20060908 KDDC An advance copy of Howard for Commissioner Ad

An advance copy of a Doug Howard for Commissioner Ad due to be released September 11^th, 2006

September 8^th, 2006

Pasted above is a Doug Howard campaign ad that Mr. Howard was kind enough to advance to KDDC. The above image may be too small to read well, so below please find the text. I have reformatted some of the paragraphs for readability on a blog…

September 11, 2006

Dear Carroll County Republican Voter,

Tomorrow, you will go to the polls. I respectfully ask for one of your votes for County Commissioner.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the many of you that have supported our effort, volunteered your time and provided encouragement. So many of you have been to our web site, attended forums or contacted me directly.

I am proud of the positive campaign that we have run.

I am proud that we have created plans for the future, set specific goals and offered new ideas.

Throughout this campaign we have presented our ideas without attacking other candidates or existing commissioners.

I do not subscribe to or support the methods of personal attack or mudslinging that we have seen. Such negative campaigns undermine the serious business of choosing our elected officials.

These are not the values of our party.

I do believe that we need a change on the Board of Commissioners. It’s time to bring a business approach to managing our county government.

We need less taxes, control on spending and economic development.

I want to bring my business experience, ability to work with others, command of new technologies, enthusiasm, energy, conservative philosophy and strong family values to county government.

I ask for your vote!

Respectfully yours,

Doug Howard

Candidate, County Commissioner

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20060908 KDDC d1 Commissioner candidates discuss approaches to growth

Commissioner candidates discuss approaches to growth
September 8th, 2006

In case you missed it – I had…and just found it… On August 27th, 2006 Justin Palk writing for the Carroll County Times wrote a piece on growth issues in the county.

Anecdotally, I have heard reports that some folks have grown tired of a discussion on growth issues in Carroll County. I have certainly not.

For those of us who were born and raised in Carroll County, we remember “quality of life” in Carroll County from long before it was a campaign issue.

When we were quite younger – growth was an issue for other reasons. Counties and communities after World War II were anxious to attract jobs and new folks to our communities as a matter promoting a continued quality of life. We needed the economic development and candidly we needed new blood.

Of course, Westminster was always a bit of an anomaly because of its history of attracting business because of its position on the routes west. New folks and businesses were attracted to Westminster in the early 1800s; after the Civil War; in the boom years of the 1890s after the “Panic of 1883,”, and in the very early 1900s.

Westminster has also always seen folks settle here as a result of Western Maryland College – McDaniel College.

New folks were a good thing until around when I-795 opened in 1985. At that point the paradigm began to change as agricultural land that had previously been handed down to the succeeding generation began to be more valuable growing houses that whatever economics it could generate as a farm.

It was in the 1980s and 1990s that we started to see a precipitous erosion of our quality of life. Growth and development brought about congestion, complexity, traffic problems and a lost sense of cohesiveness in the community.

Of course, this all came to a head in the election of 2002, when a grass-roots sea-change caused the voters to elect folks who would be aggressive about managing growth.

This aggressive approach to managing growth needs to be maintained as it will take awhile to get properties that have been purchased and zoned for growth to make their way through the system.

The property rights put in place prior to 2002 and purchased by a contract purchaser cannot be removed by plebiscite – whether we like the fact that all those houses are going to come there or not… We cannot deny someone their purchased legal rights because public opinion has changed.

However, we can learn from this lesson and be careful how we go about zoning property and designating appropriate residential growth areas in the future. Which is, as far as I am concerned – few and far between. We have the residential rooftops – what we need are local jobs.

Which bears out my point - now that the paradigm has changed, we need to see it through or the reasons why many of us call Carroll County home, will no longer exist.

The article is titled, “Candidates put forth policies to manage growth.”

It begins:

Between April of 2000 and July of 2005 - the latest date for which data is available - Carroll's population increased by 11.7 percent, from 150,897 to 168,541, according to the Maryland State Department of Planning.

That makes Carroll the ninth fastest-growing jurisdiction in the state in absolute terms, and seventh in terms of percentages.

MDP estimates that by 2010, the county's population will grow by another 11,000 residents.

That growth increases the pressure to improve infrastructure, such as roads - the state is studying how to increase the capacity of Md. 140 through Westminster, and improve Md. 26 between Md. 32 and Liberty Reservoir - and schools - such as a proposed high school in the northeastern part of the county.

The Times asked each candidate for Carroll's Board of Commissioners whether they think the county is doing enough, too much, or too little to manage growth in Carroll, and to explain why. What follows are the responses we received.

Please find the time to read the rest of the article by clicking here.

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20060908 Negative ads and fliers plague Carroll County primary election

Negative ads and fliers plague Carroll County primary
September 8th, 2006

In the last week a number of negative ads have appeared in the Westminster Eagle and the Carroll Standard newspapers. Additionally negative fliers have appeared in mailboxes.

Both the Carroll County Times and the Westminster Eagle and Eldersburg Eagle have written about this.

In a statement released late Friday evening, September 8th, 2006, by current incumbent Carroll County Commissioner Dean Minnick, he stated:

“On Monday morning, I will formally ask Carroll County State's Attorney Jerry Barnes to pursue all means of investigating the possibility of criminal action behind the recent spate of malicious campaign literature published in one weekly newspaper and mailed to thousands of county voters in their homes.

I believe that we have more than violations of election laws at issue, and I will request an investigation into the possibility of conspiracy and racketeering. The misrepresentation of facts that have been disseminated go beyond differences of opinion or mere ideology. They are the calculated attempt to destroy reputations and derail the electoral processes by which people choose their leadership. It cannot go unchallenged.” Dean Minnich Vice President, Carroll County Commissioners.

In a telephone interview with commissioner candidate Doug Howard this Friday afternoon; he said what lots of Carroll County Republicans are saying; “These are not the values of our party.”

A statement which was repeated in a piece of campaign literature advanced to KDDC by Mr. Howard. His campaign literature, slated to be released September 11th, 2006, also said; “Throughout this campaign we have presented our ideas without attacking other candidates or existing commissioners. I do not subscribe to or support the methods of personal attack or mudslinging that we have seen. Such negative campaigns undermine the serious business of choosing our elected officials.”

In a Justin Palk article in the Carroll County Times on Friday, September 8th, 2006:

Although Shewell and Stocksdale said they had not seen the ads or not reviewed them in detail, respectively, both distanced themselves from negative advertising generally.

"I've tried to stay on the high road," Shewell said. "Certainly a lot of the nastiness makes it a disincentive for the good people to run."

Stocksdale echoed those sentiments.

"I do not do negative campaigning," she said. "I don't think people appreciate negative campaigning."

You can read the rest of the article here.

Meanwhile - - I’d like to call upon all credible candidates for elected office in next Tuesday’s primary to condemn the negative campaigning. Please send KDDC your statements at kdayhoff@carr.org and I will be more than happy to post them on KDDC.

In the last issue of the Westminster Eagle and the Eldersburg Eagle, both Editor Jim Joyner and I wrote columns addressing this last minute dynamic in what many recall as one of the most unpleasant election years in 16 years.
The title of my column is: “Just so no to reality TV in Carroll County election campaigns.”

The title of Mr. Joyner’s column is: “Final daze Voters should be aware of wild political finish.”

I also have a Tentacle column addressing this issue of negative campaigning. “Why go negative?”

The Eldersburg and Westminster Eagle sent out the following e-mail alert calling attention to an article Editor Jim Joyner has placed on the web sites of the two county publications.

“County refutes ads mailers attacking commissioners”

You have been sent this e-mail alert from The Eldersburg and Westminster Eagle. These stories and other updates are posted on The Eldersburg Eagle Web site, http://www.kevindayhoff.com/2006/09/www.theeldersburgeagle.com and The Westminster Eagle Web site, http://www.kevindayhoff.com/2006/09/www.thewestminstereagle.com.

“County refutes ads, mailers attacking commissioners”

09/08/06 By Jim Joyner

Carroll County officials this week refuted several claims made in political ads this past week by a group called the Carroll County Republican Club, saying the bulk of the organization's accusations are false or misleading.

The group has distributed mailers, placed paid advertising in county newspapers - including The Eagle - and is reportedly also operating an automated messaging campaign, phoning homes in the county.

The bulk of the campaign is aimed at unseating the incumbent Board of County Commissioners, and suggests that voters opt for challengers.

Various aspects of the ad campaign claim that the current commissioners - Republicans Julia Gouge, Dean Minnich and Perry Jones - have spent money on extravagant travel, allowed multiple housing units with single building permits, have declined to spend money to build schools; and are proposing legislation that would allow the county to impose a personal property tax.

County officials say all those allegations - and others - are false.

Read the rest of the article here or here.

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Meanwhile, Justin Palk, writing for the Carroll County Times has written two articles thus far.

On Thursday, September 07, 2006, Mr. Palk wrote a piece entitled: “State probing election adverts.”

Maryland's State Board of Elections is reviewing negative campaign ads from what appears to be a new Republican club in Carroll County for compliance with state law.

An organization calling itself the Carroll County Republican Club, which has sent out mailings to county residents, among other advertising, is not registered with the state as a political action committee, said Jared DeMarinis, director of the State Board of Elections' candidacy and campaign finance division.

DeMarinis said he could not comment further on the matter because the board is reviewing it.

In general, organizations that raise or spend money for a specific candidate in an election do have to register with the state, he said.

You can read the rest of this article here.

And then on September 8th, 2006, Mr. Palk wrote: “Candidates deny contact with group.”

Some of the Republican candidates being supported in ads being investigated by the State Board of Elections said they have had no contact with the group responsible for the advertisements.

Dave Greenwalt and Michael Zimmer, both candidates for Carroll County commissioner, and incumbent Dels. Tanya Shewell and Nancy Stocksdale, both seeking to retain their seats in District 5A, said they have no connection with and have no information about the group, which identifies itself as the Carroll County Republican Club.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org
http://www.thetentacle.com/
Westminster Eagle Opinion and
Winchester Report
http://www.thewestminstereagle.com/
http://www.kevindayhoff.com/