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Carnival of Maryland O’Malley Watch BNN Bulletin Thomas Paine (Liberal) Town Hall Accuracy In Media News Max (Conservative) What Tom Says Real Clear PoliticsPosted by David Keelan on Thursday, April 27, 2006
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.
Howard County Maryland Blog 
Anonymous said
Both retired police Lieutenant Herman Charity and current police Corporal Fitzgerald have never been big supporters of the Sheriffs Office, looks like just more “playing politics” for personal gain.
Anonymous said
Thursday’s article in the Washington Post about how the Ho Co Police can not even police themselves is the latest example in a series of leadership failures (see also article on officers with fireworks, not controling a fatal accident, leadership being sued for maintaining a hostile work environment, etc.) that should make voters question if the Ho Co Police is the proper place to draw candidates from. Dozens of current investigations into officer misconduct go unreported, even those involving Commissioned Leaders.
Anonymous said
Oh great all we need is Jim Robey’s “Bagman” running around with a single bullet in his shirt pocket playing sheriff, what’s next Robey appointing a “Sewar” czar to account for all of the Money the county is wasting on Water & Sewar to bail out Baltimore City?
Anonymous said
Have heard talk that the HO CO Police Union pres is sucessful in the contract goals. And strong advocate for the uniformed men.
It would seem the “leadership failures” as noted in above post, would be more reflective of higher ranking police officials, not a corporal. Appears he does the job as assigned….Could be a good ‘fit’ for sheriff, a new face may be just what we need.
ANONYMOUS said
ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN CAVE. HE IS RUNNING THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE INTO THE GROUND!!!
GeneralZod said
Who will run this time around? Fitzgerald is an embarrassment to the office and the county.
Info said
Why is he an embrassment?
Alysha Mondragon said
Personally I don’t think that Mr. Handsome has received enough accolades for his humanitarian efforts. In my opinion a lot of celebrity do-gooders are totally phony and engage in so called good deeds merely for positive publicity. I have to say that I don’t think that George is one of the phonies out there in the world of celbrity do-gooders. I admire what he is doing for the Haitian people. I wish more celebrities were as real as he is when it comes to helping out those less fortunate in the world. So kudos to George and his desire to make this world a better place.
GeneralZod said
Info,
Lets wait until the campaign.
info said
Wait until the campaign? Nice put off. I guess you have to search for a reason.
GeneralZod said
Due to the Sheriff’s incompetence and lack of leadership for the past 3+ years he has given opposing Democrats and Republicans enough ammo for several election cycles. If you need me to give you a reason then you have not been paying attention.
info said
Interesting. I haven’t followed the office that closely. Most of the deputies I know are generally satisfied with the direction the office is going, but they want to see things move faster.
They are unhappy about the furloughs and losing their out-of-county take home cars. But as one deputy said, we are not unionized and do not have a contract to protect us like the police and fire and until we get a contract, the sheriff can only do so much.
As I also recall, most of the deputies also charactized their last sheriff as incompetent and sought someone to run against him.
GeneralZod said
The deputies would probably still have their take home cars if the Sheriff did not abuse his own. Ulman hates bad press so the ramifications just so happened to trickle down to the deputies. Fitzgerald made a lot of promises and has fallen short. Calling the last sheriff incompetent was drummed up by a few at the right time when it was easy to garner support. However, It was nothing more than political rhetoric followed by failed promises by Fitzgerald. He is a lame duck.
There will be plenty of time to dissect Fitzgeralds record in the upcoming months when the campaigns begin to unfold.
info said
I doubt they would have maintained their vehicle regardless of the issue involving the Sheriff’s vehicle. The County Executive not only took vehicles away from the Sheriff’s Office, but from many other county employees as well.
The only vehicles that were not touched was the police departments and that was because they had a contract in place that set limits on how far the vehicles could go outside the county.
From what I have been told Herman Charity has decided not to run against Fitzgerald and has told Fitzgerald that he would work with him and not against him and offer whatever assistance he could to help resolve some of the deputies complaints.
I’ve also heard that there may be another Howard County Police Officer looking to run against Fitzgerald Unknown if democrat or republican).
The bad press that Fitzgerald has recieved during his tenure has come from employees/desputies who were not happy that Fitzgerald beat Cave in the election, implement changes they did not agree with and proceeded to contact the press in an effort to bring him down as hard as they could.
There actions did not improve the Sheriff’s Office, it only brought it down and I guess they can feel proud that they brought the Office down to make their points known.
Right now it sounds like you are attempting to create your own political rhetoric to fulfill your own political agenda.
GeneralZod said
Info,
Nice spin but the only one who has a political agenda is James Fitzgerald. He and his supporters can continue to blame his employees and deputies in attempt to cover up his dismal record but sooner than later he will need to defend his record along with his policy decisions. If Fitzgerald’s campaign is based on Cave, the previous election and a blame employee first attitude then maybe he is not the best person for the job. The employees are not the problem failed leadership is and it starts at the stop.
Info said
No spin, just simple facts. The Sheriff’s Office is an elected position thus it becomes a political.
Not to drill on the past, but the prior Sheriff (Cave) had switched parties (Republican to Democratic) partly in the hopes of “better relations” with than County Executive Jim Robey (D). And the Sheriff prior to that switched parties from Democrat to Republican when Chuck Ecker (R) was County Executive.
So yes, anyone who is elected Sheriff will have some sort of political agenda. Fitzgerald is no different in that aspect.
It seems that no matter who is Sheriff, there are a group of people who have their own agenda and will push it.
You have said numerous times that Fitzgerald has not lived up to his promises. I’ve seen the Sheriff’s Office expand their duties, go from a part-time agency (hours of operation) to a 24-hr operation most days, eliminate un-needed programs or programs that are no longer useful, promote from within the Office and try to make things better where he has the ability too.
These are just some of the changes I’m aware of.
Sharon said
GeneralZod,
I would like to talk to you. Please email me at electhocosheriff@gmail.com — we are working on a campaign to replace the current sheriff.
Thanks!
GeneralZod said
These are just some changes you are aware of? LOL! For someone who has not followed the office that closely you sure do know a lot or at least pretend to.
You can sugar coat his record all you want but once he begins to campaign and the layers begin to unravel the county will see the incompetence and failed leadership James Fitzgerald has brought to the Office of the Sheriff.
Blame Cave, blame former employees, blame current employees, blame the deputies, blame the weather it does not matter. The only person Fitzgerald has to blame is himself.
Info said
I’m not sugar coating anything. My information comes from some of the deputies I know, reading the papers and just reading various blogs, websites and so forth.
From what it sounds like you and others want to blame Sheriff Fitzgerald and hide behind statements like the layers begin to unravel or dismal record, etc… without airing what the issues truly are. After all, if Fitzgerald has done as much damage as you say airing the issues now, instead of during a campaign, will give you a lot more credit with the citizens verses airing them during a campaign. Otherwise it looks like politics as usual.
GeneralZod said
Who else are we supposed to blame? He is the sheriff correct? Instead of trying to pass the buck perhaps he should take it like a real leader instead of having people such as yourself trying to pass it off onto his employees. People were disgruntled before Fitzgerald was elected and he promised to bring unity. Instead he has created more division and has spread fear throughout the office.
Fitzgerald has had 4 years so he can wait a few more months before his employees begin to air out the truth.
Patience.
Info said
No one is trying to pass the buck but you and other disgruntled employees. You have no problems blaming the Sheriff for your problems and trying to imply that he has others trying to pass it off onto his employees. Perhaps the division you speak of is being created by you (and others) to fulfill a political agenda.
I do not work in the Sheriff’s Office so I do not know the finer details of the personalities involved. As I stated before, my info comes from the deputies I know and the news articles that have appeared in the papers.
I enjoy debating issues, but it is hard to debate issues when the other person is not interested in presenting facts to debate on.
GeneralZod said
Patience.