Frederick Pulse Vigil a Poignant Moment

George Wenschhof

Last Tuesday evening, I was one of a reported 1,000+ people who attended the candlelight vigil in Frederick. I was struck by the need for reasonable gun control legislation, recognizing LGBT rights and for acceptance of religious beliefs. All three would sadly converge at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.  The horrific tragedy that unfolded would leave 49 dead and many more injured.  It would shine the spotlight on the urgent need for legislative action on firearms and the continued work needed in helping us treat each other in a respectful manner.

                               

Last Tuesday morning, although I had received a Facebook “Invite” from Kristopher Fair who was moderating the event, I was not planning to attend the Pulse Vigil in Frederick that evening. However, a visit to my primary care doctor in the morning changed my mind.  Dr. Syed Haque, who is the president of The Frederick County Muslim Council asked me to attend.  I had already read his column on the Pulse disaster published in the local paper condemning the action and he informed me he was a speaker at the vigil that evening. I told him I would of course attend.

The quickness of my answer to attend when Dr. Haque asked was due in large part because of the many Muslims in my medical team who literally saved my life in my battle with late stage colon cancer.  It was my primary care doctor who first suspected colon cancer, my gastroenterologist who confirmed my cancer with a colonoscopy and my Oncologist who administered my chemotherapy.  All are Muslim.  My oncologist would help me through the grueling six months of chemotherapy and continues to monitor me as does my gastroenterologist.  I would see several of them at the Frederick candlelight vigil.

It is possible my cardiologist, one of my surgeons and others who have provided medical care to me are also Muslim.  I do not know for sure because I never asked.  My concern with my medical team was and continues to be centered on their experience, their recommended treatment and their ability to keep me healthy.

Years ago the late David “Kip” Koontz moved to Frederick and approached me because he wanted to serve in public office.  I was actively involved in Democratic Party politics at that time.  I would treat him the same as I did the other Democratic candidates. He would eventually win and serve a term as an alderman with The City of Frederick.  He was the first openly gay candidate to hold office in Frederick.

When I was involved in the Maryland for Howard Dean presidential campaign, I would name Koontz as the Frederick County Dean campaign coordinator.  I did so, not because he was Gay, but because he was well suited for the position.

Recently, when I needed a ride to see one of my doctors, his partner was quick to volunteer to drive me, at one point telling me “We always appreciated you treating us fairly”.

I was fortunate to have been raised in a family devoid of bigotry and hate.  My late mother in her Will made sure I never forgot a story I had shared with her as a little boy.

She wrote “Remember when you were crossing to the Simpson’s, in deep snow and ice and a burly colored man came toward you, looking very mean? You said that, at first, you were afraid, and then as this man came close to you, he said “Be careful, boy, not to slip”, with great kindness in his voice.  You were nine years old. You said “Mother, in the top of my mind, I don’t like some people; but in the bottom of my mind, I love everyone”.  Do you remember this, George? I give to you what you already possess: love of and for others, and perfect fair play!”

I share the sadness for the loss of life in Orlando, the frustration and the call for action on gun control expressed by Reverends John Deckenback, Robert Apgar-Taylor, Anjel Scarborough, Carl Gregg and Rabbi Daniel Sikowitz during the Frederick vigil.

I am also thankful for their presence and the remarks given by Frederick County executive Jan Gardner (D), The City of Frederick mayor Randy McClement (R), and Frederick County Muslim Council president Dr. Syed Haque who denounced the horrific actions by the Muslim shooter in Orlando.

Kristopher Fair would do an excellent job moderating the event and I would like to give a shout out to Fredrick chief of police Edward Hargis and the police officers who were present.  They were extremely professional and although visible present, stayed in the periphery.  In addition, a correct decision was made to block off the section of W. Church Street between N. Market and N. Court Streets during the vigil.

It is also important to note the large crowd was equally mixed with straight and LGBT individuals who came together to mourn the senseless loss of life at the Pulse nightclub.

Too many mass shootings are taking place across America for congress to fail to act.  The United States has already experienced too many Newtown’s, Charleston’s, San Bernardino’s and Orlando’s mass shootings in recent years.

I grew up in Frederick County and hunted as a young boy.  Before, I went out to hunt, my parents sent me to the old Flair U.S. Army Reserve Center located on Rocky Springs Road to take a class on proper care of firearms.  I would use a single shot 20 gauge shotgun.  The only firearm I would ever own.

Reinstatement of the ban on the sale of assault weapons and high capacity ammunition clips is needed immediately.  I used to respect the National Rifle Association (NRA) as a young boy.  But I am disheartened listening to their rhetoric today.

Making it harder to obtain an assault weapon and high capacity ammunition clips should be a priority for congress.

After years of criminals using machine guns to wreck havoc and spread fear during the prohibition years, congress would ban the sale of machine guns in 1934.

Once again, it is time for congress to act.  This is an election year and voters should be asking their congressmen how they are going to vote on this issue.

The “No-Fly”, No-Buy” bill presently under consideration is a step but is not enough.  It is reasonable to expect that a suspected terrorist banned from getting on an airplane should also be banned from obtaining a firearm.

The last thing our country needs today are politicians who run for office flaming tensions by invoking fear and using bigotry. Discriminating against individuals based on religion, sex or sexual orientation is not a trait we should ever accept from our elected leaders.

We deserve better - Demand it and remember to vote in November.

Stay tuned.

Do Over Needed for Frederick Hotel/Conference Center

George Wenschhof

Sadly, the attempt by Mayor Randy McClement (R) of The City of Frederick to push forward the development of a downtown hotel/conference center has become a boondoggle of epic proportion.

In spite of the effort by proponents of this development to project a positive outcome resulting from the recently concluded Maryland general assembly session, no financing from the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) has been approved.  When reading reports of their hastily held press conference one would believe $16 million in state funds had been approved and it was full speed ahead for this development project.

Instead, what transpired in a convoluted manner, typical of action during the yearly legislative session, was the insertion of $1 million toward the project this year. However, the allocation of these funds is contingent on a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) being reached by all of the parties involved and the approval by Maryland Board of Public Works (BPW) for the use of MSA funds. 

In addition, the legislative wording included language requesting $7.5 million for each of the following fiscal years to be included by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) in his budget.  Not only does the Governor have to include these funds in his next two budgets, but the availability of these funds is once again contingent on a new MOU and approval for the use of MSA funds for this hotel/conference center.

It has been reported the developer has said they will not move forward until they have received the full $16 million, which puts us at 2018 and counting, if funding requests are approved.

Since being elected mayor nearly seven years ago, McClement has repeatedly had the cart before the horse in what he has framed as his signature project for the city.

Over four years ago, when the city was requesting $1million from MSA, I published a column where I pointed out “there was no site or developer identified, an update on the feasibility study had not been done and the city contribution to the project had not been decided or shared with taxpayers”.

In a recent column I wrote with the city MSA request now around $17 million “Opponents have alluded the “fix” was in for this site owner and developer, pointed out contaminants were discovered during earlier environmental studies, are concerned over the outcome of a historic building on the site that once housed a tannery and have added the Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) proposed for this project has now been banned by California, the state that first used this creative financing 50 years ago”.

Now, with a new MOU required prior to review for approval of stadium authority funds by Maryland BPW, it is an opportunity for The City of Frederick to review, amend or possibly terminate the questionable deal they negotiated with the developer.

Prior to submitting any request to the Maryland Stadium Authority for funds and The City of Frederick agreeing to buy the land and partner with the developer in the conference center, the city should take several actions.

At a minimum, the city should require the developer to obtain financing, site plan and building permit approvals at their expense prior to agreeing to any other conditions.  If the developer does not agree to these terms, it may present the opportunity for a do over of the entire process.

If so, this would allow the city to start over with a new request for proposals (RFPs) process with parameters more acceptable and fair to taxpayers.

An update of the feasibility study of the need for a 207 room hotel and 24,000+/- square foot conference center should be done taking into account the privately funded Holiday Inn/Conference Center expansion is anticipated to be completed in early 2018.  The Holiday Inn/Conference Center expansion will have a total of 205 rooms with 30,000+/- square feet of conference space.  It also has easy access to interstates and an abundance of onsite parking making the demand for two large venues within miles of each other suspect.

After an updated feasibility study is completed, it is likely data would support a more appropriately sized 100 - 110 room hotel and 5,000+/- square foot conference center in downtown Frederick.

Interestingly, as the name implies, the stadium authority fund was started in 1986 to lure a football team back after the shock of losing the Colts in the middle of the night and the desire to keep the Orioles.  Professional baseball and football stadiums were subsequently built resulting in the Ravens coming to Baltimore and the Orioles staying in town.

Over the years, politicians began to use MSA funds on public/private development projects across Maryland with mixed results.

The use of stadium authority funds requires public involvement and some of these projects have been costly failures in Maryland. Across the country, there are countless failures of similar projects.  So in a do over, it would not be advisable for the city to request any funds from the Maryland Stadium Authority.

Ideally prior to issuing a new RFP, as I suggested 4 years ago, the city should hold a series of public workshops to determine what level of government participation is acceptable to taxpayers.  This should be spelled out in the new RFP process, a serious omission in what was done previously. Examples of what a city financial contribution could be is a one time several million dollar contribution or a waiver of taxes for the first 5-10 years.  However, the city contribution should be finite with a definite end and not include any ownership of the property or partnership in the project.

The acceptable geographic area to request RFPs should also be expanded in the downtown historic district.

All of the above steps would increase responses, likely produce a more suitable site and result in the desired positive impact to the historic district.

The fact the city only received 2 responses to their previous solicitation effort should have been an immediate signal, something was amiss.

Continuing forward with the present proposal will only result in a monumental quagmire for taxpayers for countless years to come.

The Maryland board of public works would be wise to not approve the current $1 million request and any subsequent funding requests without the developer providing financing approval, site plan approval and building permit approval.

Hopefully, the opportunity presents itself for The City of Frederick to start over and move forward with a hotel/conference center that makes sense for taxpayers and is more suitable for historic downtown Frederick.

If so, let’s hope they take advantage of the opportunity.

Stay tuned.

DEMOCRATIC DOMINOS SET TO FALL IN MARYLAND

George Wenschhof

The announcement by Maryland U.S. Democratic senator Barbara Mikuski that she would not be running for reelection set off a momentous chain reaction among Democratic elected officials and activists.

On Tuesday April 26, primary election day in Maryland, voters will determine the outcome.

Democratic Representatives Chris Van Hollen (district 8) and Donna Edwards (district 4) are the front runners vying to become the heir apparent to Mikuski.  They are locked in a very tight primary battle with recent polling, when taking into account the margin of error, showing it is basically a tie.

There are still up to 18% undecided voters according to polls and they will determine who will win the Democratic primary. If past history is a good judge, the winner of the Democratic primary will easily go on to be elected the next U.S. senator in Maryland in November.

Both Van Hollen and Edwards would make an excellent U.S. senator and it is unfortunate Democratic voters will have to chose between the two of them and that one of them will no longer hold office.

The outcome may also be influence by voter turnout for Hillary Clinton who has been winning an overwhelming percentage of the African American vote, a strong voter demographic in Maryland.

My vote will go to Van Hollen who has been outstanding as a representative in Congress, leading me to once hope that one day with a Democratic majority he would become Speaker of the House.

An accomplished speaker, who is at ease in today’s 24 hour news cycle, his drive to be informed on all aspects of today’s politics with credibility in both domestic and foreign policy, makes him a perfect fit in the U.S. Senate.

Not surprisingly, the entry of Van Hollen and Edwards into the race for U.S. Senate, set off quite a chain reaction among Democrats aspiring to serve in Congress.

Today, I will look at the gerrymandered district 8 race that drew eight well qualified Democratic candidates battling to win the Van Hollen congressional seat.  Maryland state delegates, a state senator, a millionaire businessman, a former news broadcaster, and candidates with extensive government experience make up the Democratic field of candidates.

The winner in this Democratic primary will also very likely win the General Election.

Once again, this race is difficult for voters to decide from among such a well qualified field of candidates.

The front runners are state senator Jamie Raskin, David Trone and Kathleen Matthews. Although state delegates Ana Sol Guitierrez and Kumar Barve, David Anderson, Joel Rubin and William Jawando will each receive votes, none are expected to exceed a single digit percentage.

Raskin has the best grassroots organization among the candidates and his campaign fundraising in most races would be considered strong.  However the entry by Matthews and Trone has made this a contest between Potomac money and grassroots support.

David Trone, by his own admission has spent nearly $10 million of his own money in his self funded campaign and Kathleen Matthews who is the wife of political commentator Chris Matthews has also raised considerable funds for this congressional seat.

All three are well qualified and will be competitive. As a result, on Tuesday it is likely the winner will emerge from this race with a plurality of 35-40% and not a majority of the vote.

The get out the vote effort by the campaigns and how the undecided voters swing will also impact the outcome of this election.

While, I am concerned with the amount of money spent by Trone in this campaign and believe strongly in the need for campaign finance reform, I found him to be reasonable and sincere. I found myself mostly agreeing with his positions on pivotal issues when I interviewed him.

Matthew’s time spent as a television news anchor also has her well informed on the issues facing voters.

However, it is Raskin who has a proven record on supporting a pathway to citizenship, proposing effective gun safety laws, supporting renewable energy, fighting against fracking in Maryland and supporting an increase in the minimum wage to $12 an hour.

I am glad I do not vote in this district because the choice is so difficult.

Look to see Raskin emerge as the winner in this closely contested race.

As always, voters have the final say – If you have not already taken advantage of early voting, go vote on April 26th!

Stay tuned.

TRONE SELF FUNDS CAMPAIGN FOR CONGRESS

George Wenschhof

Recently, voters in Maryland’s 8th congressional district have been introduced to Democratic candidate David Trone by way of a series of compelling television spots and direct mail. Some of the televised spots depicted have been his growing up on the family farm, his father losing the farm, the growing of his successful Total Wine & More business, his caring for his employees and how he is self funding his campaign.

Sitting down and interviewing him recently at Beans & Bagels in Frederick, I found him to be straight forward and focused on winning the 8th district congressional seat.

He grew up on a chicken farm in nearby Berlin, Pennsylvania.  After, his father lost the farm, David told me he would make money by helping farmers sell their eggs to distributors using a pay phone as his office.

David would go on to Wharton business school and start his business which has grown to 150 stores in 21 states that had $2.5 Billion is sales last year. He shared he has been married for 28 years and they have four children.

His experience with politics is not new and he shared with me he had held fundraisers at his home for President Obama that raised $850,000 and one for the 2014 Democratic candidate for Maryland Governor, Anthony Brown that raised $1.2 million.

The announcement by Maryland U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D) she would not seek reelection set off a series of domino like actions among elected officials in Maryland. Including, the announcement by Chris Van Hollen (D), the current Representative in the 8th district, he would run for the Maryland U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by Barbara Mikulski.

This has led to 9 Democrats running for the 8th district seat.  The pundit frontrunners are state senator Jamie Raskin and Marriott executive Kathleen Matthews, followed by state delegates Kumar Barve and Ana-Sol Gutierrez.  Will Jawando, Joel Rubin, David Anderson and Dan Bolling are the others.

I asked David Trone why he was running and why he entered the race so late.  His answer was quick and one you might expect from a successful businessman, “I want to get things done”.

He acknowledged his late entry and the pundit thoughts on the race and said that the timing was right for him to run for office, saying he had just hired a CEO to run his business.  He told me he is not accepting contributions higher than $10 and is self funding his campaign.

When I asked if he had a favorite for president, Trone told me Hillary Clinton.

We would talk about many issues and his knowledge of Maryland politics.  A friend of Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot (D), he hired Andrew Friedson, who accompanied him to this interview, from Franchot’s office to be his senior campaign adviser.

I mentioned I had read his position on 20 issues he had displayed on his campaign website,www.DavidTrone.com, asking him “what was the most important issue to him”?

He said “the federal budget and tax reform”.  He added he supports higher taxes to the wealthy, saying “I do not have a problem paying more taxes”.  Trone said he also supports the Infrastructure Bank proposal put forward by Maryland representative John Delaney (D) to help rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. I asked David if he supports the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal proposed by President Obama and he said he did.

Job creation was also among the first issues Trone mentioned to me.  Trone also wants to double the $31 Billion funding of the National Institute of Health (NIH) saying this is one of the premier places in the world.

Education was also important to Trone who supports universal pre-k and free college tuition to students in exchange for 5 years of public service.

On gun violence Trone supports background checks and reinstating the federal assault weapons ban.  He also supports police body cameras.

Trone also supports a women’s right to choose and equal pay for equal work.

In regard to social security, he supports raising the cap on income taxed.  When it came to energy, Trone felt all federal buildings should be energy efficient.

We discussed the gerrymandering that created the convoluted 8th district in Maryland where 13% of the district is in rural areas in Frederick and Carroll counties and the rest in Montgomery County.  Trone told me he supports election reform and an end to gerrymandering, adding districts should follow the natural lines of communities.

I would not get to an in depth discussion on foreign policy with my only question coming as he was leaving. I asked if he felt U.S. ground troops would be needed in the battle with ISIS and he replied “It may be necessary”.

I found David Trone to be a sincere man who was direct with his answers who also listened to the thoughts I shared.  I took note he took time to have a conversation with Richard Jackson who owns Beans & Bagels upon his arrival to be interviewed by me.  Richard and his wife live in the 8thdistrict and when I informed Rich I would be interviewing Trone at his Deli, Rich wrote up a series of questions for me to ask him.

I had informed Trone about the list of questions when we first sat down to begin the interview, but time flew by without me asking them.  I was struck by Trone reminding me of the questions Rich had given me and asked if I would send them to Andrew. He said he would answer and send back to me so I could give to Rich.

He then headed off to other scheduled meetings and to visit volunteers in his Frederick and Carroll county offices.

The Maryland primary is April 26.

Stay tuned.