Tag: #kirbydelauter

Hey folks our county is in The Washington Post! Oh wait, it’s about Kirby. :(

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Who is responsible for Frederick County government's latest spiral of shame?
Who is responsible for Frederick County government’s latest spiral of shame?

We have to wonder if Kirby and Billy set up a schedule of which one of them is going to embarrass the county each week. On Sunday afternoons do they sit down with their Champibbles and Fireball shots and decide whose turn it is? Can you picture it? We certainly can:

Kirby:” Well, Buddy you did go on the radio and claim that everyone in the county calls you when their loved ones have a drug problem.”

Billy: “True enough, but let’s not forget you submitted an unbalanced budget to the dictator in hopes that she would consider it.”

Kirby: “Yeah, that was a doozy, but you’ve refused to vote on budget issues or follow Robert’s Rules of Orders.”

Billy: “True that! But I can’t think of anything new to do this week, so can you help a brother out?”

Kirby: “10-4. I’ll think of something good. Why do you think Bud and Tony don’t attend our little get togethers”?

So Kirby it was. And we all know the story of the ethics decision, the WFMD interview and of course the contentious council meetings. But guess what?! Now everyone else does as well! This morning The Washington Post ran a little story about our most esteemed council man’s latest behavior. A paper with a circulation of over 400,000 and a website with over 50 million readers. GREAT!

He refused to be interviewed for said piece but we did get this nice little quote.

“I haven’t bid county work in four years, but I think I should have that option like everyone else,” Delauter said.

And now we are going to have to read this book:

We know how you feel little girl!
We know how you feel little girl!

How can we keep doing this week after week? Are Kirby and Billy ever going to get it together? Kirby brought us all a little bit of infamy back in January with his “suing the newspaper for using my name antics” and we really hoped he learned to tone it down. But no, now he’s a celebrity and not in a good way. Therefore, everything he does is going to be considered newsworthy. So until he’s finally taken his leave of the council we suspect we are going to have many more national embarrassments to endure. So Salut Billy and Kirby, this one’s for you!

Gets yours at boozingear.com
Gets yours at boozingear.com

Aldermen don’t play that.

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After last week’s very contentious county council meetings we were very reluctant to turn on tonight’s joint county/city meeting. What if the yelling starts again? What if Kirby cusses at our BFF Bud again? What if our  county is sucked down a shame vortex never to emerge again?

Alas, we could not help ourselves and clicked on the FGTV link. And guess what? We discovered the key to returning civility to the Frederick County Council…have these guys there:

Out of order? Cussing? Bad behavior? These homies don't play that!
Out of order? Cussing? Bad behavior? These homies don’t play that!

That’s right! When these guys are spread out among the council, surprise, surprise civility reigns!

You've got to keep them separated!
You’ve got to keep them separated!

We were able to sit through an entire meeting with almost no antics! And we learned a lot about the new proposed hotel and conference center. The governor recently rejected helping to fund this project, but they will try again next legislative session. If all goes well we may have ourselves a nice little hotel, conference center and roof top lounge come 2018. Nice!

So, our more astute readers probably noticed the word almost in the above paragraph. Well, even though we had a nice meeting we cannot expect perfection. There were two public commenters. And both of them suggested that the county council work together. Our second commenter, a nice young fella, made the understatement of the year by saying that there was a slight perception that there was some contention on the council. But the point was made and well taken! Except for Kirby who was too busy scrolling on his phone:

Kirby! Damnit!
Kirby! Damnit!

We will not let him kill this good feeling though! Tonight was a good night citizens of Frederick County! A good night indeed. So how can we can convince the aldermen of Frederick City to start attending council meetings?

Dear FNP Editorial Board, Are you new here?

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We are scratching our heads and winding our butts over here digesting the editorials from Tuesday and Sunday. Or whenever they are from, the dates online and the shuffling of the deck makes it hard to keep track. His own, worst enemy is from Friday or today, and it kind of piggybacks on the Sunday editorial they published online on Friday, possibly. At the time it wasn’t chronologically challenging, just chock full of dubious logic. Maybe this is some sort of device to round out the feeling of being shaken like a martini while trying to follow the thoughts here, which can now be summed up as, “Everyone is right. Also, everyone is wrong.”

Oh, say can you see...? Because we're not seeing it.
Oh, say can you see…? Because we’re not seeing it.

For our part it seems a lot like they need a reason over there to try and sympathize with Kirby, because some of the people they’d like to have read and buy the paper think he is the bee’s knees. But, it’s such a stretch especially to call Jan to task because they have so lately noticed that the executive role is pretty powerful.

According to county attorney Michael Chomel, the power to issue an executive order is inherent in the position. However, it is not specifically addressed in the charter.

Gardner shouldn’t be using a power without first having a public discussion about what that power entails and its scope. As it is, she appears to have claimed for herself an alarming amount of authority under a nebulous, unspecified provision, not approved by those voters who supported charter government.

The nerve of this woman: deciding that the ethics commission’s opinion was inadequately ethical, then doing something about it in alignment with bipartisan support – notably public support from our hero Bud Otis (R-easonable) in the office of Council President. Checking the newspaper comments section and social media, it’s also clear that Jan is doing what people on both sides of the aisle have hoped from her. The FNP is coming alarmingly close to the insinuations that Billy and Kirby and Co are using. They go on to say that none of her supporters would be comfortable with Blaine Young and this kind of power. Oh hahahahahahaha, we are going to laugh til we cry about that. On that point they are correct, but in what sense is this Jan Gardner’s fault? It is almost as though this role was tailor made for him and Kirby (and the usual suspects) to abuse to mutual benefit, and then the dynasty failed to coronate the chosen son.  If one can imagine such an absurd scenario. It’s like this was written by someone who has only seen the beautiful Frederick County in pictures.

Now, gracious me, Jan is acting like a queen! We wonder from whence such notions come!

If they wanted to criticize her actions, they should have stuck to the obvious point that she should have known Kirby would respond to this like a starving bear being poked out of his winter slumber with a stick Slim Jim. However, there’s nothing Jan Gardner will ever do that won’t evoke that reaction from some people around here, so it’s a point that doesn’t count for much.

NB: while we may disagree with the contents of these editorials, we are ardent supporters of the local media. Do imagine what kind of advantage the cronies would have with a vacuum in the local media. These things keep us locals up at night.

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.

What in the Sam Hill is Shreve doing?

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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.

Congratulations Tony Chmelik

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a beard does not make a philosopher
Congrats and welcome to the Frederick County Council

 

We really hope we don’t have too many opportunities to hand these out. Chmelik belabored this point at yesterday’s meeting. I am not sure what you would call the process of lowering the taxes, were such a thing to come about. It sure presents a potential for a messaging dilemma. Via the Frederick News Post:

Delauter, along with councilmen Tony Chmelik and Billy Shreve, want the tax rate lowered. Chmelik said Wednesday he sees Gardner’s budget as a tax increase, although her budget is based on leaving the current tax rate untouched at $1.06.

This is because the budget is above the constant yield tax rate of $1.045. Constant yield is the rate that would generate the same amount of revenue for the county as the year before. Because of rising property values next budget year, the unchanged rate is expected to generate higher revenue compared with this budget year.

The councilmen want the rate to be set even with constant yield, which would require about $4.2 million in cuts.

The prior Board of County Commissioners, which included Shreve and Delauter, adopted tax rates above the constant yield rate in fiscal 2014.

 

Don’t mess with Mr. Donald!!!

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As we at Frederick Local Yokel previously reported, #KirbyDelauter feels really bad about the horrible position that Frederick County teachers Jerry Donald and Jessica Fitzwater are in. They are not bad people mind you, they just have some Sophie’s Choice-like decisions to make when it comes to voting on FCPS’s budget. And he is not envious at all!

Well, Mr. Donald did not appreciate these accusations and it was on at last night’s meeting! First let us refer our dear readers to the ethics opinion that Mr. Donald referred to in his comments.

image

Pretty clear, huh? We would like to think so. Both council members Donald and Fitzwater have removed themselves from any leadership positions AND any other extra positions within the school system. They have also signed a Memo of Understanding that states they will take leave without pay while attending county meetings! It is clear to us here that both council members have been absolutely above board in all their dealings. We support their efforts and wish our other council members were as forthcoming.

Councilman Donald also made the very relevant point that the Board of Education sets salaries, not the Frederick County Council. The two council members who are also teachers have no way of knowing how the money they vote on will be distributed throughout the budget.

Councilman Donald used the words “transparent” and “crystal clear” during his remarks. He must be commended for the restraint he used in looking straight ahead the entire time. We know that if it were any of us we would have turned our entire seat to our left to make sure we were being properly heard. Hopefully, all this evidence will sink in and #KirbyDelauter will end his convoluted notion that teachers’ pockets are being padded by voting on the budget.