Strange Bedfellows

You don’t have to be 5 years old to have an imaginary friend.

County Executive Jim Smith has one and wants you to meet her.

Meet Merrie Holiday, Baltimore County’s resident holiday shopping maven.

Fronda Cohen, a spokeswoman for the county Department of Economic Development, was coy about exactly who or what Merrie Holiday is other than to say it’s part of a new marketing effort to encourage residents to shop in some of the 3,000 shops in the county’s 13 traditional retail districts — Arbutus, Catonsville-Paradise, Dundalk, Essex, Lansdowne, Liberty Road, Loch Raven, Overlea-Fullerton, Parkville, Pikesville, Reisterstown, Towson and Woodlawn Village.

The campaign, which is part of the county’s ReDiscover Your Neighborhood Downtown promotion, was designed by Barb Clapp Advertising and Marketing.   The character will be featured in radio and print ads and some short videos of Smith running around the county trying to find the elusive personality. (more…)

The current controversy about pensions for County Council members is a no-win scenario regardless of what the council may or may not do in the way of reform, according to former County Executive Don Hutchinson.

“There’s no way they can win on it,” Hutchinson said, adding that voters would likely see any action as “nothing more than reaction to a story of exposure.”

“I don’t think this council can do anything about it,” Hutchinson said. “I think the council, any council, could have changed it, but they chose not to. The new council can talk about it, consider it, discuss it. I think this council is best to leave it alone.”

The two-term Democratic executive talked about the pension issue during an interview about a possible return to politics.

Hutchinson said he understood why the pension issue has captured the attention of the public.

“I think that the average man and woman always look at somebody else’s life in comparison to their own and what they know,” Hutchinson said. “They know that when they retire, regardless of the job they had or what they’ve done, they know they’re not going to get full compensation for their retired years. They know they’re income is not 100 percent of what it was when they left their job.

“That’s all they know, and that’s what they think is fair. They think what is fair for everybody is what has been fair for them.”

So is the public wrong? (more…)

Comptroller Peter Franchot came to Towson last week, preaching the gospel of penny-pinching in a place even he seemed to think was a bit odd — a Democratic club meeting.

Franchot spoke to about 50 attendees of the Central Baltimore County Democratic Club last Tuesday and compared the economy to a blizzard.

“The snow has stopped falling, but there’s 10 feet outside and it’s going to take a while to dig out,” Franchot said, adding that the possibility of new taxes to support state spending is slim to none until the economy rebounds.

“As Democrats, we have to reform state spending,” Franchot said. “A lot of Democrats look at me like, ‘What’s that?’ Like they took an oath to defend every last dime of spending in public programs.” (more…)

Ask former Baltimore County Public School Superintendent Stuart Berger a question and you’ll get a straight answer.

Berger spent just over three years, from 1992 to 1995, running the county school system. His tenure is remembered more for the controversy that accompanied the changes he made, and a lack of any kind of tact, than the actual changes.

“If I think you’re an idiot for some reason, I feel the need to share that with you,” said Berger during a phone interview Monday. He added that the character trait was “probably something I should have learned to change.” (more…)

County Executive Jim Smith is moving from Reisterstown, where he has lived his entire life, to Cockeysville.

Smith says he and his wife, Sandy, are downsizing from their current large home to a smaller one. A side benefit is the new home is in the 7th District, which happens to have an open Senate seat in 2010. Smith said the move gives him the opportunity to consider running for the seat. (more…)

It seems former Mayor/Governor/Comptroller William Donald Schaefer may not be entirely over his 2006 election loss to Peter Franchot … at least according to Franchot.

The 2006 election is nearly three years removed, but some wounds don’t heal easily.

Schaefer has been known to carry a grudge or two. Reporters and columnists used to get letters from him when they wrote stories he didn’t like, and citizens sometimes got visits from Schaefer after writing letters of criticism. (more…)

This morning’s talk included a withdrawn cigarette ID bill, councilmen weighing in on possible speed camera sites in the county and Timmy Ruppersberger (she’s a second cousin to Dutch) considering a run for county council.

You can hear it all right here.

If you missed me talking county politics on WBAL AM 1090 yesterday morning here’s a link to the audio.

We’ll chat about your priorities later.

A bill that would require daily electronic reporting of sales of scrap metal has been withdrawn.

The bill was to have a hearing tomorrow before the County Council.

Don Mohler, a spokesman for County Executive Jim Smith, said the administration pulled the bill so that some changes could be made.

“We could have moved forward with amendments, but we think this will make for a cleaner bill,” Mohler said. (more…)

Local elected officials who support deer hunting could be targets at the ballot box next year if one local animal rights activist has her way.

Enid Feinberg, a Phoenix resident who has opposed deer hunting in the Loch Raven reservoir, said she would like to see three county officials unseated in 2010 because of their support of deer hunting — Democratic Sen. Jim Brochin, and Del. Joseph Boteler and Councilman Bryan McIntire, both Republicans.

“Knowing what I know about them, they’re certainly high on my list,” Feinberg said.

Brochin and McIntire have been supportive of expanded deer hunting in the reservoir area. And Boteler sponsored a bill in the General Assembly last year that would have allowed hunting on Sundays on private property in Baltimore County. Boteler’s bill did not pass.

“In my opinion, hunting is legalized animal cruelty,” said Feinberg.

Feinberg said she has joined an organization called  Maryland Votes for Animals. Carolyn Kilborn, who is the only attributed writer on the Web site, was not immediately available for an interview. The site states that the group has “one overriding mission: To create an ever-growing voting bloc of animal advocates who will elect representatives willing to champion and vote for animal protection legislation, and to hold politicians accountable to their constituents.”

The organization lists a Towson mailing address on it’s Web site, but Kilborn lives in Annapolis.

“There’s no way to win for animals other than at the ballot box,” said Feinberg, who said she was speaking for herself, not for Maryland Votes for Animals.

“Our politicians are truly failing us,” Feinberg said.

Feinberg said one strategy could be the formation of a political action committee that could provide financial support to candidates who favor issues such as stronger laws against animal cruelty or are against hunting.

Maryland Votes for Animals formed a political action committee to participate in the 2010 state elections. State Board of Elections records show that Votes For Animals registered as a PAC on June 15. Kilborn is listed as the chairman of the committee, Jared DeMarinis, director of candidacy and campaign finance for the State Board of Elections.