By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY'S TODAY
LEONARDTOWN --- At a regular public meeting of the Form of Government Task Force in Leonardtown on Wednesday, former St. Mary's School Board President John Parlett said that the county needed a "benevolent dictator" to run county government, which he then criticized the existing form of county commissioner government as lacking leadership.  Parlett was immediately chastised by former Sen. J. Frank Raley Jr., who was the guest speaker at the meeting. 
Raley told Parlett that the term wasn't helpful in building needed public support for the switch to charter government that they both support.  Raley has supported the previous charter government moves which took place in 1972 and in 1988, both of which failed to win support of the voters. 
Sen. Roy Dyson (D. Charles, Calvert, St. Mary's) told ST. MARY'S TODAY that "A benevolent dictator is not what St. Mary's County needs."
Raley said that the effort to bring charter has been defeated in the past by pointing out that the move would increase the cost of government.  "This is a type of government under which 80% of the nation lives now", said Raley.  What he didn't say, said Dyson was that 80 percent of the nation's population is in a urban or suburban area unlike St. Mary's still being a predominantly rural area.
"Baltimore City has charter government and they bring more bills to the legislature each year than anyone, all authorization for legislation has to win approval of the General Assembly," said Dyson.
Raley, long an advocate of bringing more government to the county, was Senator from 1962 to 1966 when he lost the Democratic Primary to Walter B. Dorsey. 
Many of those who supported Dyson's opponent in the last election and were overwhelmingly defeated in their attempt to oust the three-term senator with Tommy McKay are now attempting to circumvent the legislative review called for by the necessity to send local laws to the General Assembly.  
Parlett was school board president in 2001 when the school board refused to rescind a decision by the school system which barred students from selling signs proclaiming "God Bless America" in schools to raise money for the Red Cross following the 911 attack that year.  Parlett, who had been favored to run for county commissioner in 2002 decided not to run for any office.  He has been mentioned as an expectant candidate for county executive should the county adopt charter government and switch to a council and elected executive form of government.
Parlett opted out on a run for county commissioner president last year, a post he now criticizes as being without leadership.  Jack Russell (D. Piney Point) was elected to that post.
Dyson has blocked some of the more expensive projects proposed by many of the same politicians and business people who now support charter government.
Among the most notable of the issues Dyson has intervened on was the proposed legislation by local lawyers which would have legalized more than 5,000 illegal lots which some attorneys had illegally subdivided by deed instead of filing for approval through the county's planning department, which was required by law.
Dyson also halted the proposed Judicial Palace which was propelled by a board composed of similar leading citizens, that one called the Space Needs Study.  Aptly named the price tag for their study was in outer space at more than $23 million. 
Dyson spiked the enabling legislation on the last day of the 1995 legislative session and the commissioners later voted 3-2 to reject their own study and to rebuild the existing historic courthouse, adding on an extension to the rear of the building.   The expanded building was dedicated in 2001 and is credited with sparking the rebirth of downtown Leonardtown.
At this week's meeting, the panel pointed to the inability of the county to extend the terms of office for Metropolitan Commission members to six years, a proposal killed by Dyson as one more attempt to remove those making decisions from accountability to the voters.
Metcom commissioners are appointed by the county commissioners and approve where water and sewer lines are placed, thus guiding development, as well as setting rates for consumers of water and sewer facilities.