Tag: Bud Otis

The buzz of Frederick County

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It’s always interesting how two groups of people can come to two vastly different conclusions when looking at the same exact situation. This whole ethics opinion is a prime example of such a phenomenon. Jan, Bud, Jessica, Jerry and M.C. all  believe that the county should conduct it’s business openly and fairly. While Kirby, Billy and Tony believe that Kirby should be allowed to low ball everyone’s bids and snatch up all those county contracts for his own. Now, we always appreciate a good debate, but so far have not found one. Instead we been subjected to immature, inflammatory banter on WFMD and unbelievable rude behavior at a public county council meeting.

Then on this beautiful Memorial Day morning we see an article entitled “The Genesis of a Relationship”  penned by no other than Mr. Delauter himself. So we reluctantly click the link, really not happy about giving The Tentacle any more web hits, to see what #KirbyDelauter has to say today. It begins with this sentence:

As you are probably aware, the buzz in Frederick County is about ethics. As it currently stands Frederick County has the same ethics laws as the state of Maryland.

Stop talking about this Kirby! You lost it's over!
Stop talking about this Kirby! You lost. It’s over!

Oh, we are aware. More than aware. Well, we read through the article trying to find something, anything that looks as though he has a leg to stand on. But instead…well just look:

It’s very disappointing to have this executive order come down with no notice, no meeting, and with Council President Otis backing it, without the courtesy of a phone call to me or any discussion whatsoever beforehand. What a coward we have in Mr. Otis. What a lap dog for the County Executive Gardner. His lack of leadership is the only consistent thing about Bud Otis. He is consistently bad at leading this council.

As I’ve said many times, I will continue to do what I said I would do: expose tax and spend policies, watch out for your tax money, and serve you honorably and with conviction.

Once you get through the smoke and mirrors of the Jan Gardner and Bud Otis sideshow, soon enough you will see who is a businessman/politician, and who the politician’s politician are. One looks out for others, the others look out for their own best interest.

We ALL know that Bud calling Kirby ahead of time would have only resulted in a verbal assault on Bud. There’s absolutely no other way that would have turned out. And the nerve calling Bud and Jan’s action a sideshow! We are sorry, but not allowing ONE councilman to hoard all the county contracts for himself does NOT mean that the county isn’t business friendly. And we really don’t know how in the world he can say he has behaved honorably this past week. If that was honorable behavior then we cannot even begin to guess what he would consider dishonorable. And how is he looking out for everyone’s else best interest in this situation? HOW?!

Once again we will reiterate the rather obvious point that if Kirby really wants to bid on county contracts, something he was not allowed to do as a commissioner, then he can relinquish his seat. Jan acted appropriately and totally within the law of the charter when she made an Executive Order stating that NO county executive or council member could profit from county contracts. This issue is settled. How much longer until the 3 amigos realize that and actually start doing something useful?

Tip of our hat

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This week we have seen an explosion of immaturity from Councilmen Delauter and Shreve. If it had not been for the wise, mature and thoughtful words of our new BFF, Bud Otis, we may have had Delauter’s excavation company dig us a hole where we could drink our fireballs in peace. Bud’s response to the wretched, vitriolic mess that came out of #’s mouth deserves repeating:

“As President of the Frederick County Council, I have continually voiced my support for the highest ethical standards possible for elected officials. We serve the citizens of Frederick County and they deserve officials who are honest, avoid the appearance of impropriety and are open in their activities on behalf of the citizens. My perspective is in line with the overwhelming majority of citizens who want honest government processes and leadership. My perspective has not changed from when I served as Chair of the Ethics Commission.

 

“As a family man of honor with a long-standing record of ethical service to our citizens, I cannot stand by and allow fellow Council Member Kirby Delauter to make rude and offensive comments about me and other officials during a public broadcast. His recent behavior is reprehensible and warrants a public apology. This is especially important in light of Mr. Delauter’s vote in support of the recently approved Code of Civility.

 

“Regarding the recently issued Ethics Commission advisory opinion, I would like to clarify that the commission issues opinions based on its interpretation of the Ethics Ordinance. The commission does not create the rules, but it interprets rules that others adopt. County Executive Jan Gardner’s Executive Order, which I fully support, specifically addresses the procurement process and brings fairness and clarity to the citizens and those who wish to do business with Frederick County Government. As the executive and council continue to build our foundation for the future of Charter Government, we are determined to level the playing field for all those interested in bidding on projects with Frederick County Government.

 

“As I have said before, I believe the Ethics Advisory Opinion is wrong in its position that an elected county council member’s private business can bid on and perform work on county capital improvement projects and contracts. I believe that our citizens agree with me that there is an inherent conflict of interest or appearance of favoritism with an elected official bidding and performing work on county government projects.

 

“Disparaging others publicly in an emotional rush of words is not appropriate or reflective of a public servant who seeks to have the respect of his constituents. I welcome any citizens to contact me and share their opinions on my positions.”

Wow, wow,wow! Mr. Otis you get our very first tip of our hat:


For you sir are a class act. And if your party isn’t happy with you remember there’s always plenty of room on the other side.

 

Last night’s council meeting: the good, the bad, the UGLY

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The Good

First things first, in the spirit of Cannes, the red carpet looks. Jerry looking professorial in a good way with his jacket and tie, Jessica in a delightful chartreuse, and MC with a classic scarf (bold neckwear a salute to her rapper image). Bud is elegant as always, with pinstripes in his suit. Tony is in “Friday at the office” wear, with a short sleeve plaid button up. He and Kirby forgot their county pins. It happens. Plus, Kirby can’t pin stuff on that Under Armour fabric. It leaves holes, but that’s okay since Billy wore an appliquéd school uniform with a truly enormous county seal to make up for it. A smart nod to his role as an elected official (which may fail when juxtaposed with the fact that he never acts like one). Nobody knows what they’re wearing from the waist down. Maybe bare feet like everybody else. ?

Do all the council members have these official looking outfits? Serious question.
Do all the council members have these official looking outfits? Serious question.

As an added bonus, things start with a public comment from a speaker wearing a Delauter campaign shirt. Wonder what he’s gonna say. haaaaaaa

The…Undecided

We’re out to lunch on Tony Chmelik. Quality acting from him as he belabors questions about taxes that don’t increase but do. He is perfectly credible in his portrayal of a person who has never paid taxes and has no idea what happens when property assessments increase (or when they don’t). He seems fit for higher office, with his doe-eyed looks and even-tempered behavior. Which is sort of scary to start thinking, because we do not drink the tea here.

The Bad

There were numerous opportunities for Bud and the Democrats (great band name) to say some version of, “We’ve already covered all of this, and we’re not going to talk about it anymore.” To explain the logical fallacy of comparing the teachers to Kirby’s business, again. To explain that taxes pay for stuff we need, and we need 4 new deputies. That’s when we remembered Sheriff Jenkins rolled along in some earlier meeting with his “cream rises to the top” thinking and complained that he can’t afford quality, and Bud also noted that such logic applies to the school system as well.

*duh

We had to fortify with a glass of Sledgehammer before even clicking on the archives. If we had come up with a drinking game for this meeting, everyone playing would have died of alcohol poisoning. The only saving grace is that hardly anyone in the county even pays attention to this stuff, so they’d all be fine. Maybe that part should be demoted to the ugly section.

The Ugly

Now there’s going to be crazy infighting amongst your local yokel writers over who loves Bud the most, because he pulled out a most brilliant thing. He said, “You get what you pay for.” Yes he did. And we swooned.

The UGLY

Kirby started off with a tantrum and called Bud a chickenshit. By the end of the meeting he looked like he was going to explode again. Swiveling back and forth in his chair, with his elbows sticking out from behind his head.

Who looks like a punk? Huh.
Who looks like a punk? Huh.

The worst of it all is that Billy and Kirby treated the council meeting the same way they treat going on WFMD. They wasted time, they ranted and raved. They spent considerable energy pretending that they had some real ideas about the budget, but we watched that, and it was like a kindergartener doing art work. You don’t put that stuff in the Smithsonian. Their behavior is ridiculous.

Kirby blows a gasket…and now Cupid is dead. 

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Not only is the honeymoon over but I think this council (looking right at you Kirby!) killed Cupid tonight.

Why Kirby why?
Why Kirby why?
Let us begin with Kirby’s disgusting call into Tim May’s show on WFMD. Why do we call it disgusting? Because Kirby said that Bud had his head up the County Executive’s skirt. Yes folks, you heard us correctly, her skirt. Now somehow we don’t think this same statement would be made if the County Executive were male, which leaves us here at Local Yokel even more angry than we already were. But, deep breath, we shall continue. There was some more banter in which Mr. May insinuated that Bud did not have proper man parts, followed by Kirby stating that Bud better, “tread lightly around me”. So you can all see how very mature this whole interaction was.  And how this set the tone for the upcoming meeting.

So the meeting. On any other place on Earth this would probably be a pretty boring thing to observe. After all, it’s a meeting to vote on the budget and property rate. That’s all. But no, no,no #KirbyDelauter has a bone to pick and he’s going to make it all about him.

The meeting begins with two barely coherent Kirby supporters (seriously readers we need to step it up and start having our own speakers because this is too much), who claim that Kirby is being hunted down and persecuted. Because this is exactly like that but let’s move on.

So Kirby claims that he is a live and let live kind of guy (cough, cough, gag. )But since the President of the Board called me a criminal and put my business on the spot (never happened,) I am going to do the only logical thing and go after Jerry and Jessica. Because FCPS is a business and they are voting on their business just like Kirby! It’s exactly the same thing, exactly! He then goes on to  say that if the teachers voting on the budget isn’t a conflict of interest nothing is.  NOTHING. And since they were endorsed by the union that proves they are corrupt. (I really hope he didn’t hurt himself coming up with all of this). So Jerry (our hero) once again schools him. I know, as a teacher, Mr. Donald is used to repeating himself to a bunch of high schoolers. Too bad he has to keep doing it with adults. But since we’ve previously written about what he said, we won’t repeat. Billy amusingly chimes in about his love of history. Sorry Billy we cannot write history buff next to your name. He basically makes Jan’s, Bud’s and everyone else’s point for them. He tells us that Kirby is losing millions of dollars by not getting county contracts. A Billy says what?

Then Kirby goes after our friend Bud, which we will not tolerate.

Tread lightly Kirby! We don't take too kindly to your messing with Bud.
Tread lightly Kirby! We don’t take too kindly to your messing with Bud.
Kirby accuses Bud of tossing him under the bus and creating a circus. “You are trying to put me out of business!” “I am not going to take this lying down!” And we are about to blow a freaking gasket because we all know that Kirby does not need to be a council member! Why is he a council member? Seriously, District 5, why?! And Kirby, you want the contracts there’s a simple solution…resign.

We are very proud to announce that our friend Bud can defend himself very nicely.

Thank you Bud. Thank you.
Thank you Bud. Thank you.
He tells Kirby that he stands by his opinion that he believes there is a conflict of interest. And that the question of whether or not the teachers can vote was solved by the voters when they elected them! Excellent point our friend. We are really tired of Bud being called a turncoat, but we’ve said a lot about that already. So read our past posts on this and stop it! Now! And #, if your business is so dependent on county business and food is literally being snatched from your children’s mouths then do everyone a favor and relinquish your seat.

Good Queen Jan, Her Royal Highness, Our Lady of Immense Patience

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The story in which Billy calls Jan a queen because of ethics. Which sounds kinda familiar, but much more fun and fanciful than that earlier ugliness about tyrants and dictators. They’re just not so sparkly and glamorous, and imagining a Good and Lovely Queen makes us think of Glinda the Good Witch, and gives us warm feelings about her kind and wise guidance. Amidst personal attacks, she stands by and keeps her comments to the situation at hand, which makes it that much more a pleasure to sing her praises.

You have no power here! Begone, before somebody drops a house on you, too!
You have no power here! Begone, before somebody drops a house on you, too!

Kirby D had this to say:

Delauter said Gardner’s decision to issue the order is “par for the course.” With the decisions she is making, he said, the county will go back into the same hole that it was in when the last board of commissioners last took office, which was after Gardner’s last term as commissioners president.

Yes indeed. We all remember the utopian vision of the BOCC under Blaine Young, with Billy and Kirby to boot. We could go out to eat with the hundred bucks, and they got to “trim the fat.” You know, county workers who do all the things to make our county the place we call home. County employees who might have liked to afford to go out to eat themselves, we have to suppose.

This all makes us think of con-men, tricksters and cheats in so much detail. In the end they are supposed to turn out to be good. Is that only in old movies? Not to draw out this conceit and suggest Bud Otis has ever been such a bad seed, but at least in him we see that our first impressions were wrong. It’s sad to feel so hopeless in regards to some.

And another word about tricksters. Does it seem a mite strange that if you are on an ethics panel that believes politicization has run amok that the decision would be to resign? That sure strikes us as an odd way to ensure ethics are maintained. It almost sounds like b.s.

May 19th council meeting: What did Billy do this week? And whose foot is that?

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So compared to the past few council meetings this one was relatively short. But don’t worry Billy still had plenty of time to put on a show.

Billy has a lot of trouble with procedure, and we mean a lot. We are torn between two possible explanations for his behavior. The first one is that he is purposefully trying to make things difficult for every single person on that council due to some misguided notion that in doing so he will sway others to his point of view. Or perchance he is just a really obtuse buffoon that really has no idea on Zeus’ green Earth what the hell he’s doing up there. You be the judge.

Read the charter Billy! I said read it!!!!
Read the charter Billy! I said read it!!!!

Every meeting begins with public comments. Every single one! So at this point Billy should know that when it’s the public’s time to talk he needs to keep his trap shut for three short minutes. Well, not Billy. When Citizen Patrick takes Billy to task for abstaining and for not serving the citizens of this fine county, Billy interrupts. He is quickly called out for said infraction and we were lucky enough to catch his reaction:

Why can't I do whatever I want whenever I want? Why?
Why can’t I do whatever I want whenever I want? Why?

Next on the agenda–every agenda–is council member comments. Comments, not questions. Well, no,no,no you commoners. Billy wants to ask questions and he wants to do it now!!! He’s really upset about all that’s been going on with the ethics commission and he wants answers right this very second! Well, our poor overworked county lawyer has to explain the difference between the words comment and question. Billy is still having none of this and tries to get Bud to make a motion to allow it. Bud refuses (thumbs up), and gets in a little verbal skirmish with Billy telling him that they would try to get to it at the end of the agenda. PER PROCEDURE!

So let’s get to the voting section of the evening. Can you guess what happened (if you were following our drinking game, you are probably in a corner drooling all over yourself right now)? Budget transfers? ABSTAIN! Meeting minutes? ABSTAIN! But, what’s this, is Billy having a change of heart? Because he voted in the affirmative to allow a hearing concerning a grant the Department of Public Works is applying for. Don’t worry, he didn’t have a full change of heart. He still refused to use the word AYE. He instead chose the more flowery YES. Because he is a petulant child man.

Now, dear readers this is at least the third instance in which we have seen council member Shreve render a county employee speechless. Not in an ” Oh Mr. Shreve you rendered me silent with your vast knowledge of this subject” way. More like a “I cannot believe I am being asked this question by a fully formed adult” kind of way.

So back to the ethics question. Billy wants answers about the separation of powers between the county executive and the council. He’s told that no such thing exists. He then starts hammering away about who would represent the council if they had a dispute with the county executive. This is when the pause occurred and our fine county attorney Mathias really had to gather his thoughts before proceeding. He explains again the duties delegated to both bodies as per the charter. But this still isn’t enough. It’s as though Billy really believes that everyone on that council is going to stand in revolt against County Executive Jan because Kirby can not bid on county projects. Like seriously believes that he can stage a coup. Except he has no idea what he is talking about at all! Per protocol.

We will leave you with two screenshots from tonight’s meeting that struck our funny bone. Who is coming to the meetings without any shoes on?

image

image

Partisan Games Make No Sense to Locals

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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.

Signing Grover Norquist's Pledge
Signing Grover Norquist’s Pledge: you get what you pay for.

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).

Benedict Arnold in our midst

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To hell with all traitors!
To hell with all traitors!

Who thought a local government meeting could be so informative? We have learned from some very brave citizens that we have a Benedict Arnold posing as the President of the Frederick County Council! We were not aware that a county council election was akin to an actual war, let alone a revolution. But apparently we were just being ignorant.

One very brave woman brought actual evidence to show us the error of our ways. Armed with an article from the Frederick News Post concerning the Grover Norquist tax pledge and campaign materials we were treated to quite the presentation. Apparently Bud Otis is a dishonest turncoat who doesn’t care about his legacy…and at his age?! Oh the outrage!

Apparently about five people are very upset that Bud Otis is not living up to his campaign promises. We are very confused because at the beginning of this very same meeting Shreve told us that Jan needed to stop campaigning and start governing. Maybe the rules only apply sometimes? Makes sense.

Anyway, we must put in our two cents here. We have been very pleasantly surprised at the leadership of Bud Otis. He has actually sat down with and listened to county employees and the county executive (the horror!).  He has been very polite and as far as we can tell has followed proper protocol at meetings. We must vehemently object to Bud being labeled a turncoat. A turncoat is someone who betrays their nation. Not someone who carefully considers the information before him and makes the most intelligent decisions based on that information. We are particularly amused at those who claim that Bud is rubber stamping all of Jan’s decisions. Agreement does not mean passive acceptance. And from what I could tell from the speakers last night they were mad because Bud was not a rubber stamp to Kirby, Billy and Tony’s motions. But maybe this is just another example of the rules only applying sometimes.

Kirby says what?

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At the County Council meeting of April 21st Councilman Delauter once again demonstrated his talent for grandstanding with no discernible purpose. Last night his indignation was directed towards BT-15-171.

Notice the $0 the county is contributing!
Notice the $0 the county is contributing!

Kirby’s disdain for the so-called “Rain Tax” is well-known. When Bud Otis dared to take discussion of the Stormwater Management Fee off an earlier agenda, Kirby called him a tyrant and threatened him with a no-confidence vote. (I am sure Bud was shaking in his boots.)

Kirby calls Tyrant! via Frederick News Post

So one can only imagine that every time Kirby sees the word “Stormwater” some Pavlovian process must be taking place deep within that grey matter called his brain. Instead of finding out any details of what this program would accomplish or even recognize the fact that ZERO county dollars would be used for this program he asks:

“Are we going to mow people’s yards now?

lawn_mowing_kitteh

I had to play the video back a couple of times to make sure I heard  correctly. Mow people’s yards?! Of course not! Even the landscaping allotted in the bill is for conservation landscaping. Conservation landscaping has nothing to do with lawn mowing . It has to do with creating an environment that benefits the waterways and wildlife of a particular area. I was able to find out exactly what it was in less than 2 seconds.

 What is Conservation Landscaping? via Montgomery County

Perhaps Kirby isn’t as good at the internet as I am.

Kirby continues to hammer away at our poor county employee Steve on the science and data and blah blah blah. But to him none of the science is true anyway so there!

But seriously, since when has our esteemed Council Man (and #1 Allen West fan) cared about scientific facts? He obviously does not believe that humans pollute the waterways. Or that the Earth is getting warmer, or that evolution exists or that gravity is a thing …

So why question a simple budget transfer that uses grant money expressly given for the purpose of improving the watershed of the Potomac? To show all of us that science is wrong and he’s right!