With less than a week to go before final votes are cast, let’s take a deeper look into the Republican primary election ballot.
A little less than a month ago, I put a bi-partisan endorsement for voters to consider of three Republican candidates and three Democrats for to consider on their respective ballots for this coming Tuesday, June 24th.
I have re-listed these six candidates at the end of this article, but you can read about more detail on each in Part 1 of 2014 Frederick County Primary Election Endorsements.
Looking over the competitive races in Republican primary, the following are the candidates I like:
County Executive: Blaine Young
I figured that I best tackle the topic of our current and final President of the Frederick County Board of County Commissioners right off the bat. I did support Blaine in his 2010 successful run for office. He made some campaign promises and kept them … that is something in and of itself. Have I liked the manner in which he has handled himself in certain situations with the public? No, not always.
Despite that he has been publicly plummeted of late for just about everything he says or does, the onetime Republican gubernatorial wannabe has openly challenged the state Democratic establishment over any number of issues, including the incredible financial mandates placed on Maryland counties from the EPA and MDE. He has also butted heads with the state and many in our community over the planned sale and privatization of the Citizen and Montevue Nursing homes.
His style has often been tough and offensive to some, but with that said, I stand by him in his bid to be first County Executive for Frederick County.
Many have claimed him to be too friendly with the development community. As I have written in several MacRo Report Blog posts, I believe that his work to replenish the housing pipeline that was run dry by the Jan Gardner administration four years earlier has been wisely implemented. Facts and statistics make it clear that even with what appears to have been a flood of approvals, the county is still behind in filling the pipeline. Then approved by the Gardner administration to meet the mandates of Governor O’Malley’s goal of adding 36,000 new housing units in Frederick County by 2030.
Some may say that my endorsement may be self-serving, but after nearly 42 years in the real estate business in our community, I have dedicated countless hours of time to all aspects of the businesses, people and organizations that make give Frederick its pulse. And I have experienced firsthand how many others have run county and city government, including his primary opponent David Gray, as well as Jan Gardner, who will be Democratic challenger in November.
Many want to believe that there will be greener pastures ahead, if Young is defeated. All I can say is that those years would surely be different … but very likely even more contentious among and between neighboring jurisdictions … not to mention heavily laden with new and strict regulations and restrictions on businesses, as they were just four years ago.
Surely no candidate is perfect, and for some voters none of the county executive choices will be pleasant, but I stand by Blaine Young.
OK, so that is enough on my thoughts about the County Executive race!
- House of Delegates — District 3B: Darren Wigfield
- House of Delegates — District 4: Kelly Schulz & Wendy Peters
- County Council — At Large: I lean toward Billy Shreve … however, there are three other candidates worth serious consideration — Wayne Creadick, Dick Johnson &Jennifer Charlton
- County Council — District 1: This is another tough choice. I lean toward Grace Hallenbeck with her experience of working for years with the charter government structure of Montgomery County … I really think she gets it. A very close second is Carol Sepe, who would bring an interesting perspective to the office.
- County Council — District 5: Yes, I like Kirby Delauter and his no nonsense style, sure he has caught a lot of flack of late from his opponents, but as a commissioner, he has proven to be a very thoughtful decision maker.
- Sheriff: Chuck Jenkins
- Republican Central Committee: Mike Bowersox, Michael Catoe, Daniel Cowell, Joe Parsely, Cindy Schaff, Billy Shreve & Darren Wigfield
The candidates endorsed in the May 28th post are as follows:
- Maryland State Senator, Republican, District 4: David Brinkley
- County Council — District 2, Republican: Anthony Chmelik
- County Council — At Large, Democrat: Linda Norris-Walt
- Circuit Court of Frederick County: Danny O’Connor
- County Council — District 3, Democrat: Dwaine Robbins
- County Council — At Large, Republican: Bud Otis
As I always say, don’t take my word for it, do your own research on all the primary candidates and then get out and VOTE!
Once the dust settles and all the primary votes are counted, it will be time to re-vet all those standing and do this all over again … Good Luck to all candidates!
The author: Rocky Mackintosh, President, MacRo, Ltd., a Land and Commercial Real Estate firm based in Frederick, Maryland. He has been an active member of the Frederick, Maryland community for over four decades. He has served as chairman of the board of Frederick Memorial Hospital and as a member of the Frederick County Charter Board from 2010 to 2012, to name a few.