Group works toward positive conduct in election
Gazetteby Sherry Greenfield
Thursday, August 10, 2006
One group is encouraging the 18 candidates running for the Frederick Board of County Commissioners to be civil to each other in a race that has already shown signs of incivility.
The Committee for Frederick County, a non-partisan, nonprofit consensus-building organization, has asked the candidates to sign a code of conduct stating they will practice courtesy, politeness and engage in respectful, non-judgmental listening during the campaign.
‘‘This year, county growth is a major, emotional issue in the campaign for county commissioner, with strong opinions held by many,” said Dana French, committee member, in a press release. ‘‘The committee believes it is very important for this issue to be debated by the candidates with their various points of view presented fully and openly, disagreements made clear, and the specific thinking behind each position articulated.”
The Gazette contacted each of the candidates by e-mail to see if they plan to sign the code. Of the 18 candidates, 12 responded. Their responses and opinions were mixed.
Of the 12, nine said they supported the mission of the committee and would sign the code. Three will not, and one needed more information.
It was clear from some of the responses that political campaigns might never be free from accusations and a bit of incivility.
‘‘I will conduct this campaign, as I have every other, with civility,” said Commission President John ‘‘Lennie” Thompson Jr. (R). ‘‘However, I will not sign the Committee for Frederick County Code of Conduct.”
Thompson has several reasons he will not sign the code.
‘‘The leadership of the committee is dominated by those who are pro-developer,” he said. ‘‘These folks have made political campaign contributions to pro-developer candidates. I question whether the committee leadership will vote to sanction those to whom they have given campaign contributions. The committee’s position appears to be that it is OK for the developers to bulldoze and pave the county over, as long as they do it with civility.”
The committee includes a broad section of the community. Its chairman, Thomas Lynch, is a Frederick attorney, secretary Susan Butt is a member of the PTA Council, and Howard Payne is a residential developer.
The first set of campaign finance reports detailing contributions and expenditures are due to the Frederick County Board of Elections on Tuesday. In the 2002 election, Payne did contribute money to Commissioner Michael L. Cady (R) and Charles Jenkins (R), a real estate agent with Re⁄Max 100. Both are candidates this year, and both support and will sign the code of conduct.
‘‘Four years ago I signed the civility agreement and will do so again,” Cady said. ‘‘I have honored that agreement, and will continue to do so.”
Jenkins said he believes in running a civil campaign, and plans to sign the pledge. He ‘‘enthusiastically” endorses the committee’s mission.
But Jenkins also referenced a rally planned by the political action committees, Friends of Frederick County and Citizens for Quality of Life on Aug. 19. Friends of Frederick County spent months fighting development in the New Market Region Plan update. According to its flier, the ‘‘Take Back Frederick County From Developers, Lobbyists, and Out-of-Town Land Speculators” has invited only the slow to no-growth candidates. They are David Gray (R), Richard M. Floyd (D), Micky Fyock (R), Kai Hagen (D), Ed Lulie (R), Ron Wolf (D), Commissioner Jan H. Gardner (D) and Thompson.
‘‘I also believe it is appropriate to point out the flier about the rally the ‘Dream Team’ is having and the fact that they, including Jan, are waging a negative campaign smearing candidates and businesses,” said Jenkins, who has been referred to as a growth candidate by his opponents. ‘‘While Jan attends the monthly meetings of the Committee for Frederick and endorses the pledge, she and others do not follow it. Clearly actions don’t follow words. My focus this campaign is fixing our roads, not personally trying to smear candidates that I may be serving with in December.”
In her campaign speech, Gardner said she supported Floyd, Hagen, Gray and Thompson, saying they would bring balance to the board and a ‘‘sensible growth platform.”
In her e-mail, Gardner said she has signed the code and makes every effort to be civil, build consensus and compromise, both professionally and personally.
‘‘Civility is fundamentally important to ensure democracy which relies on honest, respectful debate,” Gardner said. ‘‘There will always be differences of opinion. It is our ability to express those opinions and share ideas that makes the process work for the benefit of the community. As human beings, all of us will have lapses particularly in a stressful environment such as a campaign process, which is extremely personal by its very nature. We simply need to move on and strive to do better each new day.”
But the pendulum swings the other way.
Last month, several slow-growth candidates took exception with a rally for pro-growth candidates. Hosted by Maurice Gladhill, an applicant in the New Market Region Plan update, only Commissioner John R. Lovell Jr. (R), Billy Shreve (R), Cady and Jenkins were invited.
Controversy and incivility over growth is nothing new to the Committee for Frederick. The group formed in 1998 amid controversy about growth.
In 2001, it developed the code to raise the level of civility among all elected officials. In the 2002 county and state election and the 2005 City of Frederick race, candidates were asked to sign the civility code.
Candidates signing the code this year also include Shreve, Wolf, Hagen, Gray, Floyd, and Elaine Kessinger (R).
Shreve will sign the code, but said it should be extended to the next Board of County Commissioners.
‘‘What bothers me is that they need to do something like this for a group of adults who will be controlling over $400 million a year of tax payer money,” Shreve said. ‘‘How to play nice with others is something these candidates should have learned from their parents before they could walk.”
Shreve’s slow-growth opponents have labeled him a growth candidate because he is a commercial real estate agent and is supported by the development community.
As he did in 2002, Lovell believes the code is not necessary to prove a candidate is respectful.
But Hagen said the code is ‘‘not intended to prevent disagreement, criticism or debate, but rather to establish an atmosphere in which elected officials, candidates and others can disagree in a civil and constructive manner.
‘‘After all, nobody would be asking us to sign a Code of Conduct if we all agreed about most things,” he said. Kessinger and Wolf both said the code benefits the community.
‘‘If these candidates ... make decisions which result in actions that hurt others, this kind of thing eventually tends to come light, and public confidence in them is hurt, sometimes quite seriously,” Kessinger said.
WHY I'M VOTING FOR KAI!
Carolyn Franklin
Frederick, MD
I love Frederick! I have high hopes for Frederick County's future with the expectation that Kai Hagen will become one of its commissioners. I respect Kai's experience and trust Kai's ability to thoroughly weigh the appropriateness of how decisions might affect all of us. Frederick County deserves someone who will evaluate pending items carefully, objectively, and with energy and knowledge to explore options. I believe that Kai will do everything...
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