It was the new math on the Cecil County Council: Two members plus one new appointee equaled three majority votes to make many stalled decisions. But Two Amigos– after losing one of their past allies– had a hard time accepting the new calculus Tuesday and resorted to some of the most vicious, personal attacks...
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Joyce Bowlsbey, a longtime community volunteer who chaired the citizens’ panel that drafted the Cecil County Charter approved by voters in 2010, was appointed to the vacant District 2 County Council seat Tuesday by County Executive Tari Moore. But Del. Michael Smigiel, whose political allies lost majority control of the Council in the aftermath...
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The new Cecil County Council continued its 2-2 stalemate Tuesday as Cecil County Executive Tari Moore held off on appointing a successor to her old District 2 seat and asked for approval of a special legal counsel to represent the county in possible court challenges to her appointment. The County Council, in its first...
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LaFERLA TRIES to ORGANIZE FIRST DISTRICT DEMOCRATS Humorist Will Rogers once observed, “I belong to no organized party—I’m a Democrat,” and on the Eastern Shore Democrats have been largely on the losing end of organizational success in the past few elections. But Dr. John LaFerla, a Chestertown Democrat who unsuccessfully sought to unseat Republican...
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A Cecil Times SPECIAL REPORT A Delaware group associated with Mindy Carletti, a Perryville veterinarian who almost single-handedly wrote the county’s new animal control ordinance, began its $2.25 million animal control contract with Cecil County with an open house at its animal-less ‘shelter’ on Appleton Road Wednesday. Virtually all the staff of the operation...
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News Analysis It was almost like watching the Elkton version of “Sunset Boulevard” — the classic movie in which forgotten silent film star Norma Desmond pathetically declares, “Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up”– when the new Cecil County Council held its last formal session of the year Tuesday. Deadlocked again, the Council abdicated...
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Cecil County Executive Tari Moore filed a late campaign finance report documenting minimal financial activity in the final days of her successful campaign while Pam Howard, a Democrat who lost in the November election, pumped her campaign spending into high gear toward the end of the contest. Moore, who ran as a Republican but...
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Analysis Democrat Peter Franchot will not seek his party’s nomination for governor in 2014 and instead will seek re-election to his current post as Maryland Comptroller—a move that could limit potential political options for state Sen. E.J. Pipkin (R-36) of Elkton. In an email to supporters Tuesday, Franchot said, “It is no secret that...
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Two candidates for a vacant Cecil County Council seat, seeking endorsement from the Smipkin-controlled Republican Central Committee, are linked to Political Action Committee (PAC) financing of a smear campaign against fellow Republican Judge Keith Baynes, who resoundingly defeated Del. Michael Smigiel in the April primary for a court seat. But one of their PAC’s...
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Cecil County’s transition to Charter government got off to a mixed start, with the new County Council in a 2-2- standoff on even basic matters while County Executive Tari Moore moved ahead with assembling her top staff. Multiple sources said Wednesday that Moore had selected Winston Robinson, a Democratic candidate for county executive who...
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Analysis State Sen. E.J. Pipkin (R-36) has never liked losing, although he has done a lot of it in his repeated failed efforts to move up the political ladder in Maryland. So it is perhaps not surprising that he and his political cohort, Del. Michael Smigiel, who recently lost a campaign for a Cecil...
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There was an air of enthusiasm, hope and optimism for Cecil County’s future in the county administration building in Elkton Monday as Tari Moore became the county’s first-ever County Executive when the clock struck noon and Charter government ushered in a historic, new era in county government. Also, Dr. Alan McCarthy and Robert Hodge...
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In a bold move to launch her administration as County Executive without the partisan warfare that has stymied Cecil County government for the past two years, Tari Moore changed her political party affiliation on Thursday from Republican to Unaffiliated—a move that will block the Smipkin political faction from controlling who will fill her soon...
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In a final swan song before Charter government begins next Monday, the Three Amigos faction of the Cecil County Commissioners late Tuesday suddenly scheduled two “special” meetings so they can award an animal control contract to A Buddy for Life, a Delaware dog rescue group with no animal shelter and no experience in animal...
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News Analysis It was the virtual swan song of the Cecil County Commissioners Tuesday, at their last full-scale business meeting before the transition to Charter government that begins on 12/3/12, but there were also several shades of the Charter ahead—including a proposal for a highly-compensated Council “manager” and complaints by some members of the...
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