almost to a fault) when it comes to city issues and the city would be served best to give her another term.

So it comes down between the two political newcomers, who both would bring a fresh perspective sorely needed by a new City Council. They both have experience the City Council could use, as Laura Mitchell has a financial background while Joel Dixon has worked in public safety and serves the city as a volunteer firefighter.

In truth, the biggest difference between the two lies in their support (or lack thereof) for Mayor Ireton’s neighborhood initiatives – Mitchell is a supporter while Dixon is against them. And since we already have two Council members who serve well as fiscal watchdogs, the public safety perspective will be an important one. This tips the scales to a bright young man who’s willing to listen and grow on the job.

In the end, there are three people who deserve your vote on Tuesday for Salisbury City Council. To move Salisbury forward and begin the attack on problems which face the city (albeit we can’t get more help in that respect until two years hence) I’m voting for the following three people and believe you should too:

Muir Boda
Terry Cohen
Joel Dixon

See you at the polls!