Kelly Russell Announces Candidacy for City of Frederick, MD Alderman

Kelly Russell

Since moving to Frederick 25 years ago, I have spent my career in public service. I had the privilege of serving 22 years with the Frederick Police Department. I am an appointed Coordinator for the Neighborhood Advisory Council, and serve on the City's Zoning Board of Appeals. I am at heart, and in vocation, a public servant. It is that mission, and a desire to help shape the future of Frederick, that has led me to run for Alderman.

Over the years our elected officials, city agencies, local businesses, concerned citizens, and many others have worked together to make Frederick a terrific place to live, work, and spend our leisure time. They understood the importance of bringing resources together to reach goals. This kind of collaboration is critical, and must be nurtured.

Our elected officials should be proactive supporters of "community government." What this means to me is that government works in partnership with residents, businesses, and other groups to identify, prioritize, and solve problems. This encourages more participation by citizens in shaping decisions that will affect them, enhancing our quality of life.

That philosophy requires that our elected officials be accessible and responsive. Any citizen who wants to contribute ideas to improve the quality of life in Frederick must be heard. Elected officials must take the time to listen to new ideas, research and learn new approaches, and implement "best practices" for our city.

I also believe that it is important for our elected officials to speak up when decisions are being made poorly or too hastily and without adequate information. I think it is critical to ask questions, and ensure that issues are weighed in the context of the common good. This is how I have conducted business during my career, and this is how I will do things if elected.

So, common sense for the common good is my not only my campaign slogan; it's my way of operating. Each decision made by the Aldermen affects our citizens, though some have more obvious impact than others. My pledge to you is that I will approach all issues with an open mind, with fairness, and with curiosity. I will work to build a collaborative environment in City Hall to deal effectively with concerns. I will actively seek input to get the most comprehensive view of issues. I will use common sense to make decisions. I encourage you to visit my website at votekellyrussell.com, and to reach out to me with your concerns. I look forward to serving Frederick into the future.

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Editor's Note - We have not endorsed any of the Democratic candidates in the City of Frederick election at this time. We will be learning the positions of the candidates as the campaign unfolds and will provide insight and commentary for our readers. We have offered all the Democratic candidates the opportunity to publish an announcement column from them on our website.

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City of Frederick, MD Change of Election Date Update

George Wenschhof Bio

Change of Election Date Update - as readers of this site know, I supported the change of the election date from the current off-year election date to the presidential election year. I wrote about this in a column back in November of last year. The current voter turnout in the city general election averages around 30-32% and the presidential election year is over 70%. The local chapter NAACP President Guy Djoken, the Frederick Young Democrats, Democratic mayoral candidates Jason Judd and Jack Lynch had all expressed support for this change to the presidential election cycle.

While the city population has more than doubled in the last thirty years, the voter turnout remains a dismal percentage of the registered voters which further exacerbates a feeling many voters have that they are not represented in city hall.

I requested and received a workshop to discuss this change. On January 14, 2009, the city held the workshop and four of the five aldermen along with the Mayor approved of the change to coincide with the presidential election cycle. Only Republican alderman Paul Smith did not support the change. I reported on that meeting and you can read that here.

After months of my following up with Republican Mayor Jeff Holtzinger asking when he was going to move this forward to a regular Mayor and Board meeting for a vote, he informed me he was adding this topic for discussion on a evening workshop scheduled for the city budget review. The mayor also informed me he was planning to throw out a proposal for nonpartisan elections. This was one week before the scheduled workshop and I published a notice on my site you can read here.

Delaying a vote on a issue you do not want to pass and adding another controversial issue to the discussion is a very old political tactic to derail a change you do not wish to see happen. To further delay and stop this change, the mayor threw out that this proposed change should go to referendum. This is ironic as the current 30% of the voters in the general election could vote to keep the system the way it is, therefore maintaining the status quo with only 30% of the registered voters determining the Representatives of the City of Frederick. It appears the mayor has been successful in this regard.

The evening workshop last week on April 15 was poorly attended and only three of the five aldermen were in attendance. Democrats Marcia Hall and David Koontz were absent. It was a rainy evening and I was also unable to attend due to a nagging cold I have been battling.

Little discussion took place after Alderman Alan Imhoff ran through various options available in moving the election date (ie. state/county election cycle or stay the same). Republican alderman Paul Smith continued his opposition and Democratic Donna Kuzemchak expressed she believed she had changed her mind on this and wanted to leave it as is. Donna had been waffling from the beginning but had stated during the January 14 workshop that the "benefits outweigh the negatives". Imhoff discussed that to coincide with the presidential election cycle the primary would be held earlier (in late February or early March) than currently scheduled in early September. If scheduled separately, it would also cut back on possible savings in cost for the city and also be separate polling locations in the primary and the general elections.

I would also oppose separate polling locations for the primary and general as it would confuse the voter. However, as I explained to the mayor in a email previously, it would be simple to schedule the primary during.the summer months when the schools are closed. The question surrounds the use of the schools as a polling location. They are used in a presidential election and the concern is they would not be available to be used in September when the city currently has the primary scheduled. As to a reduced savings, that is still a positive for the city and if it cost the city a little more money to double the voter turnout, there should be little argument against it.

Many voters and candidates have expressed to me frustration the primary is so late and the general election occurs only seven weeks after the general election. Moving the primary to a date late in June so the schools could still be used for polling locations would eliminate the concern of two separate polling locations in the election. It would also allow for more campaigning to be done following the primary and before the voters chose their candidates in the general election.

Unfortunately, status quo and 30-32% of the registered voters determining who is the Mayor and Aldermen will be in the City of Frederick appears to be a election cycle that will continue under the current administration.

This is just one more reason for a change in city hall.

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Obama Continues to Project New U.S. Image

George Wenschhof Bio

The Summit of the Americas is ending with hope for new relations with the U.S. - the two day summit in the Port of Spain, Trinidad is ending with President Obama once again reaching out and providing a new image of the U.S. Even President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela sought out President Obama to give him a book. Later, Chavez informed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton he would like to reestablish political ties. He now wants to bring back the the U.S. envoy which he had expelled last year. President Obama also discussed willingness to have discussions with Cuba which would follow the U.S. lessening of travel and monetary restrictions of relatives. MSNBC.com has more here.

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Murphy Up By 273 Votes in NY District 20

George Wenschhof Bio

All of the absentee, military and overseas ballots have now been counted and Democrat Scott Murphy leads 79,839 to 79,566 for Republican Jim Tedisco. This special election is needed to fill the House seat vacated when Kristen Hillibrand was picked by NY Governor David Patterson to fill the vacant Hillary Clinton U.S. Senate seat. Politico.com has more here.

Most of us who had followed this special election in District 20 felt it was too close to call and that turned out to be the case. This is much to the chagrin of Republican Leaders including RNC Chair Michael Steele who had hoped to use a Republican victory here as a way to say voters were turning against the Obama administration.

Kristen Hillibrand, who had held the seat previously is a moderate Democrat who had surprised many by winning in a district with a predominate number of Republican registered voters. President Obama had also won this upstate NY district with 51% in the election last year.

There remain 1,773 challenged ballots from the campaigns with 810 being Democrats, 653 Republicans and 310 Independents. It is not impossible for Republican Jim Tedisco to make up the difference, but it is unlikely. Let's hope this does not turn into a mini Minnesota where Republican Norm Coleman is still using legal action to challenge his defeat to Democrat Al Franken five months after the election.

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