Painted With An Obscure Brush

From the field office, comes this weird one, as if many of you hadn’t already seen S. Fred Simmons’ most recent defacement.

What’s different this time is the vandal’s literacy. Supplanting the anarchy symbol and goofy, tagger-style lettering of the preceding spray-painting is a quote from Ayn Rand’s more obscure philosophical ramblings: “The law of identity does not permit you to have your cake and eat it too.” I suspect the vandal chose this quote because it sounds like something a bad sport would say to someone he or she had defeated in, say, a local election – or dodge ball.

Read in context, however, this cryptic quote means next to nothing unless you’re a member of the rarified, crusty, Randian faithful (Alan Greenspan is in this group, if that tells you anything). Some say it has tangential ties to Aristotle, but a cursory, meaningless Internet search for the nature of the great philosopher’s connection to this cursory, meaningless quote turned up little.

The thing that has us a bit puzzled on this one is, it takes some real moxie to climb up and deface a billboard that’s out in the open on Route 40, and has been tagged at least three times before. I’m picturing a middle-aged person, pulling his or her car over to the side of the road, and just going for it – or a young punk reading off a cheat sheet some middle-aged person gave him along with a $20 bill to carry out the misdemeanor.

At any rate, this detail comes to The Dagger from a local journalist, a friend of ours who notes, “The workman who was getting ready to cover up the latest mess told me it was the fourth time he’s replaced the billboard, so the State Farm ad was going to be moved to a higher billboard up in Churchville and a public service announcement put in its place.”

His nameplate removed from the dais, his big black truck no longer parked outside city hall, his 15-foot head no longer greeting travelers from the north, and his Wetlands annexation ally, Sam Smedley, arrested on gun charges, it seems that – for the moment – the only indelible mark Simmons has left on the city from his two years as mayor is the large bell hanging in the council chambers.

Why Billy Will Stay Put

Barry Glassman, after years of biding his time, playing it cool, and largely avoiding major election-year face offs many thought he could have won (the Heltons came awfully close to ousting David Craig last year, after all) looks poised to assume the position of Harford’s Northern Senator. With Hooper set to step down before the end of the year due to failing health, Glassman’s competition for the gubernatorial appointment to replace him looks slim – in the early stages at least.

The real question will be, Who Replaces Barry. It will not be Council President Billy Boniface, who would be nuts to give up his seat in Bel Air. As a friend of The Dagger so eloquently put it, “the chief of seven is better than the freshman minority of a circus of 143.” Former Del. Joanne Parrott, after being booted just last fall, and letting her public image slip a bit beforehand, is less than likely to win the support of the county’s Republican Central Committee. Former council prez Rob Wagner, who we can’t imagine wanting to join the throng on the House floor (and who’s had some image problems of his own), lives outside the Northern district.

As The Dagger hears it, central committee members Teresa Reilly and Chad Shrodes, in his first year as a county councilman, are both considered serious early candidates to replace Glassman. Reilly, in the vein of her husband, Clerk of the Harford County Circuit Court Jim, is a political construct who has served on enough committees, campaigns and fundraisers to be considered for the delegate spot (for more case history on the rise and fall of a political constructe, please see Sheryl Davis-Kohl).

Shrodes is a Democrat turned Republican who might be itching to move on up - especially with whispers former county councilman Lance Miller, the man who formerly occupied his seat - is eager to get back into the game.

God knows we’ll probably hear from Bob Thomas before this one’s over, as he’s so far yet to reject his role on the committee as He Whom No One Wants To Let In Out Of The Rain. In fact, a parade of failed candidates and up and comers will likely ask for the spot.

Perhaps the two fine young Republicans most hoping for an untimely death or well-timed political scandal to escalate their political careers are former county councilman Mike Geppi and current Bel Air Mayor Terry Hanley.

Unfortunately for them, neither lives in Glassman’s Northern District 35A, so any interest in political ascension would have to be to take on Barry for Hooper’s senate seat. Geppi was once the GOP golden boy and was rumored to have formerly boasted of making a run for council presidency, which never materialized. For Hanley to move on up he’d have to take on a former colleague at nearly every step - ‘Cap’n’ Jim McMahan at the county council and Del. Susan McComas in Annapolis, both were former Bel Air Town Commissioners. His try for Hooper’s senate seat would likely just be to garner future name recognition and credibility.

As if that wasn’t enough, it’s likely the entire cast of characters who ran against Shrodes in his bid for the Northern District D seat on the Harford County Council - Charles Burns, Amy Hopkins Daney, Jason Gallion and Doug Howard - are opening exploratory committees. We won’t be holding our breath on this one.

I is for International Imbroglio

Starting this is hard. I promised to have this done by Sunday night, and here it is Saturday night and 20 words down. I needed a deadline to actually produce, so I told Matt Sunday night. So here I am, the wife and baby asleep, trying to produce.Matt asked me what I was going to write about. “Something geopolitical,” I said. Smart sounding way a of saying I’m not sure. “Something geopolitica,l” it can really cover an endless body of blathering, as I hope we will soon find.

Maybe an introduction first, I’ve been on the boards but this is my first story. My name’s Joshua. 34, married 7 years, one daughter. Professional journalist, photojournalist in detail. Been in “the business” 8 years, now working at a daily newspaper in the Baltimore/DC area. No, not that one. Not that one either. The plan was to slowly move up the ladder and land at one of the big guys, then sit back and work for thirty years. It seems, however, that when I wasn’t looking the ladder had caught fire and maybe it wasn’t going as high as we were led to believe in the first place.

Continue reading I is for International Imbroglio

What a Difference a Day Makes

Some final thoughts and field notes on the 2007 Aberdeen Election:

I began the day throwing up in my car on the way to work (how’s that for full disclosure). I’d have taken the bout of sickness as an ill omen if I hadn’t made the same ineffective claim during the last Aberdeen election. In 2005 while campaigning for re-election in Park, Councilman Ron Kupferman was stung at least once by an infuriated yellow jacket. As he swatted at the fleeing insect, I mentioned it probably was something of an ill omen to be stung on Election Day. He agreed and promptly went on to be re-elected in two subsequent elections.

Continue reading What a Difference a Day Makes

Simmons/Yensan Out, Bennett/Young In (Unofficial Aberdeen Election Results)

More than 2,500 Aberdeen voters cast a ballot Tuesday, a greater number than participated in the record-setting pace of the December 2006 special election, flushing Mayor S. Fred Simmons and his right-hand man Councilman Dave Yensan out of office and ushering in a new era for the city with Mike Bennett as mayor and first-time candidate Ruth Ann Young joining incumbents Ruth Elliott, Ron Kupferman and Mike Hiob on the council.

With just 68 absentee ballots left to count Tuesday night and an undisclosed number of provisional votes to be tallied Thursday morning, the results of the 2007 Aberdeen municipal election are unlikely to change.
Elliott, who considered running for mayor herself about a year ago, garnered 150 more votes than Bennett, even though she ran in a field of 10 from which voters could select 4 candidates. Bennett collected about 400 more votes than Simmons and 19-year-old challenger Nicole Burlew didn’t have the impact many hoped she might - bringing in fewer than 200 votes. Continue reading Simmons/Yensan Out, Bennett/Young In (Unofficial Aberdeen Election Results)

Aberdeen Candidate Class Superlatives

In less than 24 hours, the polls will open in Aberdeen and a revolution will be underway to sweep clean City Hall…or voters will show their support for the direction the city has been moving the last two years and return the incumbents to office.

Either way, The Dagger couldn’t pass up a final chance to poke and prod the curious collection of characters that made up this year’s candidate class. Without further ado, we present the 2007 Aberdeen Election Candidate Class Superlatives:

Continue reading Aberdeen Candidate Class Superlatives

Why No One Cares About Bel Air Elections

Here we are with some big choices to be made on the eve of Election Day, or should I say, ‘Elections Day,’ plural, as there is of course a second local municipal contest being held Tuesday.

So why is it that there has scarcely been mention here on The Dagger of the Town of Bel Air election also being held Nov. 6?

We’ve been pondering why the Bel Air town elections always seem quite tepid when compared to the generally heated, dirty and heavily contested municipal races in Aberdeen and Havre de Grace. Continue reading Why No One Cares About Bel Air Elections

Trick or Treat?: A $15 Million Halloween Suit (UPDATED)

The Wetlands annexation group filed a $15 million defamation suit on Halloween Day against Art and Ann Helton, the New Harford Democratic Club and club president John Haggerty.

The suit stems from a flyer the Heltons and the Club allegedly designed and distributed prior to the December 2006 special election on the Wetlands Golf Course property annexation. The flyer purportedly asked residents to “Save Aberdeen” by voting against the Wetlands annexation and went on to claim annexation of the property would bring 7,800 townhouse units to the site, do away with the golf course, remove all open space and significantly increase crime in the area. Continue reading Trick or Treat?: A $15 Million Halloween Suit (UPDATED)

Artfully Done: How To Win An Election The Wrong Way

Like cigarettes, booze or Russian Roulette, it is almost assured that too much of a bad thing will kill you.

At least that’s the hope of Art Helton - political dinosaur, Democratic kingmaker and frequent target of opponents looking to tank the campaigns of candidates with whom he is associated.

Over the weekend, Helton was again the main character in the latest in a string of negative advertisements and vicious smear campaign tactics targeting the candidates he and the New Harford Democratic Club are supporting in the Nov. 6 Aberdeen municipal election. Continue reading Artfully Done: How To Win An Election The Wrong Way

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