Originally posted on the Gazette website. You can find the link [here].
Blaine R. Young took his seat on the Frederick Board of County Commissioners three weeks ago, but said he has yet to feel welcomed by his colleagues.
During an interview this week, Young said he believes the reason is that he has often criticized the other four members of the board during his eight years a conservative radio talk show host on WFMD.
He has taken them to task on many issues throughout the years, but most loudly and frequently for their anti-growth policies and opposition to economic development.
But Young said his comments on the radio are more “for show” and do not reflect how he wants to approach his job as commissioner.
“What I do on the radio station is completely different than my job as commissioner,” said Young (R). “I’m not here to make trouble. I’ve put my opinion and ideas on the radio. This is the opportunity for me to put my money where my mouth is.”
But Commissioners’ President Jan H. Gardner (D) disagreed with Young’s assessment of the board’s reaction to him. She said board members have reached out to Young.
“The board has been as welcoming as would be expected for any new member,” she said in an e-mail. “[Commissioner John "Lennie" Thompson Jr.] shook his hand and congratulated the first time he came into the office, which was long before his swearing in, [three] of us attended his swearing in ceremony, and we have attempted to make his transition as smooth as possible. I personally talked to him about his swearing in ceremony his willingness to be assigned the same boards and commissions as Charles Jenkins, and offered to have the county manager put together a transition program.”
Both Thompson (R) and Commissioner David P. Gray (R) said they have not noticed any commissioner giving Young the cold shoulder. Thompson did not comment further.
Gray, who Young acknowledges has been working with him to build a better relationship, said he has never heard Young say anything negative about him on the radio.
Commissioner Kai J. Hagen (D) also said he has not noticed anyone slighting Young. “He has been an equal participant in every discussion,” he said. “He has made negative comments for years about everyone of us, but nobody has held that against him.”
The Frederick County Republican Central Committee nominated Young on Jan. 31 to fill the seat of former Commissioner Charles A. Jenkins (R), who was appointed to represent District 3B in Annapolis.
Gov. Martin O’Malley accepted that nomination, and the Senate confirmed it on Feb. 19. Young was sworn in on March 3.
His new colleagues shook his hand during a televised board meeting on Feb. 2, but Young said the attitude is different off camera.
“When the lights were on and the press was there, they did welcome me, but that was all pomp and circumstance,” Young said. “Until they had no choice, they didn’t welcome me. When I was appointed by the central committee, I didn’t hear anything from any of them.”
But the cold reception should not have surprised Young, said former Commissioner Anita Stup (R), who served on the board from 1982-1986 and as board president from 1986-1990.
Young was the former president of Defenders of Citizens Rights, a Frederick County landowners rights’ group that opposed the election of Thompson and Gardner in 2002.
“Everybody knew that [he would not be welcomed] going in,” Stup said. “When you’re the new guy, and particularly when you have a radio show, it’s not unusual. He has a very vocal news radio show.”
Being appointed to the board so late in its four-year term has also makes it more difficult for Young to bond with the other commissioners, Stup said.
Gardner agreed. “A change in one member of a group that functions by committee changes the dynamic,” she said. “I think we are all trying to adjust and figure out how Blaine will function as part of the group.”
The last time a commissioner was appointed to the board was in 2001. Richard B. Weldon Jr. was appointed to fill the seat of former Commissioner Ilona M. Hogan (R), who resigned to take a full-time job with the Bechtel Corporation in Frederick.
Weldon, who was a Republican at the time, served out the remainder of Hogan’s term, but did not run for election in 2002. He instead went on to become a delegate in the Maryland General Assembly, and is now the executive assistant to Frederick city Mayor Randy McClement (R).
Weldon said his experience was a far cry from what Young has faced.
“They were very welcoming,” Weldon said. “Commissioner Thompson and Commissioner [Terre] Rhoderick were the most welcoming. Commissioner Thompson made it a point to meet me the first day, and Terre and I took a walk every day around Baker Park. I never got the impression that I was anything but welcomed to the fold.”
Weldon is quick to point out that he was not a local radio talk show host. “The big difference is that I don’t think I alienated myself from them like he [Young] has done on the radio,” he said.
Former Commissioner Bruce L. Reeder (D) said Young needs to reach out more to his board colleagues. “Go to them with your ideas, and do this on a one-on-one basis,” he said. “If they’re opposed to the ideas, sit down and talk to them and tell them why they are important.”
Reeder, who served as commissioner from 1990-1998 and again from 2002-2006, said the board must work together. “Being a commissioner is being part of a team,” he said.