Howard County Circuit Court Election

Luke Broadwater of the Howard County Times wrote this story regarding a race that usually gets little attention, but should.

We have two judges that sit on the Circuit Court who were appointed by Gov. Robert Ehrlich. As State Law demands they need to stand for election in the next general election, which as we know if this year.

First let me admit my bias. I know Rick Bernhardt. He is a great person, as fair as a the finest day in the year. I was honored when Rick asked me to write him a letter of recommendation to Gov. Ehrlich for the position when I was President of the Howard County Republican Club. Even if I say so myself it was one of the best letters I have written, and given the subject and person I found it very easy to write. I have also had the pleasure of meeting Rick’s wife, who is a public defender in Baltimore City. She too is a very impressive person. I would hope that Rick would aspire to something higher than the Circuit Court.

I don’t know Louis Becker.

I have met David Titman. He was also vying for an appointment to the bench but was passed over in the selection process. So, I have to wonder, how much of his campaign is fueled by resentment. I don’t know what his real feelings are regarding being passed over, but the general talk is that he was none to pleased when he didn’t get the appointment. I have only met him once and he seems to be a very nice guy, but doesn’t come across as real personable (certainly not a requirement for being a good judge).

Now to the heart of the story.

David Titman has pledged not to accept donations from lawyers. Bernhardt and Becker wonder “Why not?”. The judicial process is the most transparent process in the land. Does David Titman really think that if a judge made an error in a decision that their political donations wouldn’t be highly scrutinized in that matter?

I wrote an earlier post on political donations by developers. Developers contribute heavily to our County Council and Executive candidates – they have a right to do so as they are citizens too. I think it is fair to raise the question in the case of developers and it is fair to raise the question regarding lawyers in this case. We need to be careful and watchful of undo influence in government. That doesn’t mean people who have an interest in government should be banned from contributing.

What I have issue with is this statement by David Titman:

“I think for a committee of sitting judges to send out a letter of solicitation to lawyers, that makes me feel uncomfortable from an ethical standpoint,” Titman said. “It puts pressure on the lawyers. If the lawyer doesn’t contribute, is there some issue the lawyer has to worry about?”

What? Is he implying that Bernhardt and Becker are on the take or could be? Seriously, questioning their integrity in this manner is really bold – to be nice about it. If he has something on them come out with it. This is simple mud slinging.

With that said, if David Titman wins a seat on the Circuit Court for the next 15 years and I for some reason end up in front of him – I take all this back.

Baltimore City Council Votes To Audit O’Malley’s “Crime Fighting”

Stolen in whole from The Hedge Hog Report because it is worth reading.

From The Baltimore Sun reports:

The council approved a resolution last night that would attempt to create a task force of academic experts to audit crime statistics. Most council members said they were certain that such a review – whose details and costs were unclear – would erase doubts raised by O’Malley’s critics.

The issue of whether the mayor has accurately portrayed the city’s violent crime reduction during his tenure has become a political touchstone that his opponents in the race for governor – Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Democratic Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan – have used to try to cast doubts on the mayor’s credibility.

O’Malley had this rather perplexing retort.

“This is like attacking John Kerry’s rationale for his Purple Hearts in order not to have to talk about draft dodging and not going to war when you were called up,” the mayor added

[HOCOBLOG COMMENT: With logic like that I soon expect to see links on O'Malley's campaign web site to Doug Duncan's and Bob Ehrlich's web sites. Seriously, if O'Malley is confident of his crime statistics, and it appears that he is, let the audit go forward and be quiet about it. His commentary makes him look like he is hiding something. Let the audit go forward and he can come back and say "Shame on you." Act like and adult! Oh - Doug Duncan and Patricia Jesemey already said that, didn't they.]

Okaaaay….

O’Malley has been helped somewhat recently with the Port story dominating the local news. However, WBAL continues their great reporting on this issue with another disturbing story about O’Malley’s police department fabricating police reports in order to hold down the crime rate. You have to read it to believe it.

[HOCOBLOG COMMENT: Disturbing Story is a wild understatement. Of course the Mayor can reasonably claim he would not be aware of these incidents - and honestly why should he any more than he should be aware of the School systems financial condition?]

Chief Livesay II

From the Washington Post's Amit Paley

Unease Over Police Chief's Campaign

I think Amit got it right on this one.

I am sure that Chief Livesay is a standup guy, despite some recent issues in the department.

Despite what the County Code says, I think that now he is a registered candidate (despite my feelings about his choice of parties) it would serve him and the County best to resign from the police department.

Any appearance of impropriety. Common cause put it best.

"The bottom-line question is, will the influence of campaign money affect the way he performs his job?" said Bobbie Walton, executive director of Common Cause Maryland. "The fact that he has the ability to arrest people and even put them in jail creates more of a concern."

We will know a lot more tomorrow after his meeting with Robey.

School Buses

Here is a topic that effects every community and should be of particular interest to all residents.

When I witness this type of behavior my blood boils. What is going to have to happen in order to have safety laws enforced. A tragedy?

The Maryland State Police has given $10,000 to the Howard County Police Department for enforcement efforts in this area. Fines for violating School Bus laws are $550.00. Based upon reports by just one bus driver in Howard County he has witnessed 150 such violations since schools opened in August. That amounts ot $82,500 in fines. I think a $550.00 fine is stiff enough, but if it isn’t enforced what is the point. Speaking of points – all Maryland State Law ascribes to such violators is 3 points. That is not enough.

The Howard County Times published a letter from a school bus driver in Howard County who has documented 150 incidents of people ignoring school bus red lights. Some of the violations have been brazen. Ignorance is no excuse. If you see a school bus proceed with caution. If you see a school bus with yellow lights – stop anyway and don’t wait for the red lights.

Make your officials enforce laws on school bus lights

I drive a school bus in Columbia. The first day of school was Aug. 29. In the ensuing 101 school days through Feb. 9, 150 drivers have run my red lights while I was picking up the children of your community. It has not been limited to a single type of driver. Men, women, teens, older drivers and commercial vehicles have all been involved. There has even been a vehicle with an FOP tag run my lights.

It has happened on heavily traveled roads as well as in neighborhoods. Last year, one person crossed a double yellow line, passed six vehicles and my bus as my red lights were flashing because she was more important than your children’s safety.

I talk with my fellow drivers, and while none have kept a running count, they also have many problems with drivers running their lights. I am just one bus, multiply what has occurred around my bus by the number of buses in Howard County and there is a huge problem in Howard County.

You need to contact the county executive, the school board and the police department and have the law dealing with stopped school buses enforced strictly.

Just over a month ago, there was well-deserved outrage in Columbia at a school bus driver who put children off the bus at a place other than the correct stop. Will there be outrage at 150 drivers running a single school bus’ red lights? I can only hope there will be.

Ken Boyer

Pasadena, Md.

So, tell me, what happened to the $10K and how is it being used?
Should video cameras be placed on school buses? If so what should they be used for? To catch these careless/selfish people? Fine them? Enforcement?

The Washington Times

I really like the Washington Times. It is well written. It is a Conservative Newspaper. However, that doesn’t mean it is a Republican Newspaper.

The Washington Times is an Equal Opportunity Critic. They don’t care who you are. Read the Opinion Section and sometimes you would think it was the New York Times bashing George W. Bush again. Don’t take my word for it. It is a free read online.

The only thing going against it is that it really isn’t a local paper. It is a national read. It does cover DC issues, but not to great detail. They did a great series of articles on Clarksburg’s development fiasco and broke the story. (I wish they would do the same in Howard County). If they increased local coverage I think they could easily take market share away from the Post and the Sun.

The Washington Times

In today’s Commentary Section we get two different views of the new Federal Reserve Baoard Chariman, Ben Bernanke. One optimistic and one cautious.

They also go into great length of an alleged cover up of Able Danger by the Bush administration.

They pointedly tell President Bush to quit relying on Gozales, Cheney and Rumsfeld as constitution scholars – because they aren’t. The opinion piece also explains why gun rights advocates are siding with the ACLU on NSA wiretapping.

A revealing piece on Iraq and WMD. I have heard these allegations before – this is new background information. I don’t say I believe the new information I am just saying read it for yourself.

Finally, in my opinion they nailed it on the head with this piece.

Ehrlich and the Democratic Left

Here is the first paragraph…

Thanks to Maryland Democratic Party chief Terry Lierman, House of Delegates Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Mike Miller, Gov. Robert Ehrlich will have no shortage of issues to run on this year. If Mr. Ehrlich is to win re-election in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 2-1 (and, equally important, enable Republicans to gain seats in the General Assembly) he will need to show voters that the Democratic Party establishment has swung so far to the left that it is out of touch with the values of Marylanders on subjects like felon voting, homosexual “marriage” and illegal immigration.

BTW: What is wrong with giving homosexual couples the same civil rights as married couples? The Washinton Times reported this from The National Review. This is what I have advocated all along as long as it guarenteed other protections for joint property, children, etc. and not just medical issues (although it is a start). If Gov. Ehrlich is truly a moderate he should consider similiar legislation.

A new idea
“The debate over gays and marriage in Colorado has recently taken a different turn from the national debate,” Ramesh Ponnuru writes in National Review Online (www.nationalreview.com).
“Until a few weeks ago, the debate looked familiar. Gay-rights advocates were trying to get the legislature to enact a bill recognizing civil unions (or ‘domestic partnerships’) for same-sex couples. Social conservatives were trying to get voters to adopt a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Now conservative state senator Shawn Mitchell has changed the script by introducing legislation that grants some benefits to same-sex couples — with the support of James Dobson and Focus on the Family,” Mr. Ponnuru said.
“His legislation results from an asymmetry in the debate. One of the reasons many people support civil unions or same-sex marriage is to get certain practical advantages for gay couples. The main reason other people oppose these policies is that they do not want the government to recognize homosexual relationships as marital, or even as akin to marriage.
“Mitchell’s idea is to make certain benefits available to gay couples — and to many other pairs of people. His legislation would make it easier, for example, for gay men to arrange to give each other a say in their medical care by becoming ‘reciprocal beneficiaries.’ But two brothers, or a brother and sister, or two male friends, could enter the same arrangement. Thus there would be no recognition of homosexual relationships as such. (Hence Dobson’s support.)

Go ahead, call me a Moonie. I don’t care. It is still a great paper.

Sunday Roundup

The Baltimore Sun had a lot to write about today. Good! So now I do too.

Democrats' bill-killing causes some GOP testiness

Originally published February 19, 2006

Howard County's 11 state legislators have been especially polite to each other in delegation meetings this election year, but after a final voting session Wednesday in Annapolis in which Democrats killed three Republican-sponsored local bills, a few verbal talons emerged.

Who can blame them. All three were good bills.

Bates argued that her bills would help taxpayers while Democrats said they would pre-empt county government tax-cut initiatives and cost millions of dollars in revenue.

And she is right and the democrats position is misleading at best. Just because the delegation approves the measure doesn't mean that it will pass the entire geneneral assembly. It also would have been a great prod to use against the County Executive and the County Council in order to get them to move on the issue.

Who could blame Del. Miller for hard feelings especially after his equally good bill was shot down by the delegation and earlier his Gasoline Bill has shot down in committee.

Sign Waiving

Come on. Please! A distraction for drivers? One accident since 1998? What was the source of this article? What prompted it?

I sign wave for candidates. It is effective and not a distraction. I went out to Patuxent and Brokenland with friends on Friday, in the rain for about 1 hour. We just put signs in the ground and watched over them. We got great visibility, a lot of car horns and waving (a few fingers), and generally got out message out.

Robey comments:

"I see people on cell phones, putting on makeup, eating their breakfast and reading the paper while driving," Robey said. "The last thing I want to do is have them looking over at me."

Made my day. Present legislation enforcing the use of headsets for cellphones when driving, and ticket the rest of these idiots. Don't attack free speach.

The real problem here is that Republicans love sign waving, are good at organizing the events, and they are effective. When the Democrats catch up we won't hear about this again. This issue is also reminicent of Ulman's earlier attempt to surpress sign waiving through his roadside vendor bill.

Ken Ulman Announcement

A letter appeared in the Sun complaining that The Sun didn't give Ulman's announcement adequate coverage, which amounted to an early endorsement for an unnamed Ulman opponent. Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Frankly, I think that it got any coverage at all … (never mind).

Mr. Ulman's letter on Doughoregan Manor, which also appeared in the HoCo Times, appeared in the Sunday Edition of the Baltimore Sun. I have nothing further to add than my earlier post and the "Me Too Kid".

Chief Livesay and Quota Systems

I have been a salesman for over 20 years selling mostly telecommunications products and services. For 20 years I carried a quota. It isn't an easy thing to carry a quota – one feels the "monkey on your back" all the time. Eventually you get used to it, but the monkey is still their.

When you go into sales you expect a quota. It is a business after all, and revenue is a critical component to keep the lights on and people paid. However, if you are a law enforcement officer quotas are a completely different thing.

Take a look how Howard County Police Officers feel about quotas in this Washington Post article.

Or look at the Baltimore Sun story

(Looks like the Chief got squeezed on this one.

This kind of policy creates divisions within the department.

Although some supervisors told their squads that they would not enforce the policy, others threatened their officers with disciplinary action if they did not comply, the sources said.

"Everyone was outraged that there might be disciplinary actions for not meeting a quota," one police source said.

This is surprising. The program has been in effect for two months and he is just hearing about complaints? I run an organization of 60 people in Maine, Boston, Maryland, and Irving, TX. I talk to everyone at every level in my organization because I want to know what is going on in the business, and to spot good talent. It doesn't take 2 months for complaints to reach me and I can't understand why it would take 2 months (3 months according to the Baltimore Sun Article) to reach anyone else.

According to the Post article:

Sherry Llewellyn, a department spokeswoman, said Chief G. Wayne Livesay suspended the directive for all officers yesterday morning after first learning about the complaints Thursday. He believes the officers "may have misinterpreted" the policy, she said.

The Sun says:

Howard Police Chief Wayne Livesay canceled the short-lived policy yesterday after learning about it from The Sun the day before. Up until then, Livesay said, he had not seen the written agreement between commanders and patrol supervisors dated Nov. 22 that included consequences, such as warnings and additional performance evaluations, for patrol officers who did not meet the drunken-driving arrest and traffic-stop "goals."

Hadn't seen the directive? Who is running the Police Department? Well I admit it isn't me, and I don't know how things operate in the Howard County Police Department or any other Police Department. All I know is that I know how I run my organization and it is very hands on – so something like this wouldn't escape my attention for 2 or 3 months. I don't believe for a moment that Chief Livesay doesn't have a handle on the day to day activities of his organization.

It is probably more accurate to say "suspended the directive… after first learning this would be printed in the paper and he is now running for County Council."

House Economic Matters Committee Kills Cheap Gas Bill

I can't wait to hear and/or read the spin on this

February 17, 2006
Contact: Ellen Townsend (410) 841-3582

House Economic Matters Committee Kills Cheap Gas Bill

(Annapolis, MD) Today in Annapolis, members of the House Economic Matters Committee voted to kill House Bill 127, which would have provided for true competition in gasoline pricing in Maryland.

Delegate Warren Miller, the bill’s sponsor, stated “It’s unfortunate that the committee chose to protect Exxon and BP franchisees instead of Maryland consumers of gasoline”.

Joining Delegate Miller in support of the bill were Delegates Joanne Parrott of Harford County and Rick Impallaria of Baltimore and Harford Counties.

———————————–

Members of the House Economic Matters Committee

Emmett C. Burns, Jr. No
Mary A. Conroy No
Brian J. Feldman No
Jeannie Haddaway No
Hattie N. Harrison Excused
Richard K. Impallaria Yes
Sally Y. Jameson No
Ruth M. Kirk No
Susan W. Krebs No
Carolyn J. Krysiak No
Mary Ann Love No
Brian K. McHale No
Warren E. Miller Yes
Joseph J. Minnick No
Brian R. Moe No
Joanne S. Parrott Yes
Herman L. Taylor, Jr. Excused
John G. Trueschler No
Michael L. Vaughn No
Mary Roe Walkup Absent
John F. Wood, Jr. Absent

Me Too Two on Doughoregan

Ken Ulman' Letter to the Editor

Never one to be left out of the headlines or to jump into the fray. Councilman Ken Ulman submitted a letter to the Howard County Times regarding Doughoregan Manor. Councilman Christopher Merdon has taken a lead role in ensuring that all the relevant parties are participating in the discussions regarding preservation of the Manor and Mr. Ulman must want to be seen as a co-leader in the effots.

Mr. Ulman was absent from the recent tour of the property by State officials. Of course he was. Mr. Merdon arranged the tour and many elected officials were left off the invitee list in order to respect the wishes of the Carroll family.

I have a keen interest in this issue because of my Irish Catholic background and my involvement in the activities of the Irish Community – including the Ancient Order of Hibernians, past Chairman of the Baltimore St. Patrick Parade, current Chairman of the Board of St. Patrick Celebrations, Inc., and of course my extensive collection of traditional Irish music

Charles Carroll's cousin was John Carroll, also a native of Maryland. He studied as a child with Jesuits at Bohemia, Md., and later at Saint-Omer in Flanders, since Catholic secondary education was not allowed in Maryland.

According to his biography "[John]Carroll returned to his native Maryland as the Revolutionary War was being fought. Revolutionary spirits were high, and the state of government was uncertain. John Carroll was a true patriot and ardent supporter of the American Revolution. He joined Charles Carroll, his cousin and a Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Benjamin Franklin, his good friend, in a diplomatic mission to Canada. The men went in hopes of persuading the Canadians to join the struggling American patriots in their revolt against Britain. Though their mission was unsuccessful, John Carroll had proven his dedication to democracy and to his country."

John Carroll later went on to become the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in America and his seat was in Baltimore.

To me the preservation of the Manor goes beyond the property itself. The contributions that the Carroll family made to the Revolution, and their faith is embodied in the property.

As for Mr. Ulman's statement:

I believe that one important component of these plans should be to guarantee that Howard County has the right of first refusal if and when the descendants of Charles Carroll choose no longer to keep Doughoregan Manor as their home. We must ensure that this treasure is kept in the hands of stewards who will appreciate and preserve it appropriately.

Why? Howard County alone can not preserve this property. It requires a partnership with other governmental agencies at the State and Federal level. The interest in this property goes way beyond the County's own interests. I also think Mr. Ulman misses an important point. No one but himself has suggested that the Carroll family will "Choose to no longer to keep Doughoregan Manor as their home". The whole point is to ensure that they can remain and continue their excellent stewardship – in private.

I am glad Mr. Ulman is interested and seemingly agrees with Mr. Merdon's position for the most part. However, I see his letter as a another "Me Too" moment.

Lt. Governor Sandra Schrader????

Speculation abounds as to who Governor Ehrlich may pick for a running mate.

One name that has popped up twice is State Senator Sandra Schrader (Howard County)

In the Washington Times

The governor also has several women to consider as running mates, such as state Sen. Sandra B. Schrader, Howard County Republican, and Secretary of State Mary D. Kane, who is married to Maryland Republican Party Chairman John M. Kane.

and in The Gazette

‘‘Getting high marks from both GOPers and Dems — Ehrlich would be smart to add her to his ticket.”