John "Lennie" Thompson makes it official

It wasn't a surprise, but now it's official: John "Lennie" Thompson Jr., current President of the Frederick County Board of County Commissioners, has announced that he will be running for a third term on the board.

Four years ago, Lennie ran on a platform that simply said: "If the Developers Win, You Lose!" He spent far less than any other viable candidate, and won the largest number of votes.

Whether you love him or hate him (and almost everyone seems to have a strong opinion one way of the other), there's no doubt Lennie is one of a kind. Lennie is a life-long county resident who has run two county-wide campaigns while breaking all the "rules" of campaigning. He hasn't raised or spent much money. The campaign last time used recycled, hand-painted signs from four years earlier. He printed and distributed text-heavy brochures that were...well...let's see...anything but slick or professional is a polite way to describe them. His website wasn't any better from a design and aesthetics point of view.

Throughout his second campaign, in 2002, he was roundly and endlessly attacked by a variety of groups, including the Frederick County Builders Association, The Defenders of Citizens Rights, the Frederick Countians for TRUE Republicans political action committee, and a few local columnists, just to name a few. It's not hard to understand why his website played the tune from "Mission Impossible" when you visited the home page.

Last time around, his brochure and website highlighted the following issues: Corporate Welfare, Traffic Congestion, Open Government, Water & Sewer, Lobbying Reform, Property Tax Relief and Protecting the Environment. Anyone who has followed the county commissioners the last four years knows Lennie has stuck to his principles and goals with unshakable conviction and consistency. There's no doubt that is part of his broad appeal.

I don't agree with Lennie on everything. And there are times when I disagree strongly on one thing or another.

But like many others, I appreciate that Lennie is exactly who he presents himself to be, and I'm grateful for his tireless efforts to improve our out-of-date ethics ordinance, to support much needed lobbying reforms, to fight against government waste and for low taxes, to resist unrestrained and poorly planned growth, and to protect our natural resources.

In spite of what are sure to be concerted efforts to defeat his bid for another term, I've assumed all along that Lennie would win if he ran.

Don't bet against it.

From the GAZETTE:

Thompson to seek third term as county commissioner
http://www.gazette.net/stories/060806/frednew183207_31950.shtml

Thursday, June 8, 2006

by Sherry Greenfield
Staff Writer

After months of speculation, Frederick County Commission President John "Lennie" Thompson Jr. officially announced Wednesday he will run for a third term.

"I intend to ask the voters for another term as county commissioner," Thompson (R) said in a statement. "My opportunity to serve thus far has been an honor and a privilege. I am grateful for that opportunity and will remain so whatever the outcome this time around."

Thompson issued his announcement in an e-mail, sent just hours before attending the graduation of his son, Jake, from Walkersville High School.

Thompson’s announcement puts an end to months of speculation about whether he would seek a third term. He remained undecided based on the fact that no male president had ever before won a second term on the Board of County Commissioners. Family obligations were also a major concern in his decision.

On Wednesday, Thompson said the board’s recent approval of the New Market Region Plan helped to sway his decision. Thompson voted against the controversial growth plan.

"Hopefully the next board will set things right on some of these land decisions," he said.

In February, Thompson told The Gazette that several recent events were also signs he may need to run for re-election. For example, comments made by radio commentator Blaine Young, host of WFMD’s "Frederick Forum," comparing Thompson’s attitude toward developers to Adolf Hitler’s attitude toward Jews.

"The scales are tipping ever so slightly that I’ll ask the voters for another term," Thompson said at the time.

On Wednesday, Young said he was surprised that Thompson would seek a third term.

"I honestly didn’t think he would run from the comments and concerns and issues I heard and based on what other people said," Young said.

Young, who agrees with Thompson’s conservative spending, but little else about the candidate’s views, predicts Thompson has a good chance of winning, since all five seats on the board are up for election this year.

"There’s no question he has found a niche for himself," he said. "He appeals to a segment of people in Frederick County."

That segment includes residents that believe the county is growing too fast and residential development must slow down. As was the case in 1998 and 2002, Thompson said the theme of his campaign is "to place the well-being of our existing residents, school children and taxpayers above the financial interests of land developers, real estate speculators and their entourage of lawyers and paid lobbyists. I will continue to resist the developers in their effort to bulldoze and pave the county from the mouth of the Monocacy to the Mason-Dixon Line."

Thompson said he is prepared for another fight from those looking to oust him from government after 20 years in politics.

From the FREDERICK NEWS POST:

Board president decides to run again

Thursday, June 8, 2006

by Clifford G. Cumber
News Post Staff

FREDERICK -- After months of speculation, Commissioners President John L. Thompson Jr. declared Wednesday he will seek a third term, promising to continue his turf battle against development and reverse recent planning decisions of the board's majority.

"I hope that we can set things right with a lot of the land-use decisions that the board has made, particularly the New Market Region Plan," he said in a telephone interview.

Recent revisions to the New Market land-use plan have caused controversy, with opponents concerned that the estimated 14,000 homes allowed could create gridlock and school overcrowding in the 47,000-acre region.

On Tuesday night, Mr. Thompson said, the commissioners approved 375 residential units west of the Jefferson Technology Park, an 81.1-acre parcel south of Md. 180, north of Md. 340. According to a county staff report, the residences are to act as housing for the park's technology workforce.

The rezoning was one of many made "under the radar screen," Mr. Thompson, 51, said.

"We're soon going to be the laughing stock of the state of Maryland, where our pride and joy, a high-tech Jefferson Technology Park there in between (Md.) 180 and (Md.) 340, is going to be nothing but a residential housing development."

The Republican said he's been leaning toward re-election, but had to juggle the demands of public life with his responsibilities as a husband, father and breadwinner.

Mr. Thompson declared his intentions and outlined his platform via e-mail. He is known for his anti-development stance and his objection to government funding of private businesses, which he calls "corporate welfare."

His stance is unchanged from his campaigns of 1998 and 2002, he said in his e-mail.

"The broad theme of my campaign will be to place the well-being of our existing residents, school children and taxpayers above the financial interests of land developers, real-estate speculators and their entourage of lawyers and paid lobbyists," he states.

Mr. Thompson hopes to shoo off the president's curse: that no sitting male president of the county commissioners has gone on to retain that presidency, or even to higher office, since the 1950s.

One did. A woman -- Anita Stup -- who became a state delegate.

Mr. Thompson is one of the most outspoken members of the board.

He's called lobbyists "pond scum." He's crusaded unsuccessfully for campaign finance reform and more stringent ethics laws. He's not afraid to call columnists who oppose his positions and has called a talk-show host an "unmitigated liar."

He has been terse with teachers' e-mails asking for salary increases, objecting to the use of school equipment to lobby commissioners during the budget process.

And he's gone after groups seeking to influence elections with legally phrased letters asking for publicly available Internal Revenue records

Most recently he's asked for signatures to guarantee a private developer's offer to pay $65 million in school construction and renovation costs in return for being exempt from a county law that makes residential development pay for new school seats.

And all of this is through very public e-mails sent out to a variety of people, including the media, county staff and fellow commissioners.

Mr. Thompson is the first Republican to run in the slow- and no-growth column. Democrats Kai Hagen and Dick Floyd are in the race campaigning on restricted development.

The rest of the field are Republicans, including the two incumbents, Mike Cady and John Lovell. Both are considered pro-development, as are Samie Conyers and Charles Jenkins, who have both filed. Although Mr. Cady announced last year he will seek a second term, unlike Mr. Lovell, he has not formally filed with the Frederick County Board of Elections.

Mr. Thompson said he will take no money from "developers, their lawyers or lobbyists," instead accepting contributions from "ordinary folks who have a vested interest in quality of life issues."

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WHY I'M VOTING FOR KAI!

Gary Nelson
Mt. Airy, MD

Kai Hagen is the real deal. He genuinely believes the average citizens of Frederick County should have a meaningful say in the way their communities grow. He knows we can't just leave it up to the developers and politicians to make all the decisions. When Kai first learned that I was concerned about the way decisions about growth were being made in Mt. Airy, he immediately began to supply me with information about growth and...

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