Sheree Sample-Hughes – Page 3

Cane no longer able

As I predicted in this space a few weeks ago, Rudy Cane has indeed pulled out of the District 37A race; he will leave after 16 years of service to his Dorchester and Wicomico county constituents. While the Delegate is having some minor health issues, the fact that he all but ceased fundraising last year and allowed his website to go dark pretty much revealed his plans. It seems he was in the race simply to keep other interested Democrats away from challenging his would-be successor.

With Cane’s withdrawal Wednesday, current Wicomico County Council member Sheree Sample-Hughes will become the Democratic nominee. And unless a Republican who is agreeable to both the Wicomico and Dorchester county Republican Central Committees steps forward before next Monday, it’s likely she will be sworn in next January as the new District 37A representative. I think this was the plan all along.

So the questions going forward are twofold: what will happen to the $47,742.40 remaining in Cane’s campaign account, and how would Sample-Hughes fare in the General Assembly if no opponent is found?

I suspect a number of Democrats – particularly minority ones – around the state already have their hands out trying to get some of Rudy’s leftover campaign cash. In order to close his books according to state requirements, he has to have a balance of zero. Rudy has already transferred $6,000 to Sample-Hughes, which made up most of her cash on hand as of the January filing.

As far as voting record goes, Sample-Hughes will probably be as reliably leftwing as Cane, which doesn’t necessarily reflect the makeup of her district. For example, while Cane serves as the Chair of the Agriculture, Agriculture Preservation and Open Space subcommittee of Environmental Matters, he voted for the SB236 Septic Bill in 2012 and against its repeal in 2013 as a member of the Environmental Matters Committee. Cane is also infamous for his strident opposition to an elected school board in Wicomico County, a position which is shared by Sample-Hughes. While they cite the concerns of the minority community, it would be interesting to see how quickly those concerns would vanish should a Republican governor be elected.

Yet this potential Sample-Hughes walkover could be a concern a few years from now, as she may use the Delegate seat as another stepping stone to the Maryland Senate in 2018, as either Richard Colburn or Addie Eckardt may be ready to retire. (Current Democratic opponent Chris Robinson lost to Colburn by 18 points in 2010, so it’s likely the winner of the GOP primary will be the Senator.) But with the prospect of a majority-minority district remaining carved out of the strip between Salisbury and Cambridge, she may be difficult to beat (but not impossible – ask Don Hughes, who squeaked out a win over Cane in 1994 in a 3-way race) regardless of voting record.

Campaign 2014: a District 37 look at finance

As part of my ongoing coverage of the 2014 campaign, today I’m going to look at a number of candidates who are running for seats in District 37, which covers portions of Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot, and Wicomico counties here on the Eastern Shore. Presently the district is served by three Republicans and one Democrat, with the district’s State Senator being Republican Richard Colburn. In the lower House of Delegates, Democratic Delegate Rudy Cane handles the smaller District 37A, which takes in portions of Dorchester and Wicomico counties and is drawn to be a majority-minority district, while GOP Delegates Addie Eckardt and Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio currently hold down the larger District 37B. In Maryland, House districts can serve as subdivisions of Senate districts and combinations of House districts (such as the case here) will have the same overall border as the Senate district.

I’ll begin with the Senate race: while Colburn has come under fire in recent months for both campaign finance issues and a messy pending divorce, he’s filed to run for another term and currently has no GOP challenger. Democrat Cheryl Everman of Talbot County is the lone Democrat in the race.

In terms of cash on hand, it’s no contest: Colburn has $31,994.55 in the bank while Everman is sitting at just $1,885.88. Moreover, the incumbent added to his total by collecting $35,101.55 in 2013 through a near-equal proportion of individual contributions (46.16%) and ticket purchases (46.65%), with political clubs making up the other 7.19%. In looking at the report, however, those political club contributions seem to be misclassified as they appear to be from various state PACs. Regardless, 104 individual contributions and 128 ticket purchases made for an average contribution of $140.42 to Colburn’s coffers.

On the other hand, only 38.61% of Everman’s $1,890.56 take for 2013 came from individual contributions – she received the balance of the money from the candidate account of “Joe Reid for Maryland.” Her 6 individual donors chipped in an average of $121.67 apiece. Since she started her reporting on May 30, this covers a little over seven months’ worth of financial activity.

In my coverage of the governor’s race, I also apportioned contributions into various categories: those from LLCs and similar legal entities, the legal community, unions, business, and out-of-state. (Many fell into more than one category.) I’m doing essentially the same here with the exception of the last category being out-of-district, and in this case I’m considering District 37 as the region covered by 216xx and 218xx zip codes – in essence the lower 2/3 or so of the Eastern Shore.

Colburn did well with the business community, receiving 30.84% of his 2013 donations from business entities. Just 2.66% came from law firms and only 0.31% apiece from LLCs and unions. (That translates to $100 each.) Only 16.02% came from outside of the enhanced district.

With such a small take, Everman’s totals reflected just 4.11% from outside the district, or $30. None of it came from businesses, law firms, unions, or LLCs.

Turning to the Delegate races, the District 37A race is most interesting financially. Democrat Rudy Cane has no GOP opponent yet, but is being challenged by current Wicomico County Council member Sheree Sample-Hughes. That’s not too shocking in and of itself.

However, Cane reported no cash balance on his report – yet is carrying forward $47,742.40 to his next one. Evem more mysterious is the fact he recorded no contributions for calendar year 2013, and the only incoming entry to his ledger is a $250 contribution from the AFSCME union in Salisbury on January 7 of this year. Yet he spent $6,250 on some interesting items – there’s only three, so this is an easy read.

In August, Cane reimbursed himself $50 for his filing fee. Prior to that, his campaign made two expenditures: on January 25, he gave Salisbury City Council candidate April Jackson a $200 boost to her campaign. But stranger still, July 13 saw a $6,000 transfer to…wait for it…Sheree Sample-Hughes.

Now consider that Sheree has a balance of just $7,147.04 in the bank right now. She took in $8,260 in 2013 so obviously only 24.33% of her income came from individual contributions while 3.03% (or $250) came from ticket sales. The other 72.64% of her campaign funding for 2013 came from her ostensible opponent.

But some of those individual contributions came from those one would consider political opponents. For example, fellow Wicomico County Council members John Hall and Matt Holloway (both Republicans) chipped in $100 and $50, respectively, while Wicomico’s GOP Sheriff Mike Lewis gave $40. All these were done in December, well after she had announced for the District 37A seat.

So while Cane got 100% of his contributions from unions based on the one donation, Sample-Hughes received just 1.77% from businesses and 1.11% from outside the district. Her 37 individual contributions and 9 ticket sales worked out to an average of just $49.13 apiece.

My gut instinct tells me that Cane isn’t really going to run to keep his seat unless he has to. The reason he filed, I think, was to keep another person from filing and challenging Sample-Hughes, who may win the district in the primary as sort of the anointed successor to Cane, who will turn 80 in May – thus the large contribution to her coffers. If he indeed runs, it’s likely he’d win another term then resign at some point, making Sample-Hughes the logical successor.

Meanwhile, there’s a financial shootout going for the District 37B seats, one of which is opening up as Delegate Haddaway runs as the lieutenant governor on the David Craig ticket.

It’s no surprise that the other incumbent, Addie Eckardt, leads the cash-on-hand parade with a balance of $44,488.89. But right on her heels is Republican newcomer Johnny Mautz, Jr. of Talbot County, who boasts $44,200.95 on hand. A third Republican hopeful, Christopher Adams of Wicomico County, has $24,777.29 in his coffers.

There are two others in the race, but Rene Desmarais of Wicomico County, a Republican, and the race’s lone Democrat, Keasha Haythe of Talbot County, only filed what are known as ALCEs, which attest a candidate has not raised or spent over $1,000 in the cycle. This isn’t surprising since both filed in mid-December, less than a month before the reporting deadline and just before the holidays, when political activity takes a hiatus.

So in looking at the three who filed full reports, we find that Mautz raised by far the most in 2013.

Cash raised:

Johnny Mautz, Jr. – $56,186
Addie Eckardt – $7,225
Christopher Adams – $6,165

As it turned out, Mautz raised every dime from individual contributions, while Eckardt raised 84.26% that way and Adams just 23.56%. The remainder of Eckardt’s money came from Maryland PACs ($1,350 or 15.74%) while Adams loaned his campaign $20,000 to make up 76.44% of his receipts.

But there’s a world of difference in the contributions each received. Mautz’s 143 individual contributions resulted in a whopping average of $392.91 per donation. Conversely, Adams received 40 contributions for an average of $154.13 apiece, and Eckardt picked up 74 contributions at an average $97.64 per.

And while none had significant contibutions from LLCs (Adams had 4.06% and Eckardt 1.38%), law firms (none reported), or unions (Eckardt received the only union contribution of $250, or 3.46% of her total), there was quite a difference in business support:

Addie Eckardt – 19.79%
Christopher Adams – 8.52%
Johnny Mautz, Jr. – 0%

Yet the one which made my jaw drop was out-of-district contributions:

Johnny Mautz, Jr. – 68.65%
Christopher Adams – 15.57%
Addie Eckardt – 13.84%

There’s no other way to say it: Johnny Mautz, Jr. had a lot of large checks dropped into his campaign from a number of inside-the-Beltway friends and acquaintances he’s gathered in several years of working in Washington, D.C. Obviously this will bear watching in future reports to see how much local funding begins to come in, but it’s obvious his end-of-year push came from outside the district. The initial money for Mautz’s campaign came mostly from locals, but those tended to be smaller amounts.

It’s obvious the big money in District 37 is going to be put into the open seat race for District 37B, although the rumored emergence of a big-name Democratic contender for Colburn’s Senate seat may bring some more money to that contest, and may cause some dominoes to be knocked over on the GOP side.

Tomorrow I’ll look at the races on the District 38 side.

Update: In looking up items for the sidebar widgets I’m going to feature for easy campaign website access, I came across a note on Cheryl Everman’s campaign Facebook page from January 12 stating she would withdraw from the District 37 Senate race for health reasons; however, she has not finalized that paperwork.

A look ahead: 2014 in Wicomico County

I covered some of the events from this year last night, but as we enter 2014 some interesting political campaigns and battles are taking shape.

The largest question for 2014 will obviously be who gets the keys for the next four years as County Executive, with the sidebar being whether he, along with County Council and some other leadership, will be paid more. I suspect the latter measure will be voted in with a close vote, as the County Council seems to have its Republicans divided into two groups of three, one being much less fiscally conservative than the other and carrying a 4-3 vote when they side with the lone Democrat.

As for that County Executive race, Republican County Council at-large member Bob Culver announced earlier this month that he would seek the office for a second time, with current County Executive Rick Pollitt planning to file for a third term next month. Pollitt is the only chief executive the county has known, winning the position in 2006 over Republican Ron Alessi and narrowly escaping a challenge from first-time officeseeker Joe Ollinger in 2010. Culver has a history in running for County Executive, though; finishing a distant third in the three-way GOP primary race in 2006 with 23% of the vote. And while he managed to win an at-large County Council seat in 2010, he was second overall to political neophyte Matt Holloway.

Whoever wins the County Executive race, he will be dealing with a radically revised County Council. Much like the 2006 election, which marked the end of a commission style of government with the Council serving as leadership, the 2014 balloting will result in large turnover. That 2006 campaign featured none of the four incumbent Democrats, all of whom decided not to seek another term as legislators rather than commissioners, while one of the three Republicans lost in the primary. Eight years later, while Matt Holloway has filed for another term at large, Culver will seek the County Executive position and leave the other at-large seat to another. Republican Muir Boda is thus far the only other one to file.

The districts will be where the real change occurs, though. Not only were some of the battle lines radically redrawn by redistricting, but only District 5 Council member Joe Holloway is truly seeking re-election, since District 4’s John Hall will be running for the first time for the seat he holds. Hall was appointed in 2011 to finish the term of the late Bob Caldwell, who died in office after winning the closest county election in recent memory. Caldwell unseated incumbent Democrat David MacLeod by two votes out of 4,072 cast.

Yet three district Council members will not be seeking another term – the body’s lone Democrat, Sheree Sample-Hughes of District 1 is seeking a seat in the House of Delegates, while Stevie Prettyman in District 2 and Gail Bartkovich of District 3 opted not to stand for re-election after lengthy tenures. They were the lone holdovers in the aforementioned 2006 election, and it’s possible 2014 will be similar. Two Democrats, Ernest Davis and McKinley Hayward, have already filed in District 1; meanwhile, the District 2 seat has attracted Republican Marc Kilmer.

For the most part, other county offices will hold their status quo as most incumbents have already filed for re-election. The only turnover will be in the Orphan’s Court, where two of the three current members had previously indicated their current term would be their last. Republican Grover Cantwell has already filed, but will likely be joined by a host of others from both parties – raising the prospect of contested primaries on both sides.

And while many of these officers will receive a modest bump in their paychecks in 2015, they will be hoping that 2014 brings a resolution to a number of nagging issues. Our small county can’t do a whole lot to improve the national economy, but financial pressures brought on by a shrinking income tax base and flagging property values will press County Executive Pollitt to submit a far leaner budget than he might like in an election year. While the state gave Pollitt an “out” by allowing him a workaround to the county’s revenue cap to fund local schools, the money may not be there for everything government wants – particlarly since the other end of that state deal was a larger maintenance of effort requirement. It’s noteworthy that Pollitt was vague about 2014 plans in his recent State of the County address.

The state mandates will also affect our planning. Our development is currently stymied by state law, which severely curtails the subdivision of land in areas not served by a municipal sewage system because we haven’t submitted an approved tier map. Wicomico County is closing in on a year overdue with the map, which has met resistance because farmers are understandably worried about their property values should they be placed in the most restrictive development tier. Most likely this will lead to a solution few on the local level will embrace. We also may find our county has to enact the dreaded “rain tax” since we’re one of the more populous counties not to have one yet – so we are in line.

Accountability for county schools may become an issue as well. Stymied by a legislative delegation which won’t allow the citizens a say in whether they desire an elected school board because County Executive Pollitt demands public proof of favorability – despite the 6-1 vote County Council made in favor of the resolution – the alternative may indeed become one of petitioning the issue to the ballot. The end result could be a compromise to place the issue on the 2016 ballot, one which will have a larger turnout and not feature the two Delegates who have stood in the way of Wicomico County joining the vast majority of others in Maryland and across the country which have elected bodies to monitor local education.

Obviously there will be a number of other issues which crop up in the upcoming year, but as we stand here looking forward it appears the local government is far more at the mercy of their state and national counterparts than many here feel comfortable being. These entities will be looked at tomorrow and Tuesday, the final two days of a politically bruising year.

Joining the fray the Eastern Shore way

It’s a scenario of “better late than never”, but Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Gansler will spend time on the Eastern Shore as part of his announcement tour next week.

While he officially started up yesterday across Chesapeake Bay, the Gansler tour will spend the early part of next week working its way down the Eastern Shore, beginning in Centreville at 9 a.m. Monday and proceeding through a noon stop in Easton, a 3 p.m. appearance in Cambridge, and wrapping up at 6 p.m. at Salisbury University. It will be interesting to see who greets him there, given that five local elected officials (County Executive Rick Pollitt, County Council member Sheree Sample-Hughes, and Salisbury City Council members Jake Day, Shanie Shields, and Laura Mitchell) have publicly backed Anthony Brown for governor.

The Eastern Shore tour concludes on Tuesday, October 1 with a noon stop in Ocean Pines.

Gansler is working from a large polling hole, at least according to a internal Anthony Brown poll released this week (h/t Maryland Juice.) The GarinHartYang poll found Brown had support from 43% of the 608 likely Democratic primary voters, with Gansler at 21% and Heather Mizeur lagging far behind at 5%.

But I noticed a couple vulnerable spots. Among those who feel the state is on the wrong track, the O’Malley record seems to be sticking to Anthony Brown because he and Gansler are tied among that group. Moreover, the fact that not even 3 of 5 DEMOCRATS think the state is on the right track should be of concern to Brown and his backers. It will be interesting to see if Democrats still give Martin O’Malley a 73% approval rating as they did in the Maryland Poll back in January; if not, that’s a crack in the Brown armor.

So it may be worth listening to what Gansler has to say on this leg of the tour, particularly since Anthony Brown didn’t make a point of including our part of the state on his initial announcement tour (although his surrogate would gladly take money.)

Good Beer Festival 2012 in pictures and text

While I’ve heard conflicting tales about attendance – I had heard 2,900 people came on Saturday while this news report claimed 4,000 – somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 people attended last weekend’s Good Beer Festival at Pemberton Park.

You can judge attendance for yourself, as I took several crowd shots over the weekend. The first group are from Saturday and were taken at 1:30 and 2:30 on Saturday. (Bear in mind the festival opened at 12:30.)

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. I knew it would be a good day when I saw the lengthy line outside the ribbon cutting ceremony Saturday afternoon.

Allen Brown of Wicomico Parks and Recreation, the sponsor of the event, was holding the scissors. He was flanked by (left to right) Wicomico County Administrator Wayne Strasburg, State Senator Jim Mathias, and County Council members Stevie Prettyman, Sheree Sample-Hughes, Matt Holloway, Gail Bartkovich, and Bob Culver. Yet I noticed none of them stuck around very long, at least those I recognized.

Obviously the idea of the Good Beer Festival is to sample the brews of many different vendors, with my personal favorite being the 16 Mile brewery from Delaware.

Others, however, favored the hometown Evolution Brewery or national brands like Samuel Adams, Blue Moon, or Sierra Nevada. In all there were over 70 breweries represented.

But there was more to do than drink beer. There were games to play, like cornhole or the difficult contest shown below.

That’s my hand, by the way. Needless to say, I don’t have a knack for hooking that ring on the target.

On Sunday, the tent holding the big-screen TVs was crowded as the Ravens and Cowboys did battle.

You could even slow down and take a tour of the Pemberton house with guides in period costume like this woman.

Needless to say, there was also music – but I’m saving that for a future post.

There were also special one-day events. Saturday’s chili cookoff was a big draw, particularly considering the fall-like temperatures.

That same space was used on Sunday for a home brewer competition, which included this up-and-coming brewer from Delmar. That went better with the more summerlike weather featured on Sunday, with a high in the mid-70s.

I also ran across vendors which sold varied wares, mainly catering to a beer-drinking crowd like this apparel seller.

But this year there was a little something different. I spoke to the people working at this tent Sunday morning as I was getting reset and they said they were quite busy Saturday. No count on how many didn’t pass the test, though.

They probably didn’t have as much business Sunday, though. It was a far less crowded day, as the next series of photos taken at 2:00, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, and 5:30 attest.

One benefit of the smaller Sunday crowd: a chance for some to bring out their furry friends like this little guy.

So why was I there the whole time? It’s because I coordinate the presence of the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee and help staff the tent. It looked a little spartan this year to begin with considering there are only three candidates running, and the absolute raid on our Romney items Saturday left me without much to give out Sunday (when I took the tent photo.)

I know my blogging friend Jackie Wellfonder also posted her thoughts on the event, but I wanted to add my two cents in as well.

We had a location which was sort of out of the way. The photo of the Pemberton house was taken from in front of my tent, so you can tell we were off to the side of the main traffic flow where I took my crowd pictures. Nevertheless, enough people found us over the weekend that we ran out of Romney signs and Romney/Harris signs. (Maybe Dan Bongino needs some Romney/Bongino signs since people were happy to have the Romney/Harris combos even if they wanted just Mitt.)

I spoke to people from Wisconsin, New Jersey, New York, Maine, and even Ohio while sitting in our little tent. While they assessed his chances of success differently, they all wanted to end this four-year national economic nightmare. Even shunted off to the side, we reached a lot of potential voters the Democrats may have missed because they weren’t there. Maybe they feel the wine (or is it whine?) crowd will be more to their liking because they will be present this coming weekend, as will we – I got my package in the mail today.

But as the sun set on Sunday – a pretty sunset at that – we found that the Good Beer Festival seems to have established itself as more or less equal to its older cousin, the Autumn Wine Festival; an event which will celebrate its tenth year at Pemberton this coming weekend. The GBF has grown quite a bit in the three years of its existence, and may soon have the pleasant problem of selecting from more local and national breweries than it has space to accommodate.

One conversation I struck up regarded the merits of the Good Beer Festival vs. Pork in the Park. While I still think Pork in the Park is the better festival overall, the GBF is closing in on a strong second place. And at a strategic time in the election calendar, it’s a resource candidates can use to establish themselves with a unique demographic. Shrewd Republicans who want to get a jump start on 2014 would be wise to make time next October and come see us. We’ll be there.

While I’m at the Autumn Wine Festival, you can review the bands which played this weekend as I’ll devote a new Weekend of Local Rock post to the twelve performers playing the GBF.

Bloggers need not apply?

Last night I was sitting in my living room, listening to the County Council meeting on PAC14, when my jaw just about hit the floor. The question of the county’s Redistricting Committee was brought up, and objection which floored me was registered by District 1 Council member Sheree Sample-Hughes.

Her point of contention with the list of nominees was based on the fact that one of the seven members who volunteered is a fellow blogger, and the concern was that any of the proceedings would necessarily find their way onto the internet. She was also concerned that G.A. Harrison, the blogger in question, has been critical in the past of County Council members.

As it turned out, her motion to strike Harrison from the list barely got a second from at-large member Matt Holloway and was outvoted 4-3. (I seem to recall District 2’s Stevie Prettyman was the other vote to oust Harrison, but my memory could be incorrect. Suffice to say that it was a 4-3 vote.) As previously amended, the Redistricting Committee appointments passed on a 6-1 vote with Sample-Hughes objecting.

Given the situation, I thought it was prudent to put my two cents in.

In all honesty, the only difference between a person who writes a blog and a person who doesn’t is that one has a public forum which attracts the occasional reader and one does not. There are people out there who don’t write as an avocation who are prone to spilling the beans on whatever happens to someone who then disseminates the information – hence we get such people as “unnamed sources.” It really wouldn’t matter if the person had a website or not.

This sort of situation has come up before. Back in November, the Republican Central Committee had a meeting to interview and select four applicants for the County Council seat which became available with Bob Caldwell’s passing. G.A. Harrison was at that meeting – which was open to the public – and we cautioned him to not reveal the results before each of the six applicants was selected the next day; true to his word, he did not. As you can read, I did, but the post was set for noon the following day as agreed.

But the events of last night bring up another question. Obviously readers know I have this gig, but my writing skills have also led me to be entrusted with a post as Secretary of two different organizations: the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee and the Wicomico County Republican Club. And as regular readers are aware, each month I do a summary of the WCRC meeting. That was not without objection in the beginning, but once I was made aware of some of the concerns I tailored my reporting to be informative without getting into certain business, like the financials.

On the other hand, I don’t do reporting for most of the Central Committee meetings, with the main reason being we don’t often have guest speakers. The Central Committee summary given at the WCRC meeting normally covers the newsworthy items anyway; people don’t really have to know that (for example) we debated at our last meeting whether to allow surrogates for the various Senatorial campaigns to speak at our Lincoln Day Dinner in lieu of candidates who couldn’t attend. (By the way, our Lincoln Day Dinner is Saturday, February 25, and all ten Republican U.S. Senate candidates from Maryland have been invited to speak. As to the question, we will play it by ear.)

Needless to say, I have to constantly use my judgement on what to write about party affairs but over the years I’ve done this I’ve figured out where to push and where to hold off. I think G.A. Harrison can do the same with the Redistricting Committee.

And while I realize that Harrison has been a critic of several members of County Council in the past, I don’t think that acrimony is grounds to take him off a committee. That seems like petty politics to me, and I don’t think being a blogger should preclude one from serving the community in other capacities as well. Instead, G.A. should be commended for stepping up to the plate just as his other six cohorts and those others who may have expressed an interest but did not make the cut did.

Wicomico County Council: the Holloway & Holloway show

I’m told the fix was in from the start. But last night Wicomico County Council added its newest member in District 4’s John Hall and reorganized. Out was two-year County Council President Gail Bartkovich of District 3 and in was former Council Vice-President Joe Holloway of District 5. He was replaced by at-large member Matt Holloway.

And while Joe Holloway announced the decision was by unanimous consent, the lone Democrat on the body chose to wait until Council comments to express her dissent. Maybe Joe didn’t hear her in the hubbub, but I don’t think Sheree Sample-Hughes needed to take up an attitude, just politely state that for the record the vote was not unanimous.

But this post is more about the direction I’d like to see the County Council take us in.

Continue reading “Wicomico County Council: the Holloway & Holloway show”

School daze 2012

As I promised last night, here’s more on both the Wicomico County Council meeting and the budget input confab sponsored by the Wicomico County Board of Education at Parkside High School.

I’ll begin with the County Council meeting. You know what I said, but there was more to the story.

Once the assembled body – minus District 4 Councilman Bob Caldwell, who sent his regrets – got started, they blew through the four resolutions on the table and got to the scheduled public comment period about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. It was still plenty of time for nine concerned citizens to get up and speak, with most of us being conservative and Republican activists.

G.A. Harrison (formerly of Delmarva Dealings and Salisbury News) got things started with his assessment that the current school board “kowtows to the unions” and that opponents of change asked for a three-way question as a “red herring…a blatant political ploy.”

“Politics is already part of the mix” of the current system, he added. Score one for the good guys.

My remarks were second, and after me came fellow Central Committee member Dave Goslee, Sr.

After thanking the Council for maintaining the Lord’s Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance to begin the meeting, Goslee’s main point was to state “the parents do not have the say we should have.” He also spoke briefly about proposed budget cuts like a four day school week being proposed. (More on that later, well after the jump.)

Continue reading “School daze 2012”

A time for overwhelming the opposition

For the second time in as many meetings, Wicomico County Council is devoting time to the question of eventually adopting an elected school board. The last meeting, a daytime affair, only drew five participants which split evenly on the question because one was apparently neutral. This will not do.

You may recall that earlier this year the County Council passed a similar resolution and dutifully carried it to our legislators in Annapolis, who introduced both a Senate and House version. As it turned out, the Senate version remained “clean” through the Senate, but both the House and Senate bills were amended by the House Ways and Means Committee (with a little prodding from Delegate Norm “Five Dollar” Conway) to include a second question on whether voters are against the appointed system. Because the two versions were markedly different, SB981 did not become law despite passing both the House and Senate with just one negative vote. (For the record, the “no” vote was cast by Delegate Nathaniel Oaks of Baltimore City.)

The idea of a “hybrid” school board is floated by a very small minority which appears dead set on maintaining the governor’s role in selecting our school board, presumably because a Democrat will most likely be elected governor in this state. The key players in this opposition are Mary Ashanti of the Wicomico County NAACP, County Council member Sheree Sample-Hughes, who has been the lone County Council member opposed to the idea, County Executive Rick Pollitt, and Delegate Conway. They fret that the elected school board may not have a minority member despite the fact that most proposals being floated about an elected school board’s composition would break down the membership similarly to County Council’s, with the same districts used and perhaps two additional at-large members.

But the question becomes one of how much say should we give the state in how to run our board of education? It’s bad enough that the flexibility and autonomy once deferred to local districts has gone by the wayside as both state and federal agencies compete over who can usurp more local control – some skeptics say that having an elected school board would make as much difference as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

There’s still the question of accountability, though. Over a five-year term, those currently serving are essentially locked into place. To be selected or reappointed for a second five-year term they only have to impress a small body of perhaps four to five Central Committee members (depending on party, as Democrats elect seven Central Committee members while Republicans elect nine) in order to send their names on to the governor’s Secretary of Appointments. (The current Secretary was O’Malley’s deputy mayor in Baltimore, so there’s little chance of independent thought there. Worthy of note is that she also chaired the Redistricting Committee, but that’s a story for another time.)

It’s quite likely the small but vocal opposition will be out in force trying to be the squeaky wheel, so on Tuesday it’s important to get the drop on them and overwhelm them with sheer numbers. If they send up one person to state the case for the unsatisfactory status quo, we need to send three to four up to rebut their statements. We should flood the e-mail accounts of County Council demanding they stand firm to their vote and their resolution to demand action on an elected school board for a vote in 2012. Action delayed is accountability denied.

Update: This just came from County Council President Gail Bartkovich – seems the Wicomico County Board of Education has slated a “Community Budget Awareness Meeting” in the same time slot as the County Council meeting but over at Parkside High School. Coincidence?

I like the part about “how YOU can support Wicomico Schools in the effort to secure funding for an outstanding education for the children of Wicomico County.” (Emphasis in original.) In other words, we want you to support the tax increases we desire.

Wicomico County Council promises new direction

Last night a packed house (for once) attended a Wicomico County Council meeting which was short on legislative action but long on emotion as three new members replaced three outgoing ones. These are my observations.

The meeting was essentially comprised of two rounds of remarks sandwiching the actual ceremony of Council members being sworn in and receiving their certificates. (I noticed they are similar to the ones I have for being on Central Committee; I would have expected something a little different.)

The outgoing councilman who spoke first was John Cannon, who opted to make an attempt for state office rather than maintain the Council seat he won in 2006. “I think we have done some great work over the last four years,” said John.

He also praised County Executive Rick Pollitt for doing “an excellent job” and county citizens for being “very receptive” and “very nice.” But he also pleaded, “there’s been a lot of unity in this Council…I urge you to continue that.”

Bill McCain, who only wished to serve one term and thus didn’t seek re-election, finished his service by encouraging those present to serve the community and praising John Cannon as a “good political example” of someone he could have political differences with amicably. “I leave this Council (as I started) with no personal agenda,” McCain concluded.

Looking at the situation with his usual sense of humor, David MacLeod asked, “please look up when you’re talking to me…everyone thinks I’m still looking for two votes. It is what it is.” He praised his successor Bob Caldwell as “a fine gentleman” and joked about being asked to go on Comedy Central if he didn’t win.

But he looked back at his term by recalling, “I had no idea what I was getting into when I ran for office (but) it was really exciting.”

“Wicomico County is a gift…when I finally came to Wicomico County (after living all over the world) I knew I found home,” stated MacLeod, who said he would remain available and accessible if needed.

Stevie Prettyman, who survived a re-election challenge, piped in that she would miss MacLeod for his sense of humor, Bill McCain for his influence, and John Cannon for his shyness.

After running unopposed, Joe Holloway thanked his cohorts and the voters and pledged, “I look forward to serving the taxpayers of Wicomico County…with diligence and enthusiasm.”

Sheree Sample-Hughes spoke of the “blessing and privilege” of serving for the betterment of her children’s lives and was most pleased that the current council was civil despite their disagreements. “That shows we are leaders,” she said. She also stated she’d miss John Cannon as her “tag team partner” at meetings they both attended, Bill McCain as a “big brother,” and David MacLeod for his sense of humor and keeping her motivated.

Finally, Council President Gail Bartkovich told those assembled it was rewarding and humbling to serve as Council president. And while she was sorry her departing fellow Council members were leaving, she was looking forward to “a great new Council.” She also had special thanks for her husband John, who until recently served as the chair of the Wicomico County Republican Party, for getting her started in politics.

After each spoke, we took a short break as the incoming Council was gathered to be sworn in by Clerk of the Courts Mark Bowen and then posed for pictures. (Among other places with pictures of the event is Right Coast.)

The first order of business was to elect new officers. No one objected when Bob Culver nominated Joe Holloway to be Council Vice-President and Matt Holloway nominated Gail Bartkovich to return as Council President. It’s worthy to note that their terms as officers only last until December, 2011 – by charter, each year a new officer election is held.

After the ceremony, the newly-minted Council made their remarks.

Bob Caldwell thanked his election opponent David MacLeod for an exhilarating, civil, and humorous campaign, although he pointed out in referring to a published remark by MacLeod that, “I would be much more comfortable if he’d lost by a 2,000 votes as well.” He also wanted in his thanks to “drop three f-bombs on Council” – faith, family, and friends.

Sheree Sample-Hughes thanked her “Team 1” and told us “I look forward to serving with integrity and honesty.”

Joe Holloway thanked his fellows for supporting him as vice-president and vowed to “bring respect to Council.” His departing cohorts were “always gentlemen,” he continued, but Joe also warned that, “we have four years as tough as the last four – our work is cut out for us.”

Bob Culver also gave thanks and reminded us, “I know why I was elected…for the business part of my experience.” He promised to “do what I was elected to do” as a member of Council.

Stevie Prettyman reminisced about the “positive energy” she felt at her initial swearing in 12 years ago, but cautioned that the economy was much better then. Now, “it’s going to be a tough four years…we’re going to have to make some tough choices and tough decisions and do things differently.”

Matt Holloway was the most brief, thanking his family and supporters and “really looking forward to working with this Council” to make Wicomico County “the place it could be.”

Gail Bartkovich promised as President to maintain the transparency initiatives she started, keep her fellows informed, and give them an equal right to place those items on the agenda which they promised their voters they would do. But this would be her one and only year as Council President as she pledged to pass the gavel this time next year.

After she finished, Gail invited us to a brief reception in the adjacent room with refreshments – not at taxpayer expense, as she reminded us.

So we have a new Council and they get down to real county business Tuesday, December 21. Indeed, it should be an interesting four years.

Caldwell officially in

It may not be his WORST nightmare, but Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt will be matching wits with a solid vetoproof bloc of six Republicans on Wicomico County Council.

Bob Caldwell just let me know: “It is official! The count was done today, and the original numbers stood.”

His 2 vote margin was perhaps the smallest in the state for a race of such a size, but Bob will join fellow new members Bob Culver and Matt Holloway in beginning his Council tenure next Tuesday. Four incumbents remain: Stevie Prettyman, Gail Bartkovich, Joe Holloway, and Sheree Sample-Hughes (who is now the lone Democrat.)

Let’s hope the closeness of the margin doesn’t affect Bob’s friendship with outgoing Councilman David MacLeod, whom I suspect isn’t leaving the stage of county affairs.

But things are going to be different around here beginning next week, and they better hit the ground running!

Autumn Wine Festival 2010 in pictures and text

Call it the invasion of the politicians. However, it was a well-attended event thanks to the good weather.

I took this photo about 2:30 on Saturday – despite the cooler, windier conditions there were more people who came on Saturday. The first picture below came from in front of the stage around 3:30 Saturday, the next one down was from 5:30 Saturday, and the last 3:15 Sunday.

As you can see, the AWF was a well-attended event. Of course, being an election year that means a lot of politicians were there too. I’m going to start with the Democrats, who were well-represented Saturday because part of their statewide ticket was present.

Along with Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown (center in above photo with blue shirt), Congressman Frank Kratovil was also here to shore up his support. Here he’s pictured with Wicomico County Councilman Sheree Sample-Hughes.

While the lady next to him was much more camera-shy, County Executive Rick Pollitt was also gladhanding Saturday morning.

He was standing next to the Democrats’ tent, which served as their home base for the event. Much like a walkaround in Crisfield, the Democrats did a brief tour around the Wine Festival.

You really can’t miss those nearly day-glo green O’Malley shirts, much as you might like to. But they had their table full of info as well.

Needless to say, there were other Democrats who made time over the weekend to do some campaigning and perhaps drink a little wine. Among that group was County Council hopeful David Cowall (left-center in picture below) along with Orphan’s Court Judge candidate Peter Evans, who was a fixture at the festival.

District 38B Delegate candidate Gee Williams came over from Berlin on Sunday to shake some hands as well.

I didn’t get a picture of her, but also looking for votes was Patrice Stanley of District 37B. And lest you think the GOP didn’t get into the game, here are the two current ladies who represent that district, Addie Eckardt and Jeannie Haddaway. They’re joined by one of my volunteers, Woody Willing.

The other District 37 Republicans were present, too. Here’s Rich Colburn talking to County Councilwoman Gail Bartkovich.

Rounding out the District 37 slate was Dustin Mills (left) with his campaign manager Mark Biehl.

Two other state candidates from District 38 were in the house as well – in the first picture, Mike McDermott made sure to keep a sign with him. Below that, fellow District 38B hopeful Marty Pusey (left) was campaigning with a friend Sunday.

Of course, county GOP hopefuls were represented too. County Council at-large candidate Bob Culver stopped by our tent to say hello. Stevie Prettyman did too, but I didn’t get her picture.

Perhaps topping everyone, though, was this guy, Matt Maciarello.

He didn’t use our tent as a base since he had his own, cleverly bringing to the crowd’s attention some key endorsements.

Our tent was a little more low-key, with part of the reason being the heavy wind – less stuff to chase!

Bob McCarroll and Leonard Jett (pictured) are two of my helpers who I need to thank for their efforts. I also owe a shout of over the last two weekends to Mark McIver (for the tent), Ann Suthowski, Greg Belcher, Woody Willing, Ryan Hohman, Bob Miller, Bob Laun, and the Jesters (Jim, Cindy, and Shawn) for their assistance.

I also had fun with some of the photographic opportunities and wanted to give some free advertising to the people who make GREAT ice cream!

I just liked the way the banners looked from these two. It’s worth noting that the Cygnus tent had a minor collapse with Saturday’s winds; fortunately, no one was injured.

Bottle shots make a nice and colorful still life – these are from Far Eastern Shore Winery.

This one appealed to me because of the round shadow created by the large tent behind me and the perfect sun angle.

Finally, a sun-dappled reminder of the whole point of the event.

Given the attendees present, I think a growing number did and will.