Candidates' Forum: Civility and Cliff's Notes for Cecil County Issues

August 5, 2010
By

  The first local candidates’ forum this week highlighted several hot-button Cecil County issues, and personalities, but the 100 or so people who attended the “Cecil County Patriots” forum for Republican county commissioner candidates heard some thoughtful observations,  politely expressed, as well as the (we admit it) headline-grabbing political outburst by one candidate.

   As The Cecil Times reported here within two hours of the forum’s conclusion Monday night, ( http://ceciltimes.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/kolodzey-blasts-pipkin-smigiel-they-will-destroy-this-county/ ) political newcomer Ted Kolodzey lashed out at the powerful GOP State Sen. E.J. Pipkin and Del.  Michael Smigiel, both R-36th District.  Three  political allies of the duo,  commissioner candidates from the Cecil Young Republicans Club, boycotted the forum sponsored by the local affiliate of the “tea party” movement.

   But apart from the brief moments of drama from one candidate, attendees were given a polite, almost academic discussion of a handful of issues, with each candidate given ample opportunity and time to respond to other candidates and to make a closing statement at the end of the evening. The forum was moderated by a member of Toastmasters’ International, who simply read questions and monitored times for responses but did not interject into the candidates’ statements.

   Some absentees from the forum have been attacking the event as some sort of a lynch mob, but for anyone present at the VFW hall in North East, nothing could be farther from the reality of the event.  Regardless of one’s agreement or disagreement with the “tea party” movement or the local group, the forum could not be characterized as anything but fair to all the candidates and raising issues of general interest in the county. There was no shouting, no catcalls and only some polite applause as each panel of candidates concluded their presentations.

   That said, some of the candidates had in depth knowledge, some had one-note responses on a variety of local issues and others had just a glancing familiarity with some basic points. So here is our report on the highlights of the issues and the candidates’ comments, with a few Cliff’s Notes for background.

    1. Artesian Water takeover of county water/sewer facilities: (County Commissioners sold county-owned water and sewage treatment plants to the private Artesian operation in what was touted as a way to get private funding for expansion of infrastructure in the I-95-Rt. 40 growth corridor. The sale is currently under court challenge.)

     Tari Moore, candidate for the GOP nomination in District 2, said that “aging” systems were a cost to the county and it was better to have them “sold” to “professionals” who could operate them properly. “I think it was a wise decision,” she said. Diana Broomell, a candidate for the Republican nomination in District 4, agreed with Moore’s assertion that “aging” systems were a burden on the county and better off sold to private interests.  Kolodzey, seeking the GOP nomination in District 3, said he favored privatization of many government services: “I support anytime anything goes private.”

    But former Commissioner Harry Hepbron, seeking his old District 3 seat, questioned the decision made after he left the board to sell the water and sewer facilities to private interests. He cited upgrades to county facilities during his tenure on the board and challenged the assertion that the county was unloading “aging” and deficient facilities. Since Artesian is a private profit-making company, citizens will clearly face higher user fees to allow the company to make profits, he said. Furthermore, by giving up water and sewer lines, the county has no power over where new lines go and loses its ability to direct infrastructure to the growth corridor. He said a better option might have been keeping county control over lines but outsourcing operation of water/sewer plants.

2. Revenue Growth, Spending Cuts– Moore said it was “absolutely critical” to promote economic development but also key to reduce “wasteful spending” by county government. Kolodzey said there should be significant spending cuts in county government and “they have to be forced.” Broomell cited her work organizing several “tea party” events last year as proof of her commitment to cutting spending by government and said the county budget should “start at zero” each year.

    Hepbron advocated a balanced approach, calling for expansion of the revenue base through incentives to business to locate in the county and create jobs for local residents as well as “in house” efficiencies and cost-savings. He cited his role as a commissioner in promoting “green power” to recapture gases from the county landfill that could be used as energy sources for the county to cut costs as well as selling energy to business as a new revenue source.

3. Economic Development/Jobs– (The current county budget cut spending for economic growth initiatives. Recent reports show most of the BRAC economic development, due to expansion of operations at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, is going to  job creation in Harford County.)

   Kolodzey said it was a “chicken and the egg” proposition and that cutting county taxes was top priority: “You need to do that (cut taxes) first and jobs will come second.” Hepbron said that “new jobs mean new revenues” for the county so that there is less reliance on property taxes to fund the county budget. He cited his experience  as a Commissioner to lure large businesses to the county with incentives, due to competition from nearby states, and that such incentives pay off in the long run through increased revenues and job creation.

    Broomell said that local employers and Cecil College should work together to promote job skills needed by business. She also said she was concerned that “we allow franchises to come in and undercut local business…the Super Wal-Mart’s are very detrimental to our local businesses.” Moore said that the county’s economic development office had brought in more new jobs than were lost due to the recession. She said the county needs to more aggressively seek BRAC-related jobs and economic development.

4. Charter Government– (Voters will decide on the November ballot whether to approve a change from commissioners to charter government, with a highly compensated, elected county executive in charge of most day to day decisions with a lower-paid, no benefits panel of county council members acting as reviewers of county executive actions.)

  Most of the candidates opposed charter government, with some saying it would cost taxpayers more money. Broomell said she favored “code home rule,” which would keep the current 5-member commissioners’ panel without a county executive, because code home rule provides more independence from Annapolis than either the current 5-member Commissioners form of government or the proposed charter government. (But code home rule is not on the ballot for voters to consider, only a yes or no vote on whether to adopt a charter form of government.)

  Kolodzey also opposed charter, saying he favored the commissioner form of government. “It will cost more and not be more efficient,” he said of charter government. Moore said that it was “more important who we elect” than the form of government. She said there needed to be more long-range planning for the future of the county.

  Hepbron cited his experience under the old three-member commissioners board, where there could be compromises reached after back-and-forth discussions, versus the newer five-member, staggered terms board. He said the current system led to stalemate, with two or three members always running for re-election and unwilling to make tough decisions.  In contrast to this system, he said he would favor charter government. But he also indicated he would be comfortable with an enhanced-powers five-member board, such as would be provided under code home rule form of government.

   The Cecil County Patriots will host another candidates forum later this month for Democratic candidates for County Commissioner.

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5 Responses to Candidates' Forum: Civility and Cliff's Notes for Cecil County Issues

  1. Diogenes on August 5, 2010 at 4:28 pm

    Cecil Times: You should sponsor a forum allowing the “Missing Candidates” to set the rules, which would be published beforehand. It could be held at Delegate Smigiel’s office so they feel comfy.

  2. John Brooks on August 8, 2010 at 11:51 pm

    Oh give us a break Diogenes, you going to give us anything serious. This county has serious issues and your foaming at the mouth at the Pipkin-Smigel Young Republican alliance. If anyone thinks they are going to take Kolodzey serious now after going after Smigel/Pipkin by saying they will destroy this county then you know nothing about Cecil County politics and I dont need you to lecture me though it would be hilarious to hear it since I probably a Smigel-Pipkin puppet too since I worked on the Mullin campaign and are a Cecil Young Republican Patterson, Dunn ally.

  3. Diogenes on August 10, 2010 at 9:00 am

    John, if you are a “Cecil Young Republican Patterson,Dunn ally”, you are truly a Smigiel-Pipkin puppet. They only allow true believers in their midst and purge/attack all who do not conform. By the way, when did the “Cecil YR’s” hold their last meeting (not including door knocking) ?

  4. Al Reasin on August 11, 2010 at 9:51 pm

    While I am member of the Cecil County Patriots’ steering committee, this comment solely represents my opinions.

    Thank you for your fair report on the Republican forum. We labored hard to make the forum as fair and non partisan as possible and utilizing the Toastmaster International organization, as was suggested to us, was only considered after it was researched to verify that they were non-partisan.

    Separating the Republican forum from the Democratic one was decided during the discussions with the Toastmaster representative and was necessitated, we believed at the time, by the total number of candidates and the limited time to present a forum and hold the audience’s attention. Had we known early on that three candidates would drop out, we might have gone ahead with our original plan of one forum for all candidates. That certainly would have lowered our costs; our resources are based on blind donations at our monthly meetings. And would have reduced the time consuming efforts of two of our steering committee members who assumed the major burden of this event.

    The Cecil County Patriots do not endorse candidates or parties, contrary to some TEA Party groups, but will provide information on our site for all candidates’ events and will direct members to candidates if they wish to volunteer their time.

    I take it upon myself to seriously analyze anything we propose to do as to how it will reflect on the Patriots. While we generically support smaller government, less government spending and lower taxes, we strenuously try to avoid addressing these issues at our meetings or in public announcement in any manner that may be considered partisan, regardless of our personal preferences. I think the forum is an excellent example of our efforts to be fair and non partisan.

    As you observed, the format was fair to the candidates. We tried to establish a format that gave a reasonable time frame for a policy statement and rebuttals. How anyone would consider the forum to be a “lynch mob” is beyond me. Since I have not seen anyone quoted and explain what that means, I have to assume that any such statement is “cover” for their decision to reject our offer to justify their positions in a give and take forum in front of their fellow citizens.

    I was very appreciative of the audience’s behavior during the forum and look forward to the Democratic forum on August 30th. I hope that all Democratic commissioner candidates agree to attend and give our citizens an opportunity to judge them while defending their positions.

  5. ceciltimes on August 12, 2010 at 11:47 am

    Thank you, Al, for your thoughtful comments and detailed explanations of how the forum was organized and the efforts that went into preparing for the event. It’s refreshing to receive such comments without the usual name-calling we see so much.

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