Criticism by the Baltimore County firefighters union of an endorsement by Councilman John Olszewski Sr. has another county labor union president crying foul.
Cheryl Bost, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County, said Friday in Annapolis that she was disappointed to see Olszewski criticized as no longer being friendly to organized labor in the county. (more…)
The head of one county union said he and his members are not pleased with last week’s pseudo-endorsement of Kevin Kamenetz by fellow Democratic Councilman John Olszewski Sr.
Mike Day, president of the Baltimore County Professional Firefighters Association, said union leaders were so displeased with Olszewski’s plans that not only did they not attend an Olszewski fundraiser two days before the endorsement, they voted not to make a donation to his campaign.
And Day didn’t have much nice to say about Friday’s announcement, either. (more…)
County Executive Jim has been quiet about his political future since announcing in October that he was moving from his Reisterstown home of 40 years to Cockeysville in order to keep open the possibility of running for the state senate in the 7th District.
But reporter Alan Brody of the Gazette of Politics and Business reports that Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller told a ballroom of elected Democrats and party faithful that Democrats were going to take three to five senate seats from Republicans this year including the 7th District seat currently held by Sen. Andy Harris.
And Miller’s Democrat candidate is a certain outgoing county executive.
You can read Brody’s story here.
Councilman Joseph Bartenfelder hasn’t officially announced his intentions (OK, OK, we all know he’s running for county executive), but he made it clear Monday night that he won’t be coming back to the council after the 2010 election.
The four-term Democratic councilman ended the last meeting of the year with a brief farewell.
“This is the last meeting that I’ll ever chair as chairman of the County Council,” Bartenfelder said. (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. Steve DeBoy returned four days of his $43,500 annual legislative salary late last year. DeBoy, a two-term Democrat who represents District 12A, released documents showing he participated in a furlough program requested by House Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller.
District 12A includes Arbutus and Catonsville. (more…)
In October, I mentioned that Democrat Timmy Ruppersberger was considering a run for County Council.
Now it’s official – she’s running.
“I think I would regret it if I didn’t do it,” Ruppersberger said of her decision.
Ruppersberger, a cousin of Democratic former County Executive and current Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, said she is gearing up to run in the 2nd District and is merely waiting for Councilman Kevin Kamenetz to announce that he is running (as expected) for county executive.
Ruppersberger wrapped up her law practice at Venable in Towson a few weeks after the Oct. 8 blog post.
“I knew I was going to be leaving Venable,” Ruppersberger said. “It was just time to look at other opportunities.”
Ruppersberger said she is in the process of putting together her campaign and filing the paperwork for her candidacy so she can begin the process of raising money.
“I’m putting on my little lawyer’s cap and looking at everything I have to do to mechanically be a candidate,” Ruppersberger said.
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…)
Del. Mike Weir Jr. returned four days of his $43,500 annual legislative salary late last year. Weir, a two-term Democrat who represents the 6th District, released documents showing he participated in a furlough program requested by House Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller.
The 6th District includes Dundalk and Essex.
Both Busch and Miller returned five days’ salary and asked fellow legislators to also give up between one and five days’ pay at the same time 67,000 state employees were being furloughed for up to five days based on individual salary levels. (more…)
Joanne Arnick spent seven years in politics as the wife of the late Democratic Del. John Arnick.
Nearly four years after her husband’s death, Arnick is making a return to elected politics — this time as the treasurer for George Owings, a potential Democratic candidate for governor in 2010.
“It feels natural to me,” Arnick said.
It was not always so, she said. (more…)