Strange Bedfellows

Members of a newly-minted “Court House Ticket” for Baltimore County are slated to meet outside the Old Courthouse in Towson around 11 a.m. Tuesday to pose for campaign photos before going together to Catonsville to register as candidates for their respective offices.

R. Jay Fisher, a Democrat running for his third term as sheriff, said the ticket will consist of other Democratic incumbent candidates including State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger, Register of Wills Grace Connolly and the three incumbent Orphans Court judges — William Evans, Colleen Cavanaugh and Theresa Lawler.

“We want people to know we’re coming back and we want constituents to know we want to serve another four years,” Fisher said Monday afternoon, adding that he believes such a ticket in the primary is unprecedented.

Fisher said the group is doing it as “a symbol of unity.”

The group is not a formal slate — a designation that would allow the candidates to pool money that could be spent to benefit all of them.

And one long-time Democratic court house denizen is missing from the list. (more…)

Let’s face it, nothing is as political in any county as snow removal.

County executives have been nearly run out of town on a rail because of it. That’s why executives hold annual press conferences to tell county residents how they are preparing to keep the streets clear when the snow arrives.

Add to the political fodder a Monday night press release from county Republican Central Committee Chairman Chris Cavey, who criticized County Executive Jim Smith and the County Council for what he desribed as a failure to properly plan for last weekend’s blizzard.

“Everyone knew it was coming,” Cavey said. “They were calling it Snowmageddon and stuff like that.” (more…)

The state is not the only one with budget woes.

Baltimore County is facing a $138 million budget shortfall due to income tax and property tax revenues being less than anticipated in the budget that was passed last spring.

The only question that remains is how the county will deal with the shortfall. (more…)

The Ravens are headed to the playoffs Sunday, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by our local and state officials.

County Executive Jim Smith fired off an e-mail Wednesday morning entitled “Wacco for Flacco” and encouraging county employees to participate in purple Fridays.

“Throughout the season you have displayed your purple passion by wearing your Raven colors on Purple Fridays,” Smith wrote.  “It has been great seeing all of that purple walking the halls in our county offices. As great as it’s been, I know that we can take it up a notch this Friday. Grab those jerseys, get out those purple skirts, find those purple ties and let’s send the Ravens off in style.” (more…)

There wasn’t much to vote on during the County Council meeting Monday night, but Councilman John Olszewski Sr. did find one item on which he felt the need to abstain.

At issue was a contract for on-call snow removal services with Crusse Construction.

Contracts with independent companies for such services are not uncommon. The county has 32 other contractors that augment the county’s snow removal efforts at a rate of $110 to $160 per hour.

This year the county has budgeted $6 million for storm-emergency cleanup, plus an additional $1 million for on-call contractors.

So far, for three storms this winter, the county has spent $4.5 million, including $1 million for payments to snow-removal contractors.

Olszewski said after the meeting he abstained because he was concerned about a “possible conflict of interest.”

Olszewski said Crusse Construction is owned by his wife’s stepbrother.

“I’m not even sure I had to abstain, but I just thought it was best to play it safe,” Olszewski said.

Here’s part two of my top five list of Baltimore County political stories for 2009. (Part one can be found here).

2. Pensions and Salaries. Pocketbook issues continued to dominate the news in the county after it was reported by the Baltimore Sun that five-term Democratic Councilman Vince Gardina was eligible to retire at age 53 and earn a pension equal to 100 percent of his $54,000 annual salary. Four other councilmen have served four terms each and are eligible to collect 80 percent of their salaries immediately at the conclusion of the current term.

A month later, the county Personnel and Salary Advisory Board proposed raises of 8 percent and 2 percent respectively for the county executive and council that would take office in 2010. The reason for the difference between the two was apparently hashed out in a closed door meeting that violated the state’s Open Meetings Act, but clearly was influenced by the ongoing pension flap.

Then-council Chairman Joseph Bartenfelder said he would not introduce the salary increase bill as long as he was chairman. Later, County Executive Jim Smith announced he would not send such a bill to the council.

Next month, the council will consider two pension reform bills — one sponsored by Councilman Kevin Kamenetz and the other by Councilmen Joseph Bartenfelder.

Watchdog groups aren’t happy with either, and are expected to call for publicly-funded defined benefits pension plans to be replaced with 401K-style plans.

1. Council Kingmakers. The fact that developers and their attorneys give money to county executive and council candidates in Baltimore County is as surprising as the faux outrage of Claude Raines — as the corrupt gambling Capt. Renault –  shutting down Humphrey Bogart’s club because he is “shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” … just as a club employee hands the captain his winnings for the night.

What IS news here is the way in which Michael Paul Smith, the son of County Executive Jim Smith, and David Gildea, a former law clerk to Smith when the county exec was a Circuit Court judge, have gone about backing unknown and untested potential candidates in three open council races, and are said to be seeking a candidate for at least one more race (but possibly two). The private fund raising events in Smith and Gildea’s homes, with their suggested $1,000 per person donations, caught the attention of other candidates and the public.

The council wields a great deal of power when it comes to zoning and development decisions, and community associations and activists didn’t need 20-20 vision to make the connections between those open seats and attorneys with land use practices who might be interested in seeing friendly faces making those calls.

So there it is, my list of the top five political stories for the county for 2009.

Do you agree, disagree? Did I overlook something that should have been on the list? Feel free to leave me a comment below.

Happy new year to everyone and I’ll see you in 2010.

There’s been no shortage of interesting political stories this year, from state delegates and their marriage proposals to anger over speed cameras and a rising tide of voter discontent, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in these parts for nearly 20 years.

But not every story is created equal. Let’s face it, some are more important than others.

As I thought about a top five local political stories in Baltimore County, I made my selections based on both power of the story for the year and the effect these stories might have over the next 12 months. A lot of these stories have legs like Tina Turner. (more…)

Democrats and Republicans got together in a day of volunteer service Saturday. By Sunday, the gloves had come off and it was politics as usual.

Chris Cavey, chairman of the county Republican Central Committee, issued a statement late Sunday night criticizing David Gildea and Michael Paul Smith for their development of a ticket of candidates that will run for at least three of the expected four open council seats next year. (more…)

Who says Democrats and Republicans can’t get along?

Members of the Central Baltimore County Democratic Club and the 42nd District Republican Club, both of which meet in the Towson area, plan to get together Dec. 12 for a day of service to a local charity.

“It’s cats and dogs living together in harmony, it’s mass hysteria,” joked 42nd District Republican Club President John Fiastro, who was borrowing liberally from Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman character in “Ghostbusters.”

The groups will come together to do some painting and light renovation work for the Assistance Center of Towson Churches located at Calvary Baptist Church, in Towson. The center provides assistance for motel placement, bus tokens for medical and job appointments, a food pantry, eviction prevention services and referrals to local homeless shelters.

Despite the differences in political philosophy, “one thing we definitely can agree on is that this group does good work and we want to help them,” Fiastro said.

Tracy Miller, Fiastro’s Democratic Club counterpart, said the idea arose from a casual conversation she had with Republican Del. Bill Frank.

Miller said she called the center to offer help and they made one modest request — to paint a small bathroom. Miller said that with the number of people both clubs were hoping to round up she thought they could do more than just paint a bathroom.

“It kind of sounds like it should be a joke,” Miller said, referring to the possibility of getting 20 Democrats and Republicans into a small bathroom.

So, in addition to painting the bathroom, club members will do some additional painting and light renovations, with all of the materials being purchased by the clubs, Fiastro said.

Miller said the group might also volunteer to make sandwiches for those in need.

And at some point, the clubs will order some food and have lunch together, Miller added.

The clubs are still competitive. Miller and Fiastro both said they were each hoping to turn out more volunteers than the other. Miller said she hoped to muster 15 to 25 people, including some students from a Democratic club at Towson University. Fiastro said his initial head count was at 10.

It’s not Herbert Hoover’s promise of “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage,” but Chris Cavey, chairman of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee, is making one promise for the 2010 election season:

“We’re looking for, at a minimum, filling every slot on the ballot,” Cavey said. “In this upcoming election, we need to give voters a choice.”

Cavey’s not saying who will be filling all these slots. Local-level candidates have been tough to come by while there seems to be an abundance of Republicans running for seats in the General Assembly — especially in the 7th District.

A year of tea parties, spirited town hall meetings about health care, two councilmen with legal troubles and the continuing flaps over pensions for County Councilmen and raises for local elected officials have convinced Cavey that 2010 could be a pivotal moment for the GOP locally.

The party was in a similar position 20 years ago. Strong voter dissatisfaction and a property tax protest in the county led to Republican party gains in nearly every level of local government from sheriff to county executive.

Three Republicans were elected to the council. Donald Mason, a fiscally conservative Democratic councilman from Dundalk, frequently voted with Republicans and helped that party control the council for four years.

Roger Hayden, an underfunded county executive candidate, defeated Democratic incumbent Dennis Rasmussen.

Cavey believes there are a lot of reasons to hope for history to repeat itself next year. Not the least of which is what he and others believe is a growing sense of discontent among voters.

“I truly believe (voter) sentiment is running in that direction,” Cavey said.

Now all he needs are candidates.