"Developer Free" Tide Rising
It appears that a sea change is sweeping toward Frederick County. I am not talking about a Democrat resurgence to power, but a new direction coming to the Board of County Commissioners.
The now infamous "sock puppet" antics from Commissioner Mike Cady is the icing on the cake that insures that the new Board of County Commissioners will be almost entirely "developer free."
Whoever advised the good old boys and their "Real Republicans" candidates should begin looking for another line of work, along with whomever convinced Sue Hecht to try her "Hecht Yes" signs again.
It is true that the "Real Republicans" slate, Charles Jenkins, Mike Cady and John Lovell won the primary. But the election is a two stage process. In the General Election, Democrats and Independents get to vote. Exactly how does a "Real Republican" brand make a candidate more attractive to Democrats and Independents?
Mike Cady announces in his radio campaign ad that he is for "measured growth." What does that mean exactly? That he "measures" something before he decides to approve growth? Measures what? Is it a measure of the amount of campaign contributions made to him by some developer seeking his vote on a zoning approval?
Then, too, I expected that Billy Shreve would make the top five Republicans in the primary and he didn't. It may be that Messrs. Lovell, Cady and Jenkins (Charles, not be confused with our next Sheriff Chuck Jenkins) will win in November. It sure does not look that way right now.
With the latest gaffe by Mr. Cady, he has again achieved notoriety at a time that he doesn't need it. Take WFMD's Bob Miller and his humorous sock puppet ad, which has the Cady sock puppet "red faced" and waiting to "explode." Not exactly what you want your image to be just weeks before the election. People are laughing at him, much as they did when he posed in the paper pointing to a defaced sign that read "Cady Can't."
Momentum appears to be cresting for Lenny Thompson, David Gray, Kai Hagan and Jan Gardner. I can easily see them and John Lovell taking the top five spots. It isn't that Mr. Lovell is all that popular but as far as I can see he has not made the miss-steps that Mr. Cady has.
Charles Jenkins appears to me to be heading for seventh place in the contest. Someone should tell him the whole "roads commissioner" bit he keeps using isn't really working.
But what do I know? We will see how it all shakes out come November.
As for now, if I were a developer who had bet the farm (excuse the pun) on Messrs. Lovell, Cady and Jenkins, then I would be very, very worried. It looks now that developers will be facing a new Board of County Commissioners who will not be very receptive to them in the coming years.
And then, too, there is the growth already in the pipeline. If the voters saw just how much of that is slated to arrive in the coming years they would be already lining up and waiting to vote.
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