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BY KEN ROSSIGNOL
THE TRAIN IS COMING DOWN THE TRACKS
The St. Mary’s States
Attorney Race
When the voters of St. Mary’s County first had an opportunity in 1994 to vote for Rick Fritz for States Attorney, they took a pass and reelected Walter B. Dorsey.
In 1998, at the last minute, Dorsey opted not to run, and at the last minute that left only Fritz and Assistant States Joe Mattingly Jr.
Mattingly wasn’t a sparkling kind of candidate, more like an undertaker than a politician. Mattingly wore a dour look over his full beard and topped off his demeanor with a straw hat as he ambled into a room wearing his cowboy boots.
Dorsey put his weight behind JAM anyway and when the dust settled and the last votes were in, Mattingly had lost by 1734 votes to Fritz.
A close race considering that Fritz put his campaign deputies to work the night before the election to clean out newsstands and intimidate all-night store clerks into turning over their complete stock of the ST. MARY’S TODAY to keep voters from reading about the criminal record of Fritz.


THE VICTIM
When Carla Bailey found out what Rick Fritz was saying about her many years later, she decided to set the record straight.