Strange Bedfellows

Chris Cavey, the chairman of the county Republican Central Committee, said Wednesday he will seek to replace Jim Pelura as the state party chairman.

Cavey said he sent letters to 243 Republican Central Committee members from around the state and met with four county committees last week. He has four more similar meetings scheduled for this week, including two Wednesday night.

“It’s just a campaign like any other campaign,” Cavey said. “I have 243 doors to knock on.”

Pelura, who has been under fire from fellow Republicans, including Cavey, announced he was resigning from the position effective Nov. 14, the date of the next statewide Republican central committee convention in Bowie. The new chairman will be elected at that meeting.

Cavey, who is first vice president of the state party, is the only announced Baltimore County candidate for the top GOP post in Maryland.

If he wins he will have to give up his role as chairman of the county party — a position he has held since he was appointed in December 2002.

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.

State Republican Party Chairman Jim Pelura’s resignation announcement last week could have an effect on the  Republican party here in Baltimore County.

Chris Cavey, the chairman of the party’s central committee in the county, said he is considering the possibility of replacing Pelura.

“I honestly don’t know right now,” said Cavey, who is also the first vice president for the GOP in Maryland. “I need some time to think about it. It could be fun. I just have to see.”

The position does not come without a cost. If Cavey wants to guide the state party, he’ll have to give up his position as chairman of the Baltimore County Central Committee.

Last week, former Del. Al Redmer sent an e-mail to supporters saying he was not interested in the position.

Ellen Sauerbrey’s name has also been mentioned, according to a report by Alan Brody of The Gazette.

The state party is expected to elect its next chairman at its state convention in Bowie on Nov. 14.

It started as an academic exercise for Doug Riley.

The former Republican councilman from Towson, who now works for Pope and Hughes, was talking to Virginia Barnhart, a former county attorney who works with Riley, about whether a two-term county executive would be barred from running for office a third time.

The topic was driven by continued talk that former County Executive Donald Hutchinson might run in 2010 for the office he held from 1978 to 1986. Some believe the County Charter might prevent another Hutchinson run. (more…)

Four Baltimore County legislators were not on the list of 155 senators and delegates who gave up at least one day’s pay as part of a voluntary program in January.

That doesn’t mean all of those four kept the money. Two, in fact, Del. Bill Frank and Sen. Andy Harris, both Republicans, announced they would give up the pay — just not to the state.

Instead, they both said they would make a donation to charity.

Patuxent Publishing Co., publisher of this Web site, is asking the 29 legislators who represent Baltimore County to voluntarily release information showing how many days pay they gave up in January. The House of Delegates and Senate declined to provide that information when asked last month, saying the information was a personnel matter. (more…)

Prior to the Tuesday evening vote on speed camera legislation, a few councilmen took the time to explain why they were about to vote the way they were about to vote.

Councilman Vince Gardina, a Democrat who represents the 5th District, said his vote was based, at least in part, on what he explained as a month-long “unscientific experiment.”

“Over the last month or so I’ve been trying to drive the speed limit all the time,” said Gardina, who represents Perry Hall, Carney and Towson. (more…)

Republicans appear to be attempting to use the speed camera issue as a wedge issue in the upcoming 2010 election to unseat Democratic Del. Steve Lafferty in the 42nd District.

Lafferty was first elected in 2006 to the seat that represents Towson, Timonium and part of Pikesville. The seat was previously held by one-term Republican Del. John Trueschler, who decided not to run for re-election citing concerns about the toll the job was taking on his family. The remaining two delegate seats have been held by Republicans since the district was created in 2002.

John Fiastro, president of the 42nd District Republican Club, handed out fliers criticizing Del. Steve Lafferty during the Aug. 19 public meeting on speed cameras, held at the Baltimore County Public Library branch in Towson.

The bright yellow leaflet declares in bold letters “Lafferty voted for speed cameras.” On the reverse side, the group reprinted a blog post that appeared here on July 23 in which Lafferty called for public hearings on the bill.  The reprint has several passages underlined with hand-written notes criticizing the delegate.

It should be noted the reprint was done without the permission of Patuxent Publishing Co., which owns this Web site.

Lafferty addressed the flier briefly at the meeting just before speaking about his reasons for supporting speed camera legislation.

“I really love that my opponents have put this piece of crap out,” said Lafferty, who was holding a copy of the flier as he spoke to the crowd of about 60. “Because if you read the other piece, the other side to it, this meeting is about public information. As I’ve walked neighborhoods and talked to voters, people do not fully understand the intent of the legislation and certainly no one has had the opportunity up until now, other than what the county has rightfully put on its Web site, gotten any kind of insights on how (the county) expects to proceed.”

laffertyflier

Del. J.B. Jennings will give up the District 7 House of Delegates seat he has held since 2002 and will instead run for that district’s state Senate seat in 2010.

Jennings, a Republican, confirmed his intentions in an interview. He made a more formal announcement at his fundraiser Friday night, an annual event that includes a polo match.

Sen. Andy Harris, who currrently represents the district, announced earlier this year he will give up his Senate seat for a rematch against Rep. Frank Kratovil, a first-term Democrat.

Jennings is the only officially-announced candidate for the Senate district that stretches from Cockeysville and parts of Perry Hall and Middle River to part of western Harford County.

Two others, Democratic Councilman Vince Gardina and Republican former delegate and state Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer, are also said to be considering campaigning for the seat.

Republican Del. Pat McDonough is expected to officially announce his “testing the waters” campaign for governor in the next day or two.

In addition to more fully explaining that concept — and some of his issues he’ll be running on — the delegate said he will clarify his statement that he would not run for governor if Republican former Gov. Robert Ehrlich decides to run.

There’s apparently some fine print to that statement.

“The caveat is that I will not run if (Ehrlich) supports all the issues I care about,” McDonough explained this morning.

McDonough said he plans to sign a pledge promising to not raise taxes while he is governor. He said he is concerned that Gov. Martin O’Malley, if re-elected, will  surprise voters with “an ambush tax” in 2011 to cover state budget deficits.

McDonough said he plans to run on a platform that includes education issues and criminal justice issues including gang-related crime. And yes, illegal immigration will continue to be a part of his campaign as well.

McDonough said he believes Ehrlich, if he runs, would have similar views on issues.

“Other than Constellation Energy, which we might differ on a little bit, I don’t see why (Ehrlich) wouldn’t,” McDonough said.

Joseph “Prince of Darkness” Steffen has added his voice to the chatter related to the recent driving under the influence arrest of County Councilman Sam Moxley.

Steffen, a former staffer for Gov. Robert Ehrlich, reports in his blog Darkness Rising that there is “a movement afoot to draft Bob Ehrlich to run against Moxley.”

No, not the former governor. The former governor’s father, Robert Ehrlich Sr. (more…)