Gardner Questions “State of the County”

George Wenschhof

Jan Gardner

Yesterday, Republican president of the Frederick County, Maryland board of county commissioners Blaine Young presented the annual state of the county report.

In a press release, Young stated “Board President Blaine Young said, “This year’s state of the county presentation provides a snapshot in time of where we stand today. In spite of continuing challenges to the economy, Frederick County is addressing the structural deficit and long-term fiscal challenges, yearly county income has increased, total employment has increased, unemployment continues to remain under six percent, new housing demands have increased, and school construction projects have been moved up in the funding process.

“We are making good progress and heading in the right direction as far as budget, jobs, public-private partnerships, public safety, agricultural preservation, land use, housing, transportation and many other areas. We have made many tough decisions over the years, because we were determined to live within our means and that is now the norm for Frederick County Government.”

“Frederick County is on stable, healthy ground. Compared with other jurisdictions, we’re in a position of stability with regard to our bond rating, our retirement fund and other post employment benefits. Our accomplishments over the last year have much to do with our cooperative relationship with our municipalities and the business community. We have made our point that we are ‘open for business’ in Frederick County.”

“We would like to thank County Manager Lori Depies, our outstanding division directors and all the employees for their hard work in serving the citizens of Frederick County.”The complete report on the state of the county is available on the Board of County Commissioners’ webpage at www.FrederickCountyMD.gov/bocc.”

When I contacted former Democratic board president Jan Gardner, who is running for county executive, she told me she had watched their discussion on their fourth and final budget of their term.

She sent me an email saying “On the budget, the county is experience increasing revenues in all areas - property taxes, income taxes, and recordation taxes are all increasing.   Yet, they are projecting a $13.3 million deficit for the upcoming fiscal year budget.  Why?”

Gardner added “So, while they tout bringing the fiscal house in order, they have really not done so.   They also tout cutting the number of employees but then this doesn't translate into a smaller budget.   They don't mention the impact of privatization or the number of contract employees.   They lead people to believe that cutting employees has saved the county money and that spending has gone down when in reality spending has gone up every year.   The last board to adopt a smaller budget than the year before was during the last two years of the Gardner Board.”

“There has been little new agriculture preservation and school construction is at the slowest pace in 20 years.   They are not building new schools.   

The county unemployment rate has always been consistently lower than the state and federal unemployment rate.”

“They have eliminated a number of development fees and permits (which now the taxpayers pay for) and they tout that housing starts are finally going up but if you look at the numbers almost 2/3rds is in the City of Frederick (where the fees still exist).   I find it interesting that the county has not picked up the pace of new housing starts and the City has when the County eliminated all the fees.”

“Another interesting item to me was the lack of information on WTE.   The slides were the same as last year except one was missing.   Last year they said they were looking for a new partner to replace Carroll County, expected permits in the Spring of 2013, and would re-run the financial with new energy/electricity costs.   They acknowledged that they were still waiting for permits but nothing was mentioned on finding a new partner or Carroll County getting out of the deal or running new financials.   It was basically just a description of the project.    I was really surprised that no one asked anything more about this since it is a topic of interest to the community.” 

Gardner concluded by saying “ Employee morale is at an all time low.  Education has suffered. Services to people in need have been wiped out. Young is selling county assets including buildings at a loss.   He just cut a deal to sell the former BOE building and adjoining IT building to the "lowest" bidder instead of to the highest bidder!   Even though some services have been cut and employee positions eliminated, spending has gone up for several reasons including privatization costing more and subsidizing development in the operating budget.    This is his 4th budget and he needs to take some responsibility for having a budget deficit when revenues are going up!”

Stay tuned.

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Early Maneuvering Taking Place in Race for County Executive

George Wenschhof

The change to charter government in Frederick County, Maryland will go into effect with the 2014 election and early stage maneuvering is taking place in the county executive race.

Under charter, voters will elect a county executive and a seven member part time county council; five of the members being elected by districts and two of the members elected at large.

Former three term commissioner and president of the board; Democrat Jan Gardner is the only candidate who has filed to date for the county executive position.  A position that many will argue will be the most powerful in county politics.

With the announcement by Gardner, the more than twenty year battle over how the county should grow, is likely to continue.  Her official announcement has set up a colossal and much anticipated contest between Jan Gardner and Frederick board of commissioners’ president Blaine Young.

However, Young has put off announcing his intention until next year. 

In the 2006 election, four Democratic and Republican commissioner candidates formed a slate and ran for more managed growth. They called themselves “the dream team”.  The four candidates were; Jan Gardner (D), Kai Hagen (D), David Gray (R) and John Thompson (R).

In the 2010 election, the pendulum swung yet again and a “pro-business” slate of Republican candidates, led by Blaine Young were elected.

All of the members of the 2006-2010 dream team, including Gray were present to offer their support when Gardner made her recent announcement for county executive. David Gray, who received the top votes from the majority elected commissioners and won the President of the Board in the 2006 election, relinquished the gravel and allowed Jan Gardner to assume the position of president of the board. 

Which leads one to ask; why is Gray making noise he may run for county executive?  What is happening is early maneuvering by Republicans and Democrats.

Gardner, is trying to clear the field for an uncontested Democratic primary and there are political forces at work to try to encourage a more balanced candidate to run in the Democratic primary.  Some would argue a more developer friendly candidate to run against her.

Many of the supporters of Gardner are tied by their extreme dislike for board president Blaine Young, whose popularity has dropped tremendously over his three years in office.

Young’s reckless obsession to pursue privatization of government services, his instituting a questionable 25 year Developer Rights and Responsibility Agreement and his move to rezone a large portion of the county, has given them plenty of reason to be angry during the first three years he has served as president.

Some of the Gardner supporters believe it is supporters of Young who are trying to get a Democrat to run against her and so some of these folks believe Gray challenging Young in the Republican primary would be tit-for-tat.

It is extremely unlikely Gray would run against Gardner, if she would win the Democratic primary, making this scenario likely another rumor in the musical chairs taking place among local politicians.

Being the only candidate who has filed for county executive makes Jan Gardner the favorite at the moment.

However, lots of names have been floated with plenty of scenarios.  One has Republican state senator David Brinkley running for county executive and Blaine Young, with a residence change, running for state senator in district 4.

Another, has Republican sheriff Chuck Jenkins running for county executive. 

Don’t hold your breath for either of those rumors to become reality.

I reported after interviewing local attorney and Democrat Gordon Cooley, he had given it serious consideration but decided not to pursue a run.  Another Democratic I will be interviewing and who has had his name floated is former East Alco executive Earl Robbins.

Republican county commissioner Billy Shreve has also been mentioned, but he is not considered a strong candidate.

Look to see a contested race for county executive in both the Republican and Democratic primaries when the rapidly approaching February 25 deadline to file for candidacy, arrives.

This will be good for the voters of Frederick County – they deserve a choice.

Stay tuned.

An Early Look at 2014 Frederick County Election

George Wenschhof

Winchester Hall

The 2010 election year was a bad one for Democratic candidates in Frederick County, Maryland and for Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The surge in Republican conservatism, led by tea party zealots, resulted in a net gain of 60 seats for Republicans in the House.

Locally, where Republicans have held a voter registration majority for a long time, only two Democrats would be elected out of twenty-one elected seats on the ballot.

They were Ron Young, who beat three term Republican state senator Alex Mooney in district 3 and Galen Clagett who won reelection to state delegate in district 3-a.

Ron, who won by about 1,000 votes, was aided by the like number of vote advantage he received through the early voting from the poll conveniently located in The City of Frederick, which has a strong Democratic voter registration.

The Young-Mooney contest went against the national trend as Mooney was a right wing “tea party” conservative way before the tea party existed, although the district had been gerrymandered to have a majority of Democratic registered voters.

In none of the other 19 local races did Democrats even come close.

The inability to field a candidate for several of the top races in the county certainly hurt Democrats as did the failure of the Democratic candidates running for board of county commissioner to come together to form a slate.

County Sheriff and State’s Attorney headline the ballot and are two prominent elected positions in the county.  The failure to have a candidate on the ballot for these two positions as well as the high paying Register of Wills position did not help the other Democrats who were running for office in 2010.

The race for the board of county commissioners was a disaster for Frederick County Democrats in 2010 and a major focus of the 2014 election will be the race for county executive and the council, as the change to charter government is implemented.

All indications are the over 24 year local struggle over how to best manage growth in Frederick County will continue with the announcement by Democrat Jan Gardner she is running for county executive.

Present at her announcement, were the former members of the 2007-2010 board who made up the managed growth “dream team” during the 2006 election; John “Lennie” Thompson(R), David Gray(R) and Kai Hagen(D).

There has been a lot of talk about Democratic candidates challenging Gardner, so it will not be surprising if there is a contested primary.

Whether board president Republican Blaine Young, who has angered many voters by spending his term in office pursuing privatization of government services, will run for the county executive position remains a question, putting on hold, the much anticipated struggle between two candidates with opposing ideologies.  During a recent chat on the street, Young told me he would be announcing his intention next year.

 

Republican county commissioner Billy Shreve, who rode Blaine Young's coattails to election in 2010, has also been in the rumor mix for county executive, but is not considered a strong enough candidate for the position.  If he decides to run for office, look to see him either run for one of the two at large positions on the council or state delegate.

The new seven member county council will have five members representing districts and two members who are elected countywide.

It will remain a difficult contest for a Democrat to be elected countywide, due to voter registration, but a solid candidate, like a Jan Gardner, will be competitive and can surely win. 

Democrats will have a little easier go in several of the council member districts, especially the two made up primarily of voters from The City of Frederick and the district that includes The Town of Brunswick.

The Charter defines the council as part time members who earn only $22,500 and this will surely impact the strength and the number of candidates who will run for these positions.

The combination of at large and district elections for council members will also make it difficult for growth oriented candidate slates to develop, but look for the opposing ideologies in this area make an effort to do so.

The county sheriff position is another high profile position and interestingly, two term sheriff Republican Chuck Jenkins has been rumored as a candidate for the county executive position, should Blaine Young choose not to run.

If Jenkins decides to run again for sheriff, it will not be a free ride this time.  Republican Kevin Grubb, a former City of Frederick police captain who has established a candidate committee and Democrat Karl Bickel, who was unsuccessful in raising the needed signatures for an independent run in 2010, are both expected to run.

Whether Democrats will have a candidate for state’s attorney remains a mystery.  Republican Charlie Smith is expected to run for reelection.

The state delegation comprising of two state senators and six state delegates elected by Frederick County voters have been redistricted with the demarcation line being just north of The City of Frederick.

Due primarily to voter registration, look to see Republicans elected in district 4 with state senator David Brinkley and delegate Kelly Shulz a lock for reelection.  Republican state delegate Michael Hough, who was redistricted and delegate Kathy Afzali will be favored in the other two delegate positions.

In district 3, state senator Ron Young should win reelection, but expect a challenge to come from Republicans who are angered by his votes in Annapolis supporting same-sex marriage, the gas tax and the dream act.  

With the announcements by state delegates Galen Clagett(D) and Patrick Hogan(R) they will not be running for reelection and with redistricting creating a new seat for district 3-b, all three seats will be considered “open seats” and as a result, will be competitive.

City of Frederick aldermen Carol Krimm and Karen Young, Stephen Slater and Ryan Trout are among the Democratic names being mentioned with county commissioner Paul Smith and city alderman Shelley Aloi among the Republicans being mentioned at this time.

Look to see Democrats win at least 3 of the four seats in district 3 with a strong possibility of a sweep that would balance the Frederick County state delegation.

Early indications are 2014 will be a better year than 2010 for Democratic candidates running for election in Frederick County.

Stay tuned.

 

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Gardner Files Candidate Committee with State

George Wenschhof

Former President of the Frederick Board of County Commissioners; Democrat Jan Gardner informed me she has filed paperwork with the state of Maryland for a candidate committee.

Jan told me her friend and neighbor, Sharla Worley will be her Treasurer, adding Sharla has been her Treasurer for all of her campaigns.

Gardner recently left her job as state director for U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, which she had held since deciding not to run for reelection in 2010.

While, this action is not a declaration of candidacy, it does allow her to begin raising money and explore what many believe will be a run next year for the newly created Frederick county executive position.

It is now likely the anticipated battle royal between Gardner and current Republican President of the Board of County Commissioners; Blaine Young will take place.

 

Young also has filed a candidate committee with the state and recently announced he would not be running for Governor after months of testing the waters.

Stay tuned.

 

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Frederick County, Md. Commissioner Jan Gardner Guest on "All Things Political with George Wenschhof"

George Wenschhof

Originally Published July 6, 2010.

The President of the Frederick County, Maryland Board of County Commissioners is my guest this week. Jan Gardner has served three terms, the last as president of the board. She announced on the show she will not be seeking reelection, but will stay involved in politics and the community.

We spoke about many controversial issues including adopting a budget in difficult financial times, the recent comprehensive plan update, and the approval to build an incinerator for solid waste disposal in the county.

She was proud of her accomplishments over her twelve years in office and, in a bit of a surprise, indicated she would be okay in a change to charter government for the county. In fact, she would be interested in the county executive position should charter government be implemented in Frederick County.

You can watch the entire interview below.


To schedule an appearance on the show, place an advertisement, or donate to help local programing continue to be aired, email me at georgewenschhof@gmail.com

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