We’ve been hearing an awful lot about council folk lining their pockets. We would like to point out you really shouldn’t compare apples to watermelons.
Educatin’ #KirbyDelauter
Like many of you, we here at local yokel like to have a peaceful morning with our newspaper and coffee. We do not take too kindly to our peace being viciously snatched away from us with hyperbolic nonsense such as this:
The way that Gardner is running the county is “basically like a dictatorship.”
Who said this? Well of course it was #KirbyDelauter. Of course it was! Why? Because Jan and Bud Otis did not take too kindly to Council Member #KirbyDelauter profiting from his position and making it look as though county business is not on the up and up. This isn’t the first time that Kirby has misused a word. Think back to his labeling Bud a tyrant because he had the gall to remove an item from the agenda. Maybe, just maybe he really doesn’t understand the meaning. Let us help. Here’s the Webster’s definition of a dictator:
a person who rules a country with total authority and often in a cruel or brutal way
Not:
Someone who doesn’t allow me to make a crap load of money from government contracts while serving on the council of said government.
Still not clear? Then let’s use some visuals and play a game. Who is the Dictator?
Any questions? If so, we seriously doubt we can help you.
Billy Shreve…Take Three!
For a few days it had been quiet, almost too quiet in the land of Billy Shreve. But as a mother of young children surely knows, when it’s quiet there’s trouble a brewin’.
So this quiet time was spent “updating the facts”. Good Poseidon of the Sea that can’t be good can it?!
No it was not. And oh how we apologize to Bob Miller for our critique of his morning show. Because we did not know (and wished we still did not) of the horror that awaited us on the afternoon program with Tim May. So many apologies Bob. As an example of the extreme sacrifice we go through for you let us tell you a story. A nice caller pointed out that laws and contracts get changed all the time. When people’s opinion of a matter change or a new administration comes in it isn’t unusual for changes to be made. Well this poor nice caller did not realize that he committed the high crime of blasphemy with what seemed to us perfectly rational arguments. But, thankfully Private Eye/Man of the Cloth Tim May was there to point it out. Because dear caller you know what law can never been changed? THE TEN COMMANDMENTS!!! BAM! Take that you ignorant fool, argument over.
So to continue, we come in at the 3rd hour, because as much as we love you dear readers, there is only so much in terms of our sanity that we are willing to sacrifice. At the beginning of this hour we are welcomed by the very persistant voice of our friend Mary. Mary, leader of the “How could you Bud Otis?” brigade had some very reasonable remarks about Jan. It’s too much b.s. for us to wade through on a Friday. But she did leave us with some good sound bites. Jan’s governance so far has been “hypocrisy in action” and damnit “Facts Matter”! Well thankfully that was over quickly and on comes Billy.
Now, from the looks of his Facebook status it seemed as though we were going to get some new information. But looks are often deceiving. Because all we heard was the same old, same old that we heard on the last two radio appearances. (See #1 and #2 here) He was asked why the CEO calls him instead of Jan. The best answer Billy can give is that Jan won’t reach out to him. Why she should have to do this is beyond us. But he then goes on to say that he and Kirby were in on the deal from the beginning so he feels more comfortable calling them. Which one is it?
We pointed out in an earlier post that the way the Continuing Care agreement was crafted it was very easy for Aurora to get out of treating future indigent patients. Billy as much admitted to this, saying that the county would have to pay the full rate. While he did not specify exact dollars we can only assume the full rate is a shitload of money. Billy did leave us with a couple of thoughts on the subject of Aurora. First of all, he didn’t start all this hoopla because CEO Snow called him (a departure from his earlier statements) it’s because the poor residents have been calling him personally worried about their future. Man, to be Billy’s phone. How does it not ring all day and all night? But the piece de resistance that Billy had to say about the nursing home is this: Aurora is like Disney World and the county’s is like a prison. That’s right folks, it’s all sunshine and cotton candy up in Aurora’s house. But the county run home, you might as well be in Alcatraz.
Then we get to talks of the budget and oh how cute, nobody can remember Bud Otis’ name. These guys are hilarious. Billy starts off by saying that the budget process was the worst process he had ever been involved in. The worst! He wants more positions and he’s still whining about not getting his meeting with the budget officer. But it’s just the same old same old we’ve heard from the past few weeks. We had some glimmer of hope we would hear something new. Right before the last break Billy was warned that he was going to be asked why he can’t be civil. But of course, they never came back to this point. Because Blaine called in and repeated the same exact lines he said on last week’s Bob Miller’s show.
So there you have it folks. Same old same old. The only updated facts was that Billy only acts in the interest of the old, poor patients of Aurora. Not CEO Snow, whom apparently has Billy’s direct line. Why he keeps torturing us with these radio appearances we cannot guess. But we’ll be here to listen so you don’t have to.
How can Kirby Delauter profit from the government like a businessman today?
Seriously questionable timing. An ethics task force appointed by Jan Gardner has not yet completed its findings on how to strengthen the county’s ethical guidelines, and preemptively we have been tossed a bombshell with the findings of the “ethics commission“. Things that make you go hmmm.
The justification for allowing Councilman Kirby to bid on storm water management projects [which haha, duh, is so not a problem, woohooo the Rain Tax was repealed; pssst that is a huge lie so that everyone gets to smell like roses], plus also the county must let Delauter bid on doing all the other stuff Frederick digs up, relies on the fact that the county executive has a great deal of power in determining what happens with the bidding process and contracts. This is all well and good if you trust County Executive Gardner to make objective decisions. For some odd reason here at the Yokel we have an entirely different vision of the likely outcomes with a different person up in the executive saddle.
Delauter estimates his company could have received $4 million to $5 million in projects during his time as a commissioner if he had been able to submit bids.
“To give up that kind of work just to be a county commissioner, it is giving up a lot to serve your community,” he said.
Ummmm yeah how ’bout no. Kirby should give up serving profiting from Frederick County and go run his business milk it for all it’s worth in a way that doesn’t have anyone questioning whose hand is feeding whom? Plus, we will have to constantly bring up that time a guy working for the county thought his department should get to replace a 17 year old truck, and he was a punk. Teachers who may vote to increase the BOE budget and down the road the BOE may vote to give teachers a little raise so that they can afford to keep buying school supplies for their classrooms, and maybe get a smidge of realistic compensation for working nights, weekends, and summers (who knew!) planning and grading and documenting and doing professional development–those people are sure to be accused of padding their pockets. When a part-time county employee’s family digging business wants to get $5 million-ish from taxpayers, that is to be regarded as ethically sound and fiscally prudent use of public funds. Hoss, we’re hoping to buck you from this part-time gig, eventually, and then you won’t have so much stuff to try and keep consistent up in your dome.
Who are we kidding, we share this award with all of you.
The Sky Is Falling!!!!
I know our readers may not believe this but Blaine Young is like a father to us. It’s true! After writing his “Work together or nothing will get accomplished” LTE we were motivated to create this little blog. So for that we will be eternally grateful.
But now we are confused. Because in said LTE we were told:
I have moved on in my life. I wish her the best of luck, as it is very tough trying to keep everyone happy while trying to keep your campaign promises.
But today on his politician Facebook page we see this:
We are sure he really, really hates that he had to tell us so. But this ,and last week’s appearance on the Bob Miller morning show, does not seem as though someone is moving on with his life. We cannot help but remark upon the fact that he seems to be creating hysteria where none really exists. This budget reflects a change that quite frankly many people wanted to see. Enough people, at least, who decided that they would like to see Jan at the helm rather than he. So while Blaine may want us to believe that he’s out, he really still believes that he’s the only one that can keep the sky from crashing down upon us.
Luckily the rest of us weren’t as delusional.
Partisan Games Make No Sense to Locals
A big slap on the back and a firm hand shake goes out to Steve McKay for an LTE in the Frederick News Post. His words align neatly with our sentiments about Bud Otis, and point out some of the problems that come along with partisan posturing in our community. Yer Yokel writers hope that these criticisms coming from within the party will have some impact.
Watching The Grover Norquist Fan Club speak against Bud Otis in the most recent county council meeting really chapped our hides. When Democrats like what a Republican is doing, it doesn’t make the man a turn-coat, it makes him a success. We are all conservatives: we want our needs met without waste. We are all liberals: we have needs that we acknowledge must be met with public funds. Considering public safety and property values, we must balance our taxing and spending priorities. Bud Otis is doing this without acting pants-on-head ridiculous.
Shreve and Delauter have a history of running their mouths with partisan rhetoric. Such attention seeking behaviors are great tactics for Bob Miller’s radio show ratings, and for nationally known politicians who want to use their elected position to launch their next gig on the box of crazy obnoxious talking heads. Using techniques pioneered by toddlers who don’t want to leave the sandbox is a farcical approach to local government, though. It makes good neighbors despise you for poisoning their well. People simply need the best possible result with the least amount of drama, particularly when we are likely to be bumping into each other at the schools, parks, sports fields, and libraries. Presuming we are going to have enough realists around here that we don’t let all of that fall into disrepair. Local officials do not enjoy the buffer that Rush Limbaugh has between himself and most of America. Nobody wants to buy Dittohead bumper stickers from the guys they elected to make sure their county continues to be a nice place to live. Clearly stating a refusal to think for ones’ own self makes people lose respect for constant unwillingness to adapt to changing circumstances.
Furthermore, most people are engaged enough with their community–even if they don’t follow its politics–to realize that a single issue focus offered up by Grover Norquist is unmarketable at the local level. Community needs are more nuanced than that (and if you keep your thinking hat on, national needs are, too, but we’ll bet on having more success tackling the smaller messes we’ve stepped in around these parts).
Thank Billy It’s Friday!
We here at Frederick Local Yokel cannot get one day off from Billy’s antics! Not one! Soon we are going to have to submit an overtime notice to his office, because really it is becoming all too much. What did he do now? Well just look:
On his public Councilman Billy Shreve Facebook page he decided to publish both the invoice and letter that the county received from Aurora. Even though we don’t agree with Billy’s opinion on this matter we don’t see anything wrong with him hashing out his opinion on the radio or in the newspaper or even on television. But we have to think that some line has been crossed when he posts documents addressed to the county on his Facebook page. Documents that could eventually be a part of a lawsuit, documents that are not even addressed to him, documents that the county says are confidential. According to the Code of Ethics he is supposed to abide by, we see many possible violations. For example: Avoid activities, which would compromise or give the perception of compromising the best interest of the employer. Or perhaps this one: Avoid the appearance of unethical or compromising practices in relationships, actions and communications. There are many more so please look at the code for yourself. Whether Billy likes it or not he represents Frederick County and no matter his feelings on this particular issue, he should really take more care as to what he posts on his Facebook page.
This week in radio appearances…
First we must start with a complaint! We have had to listen to WFMD three times this week! We were subjected to propaganda such as: ” Fox News, we report you decide” and some odd PSA about how you are the worst parent in the world if you allow your graduating senior to go to beach week. We want you to know what we go through for you, our gentle readers.
Let us begin with yesterday’s phone in appearance by Blaine Young on the Bob Miller show. Martyr Blaine is very, very upset about some things. First of all, he begins with, “Every deal that has my name on it is a bad deal for the citizens of Frederick County.” Well, duh. And then after repeating this platitude goes on to say, “Plain and simple, in this day and age the last thing the county needs to be in is the nursing home business.” He then repeats this for all you idiots who didn’t understand him the first time. Bob Miller, helpfully points out that technically we are still in the nursing home business if we are paying for the 58 indigent residents that were there at the time of this deal. To which Blaine said that it’s only for a little while and the government doesn’t know what it’s doing and it’s a horrible center and money, money, money. But here’s the kicker. Jan you need to get over Blaine! Stop texting, calling and blaming everything on him! He’s moved on gosh darn it! Why can’t you let him be!? We must give a shout out to Bob Miller. At the end of the interview Blaine told Bob that he is soliciting funds for his new Presidential Library. Bob responds, ” What’s it going to have in it? Two comic books? I didn’t even know you could read!” We were shocked as well. And it’s really funny to make fun of people who actually like to read. Hilarious!
So, last night we were helpfully alerted to the fact that Billy was going to make yet another appearance on Bob’s morning show. First, it’s at 7:20, then no it’s 8:20 but he didn’t actually make it on until 8:36. So there’s 16 minutes of our life lost forever! All kidding aside we do appreciate some of the push back that Bob has given Billy over this whole Aurora scandal. He once again asked Billy why he never contacted Jan directly. Billy says he didn’t need to, he contacted the lawyers. Bob points out that she may have been able to explain to him her reasoning for withholding the next payment to which Billy replied, ” I don’t think if she explained it the results would be any different. The process is the process.” We feel the same way. There are no words that Jan could have used that would have gotten through to him. NONE. So it was much of the same re-hashing of his appearance earlier in the week. But at the end Billy tells us the real reason he came on the radio. He claims the residents were calling Aurora concerned they were going to be kicked out. Even though both Aurora and Jan have publicly announced this would not be the case. He doesn’t care about Aurora, no siree Bob, only our poor residents.
Well, well, well, that is certainly news to us. But we have a very specific question. Billy and Blaine both claim that the poor residents of Frederick County will still be allowed to use the nursing home, with county funds, if need be. However, this clause in the Continued Care agreement :
IV. FUTURE INDIGENT CARE. In addition to Aurora’s continuing care obligation for the subsidized MALF residents required, above, after leasing CCRC’s Facility Business Assets and Real Property as defined in the Asset Purchase Agreement Aurora shall accept new assisted living residents requiring financial assistance, to the extent MALF beds are available, provided County agrees to pay, and continue to pay, Aurora’s full private pay amount in place at the time of each admission. The County’s commitment to fund these additional MALF residents must be reflected in a separate written agreement between Aurora and the County shall not be required or inferred by any provision of this Agreement.
leaves us with this question: If Aurora fills up all the beds, can they turn the indigent away? No where in this clause, or in the agreement itself, is there any requirement that a certain number of beds be set aside for this purpose. So it seems as though the county has left a nice loophole for Aurora to get out of providing care if they should happen to fill all their beds up. If that is the case, I believe we will have to side with Jan that it’s a bad deal for Frederick County.
What in the Sam Hill is Shreve doing?
We’re hardly the first ones out in cyberspace taking note that Little Billy was in an “I’m not gonna” (hurumph) mood at the council meeting yesterday evening. The pressing question is why he wants to pee in Chmelik and Delauter’s tea like that? With 3 Democrats and 4 Republicans on the council, it’s a close race. One of those Republicans, Bud Otis, has shown that he is willing to work together as a team on behalf of the county (is it that he aspires to be reelected; what a weird thing for an At-Large representative to think on…but we digress). That leaves the tea block at 3, since as we heard (oh how we heard) Otis is a turn-coat. With Billy abstaining on his votes, that’s just 2 left. Goodness, if his grasp of first grade word problems is this bad, you think he’d be a more enthusiastic supporter of the local school system (no fair claiming he was the BOE liaison, we know he didn’t really participate in that either).
We hope this keeps up. Boy howdy. If the locals can’t have a sensible council member, we will take the next best thing: a nutty one who takes careful aim to shoot himself in the foot.
frederick local yokel 