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

Former Aberdeen police corporal-turned-council candidate challenges mayor’s “law enforcement strategy”

By Rick Denu (candidate for Aberdeen City Council)
http://www.rickdenu.net/

The “Aberdeen Model” isn’t a Model at all!

The Aberdeen Mayor claims to have a “model law enforcement strategy”, which was only placed on paper weeks ago, that eliminates crime and now he wants to impose that ridiculous notion outside City limits; has crime been eliminated from Aberdeen?

Let me start by saying that Aberdeen’s Mayor is not a law enforcement professional, he is an insurance salesman whom became Mayor. He has absolutely no basis of knowledge to create, nor implement any crime model; that is the job of the Chief of Police. Continue reading Former Aberdeen police corporal-turned-council candidate challenges mayor’s “law enforcement strategy”

SEEN: Chuck Boutin

Now that he’s been comfortably nestled in the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings for a few months, we’ve been wondering what’s up with the Honorable Chuck Boutin, former Aberdeen mayor and state delegate and erstwhile member of the Maryland Public Service Commission.

I spotted him, his massive skull nodding like a mutant head of cabbage, standing outside Klein’s in the All-America City on a recent afternoon. He was standing by the entrance, dominating the conversation with a diminutive woman who looked a bit past middle-age. When I came out, they were standing out in the parking lot, old Chuckles still yammering away at the lady, like she’d tried to get to her car and he’d followed her. I’m sure he was explaining how he managed to win himself the Great Reward in the Sky for all local politicians: a ridiculously cushy state job. And, how he then managed to hang on, somehow convincing O’Malley to shuffle him into a position as an Administrative Law Judge, rather than just give him the boot.

Boutin’s head really is huge. Like if you stood four NFL regulation-size footballs on end and bound them together with duct tape. Then filled them with hot air (you saw that coming, right?). Continue reading SEEN: Chuck Boutin

Remember, remember, the 11th of September

It’s September 11, 2007 and it’s going to be a big day in Baltimore, but here’s my question: what will be the biggest deal in Baltimore today - the city’s mayoral Primary Election, the much-anticipated, head-to-head double-release of the new Kanye West and 50 Cent albums or the ho-hum sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01?

Let’s take a closer look.

There is a lot at stake in today’s mayoral Primary Election in Baltimore. Sheila Dixon, who was city council president until former mayor Martin O’Malley was elected governor last year, has been interim mayor of Baltimore and looks to become the first woman ever elected to the office. Also at stake are the membership of the Baltimore City Council and the post of City Council President. Today is actually just the party Primary Election day - meaning Democrats run only against the other Democrats and Republicans against Republicans to determine which candidates will represent their respective parties in the Nov. 6 General Election. Because Baltimore City politics are dominated by Democrats, however, it is very likely today’s winner will be the city’s next mayor. About a half-dozen Democratic candidates are running, but it is largely acknowledged to be a two-horse race between Dixon and city councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell, Jr. While Dixon leads in all the polls, neither candidate has been particularly stellar - Dixon is leading a city on pace for a record-breaking murder rate this year and Mitchell fired his father as his campaign treasurer after more than $50,000 disappeared from his campaign account. While you might not like the options, one of these people, by the end of the day, will be poised to become the next mayor of Baltimore. Continue reading Remember, remember, the 11th of September

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