Burglaries up sharply in county

As reported in the Baltimore Sun this morning.

Howard County experienced a 49 percent increase in burglaries during the first three months of this year, but county police attribute much of the jump to a few burglars who committed multiple crimes each.

They throw around a lot of numbers in the article and a lot of explanations.

Open Thread

Nice long weekend and a nice short week.

Talk about what ever you want.

Quote of the Day

"I welcome Bates' and Miller's overconfidence and hope they remain that way."

Attributed to David Osmundson, a retired National Security Agency employee running for a delegate seat in District 9, by the Baltimore Sun.

Keeping in mind my bias.  Gail and Warren take all challengers very seriously.  With that said, I think Mr. Osmundson, in trying to depict Bates and Miller as overconfident, comes across as rather smug.  He should be prepared to try to keep up with Gail and Warren as they campaign very very hard across District 9A.  He will need a lot of help in trying to to keep pace with them.  They are among the hardest workers I know.

County Executive – Wallis to run

Dave Wissing at the Hedgehog Report saw this before I did.  He beat me to the punch again.  So did Hayduke.

One of Mr. Wallis' supporters posted a comment on "Cattails, Campaigns, & Cat Fights" and I am sure that Mr. Walli's supporters will be frequent visitors to the Howard County Blogs.

Running as an independent is going to be tough.  I have no doubt he can collect 2,000 signatures, if he is organized.  What will be tough is a general election.  I welcome a fourth voice to the race – although I have made up my mind already.

However, the issues he wants to address are high on the list of Chris Merdon's agenda.

Wallis said he mainly is interested in public safety, schools, adequate housing and managed growth, though he has no concrete action he wants to take if he wins.

Merdon PLAN

• Predictable Land Use
• Leadership in Education
• Accountability
• New Budget Policy

Ken Ulman states Education, Public Health, Public Safety are his priorities.

I think Howard County voters are more sophisticated than most people give credit.  Merdon understands, as the voters do, that at this point everything stems from Land Use.  Land Use has an unpredictable influence on everything else and unless we can get a better handle on land use then we will always be in a reactive mode to our education, public health and safety needs.  Even Harry Dunbar understands that.  I have heard Ken Ulman discuss land use as well, yet on his rather lengthy and wordy web site (someone talk to him please) I find little mention of land use, and budget policy beyond news releases and Columbia Town Center (I mean center of the universe).

Welcome to the race Mr. Wallis.

Cattails, Campaigns & Cat Fights

I read this article this morning.

Initially my thought was.  Merdon, what the hell are you doing.  The more and more I think about it – I am just plain pissed off – and not at Chris Merdon.

Overall, it is, as Joan Becker put it, unfortunate.  I wasn't there, but the way it is portrayed in the newspaper is unflattering to everyone involved.

The party in question should have had the courtesy not to take the seats, and Chris should have been his normal easy going self and let it go.  "Excuse me these seats are taken, when will you be finished?  Thank you."  Walk away.  For all we know that may be exactly what he did.

This is the first time I heard about this and here are my impressions from the article.

Herman Charity, The Hatch Act, HoCo Times

Don’t panic.  I am not at it again.

I have been told that Mr. Charity has decided not to run for Sheriff.  Apparantly the dust up over the Hatch Act and Wayne Livesay has given Mr. Charity pause to reconsider the implications of declaring his candidacy for a partisan office.

On April 27th I had reported that Mr. Charity was considering a run for Sheriff.

“Rumor has it he is considering a run. Also it is rumored (it may have been announced) that the President of the Howard County Police Departments union, Jim Fitzgerald may throw his hat into the ring too. “

Mr. Charity decided not to run (I am told) because he would have to resign from his current position (Assistant to the County Executive) in the County adminsration in order to launch a campaign.  Otherwise he would be in violation of the Hatch Act.

Well, that is a refreshing approach!  Maybe he should run for County Council District Five.  I wonder if he got an opinion from the OSC.

While discussing this with my source we wondered if Mr. Charity might not be Howard County’s next Police Chief.  Why not, he is Robey’s assistant, gained a lot of good administrative and management experience, he is a former policeman, good interim choice if Robey wants the next County Executive to appoint the next police chief.  Maybe that is why he isn’t running for Sheriff?  Probably not, Robey knew he would have to replace Livesay sooner rather than later.  Since I heard the initial rumor in late April I would think Robey would have said something like “Herman, cool your heels.  I have other plans for you.”

HOWARD COUNTY TIMES EDITORIAL

District Five County Council Race

Hayduke has a post on the recent Baltimore Examiner article regarding Mr. Livesay.  If you are interested in this subject go read my last post regarding the Hatch Act.  I wrote it prior to today's Washington Post article relative to Mr. Livesay's claims he never heard of the Hatch Act before he even filed to run. 

"When I first filed for office, I had never heard of the Hatch Act before," Livesay said. "I didn't even know there was such a thing."

Doesn't that just make a sad situation worse?  How can one submit multiple applications for federal funding and NOT be aware of the Hatch Act?  How can one sign a document saying they will uphold the provisions of the Hatch Act and then tell The Washington Post they had never heard of the Hatch Act?  How can that be?

Well maybe Mr. Livesay just signed what was put in front of him without understanding what he was signing?  Is he an empy suit?  Really, I am at a loss.  Can anyone suggest any other way that Mr. Livesay could have overlooked such a minor detail?

Route 40 Task Force Stonewalled?

Also from The View Newspapers

In 2005, the Howard County Government began a Route 40 Enhancement Study to identify viable redevelopment options for the commercial-driven corridor. The study focused on streetscape options, land use, and land transportation options to enhance redevelopment and land use policies along the corridor.

Angie Beltram believes that “the county has failed to follow the committee’s recommendations.”

Marsha McLaughlin, Director of Howard County Planning and Zoning, explained that she can identify with Task Force members, but current zoning regulations are still in effect.

My view is that Planning and Zoning is wrapped up in other priorities and I think their is some truth to Beltram's allegation that their may be some resentment regarding the comp-lite referendum process.  

"The attitude with Comp Lite is, well, they did it to us, well do it to them. It’s the inaction of the county as to why things haven’t changed. This county is not as open as people think it is.”

County Executive Candidates

The View Newspapers have published two interviews with the mothers of the two County Executive candidates (Chris Merdon and Ken Ulman).

Being interviews with their mothers you should expect them to be puff pieces – and they are.  Both of these guys are lucky to have such eloquent spokeswomen.

Merdon Article

Lorraine Merdon: “He is exactly the same now as he was growing up. He was always hard working. He worked through high school and college at various jobs – paper route, gardening, gas stations, even selling christmas trees. It instilled a strong work ethic,”

Ulman Article

Diana Ulman: “I feel  blessed with my family. I feel honored that both my sons want  to be involved and have an impact on the community they live in. It is a joy to see them making a difference in the world. As a parent you ‘cross your fingers’ and take one day at a time.”

Livesay and Compliance with the Hatch Act

Update:  Mr. Livesay was quoted in the May 25th edition of the Washington Post as follows:

“When I first filed for office, I had never heard of the Hatch Act before,” Livesay said. “I didn’t even know there was such a thing.”

This goes right to my point.  He doesn’t pay attention to details and does it his way.  Period.  How could he never of heard of the Hatch Act?  I don’t believe it.  I don’t think he ever bothered to find out what it was even though he said, sure, I will uphold the provisions of the Hatch Act.

I can understand if Hayduke doesn’t understand or never heard of the Hatch Act.  But Livesay signed federal documents saying that he did.  I also can’t believe he thinks he can get away with that claim.

____________________________

Original Post

When applying for federal grants the applicant must abide by certain assurances (including the Hatch Act) and sign a document to that effect.  There are exceptions to signing the assurance document every single time which is explained further down.  Regardless, they must abide by them when ever they receive grant money.

This purpose of this post is to show that the content of these assurances are readily available and should be very familiar to federal grant applicants.

As the Baltimore Sun reported on Sunday, May 21st:

According to the opinion, Livesay’s signature on current federal grant applications and his supervision of their implementation means he is covered by the Hatch Act.

So we know that Mr. Livesay’s signature appears on the applications.  One must wonder why he would not have been aware of these “ASSURANCES”, and would have to seek an opinion from the OSC to understand if he is “coverd by the Hatch Act” in the first place. 

According to guidelines an applicant is to provide assurances every time the apply for the grant that they will abide by certain rules.  So, every single time Mr. Livesay’s signature appeared on a federal grant application he was providing that assurance.  Did he read what he signed?  Did he understand what he was signing?  Maybe not, otherwise why seek an opinion. 

This is not a display of nuance or attention to detail on Mr. Livesay’s part.

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