Cecil County Council: McCarthy Campaign gets Patriots’ $; Bailey Absent in Dist. 1
Fundraising for candidates in the District 1 County Council race is much like the campaign itself: Dr. Alan McCarthy, a Republican, is actively engaged while his Democratic rival, Pamela Bailey, is largely absent.
McCarthy, a Chesapeake City veterinarian and businessman making his first run for countywide office, has raised a total of $22,546. Cumulatively, small donations and fundraiser ticket purchases from individual members of the Cecil County Patriots, the local “tea party” organization, add up to $930— amounting to one of his largest contributions.
McCarthy, who has bought and sold investment properties for many years, also received a $1,000 donation from the Maryland Realtors Political Action Committee (PAC) in Annapolis. His financial report listed the donation under receipts from “political clubs” rather than a separate section reserved for reporting PAC money.
The Realtors PAC has also donated $3,000 to the campaign of Tari Moore, a County Commissioner who is the Republican nominee for County Executive.
McCarthy also received $1,200 from the Cecil County Republican Club and several other local candidates shipped funds from their own political accounts to McCarthy’s campaign. Candidate donations were received from Commissioner Robert Hodge (R-5) who is seeking re-election ($273); Judge Jane Murray ($373), who is unopposed on the ballot; and Moore ($273). Hodge also spent $95 on fundraiser tickets and Moore bought tickets worth $120. Judge Keith Baynes, who is also unopposed on the ballot, spent $105 on tickets.
Large blocks of fundraiser tickets were bought by several business entities, including $600 worth of tickets by Cecil Bank and $350 by Artesian Water of Maryland.
Most of McCarthy’s donations are relatively small and come from many familiar names in local business and political circles. David Williams of Chesapeake City, whose family owns auto dealerships in the county, gave $450 plus $50 in ticket buys. He is also a co-founder of the Cecil Business Leaders for Good Government PAC and advocacy group that has endorsed McCarthy, Moore and Hodge.
Democrats’ contributions to McCarthy include former County Commissioner Brian Lockhart ($100) and former schools superintendent and political candidate Carl Roberts ($205). Chris Sutton’s campaign committee for Sheriff bought tickets worth $70 and Port Deposit Mayor Wayne Tome bought tickets worth $35 with funds from his own campaign committee.
Meanwhile, Democrat Bailey, who dubbed her campaign committee “Candidacy for Pamela Bailey,” filed an affidavit stating she did not “intend” to fundraise or spend over $1,000 for her campaign. She has filed affidavits for both the pre-primary and pre-general elections reports. She has posted a smattering of small yard signs, mostly around her Earleville homebase.
Bailey, who works as a secretary at the county’s School of Technology, has attended two countywide candidates’ forums in the general election campaign and one forum in primary season. She also attended a small meet the candidates discussion at an Earleville church recently. But otherwise she has been largely absent from the campaign trail and community events around the county. She has said the illness of her mother has prevented her from more campaign activities.
McCarthy has been a frequent attendee at County Commissioner meetings and worksessions since long before the primary election. He has held several fundraisers for his campaign and has appeared at many community functions. His yard signs are posted all over the county and he has several roadside billboards.
Since Pamella Bailey will spend less than $1000 on her campaign, why would her opponent need to raise over $22,000? I will assume he will return the unused funds. Campaign funding, both local and national is getting out of hand.
She may well still spend more than $1,000. If she exceeds that amount she must file a detailed report later. I see that her campaign workers are placing 4×8 foot signs at polling places as well as up and down the roadways. Most seem to be placed in violation of the rules. We’ll learn the identity of her donors when the next report is filed.