CHEAP SHOTS: RINOs and Taxes

HERRING IN CASKS AND DECEPTION

311. If any herrings or other fish hereby required to be in-inspected shall on examination thereof by the inspector, prove to be falsely packed, that is to say, the fish in one part of the cask of different or inferior quality from the other, or packed with any improper or unfit substances, with intent to defraud, the owner or agent shall forfeit and pay for each cask the sum of five dollars.

CHEAP SHOTS

The above is a law passed by the Maryland General Assembly that fined anyone who attempted to deceive consumers of fish by hiding inferior fish in a compartment or section of a cask or barrel of fish.  If only we could apply this law to politicians who promise not to raise taxes.

In Annapolis, a nimble-tongued nimrod of a guy is nearing the end of what will hopefully be his only term as Governor of Maryland. There is not enough room on this page to list all of his lies, deceptions, and fish-switching.  Wes Tax-Moore is about to get flattened by the bus being driven by the Larry Hogan campaign as the former Governor is about ready to file for his old job again.

With the existing St. Mary’s County Commissioner Board, all Republicans, they all swore when running for office to oppose tax hikes, but that is precisely what takes place when they fail to maintain the Constant Yield.  The leftists in the Maryland General Assembly (which is all of the Democrats and a smattering of Rino Republicans) removed the legal requirement that each county must advertise to the public what the tax rate will be for each budget year by the enactment of the Constant Yield, which adjusts the real estate property tax rate to balance out the increase by the State assessments increases for property.

What the law change didn’t do was pick up each county commissioner and drop them on their heads, though such an event might be a worthy idea.

In a recent interview with THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY, one commissioner was asked how many times he has voted to raise taxes, and after thinking for a moment, he answered that he has done so twice out of the six budget cycles he had participated in up to that point in 2024.  The correct answer for this earnest and well-meaning fellow would have been he raised taxes each year he has been in office.

Taxes are too high, and the size of St. Mary’s County government has grown too large.

LEONARD HALL JUNIOR NAVAL ACADEMY DAYCARE FOR COUNTY EMPLOYEES

Every new event to occur in St. Mary’s County is taken by Republicans as an opportunity to spend money, hire more employees, and institute new programs. That is because many of them fly the GOP flag only because Steny Hoyer was so successful in moving new jobs to St. Mary’s, and flocks of defense contractors followed the DOD units.  The new GOP voters don’t know most of the candidates and don’t know they are all Democrats who switch parties out of convenience, not because of their beliefs aligning with the GOP.  So newer residents just vote Republican and in the process, they end up with higher taxes.

In 1974, the St. Mary’s County Commissioners decided to buy the Leonard Hall School, which consisted of the main building, a classroom building, the drill hall, and what was, for many years, the offices of the Parks and Recreation Department, the Board of Education, and later the Garvey Center. The Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy leased the classroom building while the county feasted on filling the other buildings with an expanded county government and a burgeoning workforce. Soon, the District Court building, named for a dead bureaucrat in charge of doling out welfare, the jail, and a temporary building for the Circuit Court, were built.  

Now, in 2075, the Leonard Hall school folded like a cheap suit. Too bad, but it came to an end, leaving an empty building. This would have been a great opportunity for the county to advertise the building for lease or sale to a builder to renovate and bring in professional offices, and revenue from either a lease or sale would help defray the cost of the operations of county government.

However, the Board is comprised of Rino Republicans. Randy Guy, a former Democrat, was on the St. Mary’s Democratic Central Committee. Mike Hewitt, a former Democrat, was a candidate for Commissioner President in the 2006 Democratic Primary, losing to Democrat Jackie Russell. Before that, he served as the campaign treasurer for Democrat Commissioner President Julie Randall in 1998. Both are commissioners that the Democrats can be proud of for their record of raising taxes and spending money, while tripling the public debt by increasing the borrowing authority to nearly $300 million.

This instance of mental-midgetitis, a contagious disease in the Walled City of Leonardtown, which infects those elected to office, is likely spread by the career bureaucrats.  All it takes to get elected county commissioner is one more vote than the other person on the ballot. The election is not an IQ test, though many of those who win believe they are suddenly endowed with immense wisdom from the Gods themselves.

Now the blithering idiots on the St. Mary’s Commissioners Board have decided to find new ways to spend money by turning the empty school into a daycare center for county employees, purportedly to be more attractive for retaining employees by giving them cheap or even free childcare.  

DO YOU REMEMBER ANY OF THE DIPSTICK’S CAMPAIGNING IN 2022 ON A PLATFORM TO COMPETE WITH PRIVATELY OWNED DAYCARE FACILITIES AND GIVE LOW OR FREE-CHILD CARE TO COUNTY EMPLOYEES? IS THIS WHAT YOU VOTED FOR?

What were these county employees doing for childcare before the muttonheads of the Walled City came up with this brainstorm? Most of them don’t have school-age children, and those who do have already found a place for their children to be cared for while they work.  Was there a need brought to the table of the Five Buffoons? Were county employees banging on the podium at public forums?  Were petitions being drawn up and circulated with thousands of names of taxpayers demanding that they pay for this new service? Were social media platforms being swarmed with thousands demanding that their children receive care paid for by the taxpayers? Hell no.

Did the bureaucrats of the overstaffed and overbudgeted Department of Economic Development task themselves to determine if the private sector presently provides childcare service?

Do the current childcare providers have a paid lobbyist, such as Bruce Bereano, to represent them in the Walled City and protect them from the government entering the business in competition against them? No. That is because, for the most part, childcare providers host a few children in a home, which is a way that the provider is able to stay at home and work.  This is typical government intervention in the local economy, something for which the government has established a long reputation for failure.  The larger childcare providers have invested heavily in their facilities, work to abide by codes and satisfy the desires of their customers, face the challenge of recruiting employees, and pay taxes to the very Five Clowns of the Walled City, who are acting to put them out of business.  There are not really enough words to describe the stupidity of the St. Mary’s County Commissioners.

When the final vote came on December 10, 2024, Commissioner Eric Colvin decided to vote no. He explained his position as being in favor of the childcare center. Still, he is opposed to using borrowed funds for the project, as it would encumber taxpayers for twenty years by utilizing bond authority. Ostrow voted no without explaining his vote.

Motion #1 – I move to approve the Budget Amendments returning $1,100,000 from HW-2101 to the FIN25 Capital Reserve and to transfer $1,324,845 from the FIN25 Capital Reserve to RP-2402 Childcare Facility and authorized the Commissioner President to sign all related Budget Amendments.

Motion by Commissioner Michael L Hewitt, second by Commissioner Michael R Alderson Jr.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yea: Commissioner President James R Guy, Commissioner Michael L Hewitt, Commissioner Michael R Alderson Jr

Nay: Commissioner Eric S Colvin, Commissioner Scott R Ostrow

Motion #2 – I move to authorize the Procurement Officer to award the Leonard Hall School Renovation Project to Centennial Contractor’s Enterprises Inc., under Sourcewell Cooperative Contract #MD-R4-GC02-052621-CCE; in an amount estimated to exceed $1 million dollars, subject to receipt and acceptance on any Contract related documents.

Motion by Commissioner Michael L Hewitt, second by Commissioner Michael R Alderson Jr.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yea: Commissioner President James R Guy, Commissioner Michael L Hewitt, Commissioner Michael R Alderson Jr

Nay: Commissioner Eric S Colvin, Commissioner Scott R Ostrow

THE EMPTY SHERIFF’S MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR DEPUTIES’
RESTROOM FACILITY ON GREAT MILLS ROAD

The Board decided to build the huge empty building on Great Mills Road because the Sheriff told them that he needed the structure to control crime, and that’s how we ended up with Fort Apache LP City. A murder was committed in broad daylight across the street, and when frightened bystanders ran across Great Mills Road and banged on the door, they discovered there was no one there.  A button to the right of the door doesn’t have a sign asking visitors to ring the buzzer, or perhaps one was there and was stolen.  

Recently, a squad of deputies was going to play with drones in the back parking lot of Fort Apache LP City recently and launch drones into the flight path of the Naval Air Station – which is insane.  They were stopped in their tracks when a Lexington Park news photographer climbed up on the loading ramp and began videoing the group with their drones all ready to send up in the air.  They quickly folded up shop and went inside when they were caught and almost put up on YouTube causing what could have been an air disaster for the Navy. 

It is ironic that Tim Cameron became such an intellectual after becoming the Sheriff. Before he became such a brilliant guy and could tell the Board of Commissioners to spend (the real figure for the building is somewhere between six million and fourteen million dollars) for the Sheriff’s station on Great Mills Road, he actually did a good thing. Cameron had contacted the owner of the St. Mary’s Square Shopping Center many years earlier and asked him to donate a store space for the Sheriff’s Department, for deputies with a place to use the restroom, write reports, and meet with citizens.  The owner of the shopping center was thrilled to have the police cars back and forth to his retail center, and the county only had to perform minor improvements to the office space, located between a Chinese carryout and a dentist’s office. That partnership with the private sector was a good deal for both the retail center owner and the public. But it failed to fit the goal of Cameron and Keystone Cops bureaucrats to build buildings that they could put their names on to solidify their legacies.

THE TALE OF TWO METCOM OFFICE BUILDINGS AND A DOUBLE DIPPING DIRECTOR

 Metcom Director Larry Petty got his name put on the old Auction Center on Commerce Ave., owned by County Commissioner Rodney Thompson who sold his property, consisting of a building and 3.1 acres, to Metcom for $291,000 in 1994, for an office and equipment storage site.  The former auction house was remodeled into luxurious offices and named the Larry W. Petty Building. It became the headquarters for Metcom until a new director, Jackie Meiser, decided that a new headquarters in an office complex behind BJs would be more central instead in the Industrial Park. The Metcom Board turned out to be populated by big spender Good Old Boys, Frank Taylor, Gilbert Murphy and others who could care less about protecting the ratepayers. Only Mike Mummaugh and Puff Barthelme opposed it. Metcom could have rented a smaller office space for the convenience of those wanting to pay their water bills to avoid traveling to the Hollywood Industrial Park, but instead, the Metcom board being led around by the nose by Mieser, opted to buy the new building. Meiser, the Queen Bee of Metcom, who was wearing three hats until a law was passed to apply to her, prevented Metcom from hiring the same person to be their director and their general counsel – while at the same time she was still conducting her full-time legal business.  Since lawyers operate their practices during business hours, how was she the lawyer for Metcom, the director for Metcom and lawyer at the same time? And this was before there was such a thing as AI.

Thus, the quest for a fancy headquarters for Metcom close to Jackie Meiser’s law office was finalized in 2011 when Metcom paid $1.6 million to First Colony Group LLC for the 9800 square foot building located next to the building which now houses a usually empty District Sheriff’s Department Detectives offices on Camden Way in California, Maryland, constructed in 2007. Metcom Director and since February 21, 2017, former St. Mary’s County public works boss, George Erichsen now presides over the flow of water and sewage as it ebbs and flows under the sidewalks, yards, alleys and streets of St. Mary’s County on its way to treatment and then dumped two miles out in the Chesapeake Bay. Also in 2016, Metcom decided to do away with the general counsel post held by Meiser and instead opted for contracted legal services. Meiser got her girdle in an uproar and filed suit against Metcom Commissioners Mummaugh and Barthelme, and the Metcom Commission for wrongful termination, and the action was thrown out, with prejudice.  Attorney Chris Beaver contracted with Metcom to provide legal services and saved the utility about $100,000 in the first year, over what Meiser was costing for the same services.  Senator Roy Dyson sponsored a bill that prohibited Metcom from having the same person as director and as attorney after the St. Mary’s Commissioners cited the conflict of interest for Meiser to be double-dipping.

 Instead of going away quietly after the lucrative post ended for Meiser, she threw a hissy-fit and the stories about her four plus prosperous years as the Queen Bee of Metcom and being paid to be its mouthpiece as lawyer and public information officer, continue to litter the pages of Google. It wasn’t enough for the spoiled Jackie to have lived high on the hog for five years, banging the taxpayers for big bucks but when she left, she filed suit against her employer. Worse yet, for a lawyer, she lost. That likely won’t be on her resume.

Between 2008 and 2017, when Dan Ichniowski and Meiser held the post of director, the public debt run up by Metcom approached nearly $100 million, the number of employees doubled, and employee benefits skyrocketed. Rates shot up for users.

The St. Mary’s Commissioners paid The Washington Post, a million bucks for their vacant 6,240 square foot building next to the Metcom office after the seller had it on the market for over five years and it was assessed at $800,000. The building supposedly houses the crime lab and a half dozen crime lab trucks are parked outside. Perhaps a taxpayer should put chalk marks on the tires to see if the vehicles are ever used.

This is the way politics works in St. Mary’s County: candidates come out and lie through their teeth, saying that they abhor taxes and swear on a stack of free tickets to Jack Bailey’s Bullroast that they will never raise taxes.

SIXTY MILLION DOLLAR SHERIFF’S PALACE

Then the dung becomes airborne. The commissioners have a meeting with the Sheriff, Cameron, as Hall was never smart enough to pull off the con of getting a new Sheriff’s Headquarters. The Sheriff tells the commissioners that if a militant drug dealer from Lexington Park loads up a conversion van with fertilizer and gasoline and rams it into the Sheriff’s headquarters and kills 300 deputies, it will be their fault for the carnage. And according to Commissioner Mike Hewitt, that is why the commissioners gave up trying to get Cameron to accept the current building, ejecting the treasurer, LUGM, and allocating all the space to the Keystone Cops. Nope, says Hewitt, the only thing the Sheriff would accept was a new building to be blast-proof.  

Instead of going ahead with what will now end up being a $60 million Sheriff’s Palace, likely to be named in honor of Cameron, who set a record at pinning the gold star on his chest five times, perhaps the pages of history should be turned back to the sixties when the county built the CONTROL CENTER. The county’s communications and the State Police outpost were stuck underground under the parking lot next to the courthouse.  It was safe and sound, and no Lexington Park criminals or roving gangs of River Rats from the Seventh District ever attacked the CONTROL CENTER.

Now, the entire Sheriff’s Department’s existing office could be excavated underneath, and the building could be lowered into the hole and covered with a new Cannabis factory. The fumes from the Pot Factory could be piped down to the Sheriff’s Offices, and the urgent needs of police bureaucrats could be mellowed out by the aroma of the weed being processed. Why should the community of Abell get all of the seasoned air of the production of Cannabis?

HAYDEN FARM PUBLIC HEARING HELD ON CHRISTMAS EVE

Presumably, it would prevent hordes of citizens from showing up with torches, pitchforks, and nooses at the Chesapeake Building to deal with the commissioners for their insane spending and tax hikes if the commissioners made that building “blast-proof”. That would have been appropriate for when Tommy Mattingly spearheaded the march to buy the Hayden Farm. They held the “public hearing” for the decision to pay twice what a developer turned down for the property – ON CHRISTMAS EVE in 2008.  The county commissioners, in that case, were the Board led by Democrat Jackie Russell, to buy the 172-acre farm that ended up being the site of the library and the Duke Elementary School. The politicians believe they are smart, and the voters are dumb. The decision to purchase the Hayden Farm was on a four-to-one vote, with Crazy Kenny Dement joining the three Democrats, Dan Raley, Mattingly, and Russell, and Republican Larry Jarboe the lone vote against paying more than double the appraised price. “I do not believe this is right. This stinks more than a whole bushel of rotten crabs,” said Jarboe.

Everything one ever suspected about the sneaky, no-good, rotten Democrats was proven true when they held a meeting to decide on buying a significant land deal benefiting local sellers, which came true just in time for Christmas.

LUGM – PLANNING AND ZONING – COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE

The first St. Mary’s County zoning ordinance was enacted in 1974. CHEAP SHOTS asked Commissioner George Aud, when he was elected again in 1982, why St. Mary’s County hired a bunch of out-of-county bureaucrats to sit in taxpayer-funded offices to dream up ways to erode citizens’ property rights. Aud had the answer that all local officials use when taking away citizens’ rights. He said that the State of Maryland made it clear that if rural counties didn’t enact zoning ordinances, the State would do it, and the result would be miserable.

Before the zoning ordinance was enacted in 1974, the smart lawyers had their land given more valuable zoning than was likely appropriate, but who knows what was appropriate anywhere. Lawyer Joe Weiner had industrial zoning given to a small tract of land he owned in Oakville, where a small office and industrial use complex now thrives. Lawyer Walter Dorsey got commercial marine zoning for a parcel of land in Scotland on the Chesapeake Bay.  Over the decades, revisions have been made and text amendments added to address desired results: some good, some lousy. But the wicked zoning laws have evolved. Builders had a side door of the zoning office to walk through the greased corridors while citizens stood in line at the front counter to kiss the rings of such notorious scoundrels as Robin Guyther, who was eventually fired as permits director when he failed drug testing.

Rush to the present day in St. Mary’s County with its Comprehensive Plan Update.

One can bet their bottom dollar; this new plan won’t benefit the average homeowner or farmer. It will take away property rights, that is what liberals do every chance they get, and the current commissioners are liberals hiding behind a GOP flag. The new plan will be very developer-friendly because that is who calls the shots in this county. The Fourth District Commissioner, Scott Ostrow, voted to raise your taxes by Zoom from his Alaska Cruise ship. When the most important vote of his term came to pass to approve a change for the developer of the core of Lexington Park, Millison Plaza, Ostrow couldn’t even vote. Why? Because he was so greedy for developer donations for his campaign that he pocketed two grand from the developer several months before the change was needed, and he had to abstain.

Bureaucrats run Coward County. The Rinos hired lawyers to run Land Use and Growth Management after the debacle of the Pot Factory being allowed in a residential neighborhood and in the Critical Area. You can’t invent a scenario of stupidity, corruption, or tomfoolery worse than the present condition.

The majority of Republicans registered to vote in St. Mary’s County are conservative. Many moved here with various DOD units that relocated to Pax or to St. Mary’s to escape the chaos of the DC metro area. When Republicans go to the polls, they vote for Republicans, as they know the Democrats are just complete fools.  Okay, some are not complete, but given enough time, they‘ll get there.

In 2022, in the GOP primary for Commissioner President: incumbent Randy Guy, Rita Weaver, a former school board member; former Commissioner President Tommy McKay; and B.J. Hall.  First, look at B.J. Hall. The first official act he took after becoming a Republican was to run for the top spot. Somewhat specious.  Rita Weaver campaigned as the friend of the friends of the St. Clements Island society and was well liked for mowing grass on the island. Randy, running for his final term, hopefully as anything, knew that his name and his long list of favors granted in two terms would get him another term. McKay, clearly the one with the most experience in government and business, suffered from a splintered contest, one he would have won if it had been head-on against Guy. Guy luxuriated in having administrators who prepared him scripts to read and let him play TAP TAP with the gavel at meetings.

Many voters don’t have time to watch the St. Mary’s Board on YouTube, as how many awards, citations, and plaques can one watch for the heroic acts of the Gas Lamplighter for the Walled City of Leonardtown, those in charge of directing the high and low tides at Point Lookout, and the Fishmongers of the Seventh District. No longer are awards given for spearing tobacco leaves; after all, the tobacco farmers were put on welfare by Gov. Glendening.

The Shuttle Buses of groups of county employees being ferried to the Chesapeake Building each Tuesday for special awards is another key component of the Good Old Boys Political Club. On any given Tuesday at Commissioners’ meetings, there are as many as fifty people in the audience, on the clock, waiting to get an award. Perhaps the voters will wise up to the fact that they are simply vessels to carry their earned wealth to the pockets of the Good Old Boys Political Club, the bureaucrats, and the endless parade of Non-Governmental Organizations that suck the life out of taxpayers.

Employee of the Month Airport Terminal Ticket Agent

National Commuter Rail Week for the St. Mary’s Light Rail

Maybe instead of herds of NGO grifters and county employees parading before the Board each week, taxpayers should be given some parity and give the Board a piece of their minds over the taxes going up.