Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off
As of 9 o’clock this morning life is officially back to normal in Aberdeen.
Well, as normal as can be expected in a city where the gun-toting, airplane-flying mayor is being taken on by a 19-year-old college student, the best source of potable water is straight from the Bay and a Hall of Fame baseball player has nearly bankrupt the place.
Ignoring the advice of his lawyer and legal counsel, who still believe his case to be winnable, Steve Johnson, the would-be city council candidate who may or may not live in Aberdeen, has decided to officially abandon his quest to appear on the Nov. 6 election ballot.
That’s right, I said Nov. 6. Because of Johnson’s decision to withdraw his injunction, he believes the election can proceed as originally planned instead of being postponed until February 2008 or later.
“More important than my candidacy is for this election to go off on time,” Johnson said in an interview Sunday afternoon.
Continue reading Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off
Show Me The Money
The 13 Aberdeen candidates for mayor and city council have raised more than $40,000 among them, but more than two-thirds of those funds are found in the campaign war chests of just two people – Mayor S. Fred Simmons and incumbent councilman David Yensan.
The duo, which campaigned together two years ago when they were both elected for the first time, has raised more than twice as much money as the other 11 candidates for mayor and city council combined.
Unsurprisingly, Simmons and Yensan, who have been joined at the hip both politically and in their city voting records, share nearly identical campaign finance reports, which show thousands of dollars being donated by entities and individuals with vested interests in the mayor and his right-hand man staying on board for another term.
Get familiar with some of these campaign contributors and political donors. Their names will pop up time and time again. Just like the Matrix (hey, whatever happened to the city’s infamous Matrix anyway?!), the longer you stare at these lists, the better you’ll be able to see the true alignment of the candidates. More so than the color of a T-shirt or which side of the aisle they sit on in city hall, nothing tells the story of an election more than where the money is coming from.
Continue reading Show Me The Money
The Day the Election Stood Still (updated)
Experts say the most important thing to remember in a hostage situation is to not attempt to negotiate or argue with the hostage taker.
They also recommend against making threats, demands or personal attacks as a means to diffuse the situation.
On Thursday, the Aberdeen City Council got about half the guidelines right – avoiding direct confrontation with the man holding its future hostage, but at the same time laying into him with a savage display of public repugnance.
You see, as of Wednesday afternoon, would-be council candidate Steve Johnson and his team of lawyers and political advisors effectively took the Aberdeen election hostage.
Continue reading The Day the Election Stood Still (updated)
Stop the Election!: Candidate Maybe Wins Round 1 (updated)
Last Wednesday, Steve Johnson stood, dressed in a tan sport coat and a dress shirt, on the sidelines and watched as candidates for mayor and Aberdeen City Council passed a microphone in front of a crowd of 120 voters. This Wednesday, Johnson stopped the election.
Tossed from the ballot by Aberdeen’s Board of Elections over questions of whether he lives within city limits, Johnson won the first round in his legal quest to get back on the ballot late Wednesday afternoon when Harford County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Waldron put the election on hold until the matter can be resolved. Waldron will decide Friday on whether to rule on the injunction himself, or to let the sitting city council decide Johnson’s fate.
Wait. That sound you just heard was the needle screeching off the record. That’s right, folks, the city council, including the bloc Johnson described late Wednesday night as “The Three Amigos” could well decide the fate of a man threatening their own incumbency. Johnson’s attorney will be arguing vigorously against such a scenario Friday.
Continue reading Stop the Election!: Candidate Maybe Wins Round 1 (updated)
A Fair Aberdeen Election?
You’ve no doubt heard about it by now, so here it is for your perusal – the full contents of the mysterious letter mailed Saturday to registered voters in the City of Aberdeen.
What’s so curious about the letter is the entity which purportedly mailed it, Concerned Citizens For a Fair Aberdeen Election, used the address for another prominent citizens group, Aberdeen Communities Together.
The letter, as you can see for yourself, asks for Art Helton, a former state senator and member of the New Harford Democratic Club; Steve Johnson, chairman of the city’s Economic Development Commission and a potential city council candidate if the Harford County Circuit Court validates his candidacy; and Steve’s wife, Julie, to be taken off the city voter rolls. The back of the letter contains a petition for citizens to fill out and mail to city elections judge and former city council president Gina Bantum regarding the rights of the trio to participate in Aberdeen elections.
Continue reading A Fair Aberdeen Election?
Candidate Zero’s condition upgraded to Candidate Maybe (update)
Forced to keep quiet before the court of public opinion during last week’s Aberdeen candidate forum, Steve Johnson will get a chance to speak out today (Monday) in a much more official court when he makes his plea to be certified as a candidate for city council in the Nov. 6 election.
Johnson, chairman of Aberdeen’s Economic Development Commission, owner of Johnson Family Pharmacy in downtown Aberdeen and, until recently, thought to be a resident of Perryman, was invalidated by the city’s Elections Board last week, but will take the issue today (Monday) before the Harford County Circuit Court.
Under the city charter, candidates for elected office in Aberdeen must have resided within the municipal boundaries of the city for a minimum of two years. It is well known Johnson has been living outside the city (he acknowledged as much before us and a group of exasperated city residents a year or so ago). It is just as well known that this particular piece of election law is easily worked around.
Continue reading Candidate Zero’s condition upgraded to Candidate Maybe (update)
Thanks for the Memories
Some field notes I scribbled down during Wednesday night’s candidate’s forum in Aberdeen:
The Master of Ceremonies mistakenly skipped over and forgot to announce the name of city council candidate Bernard DeWitt. Then, as the catcalls picked up in intensity and he recognized his mistake, the MC had to back up, bend over and look at DeWitt’s name tag before finally saying his name over the sound system.
As much as we all want to love, embrace her and support the idea of her dark horse candidacy, why oh why, did the first 5 words out of 19-year-old mayoral candidate Nicole Burlew’s mouth have to literally be “I don’t really know anything…”?
I was surprised to see every mayoral and city council candidate in attendance Wednesday and I mean EVERY – Steve Johnson, wearing a nice sports jacket, was seated on the periphery with the rest of us who will not be appearing on the Nov. 6 ballot. Recently invalidated as a candidate because he doesn’t reside within the municipal limits of Aberdeen, Johnson, according to the rules of the forum, wasn’t even permitted to submit a question for his one-time fellow candidates. I wonder what he might have asked?
Continue reading Thanks for the Memories
In Atlas We Trust
As one Dagger reader in attendance described it, last night’s Aberdeen FOP candidates forum was “pretty vanilla.” That it was. There were no meaningful outbursts from the crowd, and only glimmers of passion from the candidates. Even the powerful 
Redshirts showed up in their new, more subdued blue shirts. The questions, written down by attendees and apparently selected for mildness by FOP officials, were beach balls. But some of what went down before – and after – the forum was a bit more interesting.
Before things got started, as 19-year-old mayoral candidate Nicole Burlew (who could make national news with her campaign if she sharpens her act just a bit) stood for a TV interview, we at the Dagger hung out in the background at Festival Park, booting a soccer ball around. Mayor Simmons stopped by, and it was only a matter of minutes before he’d removed his suit jacket and was bearing his right bicep, showing off fresh ink. Flew the guy up from Florida to do the job, Fred said, explaining that he’d been to famous tattoo shops in Vegas and South Beach, but could never find an “artist” qualified to give him his only tattoo: that of Atlas. Anyone who’s been in the War Room at City Hall might have noticed a statue of the Greek Titan, a revelatory symbol of Fred’s guiding philosophy; the same, still red from the etching now holds up a bluish sphere on the mayor’s arm. Just as the conversation turned to how clean the park looked, a homeless woman approached to ask Fred why he doesn’t put out ashtrays.
Continue reading In Atlas We Trust
Good Cop/Bad Cop: A Would-Be Mayor Comes Clean
Twenty-three years ago, Aberdeen mayoral-candidate Mike Bennett made the biggest mistake of his life.
This week, as he prepared for a candidate’s forum showdown, Bennett, a Vietnam veteran and ordained deacon, was exorcising old ghosts and cutting off at the pass an anticipated ambush set by his detractors.
In 1984, I was six years old, George Orwell’s fears were becoming reality and Mike Bennett was a thirty-something upstart with the Maryland State Police hankering for a promotion.
The seedy story that’s recently been circulating the drain, where I usually hang out, is that a couple decades ago Bennett and his state police colleagues buddied up with some guys in the local print shop and were able to swipe a copy of the MSP sergeant’s exam.
Of course, that’s not the truth. The local whisperers left out a few details, which Bennett was more than happy to provide.
Continue reading Good Cop/Bad Cop: A Would-Be Mayor Comes Clean
Off to the Races (updated again)
The City of Aberdeen will hold its municipal election for mayor and four city council members on Tuesday, November 6 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Senior Citizens Center at 7 Franklin Street.
The Harford County Municipal Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 128 will be sponsoring “Meet the Candidates Night” on Wednesday, October 10 at The American Legion Post 128, 44 N Parke Street. The doors open at 6:15 p.m. and the event begins at 7 p.m. Organizers are advertising it as a chance for citizens to meet and ask questions of those running for office.
For those who can’t wait that long or won’t be attending, here is The Dagger’s take.
Continue reading Off to the Races (updated again)
