From Citizens for Joseph C. Smith:
[Havre de Grace, MD] – Havre de Grace City Councilman Joseph Smith, formally filed this week for the Democratic nomination for the Harford County Council, District F.
A human resource consultant and small business owner, Smith, 49, said he intends to bring an independent voice to Harford County politics.
“As a County Councilman, I will challenge the status quo while working diligently to represent the diverse interests of an important district.” He said. “District F fuels much of the economy of Harford County. Aberdeen, APG, Belcamp, and Havre de Grace – each are home to some of our major employers. The district is also home to some of our greatest challenges – namely traffic, public safety, and outdated schools. We can’t do that by maintaining the status quo. We need our elected officials to tackle these issues head on, and not just shrug their shoulders and say that’s the way it is. We can do better. We must do better. That’s why I’m running for Harford County Council District F.”
Smith said county government is charged with finding a balance between economic demands and quality of life issues. “I believe my background in business, information technology, government, human resources, education, and, yes, politics, make me uniquely qualified to serve at the County level,” he said.
Smith was elected to the Havre de Grace City Council in May 2012, from a crowded field of candidates that included two long-standing incumbents. He currently chairs the Budget and Finance Committee and is a member of the Planning Committee and Council Liaison to the Economic Development Advisory board. Smith also is actively engaged on City Council in issues related to tourism, education and environmental protection.
Councilman Smith currently works as an independent human resource consultant, specializing in talent management systems. He has worked for several well-known companies including Booz Allen Hamilton, Wells Fargo Bank, EDS and Nortel. He has had extensive experience advising federal agencies on human capital management strategies, in particular, on the implementation and use of complex talent management systems. Smith is also co-owner of Glyph Art & Design Studio, a graphic design firm and retail store located in Havre de Grace.
Smith holds a Masters degree in Human Resource Development from Marymount University in Arlington, VA, and B.A. in International Studies from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT, and is a certified project manager (PMP) and senior human resource professional (SPHR)
Originally from Bay City, Michigan, he has lived in New York City, Washington, DC and Virginia before moving to Maryland in 2004. Smith has been a resident of Havre de Grace since 2006, living in the Bulle Rock development. He is a member of the Bulle Rock Civic League, the Harford County and Havre de Grace Chambers of Commerce, and the Rt 40 Business Association.
Harford Sheriff’s Race Weekly Betting Line:
Bane 2-1 Patrol car snow plow attachment idea boosts popularity
Ryan 7-1 Making inroads along Rte. 7
Gahler 8-1 Rejects endorsements of O’Malley and O’Bama
Shellnut 12-1 Will appear on red carpet at Oscars
Peck 30-1
@Otto Shitmitz,
Nice that you want to distract from Bane’s association with his like minded party members Obama and O’Malley. I have some just reported updates for you:
Gahler – Already in there making Bane dance like his puppet – 1-1 shoe in
Bane – Run out of town on a rail by his own staff – 100-1
Ryan – Running around on duty campaigning at the okay of his boss and puppet master Bane – most likely to be charged – 10,000 – 1
Peck – Wrote his name and then forgot it – 100,000 – 1
Otto – Put back in his straight jacket and properly medicated.
There is no need to draw any conclusions about the relationship between Sheriff Bane and Governor O’Malley. They are very good friends and rightly so. Sheriff Bane supports the Governor’s agenda. With regard to Sheriff Bane being run out of town by his own staff, you have to realize that most of the staff is just a bunch of malcontents who don’t like the fact that Sheriff Bane chose those who supported him to be his senior staff. To the victor go the spoils. I agree that several of the Majors are less than outstanding, but that’s the way it goes. There have been bad Majors before who were rewarded for their political support. This is nothing new Sheriff Bane deserves to be re-elected and I believe he will be.
You’re a jackass
He is a liberal’s liberal. Is he more liberal than Lisanti?
How can he claim to be independent? He is on the Democratic Central Committee. He was the first gay man to get gay-married in Harford County– remember that story?
This is why I don’t like politicians. And that’s without doing any research.
I like how after the HdG City election, Smith commented that his homosexuality was not an issue for the voters. Of course, it was not an issue since the average City resident had no idea he is gay and he certainly did not disclose that fact.
We don’t care if he’s gay. And why should it matter anyway?
Do you have a point other than to point out your own homophobia? Are you, like other homophobes, afraid that if elected he will some how infect the populous with his gayness? Are you, like other homophobes, concerned that his sexuality would somehow make him a less effective councilman?
He’s just pointing out the obvious, tighten your tin foil hat at your own discretion.
Feel free to hit “reply” to this post, I probably will laugh (at you).
This is the same nut job that went on a 20 minute tirade on live TV crying about guns. He also said there were hundreds of millions of them around and that the government needs to ban ammo and seize guns. he hasn’t done a dam thing on the city council. Go ahead and elect queens like this. No really please do so we can hurry up and get the economic collapse over with already.
I don’t understand what his being gay has to do with his views. If you want to disagree with his political views, that is entirely understandable and legitimate. In fact, if what you say is true then you would have made an extremely valid point about his qualifications to be on the county council. Unfortunately, you then went and ruined your point with your homophobic name calling. If you had left that one little sentence out of your rant, it would have made your opinion matter. Are you trying to make it seem that all wacko gun grabbers are “queens”? I would have many people I know take exception to that statement.
Marriage is between a man and a women. End of story God created us to reproduce. God is in control
What if I don’t believe in your God? It may be the end of your story, but not of mine. Quite frankly, your God hasn’t given me any reason to believe, so I reject your reality and choose my own.
Teacher, thank the lord that it takes a male and a female to reproduce.
And given the quality of the white trash locals, it probably should also be regulated like a woman’s uterus.
Marriage is between two bottles of ketchup. Just ask anyone who has worked in a restaurant.
A man and a women? You must be part of that little Mormon enclave in Arizona that still believes in getting them married when they’re young to one old guy in the church.
God is wonderful and he is in control. In the end we all have to answer to him. I believe our world would be a much better place if people would look towards god for our answers we would have a more peaceful world.
As enjoyable as it might be for me to argue with you and torment you about your blind faith in an all-powerful supreme being who cares naught for those who believe in him, you go ahead and believe in your God and I’ll go on being skeptical. However, if you keep trying to shove your God and your beliefs down my throat like I’m some poor savage that needs to be saved, then I will have to vent upon you with every angry cell in my body. Keep your religion out of everyone else’s politics.
You sound just as, or ever more, intolerant as the person you accuse of being intolerant.
James Cook is using his religious belief to try to disqualify a person. Concerned Teacher is using his perspective to try and convince others to give a person a chance. Concerned Teacher is not the one being intolerant.
From the tone of the response it would appear that Concerned Teacher may have an anger management problem. Does Concerned Teacher express him/herself that same way when a student may disagree with his/her point of view in the classroom? Someone who expresses how “enjoyable” it would be to “torment” another and uses such vitriol to denigrate a persons religious beliefs is a clear demonstration of extreme intolerance. There was nothing in Mr. Cook’s postings that said he was trying to disqualify anyone from political office.
I have no anger management problem at all. In fact, I’m one of the calmest people I know. However, I must refer you back to where Mr. Cook first interjected himself into the conversation. His response to my comment about someone else trying to disqualify Mr. Smith from political office due to being gay was clearly an attempt to tell me that he was right and I was wrong because he believed in God and since God is right then so is he.
It is interesting to me that I am accused of “extreme intolerance” because I am not beholden to the beliefs of the most extremely intolerant people on the face of the Earth, the religious zealots. I am not intolerant of those with religious beliefs. Many in my family are church-going Christians, and I do not have any issues with that. I have an issue when someone pushes their religious beliefs on me or uses their religious beliefs as justification to be intolerant of others. In my mind this is what Mr. Cook has done. The religious community in general has long had problems with the idea of tolerance. The Bible says that we are all brothers and sisters under God, yet for most that only applies if someone thinks and acts like they do.
One more thing: obviously you do not know me at all. None of us here really knows anyone else here. However, for you to assume that I am incapable of interacting differently with children in a classroom than I do with adults in an open forum is disappointing and insulting.
Concerned Teacher, Your choice of words suggest something different when it comes to your “calm” nature. You opened the door to such conjecture about your classroom management by the choice of your moniker.
Wow, perhaps you are right in that I chose poor words in my (apparently not so) witty retort to Mr. Cook’s post. I have, on occasion in a open forum such as this, continued the argument with a religious fanatic just for the sake of having an argument, and it was that to which I was referring with my “torment” comment. To me it is humorous to watch someone defend an argument by repeating the one and only point that they can make (some variation of God is great, God is right, the Bible is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, etc.) while I can defend my side of the argument in a multitude of ways. I know that no amount of logical reasoning on my part will ever change a believer’s mind, so any argument at all is pointless except as an exercise in arguing (which does have value if done right).
My choice of moniker, as you put it, was irrelevant to the conversation before Mr. Cook hijacked my comment and it is irrelevant now, but if you insist I will reiterate that I am both insulted and disappointed that you would think that I am not capable of distinguishing how I communicate with children in a classroom setting and adults in an open forum setting. Clearly, despite my points being valid, I would not make them in a classroom as there is no place for the discussion of religion in my classroom nor in most classrooms. In addition, I would not make any point in a classroom in the manner in which I have spoken here.
Concerned Teacher, A great many people of scientific renown have managed to reconcile their belief in science with a personal acceptance of religious faith. Mr. Cook’s comments do not reflect the religious zealotry you place upon them, which is quite opposite your disproportional retort, and could certainly give people the impression you have a nasty streak.
Your moniker may be irrelevant to the specific exchange of comments but it identifies you by profession and does not reflect well. I believe you would agree that parents and even students are adverse to teachers expressing personal political, social, and religious beliefs in the classroom. Neutrality in the classroom is preferred when it comes to controversial issues. Being in the education field I have been in hundreds of classrooms where unfortunately I have seen this happen, some intended and overt, others subtly by isolated word and comment, inflection of voice, or deliberate body language. The tenor of your comments would give pause to many as to whether you actually can separate your personal beliefs from your position as classroom teacher. Changing your moniker when participating in these types of discussions would alleviate this problem.
A great many people of scientific renown have also denied the existence of God. Does this make them less credible scientists?
Do I have a nasty streak? No, but I am rather sarcastic at times.
You may have been in hundreds of classrooms, etc., but you have not been in mine, and I’m quite sure that solving algebraic equations does not lend itself naturally to discussions about politics, sociology, religion, psychology, ethics, morals, or any other controversial topic. As for the tenor of my comments, they have been quite consistent. I have no use for the opinions of someone who would dismiss another person based solely on their sexual preference. That was the original point that I made. I also have no tolerance for those who use their religious beliefs to justify that dismissal. You can say that I am intolerant of intolerant people, and you would be correct in that assessment. If that makes me a bad person in your view, then so be it. I have finished arguing this point.
Concerned Teacher, The class subject has mattered not to the interjection of the teacher’s personal opinions.
“A great many people of scientific renown have also denied the existence of God. Does this make them less credible scientists?” Not to me. But after reading your positions it is apparent that you probably believe scientists who accept the existence of God are less credible.
In many instances sarcasm is just a clever way to be nasty.
“You can say that I am intolerant of intolerant people, and you would be correct in that assessment.” Finally an admission of the obvious.
There is no god.
Maybe, maybe not, but most of the worlds population believe in some form of religion and would disagree with you.
600 years ago most of the worlds population thought the earth was flat….
BillH
I am the God of the Godless.
I don’t smite.
I will CO2 you to higher temperatures.
Fear me!
But most of the world’s population that believe in a God also believe that theirs is the one true God and that everyone else on the planet are heretics for believing in some other God. Who is right? Are they all right? Are they all wrong? Is one God better than another? What if the Greeks were right and there were dozens and dozens of gods? Surely you can understand why they might think that way, as there are way too many things on the Earth for just one God to look after.
Thank the Lord that only a Male and a Female can reproduce.
Why?
Why is a question people of science and people of faith have been asking since the beginning of time.
The simplest explanation why is that a sperm cell and an egg are needed for the creation of a human. There is a good book, albeit a very old book I can recommend if you wish to follow your faith.
The one thing that evolution has given us that no other animal on our planet has (to our knowledge) is the ability to THINK when making reproductive decisions; the point being is that human reproduction is more than simply sperm and egg. Yes, sexual reproduction requires a sperm and an egg cell, but we have the ability and the technology to make decisions beyond animal reproduction. To be so basic about this topic is naive…
No, why as in why should we “Thank the Lord that only a Male and a Female can reproduce”? Certainly you know that there are species on this planet, species created by God in your belief, that can change gender as necessary for reproductive purposes. What if humans had been gifted with that ability? Would that be bad or evil?
Good evening Concerned Teacher,
The greatest thing about that old book mentioned earlier is that it doesn’t deal with “what if” scenarios.
I see you are continuously attempting to “troll” in posts regarding marriage, but I won’t refer to you as intolerant for disagreeable opinions.
Don’t stay up too late, they might actually open school tomorrow.
Apparently you did not pass a basic biology class. On another note did you see the rendition of Adam at Ken Ham’s creation museum ? He has nipples and a belly button…. That’s just weird.
Fellow brother, I’m well aware of technology. In marriage between a man, and a woman who reproduce naturally – their offspring is from both of their genes.
Well, “Concerned Teacher” seems very passionate about rainbow flags, too bad if you don’t share the same enthusiasm you are “intolerant.”
Kind of a no brainer… but then again look at who I am replying to.
it seems “Concerned Teacher” is very passionate about displaying the equal signs sticker, unfortunately if you don’t share the same views you are considered intolerant. Shove civility up your ass.
Mr. Smith,
I have selected 10 questions from a search of three Harford County news sources, each thread had high hits. A Yes or No answer for each will do however please feel free to explain your answers. I will also post the same questions on any other County Council candidate’s thread.
Thank You.
1. Recently the County Council voted to nullify and reject Maryland SB281 “Firearm Safety Act of 2013”. Would you have voted Yes or No to reject SB281?
2. Harford County Code 260-3 makes it unlawful to buy, sell, use, or own any type of Stun Gun in Harford County. Would you vote to remove the Harford County Law 260-3 Stun Guns?
3. Bill 12-35: James Run TIF – A bill that Grants $23 Million in Tax Increment Financing to the Developers of James Run. Would you have voted Yes or No on Bill 12-35?
4. Would you vote to limit zoning for standalone Abortion Clinics to B3 only?
5. Would you support a Harford County Resolution making English the Official Language?
6. ICLEI is a NGO (nongovernmental organization) committed to the implementation of a UN document known as Agenda 21. Agenda 21 is an action plan for global environmentalism that was drafted and signed by 179 nations at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Juneirpo. Would you vote to join ICLEI?
7. Would you vote to approve county capital budget funding for a Center for the Arts building to be located on a 41 acre parcel of land at the corner of Rt. 24 and Wheel Road which is part of a 110 acre bequest from the Estate of Emily Bayless Graham?
8. Would you vote to repeal the Rain Tax in Harford County?
9. Would you vote to increases taxes for Teacher pay increases?
10. Would you vote to have a full Paid Fire Service in Harford County?
USA – from Puritans to Impure-itans
Is there a connection between beautiful New England and entire American cities turned into smoking rubble? There is.
Take same-sex marriage. I would have guessed that a “sin” city (San Francisco? Las Vegas?) would have been the first to legalize it.
Oddly it’s been the place where America started that’s wanted to be the first place to help bring about the end of America and its values! It’s been a Nor’easter of Perversion (helping to fulfill the end time “days of Lot” predicted in Luke 17) that began in (you guessed it) Boston in 2004.
New England has gone from the Mayflower Compact to the Gay Power Impact, from Providence to decadence, from Bible thumpers to God dumpers, from university to diversity to perversity, and from the land of the Great Awakening to God’s Future Shakening that will make the Boston bombings look like Walden Pond ripples by comparison!
The same Nor’easter has been spreading south and as far west as Washington State where, after swelling up with pride, Mt. Rainier may wish to celebrate shame-sex marriage by having a blast that Seaddlepated folks can share in lava-land!
The same Luke 17 prediction is tied to the Book of Revelation which speaks of the cities that God will flatten because of same-sexism – including American cities – a scenario I’ll have to accept since I can’t create my own universe and decree rules for it.
I’ve just been analyzing the world’s terminal “religion” that has its “god,” its accessories, its “rites,” and even a flag. It’s an obsession that the infected converts are willing to live for, fight for – and even die for!
Want more facts? Google “God to Same-Sexers: Hurry Up,” “Universal GAYety is Coming,” “FOR GAYS ONLY: Jesus predicted” and “The Background Obama Can’t Cover Up.”