Strange Bedfellows

County Council Chairman John Olszewski Sr. is holding a news conference outside Dundalk High School at 11 a.m. today (yes, regardless of weather) to “make an important announcement regarding his intentions in the 2010 County Executive race for Baltimore County,” according to a cryptic one-sentence e-mail sent out on the councilman’s behalf Thursday night.

The announcement of a county executive run is not out of the question but certainly a long shot. There are other possibilities for today’s event each with their own upsides and downsides. (more…)

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Frank Kratovil maintains a nearly 2-1 advantage in cash on hand over his challenger, Republican State Sen. Andy Harris, according to campaign fund raising filings filed Sunday with the Federal Elections Commission.

Harris reported a slight advantage in fund raising over the period of Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 raising about $267,000 — or about $30,000 more than Kratovil. (more…)

Fundraising has been tough for many candidates this year, but one county councilman has had a particularly difficult go of it the last 12 months.

In the most recent campaign finance reports filed last week, Councilman Ken Oliver reported raising no money and had $8,433.76 in cash on hand. That’s down from the $8,530.18 he reported a year ago. (more…)

The effect of Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling, allowing direct campaign contributions from unions and corporations, is of concern to one Baltimore County delegate.

Del. Jon Cardin, a Democrat who represents the 11th District,  said he is not sure what effect the ruling will have, if any, on current state law but plans to ask the attorney general for an opinion. (more…)

Check out this story on WBAL.com for my discussion with Robert Lang about the $1.1 million in cash on hand raised by Councilman Kevin Kamenetz.

Add 2nd District County Council candidate Vicki Almond to the list of candidates interviewed by Michael Paul Smith, the son of County Executive Jim Smith, and David Gildea, a former law clerk to Smith during his time as a Circuit Court Judge.

Almond said she interviewed with Smith and Gildea in October. The pair, who each has a land-use practice, are throwing high-priced fundraisers for select candidates in open council districts in the 2010 election.

Almond said the meeting, which took place in Gildea’s Towson law office, covered a wide range of subjects, such as public safety, education and development. The meeting sounded much like a conversation Towson Democrat Mike Ertel said he had with Smith and Gildea around the same time last year.

I asked Almond, a self-described “community person,” if she had concerns about attorneys with land-use practices putting together a slate of candidates who could be friendly to development interests if elected. (more…)

Money is the fuel of most campaigns — all those TV commercials, T-shirts, bumper stickers and other tchotchkes can be expensive.

But by the sound of it, a lot of candidates will be running this year on less than a full tank.

The real numbers won’t be known for about two weeks, as candidates are required to close their books on Jan. 14 and file by Jan. 21. Anecdotally, though, candidates are saying they are seeing an effect. (more…)

Councilmen Kevin Kamenetz and Sam Moxley abstained from voting on a batch five of contracts and other fiscal matters during Monday night’s County Council voting session.

At issue was a five-year lease totaling $196,951 with St. John Properties. The county Health Department will use the unidentified 3,000 square-foot space to store emergency preparedness supplies as part of the Cities Readiness Initiative grant program. (more…)

Del. Jon Cardin, a proponent of campaign finance reform, said he will continue to accept corporate donations leading up to the 2010 election even as he presses for approval of a bill that creates a publicly financed campaign option that would prohibit such contributions.

Cardin was one of two legislators who participated in the telephone news conference Wednesday morning touting the release of a poll that he said shows public support for campaign finance reform. Both Cardin and Sen. Jamie Raskin were asked during that news conference if they would promise not to accept campaign contributions from corporations beginning now. (You can read the full poll results here.) (more…)

Remember the dust up back in the mid-1990s about an allegedly math challenged Barbie? That’s the doll some claimed said, “Math is hard.”

Meet her counterpart, the Campaign Finance Ken doll.

OK, he doesn’t really exist. After all, what kind of kid would want to play with him? (Other than maybe political reporters, that is.) (more…)