Every year the Frederick County Commissioners provide a “wish list” of legislation to the local delegation to take to Annapolis. Because of Frederick County’s commissioners form of government, many issues that pertain only to this county have to get the blessing of the entire General Assembly before they become local law… [more]

From the FNP

The Frederick County Commissioners tabled a vote Thursday to approve the public schools’ $506.9 million operating budget until June 29 after learning that school system officials are considering diverting some surplus self-insurance health funds to employees for refunds or bonuses.

Read the rest of the article from the Frederick News Post by [clicking here]

With no one to share her political beliefs, living in Germantown is like living on an island, said Eileen Morgan, a three-decade resident of Montgomery County.

That’s why she came to Frederick on Thursday to participate in the local tea party tax day protest.

Dressed in red, white and blue, Morgan joined several speakers at Barley and Hops Grill & Microbrewery to criticize the government, citing out-of-control spending, budget deficits, taxes, government interference and debt.

“I came from Germantown to take a stand with these lovely folks in Frederick . This is my third tea party,” she said. “We have a right to disagree. The telling thing will come (with Election Day) in November. With a lot of people out of work, they will realize people will not put up with this.”

Tea party activist Mark Kreslins said the crowd of about 200 people was made up of “average citizens determined to use the Constitution to turn this ship around.”

The protest was Frederick ‘s second, Kreslins said. Hundreds rallied April 15 last year outside Frederick City Hall.

“We’re joining millions of people around the country and your being here is a testament to people getting involved,” Kreslins told the crowd.

Pat Brown said he is a Frederick businessman who employs 38.

“This is an opportunity for everyone to express themselves,” he said. “I’m a business owner and it’s disappointing. I want my country back. We’ve gone too far to the left.”

Requiring everyone to have health insurance is equivalent to taking people’s liberties away, Brown said. And Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are failed policies, he said.

“We made a promise to Social Security and we need to deliver it,” he said. “I’m nearing retirement and I’m scared.”

Social Security is broken because the government borrowed money from the trust fund, Brown said. “Politicians don’t have any clue what’s going on out here in the real world,” he said.

Protesters carried signs such as “The U.S. Constitution — Another Important Document Congress Hasn’t Read,” “Stop Spending Money on Pork” and “Throw the Rascals Out.”

Gary Brooks, owner of Barley and Hops Grill, was described as a true friend of the movement for letting the protesters use his parking lot.

“People are fed up with what’s going on so I let them use the parking lot free of charge instead of having to pay so much money if they had to go someplace else,” he said.

As a businessman, Brooks said he, too, was fed up with government interfering with his business operations.

“They tell me I can’t allow someone to smoke in my restaurant, and they’re interfering with trans fat. They want to tell us how to run our business,” he said. “Let the free market run and stop interfering.”

Brooks said his beer excise tax was increased by 1,200 percent.

“The government didn’t cut their spending by 1,200 percent but they are asking me to pay a 1,200 percent increase in taxes. You name it, they want to tax it,” he said.

People should be listened to, not the other way around, said tea party activist Steven R. Berryman, who also writes a column for The Frederick News-Post.

“Citizen rights as opposed to government supremacy — that’s what this is about,” he said.

The list of speakers included Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins and activists Jim Lehmann, Joshua Lyons and Berryman. An open microphone allowed anyone to offer comments as well.

We have seen a tremendous sea change in the Board of County Commissioners of late. Much of this is due to the newly appointed Commissioner Blaine Young.

This is not a light or glib statement. The contention on this board has existed for some time; and the serious difficulties of the budget have brought many of these ideological and personal management styles to a head. But there is an obvious difference in what is occurring – very tough alternatives are being brought forth and the directions of decisions have finally changed dramatically.

These known problems in the budget are not new; hence the change can only be attributed to a change in the makeup of the board. Commissioner Young is the impetus for that change and he deserves great credit for pushing these hard and necessary decisions.

It should be noted that my support of Commissioner Young is not without strong differences of opinion. Mr. Young supports a candidate for delegate in District 3-A that I adamantly oppose. We have also had a number of differences of opinion on Mr. Young’s radio program on WFMD 930 AM. But, and this is important, our differences have not harmed either our friendship or our ability to argue issues.

For example, Commissioner Young was an early supporter of Pay As You Throw legislation. I very much oppose this government program. Mr. Young has spent a great deal of time studying this proposal and he ‘may’ be changing his mind on the topic with the new information he is receiving. I can only hope, but more importantly I appreciate, the ability to acknowledge new information and determine a course of action based upon more input will out.

In short, no candidate will ever meet every desire, vote, and perspective we deem correct. But, when a candidate not only supports, yet pushes such a necessary agenda’s, they deserve our support.

And this brings us back to the point, the diametric change in the Board of County Commissioners and the budget process. Since the entrance of Commissioner Young, a responsible shake-up has taken place! Other commissioners have noted some of these propositions have been ‘irresponsible and knee-jerk.’ But, in truth, continuing with the status quo is truly irresponsible and worse, wholly political. It seems in their minds that making these hard decisions may harm their political alliances and futures. Yet, they were elected to represent the citizens, not to build their political resume.

Since the appointment of Commissioner Young, we have seen a significant change in how to deal with our budget. We have seen a focus on redundant government programs. We have seen a focus on necessary cuts in not only property expenditures, but a shift toward slimming down growth in personnel. These are the truly hard decisions we elect people to make.

It is always a sad situation when a person loses a job. But nothing about government should be different than that of the public sector. Too many companies have either had to cut back or, in the worst cases, shut down. This means that the citizens paying the taxes to support government have far less income to pay for programs or services, which, while they may be nice, are not a necessity. Since the appointment of Commissioner Young, this perspective has come into much more defined focus. In short, it is more than coincidence that since this change in the board, real and meaningful cuts in our local government have begun to occur.

The hard work has really just begun. For instance, the serious issues around funding for Fire & Rescue Services have been breached by Commissioner Young in conjunction with Commissioner John L. “Lennie” Thompson, but the solution has not been achieved. Those commissioners hoping to keep the status quo and build their political careers have tried to use this issue to disparage Commissioner Young. In truth, it is having the opposite effect as the public is becoming well aware that we are far and away over-staffed.

It is no insight to note that we will continue to see more difficulties and dissent – that is obvious. What we need to focus on is the “outside of the box” alternatives and hard, but necessary, cuts being proposed. We may be on the cusp of seeing our county finally become the small government entity it was meant to be.

fkeough@hotmail.com

At first I did not appreciate the article, “Young feels unwelcome on board,” which ran in The Gazette on March 25, for two reasons: The Gazette contacted me to be interviewed about charter government and the headline was not accurate.

It is not that I feel unwanted, as I stated to my fellow commissioners when Commissioner Kai Hagen brought up the article in a public meeting the day it ran.

I know I am not wanted. I also stated to my follow commissioners at the meeting, “If the four commissioners could have picked anyone else but me, they would have.”

None of my fellow commissioners disagreed with this statement.

But now after the article has run, I have to thank The Gazette and the reporter.

The story brought the tension to a head and contributed to making the five of us work better as a team. We all have different opinions, views and experiences that help each of us contribute collaboratively and guide us through these challenging times.

When you have a 10,000-pound elephant in the room, ignoring it does not solve the problem. Thank you for pointing out the 10,000-pound elephant: me.

I’m here whether you wanted me or not, so let’s work together the best we can to solve our problems.

Blaine R. Young, Monrovia