City of Frederick, MD Democratic Buzz

George Wenschhof Bio

Democratic Mayoral candidates:

We conducted our first of a series of online "Meet The Candidate" forums for Jason Judd and Jennifer Dougherty and were pleased that we were able to post their live answers to your questions without a glitch. I was concerned as to how my recently acquired computer skills would hold up!

You can read the questions and the responses by Jason Judd here. Jennifer Dougherty's responses can be read here. We will be holding these the beginning of each month throughout the primary campaign. If you miss the live date, we will post links in the right hand margin of our Home Page so you can easily access and read. They are a great way for you to get to know the candidate so make sure you post your questions when we ask for them and tune in for the candidate's live responses. I will also be interviewing the candidates at a future date and will keep you posted on when.

Jason Judd continues to attend house parties as he meets city residents and is planning a Chili primary fundraiser at his family's home in Yellow Springs. The date is Sunday May 3 and the cost is $25 per person and $40 per couple or family. All types of chili will be served, including vegetarian. To RSVP email carolynjudd8955@hotmail.com or call (301) 695-5766.

Jennifer Dougherty continues to gear up her city campaign after taking a short respite from her recent campaign for the 6th district congressional seat. It appears former city Public Information Officer Nancy Poss will be helping her in her campaign. Dougherty's press releases today sound like themes from a congressional race as she talks about the need for the city to "Get Off the Grid" with ideas on how the make the city use of energy more efficient. You can read her ideas on this here. She also talks about her idea of a "Civilian Conservation Corps 2.0" to help save the watershed. You can read her proposal here.

Democratic Aldermen candidates:

Kelly Russell who was the first to file several months ago, finally held a formal announcement yesterday. We published her announcement column yesterday and it can be read here.

Michael O'Connor and Andrew Kotkin are the other Democratic aldermen candidates who have filed to date.

All of links to the websites for the Democratic candidates are conveniently located in the right hand margin of our Home Page. I encourage you to check them out.

Incumbent aldermen David Koontz and Donna Kuzemchak are expected to run for reelection and this would bring the number to five.

Frederick County Young Democrat President Burke Miller informed me he was accepted into Law School and will not be running for alderman. Best wished for Burke. He has done a great job reestablishing the Young Democrats in the area.

Former City of Frederick Director of Planning and later Director of Community Development James Schermschal informed me he had given it some thought but he is busy aiding his parents who are in assisted care. He informed me his father just turned 89! Happy Birthday!

Frederick News Post columnist Katherine Heerbrandt reported in her column yesterday that Karen Lewis Young will be filing for aldermen soon. Karen is married to Ron Young and was a former President of the Board of Directors of the Weinberg Center. If she and Jennifer Dougherty were elected it would promise to be a better show than the Bill Hall - Jennifer Dougherty showdowns during Jennifer's term as mayor. When Karen was President of the Weinberg Board, she and Jennifer were constantly battling over the future direction of the Weinberg Center.

Rumors persist that former two-term alderman Bill Hall will also enter the race after recently changing his registration back to Democrat. He would be an automatic favorite as he is well liked in the community.

Carol Krimm, a member of the local Democratic Central Committee continues to be another possible candidate for alderman. She attended the city workshop last Wednesday evening and spoke of how the city should not have neglected to file the required paperwork with Frederick County Government to receive their reimbursement from the tax equity program.

When I ran for alderman in 1997, I spoke of how the county tax equity program no longer was equitable for the City of Frederick and the double taxation rate for city residents was unfair. The formula for the City of Frederick needed to change back in 1997 and still needs to today.

As other names surface and candidates announce, we will keep you posted.

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City of Frederick, MD Democratic Buzz

George Wenschhof Bio

I began the first of what will be ongoing posts pertaining to the City of Frederick election back on January 20.

Jennifer Dougherty made official, what I had predicted in that first column, when she announced her candidacy for Mayor yesterday. By announcing yesterday, Dougherty who is Irish will be in the news today on St. Patrick's Day.

Also yesterday, Jack Lynch announced his withdrawal from the race and his support for Jennifer Dougherty. Mr. Lynch was a former columnist with Air-it-Out with George Wenschhof.

Mr. Lynch has always come across as sincere in regard to his positive vision for the future of the City of Frederick. He will stay involved by working on the Dougherty campaign and managing the website. Look to see him stay involved in local politics. It is entirely possible he will surface in a future campaign for elected office.

We published posts yesterday on the Dougherty and Lynch announcements.

Meanwhile, the Judd for Mayor campaign continues moving forward with plans to begin canvassing City of Frederick residents this coming weekend. In a recent email sent to supporters, Jason Judd indicated he wants every voter to have a copy of his Brochure.

The alderman race grew by one Democrat yesterday when Andrew Kotkin filed his paperwork with City Hall. I spoke with him yesterday and he sent me a press release on his announcement.

Mr. Kotkin has lived in Frederick for nine years and owns a residential project management company. He and his wife have three children under the age of six. He emailed me the following as to why he is running for alderman:

"Quality of life issues, in my mind, are some of the biggest concerns for the citizens here in the City, and at the rate we are continuing to grow, we will need a government that has the willingness to listen to those concerns and voice whether it is acting in the best interest of those citizens it claims to represent."

I informed him we will publish a column from him detailing the reasons he is running for alderman and he indicated he will send to us. We have offered the same to all the Democratic candidates when they make their announcement. You can contact him at Kotkin4alderman@live.com

It still looks as though incumbent Democratic aldermen Donna Kuzemchak and David "Kip" Koontz will run for reelection. Their entry would increase the number to four Democrats running for alderman. The fourth is Kelly Russel who was the first to file.

Michael O'Connor also informed me he is moving closer to announcing he is running for alderman. Political junkies know him as the host of "Pressing Issues" a political discussion show that was broadcast by Comcast. I remember when he was a reporter with Adelphia cable and we actually had a local television news station. He is obviously knowledgeable of city issues and will make a competitive candidate. Look to see him announce within the next several weeks.

Popular former alderman Bill Hall will make it six Democrats running for alderman when he makes his announcement. He was the top vote getter in the 2001 election and will be looked upon as a favorite to win a seat on the five member Board of Alderman.

I also mentioned Carol Krimm, who is a member of the Frederick County Democratic State Central Committee, as a possible candidate in my January 20 post on the site. She would make it seven Democratic candidates and if successful and elected, she would be the first from the local Democratic central committee to win election to public office since 1997. Blaine Young, who was the chair of the committee at that time won and served one term as alderman. He is now a registered Republican.

Burke Miller, the President of the Frederick County Young Democrats indicated to me yesterday he was still considering a run for alderman. He plans to call Democratic activists to receive some advise prior to making a decision.

He would make it 8 candidates vying for five seats in the Democratic primary. The above eight Democratic candidates are all solid so look for an exciting Democratic primary. In all likelihood, the number of alderman candidates will grow by another two to three candidates.

We plan to offer online forums for the Democratic candidates after the filing deadline July 7, so stay tuned.

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Bill Hall Switches Back to Democrat, May Run for City of Frederick, MD Alderman

George Wenschhof Bio

A source who is close to Bill Hall informed me Mr. Hall filed paperwork on Tuesday to change his party affiliation to Democrat. Many recall the popular Bill Hall as a two term Alderman for the City of Frederick. His brother Jim Hall is a member of the Frederick County State Democratic Central Committee.

He was elected in 1997 as a Democrat and served under Mayor James Grimes (R) and in 2001 he was reelected, receiving the most votes of any Alderman. If memory serves, he also received more votes than the elected first term Mayor, Jennifer Dougherty (D).

His relationship with Democrat Mayor Dougherty deteriorated rapidly after the election in 2001. One of the early disappointments was when Hall was not appointed as Liaison to the City Planning Commission by Mayor Dougherty. The constant squabbling with Mayor Dougherty led him to switch political affiliation to the Republican party. City of Frederick voters remember many of the contentious Mayor and Board meetings which typically involved Republican Aldermen David Lenhart and Bill Hall who disagreed often with Democratic Mayor Jennifer Dougherty.

Mr. Hall choose not to run for reelection in 2005 and Ms. Dougherty was defeated in the Democratic primary by former four term Mayor Ron Young. In the general election, Ron Young lost to current Republican Mayor Jeff Holtzinger. After a unsuccessful run for Congress in Maryland's sixth district last year, Ms. Dougherty is seriously considering running for Mayor of the City of Frederick this year and will soon announce her decision.

The word is Mr. Hall who indicated to my source, was always more comfortable as a Democrat, will file to run for Aldermen. He is well liked by city voters from both sides of the political aisle and would immediately be a favorite to be elected as Alderman. The City of Frederick elects five Aldermen whose role is similar to members of a city council.

Stay Tuned...

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