By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN --- Every four years, a slew of candidates come forward to offer themselves as potential county commissioners for St. Mary’s County. 

For the most part, the general population is well served by citizens who aspire to the part-time posts of policy makers and fiscal governors of the county government.

Over the years, some very thoughtful and dedicated individuals have served with distinction and dedication. Among them have been Dr. J. Patrick Jarboe, J. Wilmer Bowles, Larry Millison, George Aud, Ford Dean, Rodney Thompson, Robert Jarboe, Frances Eagan and Larry Jarboe.

Some of these commissioners and others not singled out for having provided exceptional insight or service, often provided great color and entertainment.

Barbara Thompson, without a doubt, provided the best collection of photos which never revealed her distinctly pleasant nature for one reason: every time she saw a camera she growled, grimaced and grew grouchy.  Too bad for her as while her political agenda was usually a disaster for the public, she still had a right to her beliefs and choose her own path. That path just wasn’t effective.  But Barbara can and should smile more often.

Julie Randall, Chris Brugman and Dan Raley are three of the most capable commissioners who squandered their time in office when they could have done the most good for people but placed political expediency above what is best for the public.  Brugman was clearly too young for the job and while he had good instincts, lacked the backbone to defend his beliefs and carry out the job of making government more accountable.  Raley’s failure to be a great commissioner comes not due to his lack of ability, he is packed with ability. Raley always had his eye on political special interest groups instead of the best interests of the public.  When greatness could have come from a humble grocer, stepping up to the plate like Harry Truman, all we got served was baloney when we needed prime beef.  But like George Aud and Dick Arnold, Danny was fun and entertaining.

Robert Jarboe served two terms as commissioner and his work at safeguarding the rural areas from development occurred as a citizen after he left office and his post at the Agricultural Department.

Frances Eagan was the central point in the three vote majority of conservative government from 1994 to 1998 and further service by her as a commissioner could have been a boon to the public. Eagan was tough, stuck to her guns and proved that fiscal soundness in local government works best.

Larry Millison proved the lie preached by many politicians that the job as a commissioner is a full time job. Those who say that it is a full time job are the very ones who should not be elected.  Millison proved for three terms that a commissioner could pursue a vigorous and exhausting career in private business and still be cognizant of the issues and vote on public policy without hanging around Leonard Hall Governmental Center for five days a week interfering with the staff as so many lackluster commissioners have done, such as Hambone McKay, Babs, and Paul Chesser, who perhaps was the least worthwhile commissioner in modern history.

Kenny Dement is learning the lesson of failing to keep his promises to be a conservative commissioner and to listen to people and for his horrible acts of voting to increase taxes during our current economic meltdown, he will be defeated for reelection, as he should be.

Dement’s votes to raise taxes are no different from Joe Anderson’s votes to raise taxes, only Anderson never promised to be conservative while Kenny lied to us.  At least Anderson was honest about his intentions to devalue your property and take your money.  Anderson was ahead of his time, he and Shelby Guazzo were paving the way for Obama and his crew of Marxists.

Jackie Russell and Tommy Mattingly are perhaps the sneakiest commissioners we have ever had in office, that is if you give a free pass to Danny Raley, who has two points of view on every issue.

John Knight Parlett, who always knew better than you what was best for you, was a poor commissioner and an even less effective delegate while Dick Arnold, who went into the commissioner’s job with enthusiasm, never failed to give the public a good show.  Arnold knew what it meant to remember “the little people” and on issues from Margaret Brent to holding the line on taxes, Arnold was always on the side of property rights and the taxpayer.

James Manning McKay served one term as a commissioner and mostly voted with Millison in a conservative fashion. At the end of the one term, McKay’s energies were consumed in building his family business but the county was well served by his participation.

George Aud taught the lesson well that an elected official leads by example and few can forget his walking along Rt. 235 picking up litter, week after week.  His dogma of getting government to work for people was responsive and accountable.  Aud paid dearly for his lack of keeping good records or using good judgment but he was never forgotten by the public he tried to assist.  They would vote for him again today.

Ford Dean’s contributions as a commissioner certainly didn’t come from his sometimes obnoxious and sometimes dry deliveries of his point of view. He was a dedicated teacher and brought the viewpoint of an educator to the board for three terms, often not using any real common sense.  When longtime taxpayer advocate Vernon Gray questioned Dean as to whether the Space Use Study group he chaired had considered whether the public could afford the $23 million judicial palace the committee recommended, Dean admitted that they had not. Dean looked dumbfounded that Gray would ask the question but that exchange could be used as an example of what is wrong with the way these politicians have approached county government over the past 35 years.

Dean’s brightest moment may have come prior to becoming a commissioner when he skillfully chaired the Refinery Study Committee which evaluated whether an oil refinery should be built at Piney Point, resulting in the issue being defeated by voters in a special election in 1974.

With the exception of the Republican board of 1994 and the Republican majority board of 2002, any consideration of the best interests of the public in being able to afford the wish list thrown together by the county staff has been nil. 

One commissioner who had good potential was old Hambone McKay.  When Tommy McKay began, he forged some good votes to hold the line on costs and save money on services, but he quickly proved he liked backroom deals for developers over the best interests of citizens.  His aspiration to one day become Governor of Maryland was the guiding reason for his quest to defeat Roy Dyson.  Hambone didn’t think that his big lie over his college degree would ever catch up with him as the silver spoon he had been fed with over the years suddenly slipped.  McKay could have been a good commissioner instead of simply becoming another deceitful self-serving slouch.  So now he is a publishing typhoon, a task where being a blowhard comes in handy.

The worst work of any commissioner board took place in the past year when the county decided, on a 4-1 vote with Commissioner Larry Jarboe opposed, to pay almost twice the value for the Hayden Farm. As part of this sneaky and fishy deal, the Commissioners actually held a public hearing on Christmas Eve!   Who could have predicted this Board of Bozos would do such a silly thing, defining their actions with their act of contempt for the public.

Jackie Russell has spent so much time with crabs, he walks sideways just like they do and his politics smells like the rotten crabs he often finds himself with at the end of a long July day on the water.  His votes to allow big giveaways to developers was so blatant that even his left-wing loony pals might be able to figure it all out and his votes to raise taxes on property owners shows he is just as wrong as Dement and his fellow Taxocrats.

Tommy Mattingly really believes he is so much smarter than everyone else that the highlight of his career was to use public money to pay a family too much for their farm, to allow them to continue to farm it without having to competitively bid for the leasing of the farm, to be allowed to keep the front footage on the highway for developer to build commercial space and on top of this, failed to have a comprehensive environmental evaluation of the property performed prior to the purchase.

In short: Tommy Mattingly’s three term’s top deed is a sneaky and corrupt land deal.

Larry Jarboe, since 1994, with the exception of the four years he sat out from 1998 to 2002, has consistently been the chief voice of reason on the Board of Commissioners and the best advocate for the citizen in dealing with government.

Larry Jarboe’s leadership was essential on resisting the big spending plan on moving the courthouse, has held the line on tax rates while fully funding education, during two of his terms, and has been the lone voice against the current board’s tax hikes and Hayden Farm sneaky deal.

The county employees, while they watch other public workers being laid off around the state, from Charles County to P. G. County to state workers at DNR will know that Larry Jarboe has for the past two years argued to cut unnecessary spending and frivolous handouts to special interest groups and to maintain the constant yield.  Krazy Kenny and the Taxocrats have ignored Jarboe’s budget cutting proposals and raised taxes.  Jarboe warned that if the county failed to make serious changes to big-spending fiscal policy that the county will be in a heap of trouble.  Mattingly and his fellow Democrats said all was well when in fact, the house of cards was collapsing. Now the State of Maryland faces making yet another $440 million in budget cuts in the next 30 days to make up for declining revenue as the economy sinks.

The time has come to actually find the best people for the job as county commissioners instead of who has the biggest bushel of crab stories, the shiniest fire truck, who has more softball buddies or who can best stuff a ham.

Jarboe’s skills at cutting wood could be utilized at cutting budgets, but he needs common sense commissioners to help him.

St. Mary’s needs bright, effective commissioners to show up once a week to act as the Board of Commissioners guiding fiscal policy. That is the job and it’s too important to not seek smart people of uncommonly good sense to hold office and to deal honestly with the public.