Larry Jarboe for St. Mary's County Commissioner

[Oz (Premo)]

Originally posted by Ken King
What is the logic of a Democrat endorsing an incumbent Republican candidate in a primary election? Do they want Guazzo going up against Brooks in the general election because they know Jarboe would kick his butt?

Good question... Considering that Jarboe is as much a Democrat in his property rights ideology as Andersen and Randall. Scary to think that we might elect 3 people who would take away our property rights with that crazy 1:20 zoning.

[vraiblonde]

I've always been curious about party affiliation declarations. Why can't they just put up the candidates, everyone votes in a primary election, then the top two or three guys get to duke it out? Why can I only vote for a Republican in the primary? This is America - I should be able to vote for whoever the heck I want!

[charlie]

Chris and Larry have never gotten over the fact that they were voted out. And for good reason, and everyone knows it. Shelby is doing a good job in difficult situation cleaning up after Chris and Larry. Get over it. When the voters go in the boothe and have to decide between Larry and Shelby it won't be difficult.

[vraiblonde]

Sorry, Charlie. I disagree with you. If Chris and Larry are bitter about not being re-elected, it's because they've steadily watched St. Mary's being taken over by the strip mall people. They've also watched our tax dollars being given to the Commissioners' buddies instead of used for the public good. I'm pretty bitter about this myself.

I predict a whopping victory for Larry Jarboe.

[chris brugman]

hey Charlie,

Hate to burst your bubble but I took another job and asked people not to vote for me and still got more than 1,000 votes in the primary. I couldn't get my name off of the ballot in time and I did not campaign an ounce. In fact, I asked people specifically not to vote for me. Get your facts straight!

[chris brugman]

Hey Nodnarb,

There are huge differences between Larry Jarboe and Anderson/Randall. Larry tried to support incentives versus punitive regs and draconian measures. I'm not sure how Larry stands on the 1 in 20 zoning, that's the first I've heard of it and I'd be surprised if he supported it. I know he was against it when he was a commissioner.

Another major difference in land regs is who they are going to benefit financially. i can assure you with 100 percent certainty that Larry would never vote to zone property commercial to benefit his friends and contributors. You cannot say that about Randall and Anderson.

[chris brugman]

Originally posted by demsformd
Two things in life are certain: death and taxes. I'm sorry but your gonna have to pay higher taxes every year. Why is it such a burden? What is another $20?

This quote is typical of the liberal mentality. If it isn't such a burden then obviously the government can do without it. Besides, it's not just another $20, check your property tax bill. It's hundreds of dollars when combined with the other tax hikes they passed. If I knew for a fact that every dollar spent in L'town was spent on legitimate programs and for the direct benefit of the county then I wouldn't mind paying higher taxes every now and then. But when your commissioners give millions away to their political friends and campaign contributors I have serious issues. How dare you take my money to pay off your friends!

And would you folks PLEASE stop using children as political props as in the education arguments. Under the all Republican board, the fact is we "overfunded" the Board of Ed's budget because the thousands of new children that THEY promised were coming here as a result of NAVAIR never came. The result was the lowest teacher to student ratio in the entire State of Maryland. The impact? SAT and MSPAP scores continued to decline. Money will never solve a twisted school curriculums backed by radical leftist agendas like the NEA's, MEA's, and the local union as well. Again, you need to do your homework and check your facts and stop relying on your emotions for your arguments.

[chris brugman]

Originally posted by charlie
Chris and Larry have never gotten over the fact that they were voted out. And for good reason, and everyone knows it. Shelby is doing a good job in difficult situation cleaning up after Chris and Larry. Get over it. When the voters go in the boothe and have to decide between Larry and Shelby it won't be difficult.

One more thing Charlie, I have never been bitter about leaving office. It was my choice to leave for a different job. I enjoyed my time in office and don't regret doing it. However, I do feel it is necessary to set the record straight when so many people, including yourself, can't seem to get the facts straight.

Like so many of the people in this forum, I care about politics and how it effects my county. However, I decided to do more than complain, attack, and criticize, all while hiding behind the privacy of my own computer screen. I filed for office, I campaigned harder than anyone in 1994 and was outspent by Joe Anderson by more than $10,000, and I won by the largest majority of votes than any other local candidate in any race. I did what I said I was going to do and I never sold my vote. Agree or disagree with my politics, it's a shame some people can't seem to accept that fact.

I'm not bitter at all. In fact, I'm proud of my record because I can sleep at night knowing I was honest and did the job the way it should be done, with ethics. I can look my children in the eye and tell them I was an honest person and never voted for political gain. Sure, I made mistakes, I'm human too! My question is, how can some of you sleep at night knowing you support corrupt individuals who take our money and line the pockets of political power brokers all in the name of loyal Party politics?

[chris brugman]

I'm sorry to post this twice, but this is in response to some comments made by dems in another thread and contains some relative information for these discussions as well. I wanted to share my thoughts here in case you missed them in the other thread.

First, let me thank the folks that had kind words to say about me and the job I did as county commissioner. I sincerely appreciate it. Secondly, let me respond to Demsformd's comments, as soon as I stop laughing hysterically. OK, that took some time but here goes!

Dems, since when does the national deficit control local government spending? It doesn't!

Dems, if tax cuts increase government debt, how do you explain THE FACT that from 1994 to 1998, St. Mary's County had 4 consecutive years of tax cuts, funded education and public safety at record levels, yet still managed to end up with a $13.8 million surplus ($19 million if you count the 5% reserve set aside for bond ratings), all under Republican control. The answer is simple but something you try your hardest to ignore. (Some) Republicans can cut taxes and spend responsibly. We prioritized our budget, funded those priorities, and cut spending on frivolous waste. Did we miss a beat? Did any government services get interrupted? NO!

As far as my "awful tenure" as county commissioner, that is a matter of opinion and I'm sure you're not alone with yours. However, for those that don't rely on the local (Good ol' Boy) controlled media to spoon feed them their mis-information, for those that know the truth, they realize the enormous accomplishments we made in such a short time, one of which was to eliminate the corruption that was so rampant in county government.

To borrow a phrase from your beloved Bill and Hillary Clinton, "I don't recall" saying that I didn't realize there would be a lot of reading involved. But considering the absolute mess we inherited...multi-million dollar lawsuits against the county, a Comprehensive Land Use Plan, zoning ordinances, illegal land deals that we discovered and had to be cleaned up, the fiasco at the Nursing Home and the tax fraud that past boards had committed, and on...and on...and on... it is possible I said those words. However, at least I DID MY HOMEWORK and read what I needed to be an informed county commissioner. I'm not sure you can say that about this board.

You state, "ethics violations, they always arise when a person in the power. She (Randall) is on top of the mountain and everyone wants her down. If a Republican was on the board it would be the same." This statement is factually incorrect. Under the all Republican board, there WAS NEVER ONE DECISION MADE BY ANY COURT OF LAW THAT STATED WE VIOLATED THE ETHICS ORDINANCE. In fact, the ethics commission, all of whom were appointed by previous Democratic boards of county commissioners, never once had to warn us of even the most remote possibility of an ethics violation. The same can't be said about this board. They were found guilty by a court of law, so you deal with it. Again, you need to do your homework before making such ridiculous claims.

As far as Julie Randall being on top of the mountain and that being the reason people want to knock her down, that is such a childish claim I don't know where to begin. The fact is that I offered my support to Ms. Randall when she decided to run against Barbara Thompson. In fact, I am now ashamed to admit that I supported Ms. Randall when she ran for school board. However, when she decided to run a campaign of lies, distortions, personal attacks, and aligned herself with the same corrupt good ol' boys that have ran this county for generations, that is all the warning I needed to change my position and withdraw my support of her. After Ms. Randall was elected, she rewarded that support with illegal, non-competed contracts for her friends, she voted to spend millions of dollars to buy land from the same Democratic land developers who bankrolled her campaign, and she led the efforts to rid county government of honest, hard-working, ethical department heads whose only motives were to make county government honest and more efficient. So you see, my criticisms are NOT motivated by blind party loyalty nor by personal political agendas, as yours appear to be. I'm simply speaking the truth and you can't seem to deal with it.

You also state, "Politics is corrupt, and you know it." I don't disagree with you at all. In fact, that is the main reason I ran for office in the first place. I never ran for ego, for power, for influence in the community, or for any of the reasons that so many people do. Have you ever stopped to think for one second why our Republican board was so severely criticized in the media and why the past and current Democratic boards seem to get a free ride with the press? Sure, we made mistakes, but so does every board. The truth is ugly, and I am ashamed to say this about Southern Maryland, but the fact is that our newspapers are corrupt. They are funded and controlled by the same good ol' boy network that fund the commissioner races, the same people who get sweetheart land deals, the same people who spend tens of thousands of dollars in advertising in the papers, and who sell hundreds if not thousands of these same newspapers every week in their establishments. There is in fact a collaborated effort to control who runs things down here. With our board, they could not control us, they could not influence us, and they could not call us and ask us for favors, and that drove them crazy. So they did the only thing they had the power to do...slam, slander and libel us every week. They created a perception that we were too busy fighting to get anything accomplished and I'm sorry to say it stuck with some of you.

In order to understand the deeper motivation here, please open your mind and think about this. How is major money made in St. Mary's County? We don't have oil, we don't have manufacturing plants, we don't have nuclear power plants, and we don't mine for natural resources. So how is it that the rich and "influential" people make all their money? LAND! Who controls the land controls the money. How do you control the land? Land use regulations. How and where a parcel of land is zoned can mean the difference between a few thousand dollars and a few million dollars. You praise Lexington Park and say the new contractor buildings are great for the county. I agree. But did you ever ask yourself who owns the property? Let's put it this way, some of the current and past owners are very influential in Democratic Party politics. Are you getting the picture? Now imagine if the county's zoning ordinance decided to dedicate that property as a non-development or limited commercial zone. Imagine the millions that would be lost. You honestly think that the good ol' boys that own this type of property want people in office who they can't control and risk this possibility? Of course not.

NAVAIR and the influx of new people to the county is St. Mary's (Southern MD's) modern day gold rush. This is the last great opportunity to cash in on the fortunes the base has brought us. With all the new people coming to the area, most of whom are registering Republican by the way, they will not be able to control and influence the elections much longer. This is their last great effort to cash in while they are still able to get away with it.

How do they cash in? Land! Sorry, but these are the facts my friend. They couldn't risk the Republican board passing a land ordinance that didn't benefit them, so they stalled it, they created a bad image through their newspapers, and they put their people in office to write an ordinance that would take care of the them...not the county, not rural character, not our farmers, not Joe Six Pack homeowner...them and only them! I'm sorry, but if these rascals were Republicans I would be saying the same thing. I don't blame all Democrats for this corruption; in fact, you are in some aspects the bigger victims because they are using your loyalty and good intentions to keep them in power. All I am asking is that you open your eyes and your mind and don't be so quick to believe everything they tell you whether in person or in the media.

[chris brugman]

PART 2

And no Dems, the "backroom deals" and "executive sessions" did not begin with our board. The fact is that executive sessions are necessary and allowed by law for the following reasons: 1) Litigation or lawsuits by/for/against the county. You certainly don't want the other side to know what your legal strategies are; 2) Personnel. You can't discuss personnel issues about county employees in public for fear of violating the Privacy Act of 1973. Other than these two reasons, there would have to be an unusual example to justify a secret meeting away from public when it is the public's business that you are discussing in the first place. Dems, if you check the public records, Larry Jarboe and I voted against more executive sessions than any other commissioner in history. We took a lot of heat from our fellow commissioners and the media for this, but we felt so strongly that the people's business belonged in public, whether it made us look bad or not was not the issue. Answer this question for me: Why would there ever be a need for your elected officials to discuss "land acquisition" in a secret meeting. They are using your tax dollars to buy property for the government. What is there to hide if you are operating in good faith for the county and her citizens? Think about that!

I will admit that our board had many lively discussions, and in some cases (some would argue many cases), those discussions turned into arguments. My position is that I understand why this made people uncomfortable. I understand why some people perceived this to be a weakness or an "embarrassment." However, I would rather have my elected officials honestly discuss the issues in public for the whole world to see, even if it resulted in arguments every now and then, rather than having my elected officials do the same thing only in private. If you honestly believe that this board hasn't yelled and shouted at each other you're dead wrong. I know this for a fact as I heard it first hand from county employees who witnessed it. I sincerely believe that elected officials who hold their disagreements in public force themselves to be honest with themselves and the citizens. Debating the issues in public allows everyone who is watching to learn more about their elected officials and see what their opinions are on the issues. I will never apologize for taking this position, however, I agree that I could have tamed it down a bit on some of the issues. Remember, I was 26 years old and every bit of an idealist when I was first elected, and it was hard for someone like Barbara Thompson to openly criticize and call me names and not stand up for myself. I guess then I would have been criticized for not having any guts!

I'm saddened to hear you say that the essence of politics is backroom deals. With attitudes like that, I am surprised you can be loyal to any political party. The fact is that had backroom deals been part of our administration, I can honestly state that most if not all of the prior board of commissioners would have all been re-elected and we would not be having this discussion. Yes, corruption is rampant but it does not mean that we should give in and tolerate it. That is why I am so adamant about getting rid of this board of commissioners and giving 5 new people a shot at proving themselves. It doesn’t matter whether they are Democrats or Republicans, I will vote for the person I trust the most and with whom I share common ideas and philosophies. I will vote for an honest Democrat who states what they believe and legislates truthfully and with integrity, and who always looks out for the county’s interest rather than their Party’s or their own. I don’t have to agree with a person on all the issues as long as I believe them and respect them. I would rather have a Democrat with these characteristics than a Republican who waivers and crosses ethical boundaries.

I hope that most voters feel the same way. The only problem is most voters have a hard time determining whom to trust. That is one of the main reasons I’ve taken the time to post this reply. Please take my advice. Listen to a person who has been on the inside and the outside. Listen to a person who knows most of the candidates and much of their track records and history. I have nothing to gain personally or financially, and I am not actively nor have I ever been active in local party politics. My driving agenda is what is best for St. Mary’s County. And in my (not so humble) opinion, the current board of commissioners, led by Julie Randall, needs to be tossed out on their ears. To use on old cliché, THROW THE BUMS OUT!

For all those close-minded, Party-loyal rabid politicos who I am sure will start the name-calling and attacking, please have the guts to use your real name and stop hiding behind fake names. Have the courage to stand behind your comments opinions as I have. It’s easy to make statements and claims that are untrue when you are anonymous.

I have so much more to say, but this reply is already long enough. I can literally tell you story after story after story that would open your eyes to what is really taking place in Leonardtown and expose this board for what they really are. Believe it or not, I am home sick right now with some sort of bug. I'll be glad to respond to your comments Dems or any questions others might have. In the meantime, think about what I said and don't react emotionally. If you don't believe me, please ask me additional questions and I will respond as soon as I am able to.