City of Frederick, MD Election "Sunday Snippets"

George Wenschhof

Just eight weeks to go until the primary on September 15 for the three Democratic candidates for Mayor and the nine Democratic candidates for aldermen. On September 15, Democratic voters in the City of Frederick will chose their mayoral candidate and five aldermen to be on the ballot for the November 3 general election.

I have interviewed live online all three Democratic candidates for mayor and you can find the links to their interviews in the right hand margin under "Wenschhof Candidate Interviews". Previous to Mr. Simpson joining the race, we had held "Meet The Candidate" online forums where readers asked the candidates questions. Those links are also located in the right hand margin of the home page.

I intend to have all three mayoral candidates as my guest again prior to the primary and am also considering a online forum with questions from you for them to answer.

On the Mayoral side, Chris Simpson sat down for lunch with Jason Judd and Jennifer Dougherty last week. Both had called Mr. Simpson and he said "let's do lunch" and they did. Mr. Simpson had told me Jason sounded a little tentative on the phone and Jennifer was very smooth and professional.

In person, Chris said they both came across well. Interestingly, they both asked him the same question; "Why did you decide to run for mayor?". Simpson added that Jason also said "You know, you might have just given the election to Jennifer". Simpson answered the same question in his online interview with me last week. He wants to help revitalize the west end and cares about Frederick.

Simpson said Judd also said he had read his interview with me on my website and informed him he had never indicated he was interested in going to Washington in regard to politics. Chris said he apologized to Jason for saying a statement he thought he had heard and asked that I add that in my next column - done.

Jennifer added in her conversation with Chris that some people were saying she had put him up to run. Chris thought that was funny as the luncheon meeting was the first time he had ever meet Dougherty.

Over the weekend, all three were out canvassing neighborhoods - I wonder if they ran into each other on the campaign trail? Judd and Dougherty signs continue to pop up in neighborhoods and I saw the first Simpson signs up last Friday.

So far, everyone has been nice, nice. Let's hope it stays that way and the mayoral candidates concentrate on the issues important to the voters and what they intend to do if elected.

Beginning next week, I plan to begin interviewing live online the Democratic candidates for Alderman. I have heard back from the first five I have contacted (Donna Kuzemchak, Josh Bokee, Kelly Russell, Michael O'Connor and Andrew Kotkin). They have all agreed to appear as my guest and now we will be scheduling times and dates. I hope to be able to have all nine of the Democratic aldermen candidates as my guest on the site prior to the primary. So, check back often to see when they will be appearing.

Some of the aldermen candidate signs have begun popping up in neighborhoods around town. Kelly Russell, who was the first Democrat to file, has her home neighborhood covered big time. Her choice of a oval inside a rectangle size sign is unique and catches your attention. Of course, she needs more than her neighborhood votes to win election. She had a planned canvass this weekend with volunteers she calls "Kelly's Heroes", so we may be seeing more signs elsewhere soon.

Michael O'Connor signs have begun to pop up as well. The strangest new sign I have noticed is a recycled cut up 2005 "Ron Young for Mayor" campaign sign being used presumably by Karen Lewis Young; his wife. The lower half of the sign which had the words "for mayor" has been cut off leaving only the word "Young". Ron did win the primary four years ago before losing in the general election so the correlation some voters may reach in their minds may work for Karen in the primary.

So far, my residence in downtown Frederick has received campaign literature from Mayoral candidates Dougherty (2 times) and Judd. Literature from aldermen candidates Josh Bokee and Karen Lewis Young has also been dropped off.

I met with Josh Bokee recently over lunch at my favorite "Beans and Bagels" deli downtown. His experience serving on the City of Frederick Planing and Zoning Commission will serve him well should he go on to win election to the Board of Aldermen.

Stay Tuned.

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