City of Frederick, MD Election Update 7-8-2009

George Wenschhof

The field is now set as the filing deadline of July 7 4:00 PM ET for candidates in the City of Frederick election has now passed.

While several last day filings did occur, there were no major surprises. Republicans and Democrats will each field three candidates for Mayor. There are a total of 20 alderman candidates; 11 Republican and 9 Democrats. The City of Frederick website has a list of all the candidates here.

The last day filings included incumbent aldermen Alan Imhoff (R) and David "Kip" Koontz(D). Also filing on the last day were two Republican candidates for aldermen; Shelley Aloi and Robert Cassidy. Ron Tobin (R) who is currently the executive assistant to Mayor Jeff Holtzinger (R), filed for mayor. I had heard rumors of this for the last month but was unable to verify.

Before I get into discussing the candidates, I want to say a quick thank you to Kari Melvin (hope I have the spelling correct) who works at city hall and provided me with the updated list of candidates. I stopped by twice; once around noon and at the end of the day - both times she quickly provided me with an updated list.

Also, during the day, I was contacted by NBC 25 reporter Jackie Cutler who wanted to interview me on the city elections. She had been receiving the daily updates from my site and wanted to hear my take on the upcoming election. My half hour interview in front of city hall after cutting and splicing, resulted in about ten seconds of fame on air as she interviewed a handful of individuals and reported on the last minute filings.

You can watch her report by clicking here and then clicking on the picture of city hall. It was the first time I had met Ms. Cutler and I found her to be very professional and well informed in regard to the local political scene.

Today, I will discuss the candidates for mayor. Tomorrow, I will discuss the aldermen candidates. On the Democratic side, I see Jennifer Dougherty and Jason Judd pretty much tied at this point, ten weeks from the September 15 primary election. The Democrat newcomer to the race; Chris Simpson has his work cut out for him. However, I found he had some interesting points in my brief telephone conversation with him after he filed last Thursday.

Mr. Simpson spoke of the decline of the neighborhoods off Route 40 (Golden Mile) and the need for a greater police presence. Depending on how the mainstream media treats him, he could, as a local born and raised city of Frederick man, catch on with some voters.

A local columnist, upon learning of Mr. Simpson's entry into the race, contacted me and asked me if I felt this would aid the Dougherty campaign. I did not feel Mr Simpson, as a present political unknown would aid either the Judd or Dougherty campaign. Instead, I felt he would draw equally from both which could prove to be interesting.

I plan to meet with Mr. Simpson on Thursday and will interview him live online as I did with Ms. Dougherty and Mr. Judd. Stay tuned and I will keep you informed when the interview will take place.

Jennifer Dougherty continues to go door to door daily as she campaigns to win reelection, while Jason Judd, who works in D.C. does not have the time to do so. While his support from former Mayor Ron Young is helpful, most people I talk to do not know Mr. Judd.

Dougherty signs have begun popping up everywhere of late, while the number of Judd signs appear to be unchanged from when they first appeared.

What the overriding issue will be for voters in this election is still to be determined. The early retirement buy-out debacle instituted by Mayor Holtzinger with consent of the alderman, continues to be the number one issue resulting in a head scratching exercise by city voters. Why pay someone 1-2 years of salary and then hire them back is hard to swallow for the everyday working man and woman.

Reduction in crime and safety is always of concern to voters which is why early remarks from newcomer Chris Simpson should not be dismissed.

Maintaining a satisfactory level of services to city residents while experiencing lean and difficult economic times will also certainly be a challenge for the incoming administration. In this area, Mr. Judd has a economics degree and Ms. Dougherty during her previous administration has written and had approved four annual city budgets.

The current administration has indebted the city at a record amount by acquiring land for a future park, finalizing a water agreement with questionable terms, and indebting the city for future infrastructure improvements including the now "infamous" jobs pathway road extension.

All of which will need to be paid for while city property values have decreased in values. This will result in less income for city services.

The annexation of additional land into the city at this point could become an election issue. Three farms known as the Summers, Crum and Thatcher farms have been brought forward for city mayor and board approval. They all appear to be premature as thousands of unbuilt units exist within the city boundaries at present.

One statement which has been attributed to Mayor Holtzinger by some is he feels the annexations are needed to pay for the cost of the water agreement. If true, the statement makes little sense. Planned reasonable growth takes into account the many factors impacted by increased development. The fact that the city entered into a water agreement does not automatically dictate additional land needs to be annexed into the city.

How the incumbent aldermen vote on these annexations and how the other candidates running for office weigh in on these annexations could easily become a issue of importance to the voters who are already tired of congested roads and overcrowded schools. However, if candidates oppose these annexations, they will have to move fast as the city mayor and board meetings have been scheduled.

The Republican field for mayor also grew by one when Ron Tobin filed to join Clint Hoffman and Randy McClement. Incumbent Mayor Jeff Holtzinger added confusion to the Republican effort by first being noncommittal to his intention to run, then filing to run for reelection, and finally withdrawing from the race.

Mr. Hoffman, a owner of a local towing business is the long shot. Mr. McClement began by being the only Republican candidate for mayor who had the support of state delegate Rick Weldon (I-3b). The rumor that Mayor Holtzinger would not file for reelection was strong, only to be dashed when he filed papers to run, making the incumbent mayor the favorite in the Republican primary. Holtzinger followed with his withdrawal from the race. This action was reminiscent of his supporter, former Mayor James Grimes who did the same thing only to refile for election in the 2001 election. Grimes would lose that election to Jennifer Dougherty. Will Holtzinger change his mind and refile? - doubtful.

So that leaves Ron Tobin, often referred to as "Darth Vader" or the "Grim Reaper" of city hall as the other Republican candidate for mayor. He was first hired by mayor James Grimes and was replaced during the Dougherty administration. Mr. Grimes was an early supporter of Holtzinger and upon his surprise election in 2005, Mr. Tobin reappeared at city hall.

Tobin will be competitive in the Republican primary due to support he will receive from the Grimes and Blaine Young camp. However, he is one who received the early buy out and was hired back by the mayor which hardly makes any sense whatsoever. Expect him to be clobbered with this.

Mr. McClement is the best qualified to win the Republican nomination due to his involvement with various city boards and commissions, including the update of the city charter. Randy has also attended many city mayor and board meetings. However, due to the support that will be given to Tobin, McClement will need to become more active and step it up in his campaign efforts to win the Republican nomination on September 15.

Tomorrow, I will discuss the aldermen candidates.

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