Bud Otis – Page 5 – frederick local yokel

These council member comments are going to do us in….Your July 5th meeting report!

July 6, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

We'll let you decide who we are talking about. — We’ll let you decide who we are talking about.

We don’t know if the regular video person at FCGTV is on vacation, but whomever is doing it this week gave the Yokels a heart attack. After pouring a much needed cup of coffee one of your brave Yokel ladies clicked on the video archives. She was very dismayed to see that last night’s meeting registered at 6 hours long! Now we love our readers and want to keep y’all informed, but we have things to do! Thankfully the time stamp was wholly inaccurate and we came in at 45 minutes.

We start off with the agenda vote with our favorite useless at large council member voting no.

We finally have a pre-meeting public commenter! It’s Patrick! If you know Patrick, please invite him to like our page. He congratulates Jenkins on the large heroin bust. He is very pleased with the new council form of government. He wants to refresh everyone’s memory of what it was like during the dark days of the BOCC. He very specifically tells folks to delve into the November 24, 2014 meeting to see how they operated. (Look away folks!) We love his final suggestion. Anyone who has been found to have engaged in human trafficking should not be eligible for election to county offices. We are behind that 100%!

Budget adjustments- 6 for 1 abstain. (Guess who!)

No comments on the police grant.

Approval of past minutes by all.

Resident agent designation will officially be the county attorney. Billy interjects by asking how will the council will be notified of lawsuits since it hasn’t been in the past. There is some discussion about how most of the lawsuits don’t have anything to do with the council and those that do are forwarded. Somehow we don’t think this will be enough.

1st readings go off without a hitch. 3rd reading is put aside until later.

Public hearings on Spring 2016 and Sewage Plan. No public comment and it’s approved.

Three proposed charter amendments:

Notice requirement shrunk to 2 days from 2 weeks to change a bill.
Notice requirement shrunk to 2 days from 2 weeks to make a change to the budget.
Council given until May 31st to review budget.

No one came to comment. July 19th will be the third reading and then it has to be sent over to the Board of Elections by mid August to be put on the ballot for November. Citizens can also propose amendments. Mid August date still applies. Check with the BOE for the petition process.

Votes to go into closed session to interview County Executive Appointments. 7-0. This is new since Billy usually votes against it. We still haven’t cracked the code when it comes to his voting process.

Then here we are folks. Council Member comments. It’s a mixture of all we have to be proud of in this county and also our greatest shame.

Jerry goes first. Announces that the Frederick Food Bank is in desperate need of donations. Walking trail through Middletown Park will be officially opened on July 12. Brunswick has officially been designated an Enterprise Zone by the state. Reminds people to support their fire companies by attending carnivals and thanks county employees for helping him work on bills that he will propose in the future.

Jessica thanks Angela Spencer for her work on the Human Relations Commission. Encourages the public to follow all their local boards and commission.

Kirby remarks on the heroin situation here in Frederick. Another young person has succumbed to this drug.(Yokel aside- We do need to do something about our heroin problem (NOT NARCONON) and it’s going to take the whole community to brainstorm some solutions to this problem. Hopefully community involvement in tackling the heroin problem will not involve the toe stepping on law enforcement as Kirby claims studying human trafficking will do.) He then talks about three bridge dedications to our military heroes. One that recently took place and two that will occur in the future. We lady Yokels are 100% for honoring our local service people. We did see some disturbing intel on what took place at the first dedication. Some folks only wanted to invite people who were of their political persuasion and were miffed when those of other political philosophies showed up. FOR SHAME! Hopefully those involved in this disgusting behavior will not repeat it at the upcoming dedications. Then there’s the predictable rant against County Executive readings in which M.C. will address in her comments.Now it’s time for the wedding venue debacle. So Kirby’s argument is that since some county facilities aren’t up to code (his words) then what’s the prob? Why can’t private businesses violate them? From what we understand the buildings are being demolished because the actual owners of the land wanted them torn down. We don’t know what kind of government official advocates that a business continue violating safety laws because no one has been hurt yet!

He’s having a meeting today at 1 pm with the BOE and Rick Harcum to talk about his public funding idea of schools.

Tony is going to have a Town Hall in Urbana in the next 2 weeks. Date to be determined.

Shreve wants to know what kind of venue the council will have to address public needs. This is because of his complaints about the landfill. We thought it was adequately explained to him that he needs to address the public concerns by writing a bill and then having public comment on said bill, but he sat up there and called that process elitist again. So we don’t know what else to say. He then goes onto congratulate FCPS for winning a public relations award and we can barely believe our ears. But the award was partially given because of the Classmates for Life video competition. So that was really just about him.

M.C. Keegan-Ayer wasn’t going to comment, but Kirby’s statement changed her mind. She points out to him that the council has a workshop on each of the County Executive’s proposed bills before they get on the agenda. So that would be the appropriate time for him to voice his concerns. Kirby tries to argue the semantics of this, is quickly shut down. Because big surprise he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Bud talks about a brainstorming session about the new Veteran’s treatment court and reminds everyone that Frederick will have a fireworks show on July 24.

July 12th is a workshop and July 19th is the next legislative day.

Happy 240th America! It’s your 240th turn to scream at your screen!

July 5, 2016July 5, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Hopefully in 2018 we will put them on vacation!

We hope you had a fun 4th! After the ridiculousness that went on during last week’s workshop, we don’t have much hope for sanity this week. Grab your agenda, tune up your FCGTV and let’s do this!

We’ll be surprised if anyone comes to speak for the pre-meeting comment, since it’s failed to happen thus far. So we’ll skip ahead to one of our fave county employees, Rick Harcum. He’s here to speak of some budget adjustments. The list is long and we have little hope that our usual suspects will not grandstand. So when they do what they do, sip on your President cocktail in honor of Bud and all he has to put up with.

The High Sheriff will be in the house to discuss a joint grant application with the City of Frederick. This actually looks like some good stuff, with the money split between the Sheriff’s office and the Frederick City police. Click on the agenda to get all the details.

Up next is naming the County Attorney as the Resident Agent for the county as required by law. If this discussion is too much for some to comprehend, mix up a Roosevelt, since he’s probably spinning in his grave.

There are some first and third readings of bills proposed by the county executive on the agenda. Kirby threw this Facebook fit earlier:

Someone hasn’t read our post about what a traitor is. And these guys have a hard time comprehending what a legislative body does. Jan cannot introduce legislation. She needs someone on the council to do it for her. And quelle horror! She actually has some people on the council who think it’s advantageous to work together. If Kirby can get over his Ted Cruz style of legislatin’ we’ll all be better off. If he brings up anything on this Facebook rant mix up a batch of Martha Washington’s punch. Since we are fairly certain that’s what the good lady would do to him.

To round things up there’re two public hearings. One on sewage amendments and the other on charter amendments. There’s gonna be words. When there are slam back your Bear Witness. Since bearing witness to this all really can be a burden.

Grab some water and hydrate for public and council member comments. This can sometimes be the hardest part of the meeting.

Refuse the refuse: off gassing of the landfill discussion

June 29, 2016June 29, 2016 fclocalyokel6 Comments

Oh, man. Tread carefully around the landfill workshop held at Kirby’s behest. By the time we got through the new business, day drinking seemed like an attractive option. It seems that ‘ol Hashtag thought he was going to get a constituent issue addressed by calling the Waste Management staff out so he and his drinking buddies could needle them about how they figure out if people are allowed to bring trash from outside the county and dump it in our landfill or not, which is not allowed. There’s some cautioning from staff about making imprudent decisions that could inadvertently drastically increase the amount of trash, filling the landfill faster.

There is some general agreement amongst thinking council persons and county attorneys alike that if a legislative issue is going to be solved, a bill is needed. A mystery person will have to identify the problem and draft said bill, because the person who needs to understand how all this works has no idea what everyone else might be talking about. His main point in a nutshell seems to be, “I know about a complaint my constituent has. No one else thinks it is a problem. No one else will fix it for me, but if you don’t do what I want, I will continue to waste vast amounts of time AND be a loud mouthed blowhard.”

The fact that constituent issues are not on the agenda for discussion at this time prompts a huge Delauterburst man-tantrum during the staff briefing. And you don’t have to take our word for it, because did Kirby Delauter take his tantrum to social media (also, it’s at about 43 mins on the archived video)? Well, does a bear poo in the woods? You betcha. Look at that. He didn’t even have to write this himself.

STFU morans. — “…have never ran?” You don’t say…well, we wouldn’t say that, but whatever. Language evolves, right? Semantics also take a big role in this whole brouhaha.

Bud tries to move on and thank the staff for their help during the briefing, and Billy cuts him short to say they aren’t done yet, and then says, “It’s like Romper Room in here.” Bud quietly offers back, “Sure is.” lololololololllllllllllll (indeed).

Billy and Kirby should watch Romper Room and refresh their manners.

Jessica proposes a workshop regarding human trafficking, because several counties have task forces applicable to the issue. And between the lines, right? If we are going to have a prominent former (and yet still aspiring politician) soliciting hookers, it becomes a pet local concern. Billy then says that there are lots of groups both for and against this issue, at which point we have to feel so grateful to Jerry Donald for saying (in the appropriate appalled voice) what we were shouting at our screens, “THERE ARE GROUPS THAT ARE FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING?!?!?!?!?!” To which Billy mutters, “Well yah…depending on how you define human trafficking…” Good grief. The Confederacy lost, right? That passes 5-2 and we know you know which marionettes didn’t vote for that, right?

Billy has a whole festering bunch of ideas for workshops, making the entire New Business section of the agenda a train wreck. It’s hard to distill a word cloud of Billy’s brain into a cogent prose form. They are not even fully formed thoughts as Billy brings them forth as motions to add to the agenda, in most cases, and the others (with particular kudos to the patience of M.C. Keegan-Ayer here) try to divine what he means and reword these vague notions into something that can be worked within a “yea/nay” decision making format. This section is entirely analogous to his previous legislative priority to send to Annapolis, “Understanding what regulations impede the operation of roadside hot dog stands.” New readers, we swear we are not making this up.

These are various ideas along the lines of, “Understand how citizens make claims against the county, or how the county administers claims, what zoning stuff is obsolete, what it takes to file a complaint, a reasonable timeline for complaints, oh wait I mean for complying with zoning and building violations.” There are points at which Tony Chmelik seems to try and talk some sense into him, but he derides the need for word smithery. As though effective communication has no purpose in legislating. Tony notes that phone calls could be made to find out information.

Jerry Donald also suggests using email. Billy and Jerry repeatedly go at it, because Billy is peeved that you can’t just have a meeting every time he would rather not do anything like wait for a constituent concern, address it with legislation, and discuss it in a pertinent public hearing at that time. When Jerry Donald has to give an impromptu workshop on “How the County Council Works,” he gets called an elitist. It’s a point Billy throws at him repeatedly, when he continues to allude to the fact in rather diplomatic (if impatient) terms that he is wasting everyone’s valuable time. Not to be lost: knowing how to do your job is elitist in B.S. World.

Another infuriating problem through all of this is that Billy accuses the government of being dysfunctional because it is meant to follow a clear procedure, yet he seems to be on an open door lets-look-for-problems-no-one-has-identified-yet fact finding mission, so that someone–but definitely not him or Kirby—can write some new legislation.

Please, Frederick County, at the next local election let’s take out our trash.

What is a traitor? A primer for the hyperbolic amongst us.

June 25, 2016June 28, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

If you’ve been a fan of the Yokel for some time, you know how we detest the hyperbolic language some of our county council members are so fond of. Last Spring, we had to give #kirbydelauter a lesson on what a dictator actually is. Now it looks like we are forced to do the same with Billy:

2016-06-25 — The comments so far have not be in his favor. Add your name to the chorus by looking up his Facebook page.

First of all, we are glad this Bud is for us! Secondly, let’s explore what a traitor actually is. We’ll start with the good old dictionary def:

So a person who is not loyal to country or friend, but really someone who betrays friend or country to their enemy. What examples does history lend us? Let’s explore…

Whoa this guy! You know the guy whose name we use when it’s too much trouble to actually say the word traitor? He was one of General Washington’s fave generals. But because he wasn’t promoted or maybe because his worm tongued British sympathizer of a wife was whispering sweet nothings in his ear, he betrayed the American cause to the British. For some good old cashola and a title, bye bye American Independence. Things didn’t work out quite the way he wanted and he never did gain the respect and money he thought he would. However, he most certainly was a traitor.

Yes, a fictional character. But the internet lights up with his image when you google traitor.

Former Stormtrooper Finn betrays Kylo Renn to assist Rey and company. Depending upon what side you root for in the Star Wars series, you may consider him a traitor. However, if we go by the dictionary definition of betraying your cause to the enemy, then he most certainly is.

For over two decades, FBI expert Robert Hanssen, was feeding the Soviets info. He did enormous damage to our national security and almost certainly got people killed. If you haven’t seen the movie Breach, it really is a must see. And yeah, absolutely, positively a traitor.

Elected to an At-Large position on the County Council in 2014, Bud Otis was a long time member of the Republican Party. As a Republican he used the resources of the local party to get elected. Receiving the most votes in the election, the President position logically belonged to him. We hear from reliable sources that Billy wanted that title. Once elected Bud governed the way so many successful local politicians do. He practiced a philosophy of governing in cooperation with other local politicians, showing that he cared much more about making Frederick County a vibrant, tolerant and successful place to live. While others prefer to practice their rabid partisan and often downright bizarre politics to become the darlings of their far right Facebook spectators. Mr. Otis eventually came to the realization that he no longer had a place in a party where someone like Billy was the leader, and like the true gentleman that he is, he knew when to take his leave. Frederick County was not sold out, no one died and the dark side was not betrayed (well…).

So Mr. Shreve, who also questioningly sits as Chairman of the local Republican Central Committee, Bud is NOT a traitor. He was an old school Republican who could not function within the confines of your monochromatic definition of what a good Republican should be. As a result, Frederick County is much better off.

The June 21 meeting continues…and it ain’t good folks.

June 22, 2016 fclocalyokel1 Comment

We covered the first part of last night’s meeting in detail here. The second half reconvened at 7:00 and was a hearing about the repeal of Agricultural Rights Transfer Ordinance (ARTO) that was passed by the last BOCC. We had a lot of good speakers, many friends of the Yokel. We’ll let Kimberly Brandt educate you on the subject of ARTO, since she knows way more about this ordinance and it’s effects than we do.

Lastly we had our council member comments. Jessica started off the comments on a positive note talking about her newborn son, encouraging people to visit the Pride Festival this weekend and listing off the locations where kids can get a free lunch during the summer. Kirby wasn’t ready yet, so Jerry took the helm. He took the time to thank the people that came out to talk to him during his meet and greets, gave an update about pathways through Middletown Park and suggested people go to our local carnivals.

Now Kirby is ready. It’s time to disparage the decision to buy back the nursing homes.There was no reason to do that people! He then proclaims that the reason we can’t build schools is due to this decision. But don’t worry he’s got a solution. The secret developers are coming to the rescue! (We’ve already covered it here). He then wants to know who is going to pay for the Roddy Road bridge damage. The county is going after the truck driver, as it should be.

And then there’s Billy. His first comment? Hendershots, a shooting range in Hagerstown, contacted him and is willing to give all the council members free shooting lessons. Billy asks for a show of hands. Only Tony’s goes up and Kirby shouts out: “I am already a certified NRA instructor, so we can do it that way as well.” WHAT WAY? What kind of grandstanding, idiotic council member comment is this? Is he really surprised that no one else up there took him up on his offer?

He then concludes by telling us that there’s lots of new interesting developments in the wedding venue saga. So stay tuned!

Tony’s not talking tonight. M.C. reminds us about the city/county meeting and also encourages us to go to the carnival. Bud tells us all that he’s been up to this past month and whew! We’re adjourned til next time!

Let’s bring back the dunce hats! Your June 21 council meeting part one.

June 21, 2016 fclocalyokel3 Comments

These two are much cuter than the two who should be wearing them.

Pre-meeting public comment has no takers…again. Billy starts right in on the agenda. Moves to remove the item concerning appointments to the ethics board. M.C. initiates a discussion with County Attorney Chomel asking if they remove the item would be they be able to discuss it later on. The answer is no, once an item is removed you can no longer talk about it. Billy then suggests to remove it and then to put it back on the agenda later for discussion. Chomel says, and I quote, that it would be “cumbersome and futile” to remove an item just to put it right back on again. And, oh, how we laughed, and laughed because cumbersome and futile is the perfect description of Billy’s style of governing.

We fear that Billy is also confused about when he should say no and when he should abstain. He gave a hearty no to the agenda, but an abstain to the consent agenda and then a yes to the meeting minutes, which is a departure from his usual fashion. It’s hard to keep things straight when when you don’t have a real consistent philosophy.

Some very nice representatives from FCC came before the council to discuss the budget of their fine school. We learned that there will be a small increase in tuition and no increase in student fees.There seems to be some loss in the dining services department and this is where the talk gets a little dicey. Kirby and Billy want to know why outside companies are not being considered. Well, the nice lady tells the story of how they looked into outsourcing the child care center and found that it was not feasible. And holy moly, I guess not everyone is on the privatization train. She even goes on to say she does not want to privatize the custodial or dining services because she would like those people to keep their jobs. Hurray! The only one to vote against the budget in the end was Billy.

Billy is the sole abstainer on the two appointees to the appeals board and then we are on to the real drama of the evening…ethics.

Let’s start off in praise of the four women who sat before the council this evening. They kept their cool under some really trying circumstances. We have seen a few of these ladies speak in their roles as representatives of the League of Women voters. Every single time they have been articulate and well just awesome. Tonight was no different.

The discussion centered around the pilot program to chose people to sit on the ethics board. It was determined that in order to sit on the board, you would have to prove yourself to be non-partisan. There are a few criteria to prove this: You cannot have held public office in the last four years, served on a central committee for the last 10, have aspirations to run for office or have been involved in a political campaign. They would also like representatives from the two local universities, the United Way, the rotary club and the Unitarian church. The Unitarian church was chosen since it encompasses a variety of faiths. The potential members would only be interviewed by the nominating committee, not the County Executive or the County Council, with final approval from the Executive. If you remember the beginning of our post we spoke of Billy trying to remove this agenda item. It was because he thinks the council should interview the members of the board. The ladies vehemently disagree with him as do the other members of the council. It shouldn’t be difficult to grasp the concept as to why an ethics board should not come before the council. Shouldn’t be being the two key words.

But of course we all know who is going to throw the biggest fit.

We’ve written before of Kirby’s Pavlovian response to hearing the word ethics, and tonight was NO different. Our esteemed council member has a suggestion as to a new question that should be asked of our potential ethics board members. Are you ready?

“If your decision is overturned by Executive Order, how will you react?”

BAM! Take that Jan! But seriously people, how long is this going to go on?

Kirby continues by saying the reason you don’t have people lining up to be on the ethics board is because they are afraid that every decision they make will be overturned by Queen Jan. One of the patient nice ladies disagrees completely with this theory to which Kirby tells her you can disagree but thems the facts. Jerry ventures out into the choppy waters to get clarification as to when the County Executive can issue Executive Orders. This causes our dear county contract-less council member to then scream: All the time! But no the answer is she can only make an order when the issue comes under the Executive’s power. Like county contracts. Kirby tries to say what she did was illegal, gets shut down again, but hey why let the facts get in the way? We keep forgetting he’s the only one in possession of the real facts.

Billy tries to disparage our fine ladies. Proclaims that two of them were involved in a lawsuit against the county. So how can they be non-partisan? And we do not know how these ladies keep their cool, but the one he seems to be addressing asks him directly to what he is referring to. Oh you know, proclaims Shreve. Well, no, no, no. The fine lady tells him that she was never a part of a lawsuit but a representative of a position for the League of Women Voters. And she wasn’t even a part of the ethics nominating committee so the big gotcha moment that Shreve thought he had totally blew up in his face. You know what Billy, citizens can have a position on a piece of county legislation with out it being a partisan affair. You know what else is a popular non-partisan affair in these here parts? Lamenting the legislating style of one Billy Shreve. The new members are appointed 6-1.

The final observation of the evening comes during County Executive appointments. Billy doesn’t like the fact that one of the committees, concerning loans, does not have an expiration date. He tries to put forth a motion, that M.C. tries to parse for him. It’s here that Jessica interjects telling M.C. that she shouldn’t have to make Billy’s motion for him. He is instructed to write his motion down and his reply? He doesn’t need to write it down two other people are doing it already.

Step right up and git yer refund…?

June 9, 2016 fclocalyokel1 Comment

So Shreve is dedicating his dozen brain cells to getting refunds for campaign contributions for those with buyer’s remorse who donated to Bud Otis. While it is a shame that they didn’t recognize that he wasn’t going to be a partisan hack, it really isn’t a crisis. It’s a good thing. We recommend visiting the link up top to Billy Shreve’s public page so that you can tell him how little sense he is making right now. Or on any given day.

Mileah Kromer, a political science professor at Goucher College, said campaign refunds are typically initiated by candidates who receive illegal donations or money from unsavory donors. Refunds are also typically made or requested during the election cycle, Kromer said. “This is not the common practice,” Kromer said. “You don’t hear about this every day.” Kromer said she knew of no legal obligation Otis had to return donations. (FNP, June 7, 2016) — Mileah Kromer, a political science professor at Goucher College, said campaign refunds are typically initiated by candidates who receive illegal donations or money from unsavory donors. Refunds are also typically made or requested during the election cycle, Kromer said.
“This is not the common practice,” Kromer said. “You don’t hear about this every day.”
Kromer said she knew of no legal obligation Otis had to return donations. (FNP, June 7, 2016)

Particularly astonishing in light of Shreve’s “campaign for a refund” is to read in the paper today that Shrelauter’s BFFs at the hybrid tree-farm-wedding-venue are getting sued for a whole slew of stuff related to the fact that they took money for weddings and now can’t have the weddings because they simply refused to even apply for the necessary temporary permits. But nope, they still aren’t giving the deposit money back. Maybe our two most chivalrous and concerned county level representatives could stop telling illegal operating businesses to do whattheheckever they want, consequences be damned. How about telling these business owners to give back the money they owe these couples? Is this the utopia they envision when they “make doing business easier,” folks? Aren’t most of us more often on the customer end of a transaction, and expecting that we will not be taken advantage of with encouragement from our public officials? All Shrelauter cares about is playing childish games. Furthermore, at the last meeting, Tony Chmelik was more than happy to create a situation where Kirby could get online and spin that Jan was trying to get more money via Tony’s proposed amendment, and then accuse M.C. of playing partisan politics. We’ve been passing around a book amongst the Yokel writers. Based upon our studies, it sounds like we are dealing with some particular cases. We’ll let you decide.

Billy proposes class action lawsuit against Bud…it’s the most work he’s done all year!!

June 8, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Today, the FNP ran a piece about the statement Billy et al put out about Bud changing parties. We covered it pretty well here, so we won’t revisit the “content” of their statement. What does need attention is this:

At least one person is considering a lawsuit seeking a return of the funds, Shreve said.

“I told them, ‘If you can find an attorney that’s willing to do it, I will bring it before the [central] committee for a vote,’” Shreve said, referring to the possibility of a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Frederick County Republicans.

First bahaha! If you can find an attorney willing to take on a losing case that has NO basis in the law (cha-ching–billable hours, tho!), then sure we’ll join! (And the Yokel has a very good idea who this one individual is). Can you imagine the time and money wasted in such an endeavor? Sounds totally reasonable, doesn’t it? And this coming from people who commonly lament frivolous lawsuits. Just imagine for a moment if every time a donor was upset with a politician’s decision they took them to court. We would have to establish a whole court devoted just to this! Not to mention the fact that politicians would be afraid to do anything lest they be sued. But really, we aren’t suprised. This is just one in a really long list of Billy’s really dumb ideas. Make sure you visit the comment section of this piece. No Billy love at all. Our fave is former BOCC member Lenny Thompson’s post:

jthompson Jun 8, 2016 7:01am
Bud ain’t the first to receive threats from local Republicans. The high-water mark of the Gray BOCC (1998-2002) in terms of camaraderie occurred in 2000 when the Republican Mens Club (forerunner to the Frederick County Republican Club) sent the four GOP members of the board (Gray, Rhoderick, Hogan & moi) a letter threatening “appropriate action” if any of us voted for proposed increases in the County’s property and income taxes. Three BOCC members (Gray, Rhoderick & Gardner) supported the increases with Ilona and moi opposed. Ilona promptly and publicly pointed out some hypocrisy in that the author of the letter had also written the BOCC advocating an increase in spending. I promptly & publicly indicated that while I opposed the tax increases I understood why my colleagues were in favor. I promised to come to the defense of my colleagues, regardless of party, should the Republican Mens Club attempt to take “appropriate action” against them. We never heard any more from the Republican Mens Club.

Billy you really need to step out of your little echo chamber. The people in your club and on WFMD are not indicative of the larger group. There are a lot of people who appreciate the change, order, and sanity that Bud’s leadership has brought forth.

Are our council members listening? Your June 7th drinking game!

June 7, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

15c0mi — Leroy! You took the game too far! Don’t be like Leroy, people!

Seriously folks, if the Lady Yokels find you peeking out of trashcans we may have to put a moratorium on these games! It’s been a few weeks since we’ve had one, so take care if you think your tolerance may be low. Let’s begin this game with a hearty congratulations to Jessica and her husband on the birth of their son. Between us Lady Yokels there are 8 Junior Yokels running around. So welcome to the club Councilwoman Fitzwater!

Grab your agenda and follow along, there’s lots of items tonight and lots of times that the folks on the dais need to utilize their listening skills. Hopefully they are all paying attention and NOT staring at the phones for advice.

Public comment is back on the top of the agenda. 15 minutes max at 3 minutes each, means 5 folks max. If any of these 5 folks decide this is a good time to call our esteemed Council President a turncoat, slam back a Benedict Arnold with a smile upon your face.

It's certainly tragic when things don't work out the way you thought they would. — It’s certainly tragic when things don’t work out the way you thought they would.

Nine, that’s right nine, budget transfers are up next! We are probably pretty good until we get to the bottom two concerning school construction. When the objections come, mix up some Harvey Wallbanger, since we are all so close to banging our heads on the wall.

It’s listening time now. An update will be made by the Maryland Association of Counties. Hopefully Billy and Kirby haven’t partaken of any Fireball shots beforehand and are now engaging in some drunk texting that would cause some kind of embarrassing political resignation. (Who are we kidding, drink away fellas!) In their honor, have a Fireball shot every time they seem to be distracted by their electronic lifeline.

Time to approve the County Executive’s appointment to the Maryland Fire Service Professional Qualifications Board. If this is met with any static, mix up a Flaming Asshole. Yes, we said it!

It’s time to either approve or reject the historic designation for Glenellen Farm in Ijamsville. When Billy or Turncoat Kirby object to this on account of the brain-washers not getting their “drug treatment” facility, go ahead and have yourself a UFO and good luck driving those nasty Thetans out of your body!

Next up is a renewal for a contract for an external audit. We hear some talk here and there about accountability and outside opinions, so if any nonsense shall occur, sip on your Billionaire cocktail. Since that’s what all these county employees are anyway, right?

Listening time again! A presentation from the department of Solid Waste management and an overview of Agricultural Preservation Programs. We’ll keep the drink the same. If anyone is staring at their electronic delight instead of the informative presentation have yourself a Fireball shot!

Lastly, it’s a presentation of amendments to the Charter from both the County Executive and Council. It’s a long list so we will refer you back to the agenda if you want to see it for yourself. Since that’s probably enough drinking for tonight, get yourself a nice cold drink of that EPA regulated water and re-hydrate.

We’ll update you on the meeting as soon as we humanly can!

Republican Central Committee releases a “statement”…hilarity ensues.

June 6, 2016June 6, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Unless you’ve had your head buried in the sand in these here parts, you’ve probably heard that Bud Otis switched his political affiliation to Independent. Well, the sole deciders of what a good Republican should be issued a statement. We sure hope they did hurt themselves coming up with this:

In response to Councilman President, Bud Otis’s party affiliation change and leaving the Republican Party, the Frederick County Republican Central Committee would like express a heartfelt thank you for finally acknowledging that you are not a Republican, do not represent Republicans, and we are grateful that you have turned in your card.

Councilman Otis stated “based on the intense acrimony, uncontrolled anger, and mean spirited personal attacks made against me for my council leadership by some outspoken members of the local Republican party led in part by the new local chairman.” This is just another misrepresentation from Councilman Bus Otis. The pressure he felt was from those that had voted for him. The local Republican Clubs and Central Committee received many calls and emails from constituents complaining and angered by Bud Otis’s votes. Councilman Otis was invited to a Club meeting to address his voting record. Republicans came from all over the county came to express their displeasure with him. He heard over and over “I regret ever voting for you, you don’t represent me” from his constituents.

Bud Otis also said “The local leadership of this party in this county has engaged in a policy of petty personal attacks division, anger, and bullying in a misguided and destructive attempt to control me.” If by “control me” he means voting as his constituents thought he should and would, then yes, the Party and the voters expects that. He then went on to say “They clearly have little or no regard for the citizens of Frederick county and this government chosen by our voters, and initially endorsed and pushed by them while part of the previous board.”

Regard??? How can Councilman Otis speak of “regard for the citizens” when he campaigned as a fiscal conservative and once elected ignored his voters.

Bud Otis ran on the reputation of our beloved Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, deceitfully took money from Republican supporters, and sent fundraising letters to Blaine Young’s donors touting Blaine’s endorsement asking for campaign donations. Bud Otis even pledged in writing that he would never vote to raise taxes as he stated here in his own words – https://www.facebook.com/budotis/?fref=ts.

Councilman Bud Otis did all of this for his own benefit and aspirations. He did so because he knew he would never be elected as a Democrat. He used our conservative values, our Party, its members, and constituents all in the name of deception.

After being elected Council Otis’s first act was to meet with the Democrats and construct a deal that would put him a power position. For that, he has voted in unison with them to enact and pass their agenda items to raise taxes, increase spending, and get rid of English as the official language. With Councilman Otis’s vote they have increased County Government spending by $35 million on the last two budgets.

Now, we as a Party Committee no longer have to deflect comments and allegations about Otis’s voting record and defend our Party position. Republicans in Frederick County now see Bud Otis for what he truly is, a” bait and switch” candidate.

We call on Councilman Bud Otis to resign and let the Party place a true conservative on the council, which is what the voters of Frederick County intended when they voted. We also feel the voters are entitled to a refund of their hard earned money wasted on donations to his campaign. Councilman Otis has defrauded the voters of Frederick County and they deserve to be compensated. Maybe his actions and deeds should be brought to the ethics committee as fraud and misrepresentation of the voters is surely an egregious act. But for now they can only ask for their money by contacting him at 240-397-0353 or BOtis@FrederickCountyMD.gov.
Sincerely,

Frederick County Republican Central Committee – Billy Shreve, Chairman

Frederick County Republican Club – Mark Schaff, President

Frederick County Young Republicans – Brian Harris, Vice-Chairman

Oh, where to begin? First off, as you well know, your faithful Yokels pay a lot of attention to what happens in Frederick politics. We watch every SINGLE meeting and workshop, read every article in the FNP, Tentacle and the northern rags. We frequently “stalk” various public Facebook pages and other public information sites. Not to mention the times we have nearly given ourselves an ulcer listening to WFMD. So we know that everything Bud said in his statement is true. Every single last word of it. We’ve seen the ugliness in meetings, on Facebook and through email. Honestly, we are surprised he held on as long as he did!

We also know that a lot of this animosity started because Billy was upset that Bud would not accept him as council president. Even though Bud earned more votes in the election and the position should rightly be his. And surprise, surprise Mr. Otis didn’t want to be part of a council that was saying no just to say no and not trying to accomplish anything. To say that he did this out of deception is really stretching it…even for Billy.

The whole ridiculous tone of this statement also assumes that there is only one kind of Republican. And of course that type is defined by Billy and his gang. Too bad his attempt to shame the Governor into supporting Trump hasn’t worked yet. Is Governor Hogan going to be accused of deception next? If he isn’t towing Billy’s line of what a Republican should be is he not also guilty of the old “bait and switch”?

We have many friends, on both the left and the right, who are very pleased that Bud is doing the job he was elected to do. Not abstaining due to some misguided notion of what?…we don’t even know anymore. Most rational people realize that we need government services, and that those services cost money. Many of us also did not like the reputation Frederick was getting as a result of their poorly written (irony anyone?) English Language Ordinance. Bud realizes that, but for some reason this has escaped a few of the other’s attention.

The fact of the matter is, there are widely varying views within both the Democratic and Republican party. There is no one size fits all Republican or Democrat. And you, Mr. Shreve et al, certainly do not get to dictate the belief system of every Frederick County Republican. For we have a suspicion that you, in fact, speak for a very small faction of them.

You can't make this stuff up! — You can’t make this stuff up!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: