When Del. David Rudolph (D-34B) eked out a tiny margin of victory in a three-way general election contest last year, his supporters breathed a sigh of relief and told themselves it wouldn’t happen again: “There’s always redistricting,” they hoped. Rudolph’s redistricting prayers seem to have been answered in the new maps proposed by a...
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It was Cecil County voters who gave incumbent Sen. Nancy Jacobs (R-34) her winning margin in the 2010 election, voting overwhelmingly in her favor while she narrowly lost her Harford County homebase. But proposed new redistricting maps would remove her from representing Cecil County and create a new two-county district with new representation. As...
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What’s in a name? In Cecil County—and especially in Perryville—there has been a lot of confusion over the two Mike Dawsons. But one of them recently filed election documents intended to make his identity clear to local voters. Michael W. Dawson (MWD) was the Constitution Party candidate last year for state Delegate in District...
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What part of you lost the vote—and the state Ethics Board also disagrees with you—does Cecil County Commissioner Diana Broomell (R-4) not understand? Like a child who refuses to accept a parent’s declaration of no cookies before dinner, it was déjà vu all over again Tuesday, as Broomell once again refused to accept defeat...
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Local impact aid revenues from the Hollywood Casino in Perryville are likely to be lower than previously expected and Cecil County schools face new cuts in state aid in Fiscal 2013, the county’s budget director warned county Commissioners Tuesday. Craig Whiteford, the budget director, outlined issues facing the county as Commissioners begin the budget...
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There wasn’t a “Smipkin” in sight Wednesday night when a new business-oriented political action committee held its first official meeting in Elkton to organize a campaign against the current ruling majority of the Cecil County Commissioners. But there was a standing-room-only crowd of nearly 300 people, a bipartisan turnout of business owners, current and...
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It was like an amateur tennis match Tuesday when the Cecil County Commissioners whacked around lists of appointees to several advisory boards and panels. At the end of the worksession match, the players and spectators were exhausted, their necks sore from following the conflicting balls lobbed back and forth, and some names on political...
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Cecil County Commissioner Diana Broomell (R-4) has acquired quite a wardrobe of hats during her year as an elected official—ethics law expert, drug addiction treatment program reviewer, zoning arbitrator, road code variance decider, and quipper in chief when other commissioners challenge her expertise. On Tuesday, she donned two new chapeaux: road deed inspector and...
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State Sen. Nancy Jacobs (R-Cecil/Harford) said Monday she has formed an “exploratory committee” to consider a run for Congress and the 2nd District seat now held by Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger. If she does run, it would be a very tough uphill fight but the state and national political dynamics of 2012 suggest it would...
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A bipartisan coalition of business leaders has formed a political action committee to support political candidates in Cecil County for the 2012 elections that will “promote the economic viability” of the county. The group, dubbed “Cecil Business Leaders for Better Government,” has scheduled a kick-off event on Dec. 7 at Mick’s Crab House on...
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It may be the Cecil County environmental equivalent of “don’t ask, don’t tell” when the county submits to the state of Maryland a mandated preliminary plan on curbing pollution of the Chesapeake Bay. Cecil County Director of Public Works Scott Flanigan told the County Commissioners on Tuesday that lawyers for statewide stormwater and wastewater...
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Sandy Maruchi Turner, Cecil County’s tourism co-ordinator, asked the County Commissioners Tuesday to break off tourism promotion programs from the county’s Economic Development department and create a separate agency, with a pay raise for the new “department head.” Turner told Cecil Times after the commissioners’ worksession that she was more familiar with the figure...
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Governor Martin O’Malley has named William Manlove, a former long-time Cecil County Commissioner, to a vacant seat on the county school board. Manlove served four non-consecutive terms on the County Commissioners’ panel, becoming President of the board before he retired in 2008. He also ran an unsuccessful campaign for the House of Delegates in...
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A new Cecil County Chamber of Commerce survey of its members found that County Commissioner Diana Broomell (R-4) was deemed the most “‘unsatisfactory” commissioner while Commissioner Tari Moore (R-2) had the highest “excellent” ranking. There were 129 respondents to the Chamber survey—an admittedly small sample of the county’s many business operators. But Chamber members...
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CECIL CHATTER: Sen. E.J. Pipkin’s Birthday Gift: GOP Leadership So state Sen. E.J. Pipkin (R-36) hit the big 55 on Tuesday, 11/1/11, and fielded a lot of birthday greetings on his Facebook wall. But the best present he got was selection by fellow Republicans as their leader in the state Senate for the 2012...
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