City of Frederick, MD Democratic Mayoral Race Has Tongues Wagging

George Wenschhof

It is now only 54 days until the primary on September 15 and the race to capture the Democratic nomination for mayor is one to watch.

Four years ago, former four term mayor Ron Young reappeared to challenge incumbent and first term mayor Jennifer Dougherty in the Democratic primary. It had been 16 years since he had been defeated by Republican Paul Gordon who would go on to serve one term as Mayor.

However, before Mr. Young could appear on the ballot, there was a city charter provision requiring three years of residency which Mr. Young did not meet. The Republican aldermen on the board, frustrated with Mayor Dougherty, proposed and passed a charter amendment changing the residency requirement to one year. Mr. Young, who had lived literally a stones throw from the city boundary before moving back to the city, now met the requirement.

But, not so fast, as Mayor Dougherty vetoed the charter amendment nullifying the change in residency. What followed was a series of legal challenges, the result being Mr. Young was allowed to run for mayor. Along the way, the city charter provision of three years was determined to be unconstitutional, leading Mayor Dougherty to rescind her veto of the charter amendment changing the residency requirement to one year.

Interestingly, when the city three year residency requirement was determined not to be legal, and the amendment was passed changing it to one year, there is a 45 day period before it goes into effect. During this 45 day period there was no residency requirement for a mayoral candidate for the City of Frederick. It was during this period current Republican Jeff Holtzinger, who did not live in the city and another Republican; the late Stanley Mazaleski who resided in Emmitsburg, Maryland filed for the office of mayor.

Incumbent favored Republican alderman Joe Baldi, who was running for mayor and did live in the city, was defeated by Jeff Holtzinger in the Republican primary by 35 votes (1077-1042). How many votes did Mr. Mazaleski receive? - 35.

Mr.Young, after spending a reported record amount exceeding $100,000, went on to defeat Mayor Dougherty in the primary 2218 to 1690. You can read the City of Frederick primary results here.

Ron Young, however would lose in the general election to political newcomer and non-city resident Jeff Holtzinger 4740 to 4382.

Tongues wagged and pundits wrote that a spiteful Ms. Dougherty urged her supporters to vote for Republican Jeff Holtzinger ensuring the defeat of Ron Young.

While many others questioned why Mr. Young had not campaigned with more vigor after winning the primary. This group expressed doubt any candidate would be able to persuade enough voters to vote against the candidate of their political party.

Regardless, Ron Young and the Democratic party suffered an embarrassing defeat in the 2005 election.

The background is necessary as the pundits are writing and the tongues are wagging once more in the Democratic primary race for mayor.

Local Republicans are hoping the same divide that transpired in the 2005 Democratic primary will take place yet again this year. They hope it will lead to another Republican being elected mayor as they realize voter registration does not favor Republicans in the City of Frederick. So, many Republicans are helping to spread rumors of turmoil within the Democratic ranks.

This time, for the Democrats, it is a political newcomer and recent resident of the city, Jason Judd, former mayor Jennifer Dougherty and hometown Chris Simpson who are the candidates for mayor. All three have been my guest on the website and their interviews are linked in the right hand margin of the home page.

Some of the rumors circulating surrounding Mr. Judd who works for the Service Employees International Union and has the support of former Mayor Ron Young is he is just a surrogate for Mr. Young and the Union. In my conversations with Jason, I have not found that to be true. Rather, I see him trying to garner support from different folks throughout the city as he meets with voters expressing his platform while listening to their concerns. However, expect that label to stick somewhat as the race heads to the homestretch.

Others try to label Ms. Dougherty as the former mayor who could not get along with anyone and that is another unfair statement which will likely stick with some voters. I have found Jennifer to be cooperative, fair, and straightforward as to her positions on the issues. She is also busy reaching out to voters across the city.

The label that Mr. Simpson is running to aid Dougherty is another unfair and flat out not true rumor. The chances of Chris Simpson winning the Democratic nomination for mayor are slim due to the lateness of his entry to the race. However, it will not be due to his lack of campaigning. He will receive much more than a token number of votes.

Will Chris Simpson attract the blue collar vote? After meeting with him, I would argue that he will. From Mr. Simpson's perspective, he is not running to pull votes from one or the other Democratic candidate - He is running to win - the same as the other two Democratic candidates for mayor.

The Democratic candidates for mayor know better than to personally attack one another as it would only aid the Republican nominee in the general election. So, expect Dougherty, Judd and Simpson to stick to the issues and what they plan to do if elected mayor.

Instead, it is the Republicans who should be worried; especially so, if Ron Tobin becomes their nominee. He would be a lightening rod to galvinize and unify Democratic voters ensuring a Democratic victory in November. Democratic voters will tie him to the former James Grimes administration and all the turmoil and questions surrounding the last term in office by Mr. Grimes.

Further, the acceptence of a two year early retirement buy-out, only to be rehired by mayor Jeff Holtzinger is an outrage to all the working men and women in the city, regardless of political affiliation.

Republican voters would be better served to nominate Randy McClement as their mayoral candidate on September 15. Mr. McClement is known as a nice guy who has experience working on various city commissions. The most recent being the city charter rewrite committee.

While united Democratic voters will make it difficult for any Republican to win election as mayor, Randy will not act as the lightening rod to unite the Democratic base.

Look to see the Democratic candidates continue to concentrate on the issues important to the voters throughout the remaining 71/2 weeks prior to the primary and for a united front in the general election supporting their nominee for mayor.

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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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