Fundraising Season Open Again for County Council
Let there be rubber chicken dinners and bull roasts and house parties once again.
Baltimore County Councilmembers have abstained from raising money for their campaigns for the last year. But with the end of the quadrennial rezoning process two weeks ago, the seven county legislators are now free to raise money and the first event is now on the calendar.
Councilman David Marks, a Perry Hall Republican, will have an event at The Bowman in Parkville in November. Guests will pay between $250 and $4,000 to attend.
The event is sponsored by Steven Sibel and Arthur Adler, two partners with Caves Valley Partners which redeveloped the Towson City Center project; David Altfeld and Ron Schaftel of Southern Land; Wayne Gioioso Jr. of Mid-Atlantic Properties; David Gildea and Scott Barhight, development lawyers with Smith Gildea and Schmidt and Whiteford, Taylor and Preston respectively; Tim Bonner and Pat McElroy of Tim's Towing and Russell Berk of Chapel Hill Farms and Nursery.
The remaining six councilmembers are expected to quickly follow suit with their own events, if they haven't done so already.
For the last year, the council has abstained from raising money. County law does not require fundraising forbearance. The voluntary practice dates back to 1994 at the request of then Councilman Kevin Kamenetz who was concerned about the appearance of impropriety that could come from raising money while making zoning decisions.
In This Blog Post
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Bowman Restaurant
9306 Harford Rd, Parkville, MD -
Gildea & Schmidt, LLC
600 Washington Ave Ste 200, Towson, MD -
Whiteford Taylor & Preston
210 W Pennsylvania Ave, Towson, MD (Suite 300) -
Tim's Automotive and Towing
3015 E Joppa Rd, Parkville, MD -
Chapel Hills Farm & Nursery
4350 Chapel Rd, Perry Hall, MD
Buck Harmon
8:07 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Fund raising should be limited to private citizen donations only...no loop holes, no corporate favor options...it's the only fair way...pay backs for corporate donations fuel most of the corruption within the political systems.
Buck Harmon
8:09 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Each candidate should be allowed the same amount of cash to run a campaign with. The best management of these funds would ~ should win the election. We need leaders that know how to manage tax dollars more than ever.
Buck Harmon
8:43 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
A better title for this article might be "The eve of corruption"...
Let's reverse the process and vote for the candidate with the least funds raised this go round.....screw the big money...for it tends to screw us..
Mike Pierce
3:52 pm on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
"Raising money while making zoning decisions"? How is that any different than raising money before or after?
OpenEyes
7:37 pm on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Release the hounds Smithers and let the money flow! Scott Barhght will certainly bring in big bucks for the entire council. He's Whalen Properties attorney. Yeah that's the guy under investigation by the state prosecutor for the PUD sponsored by Tom Quirk. Then there's Gildea whose firm represented an up zone request in district one. During the campaign that petitioner gave $4000 to Quirk. Decision granted, land up zoned, and the people lose an opportunity to acquire much needed open space to facilitate future growth. Oh yeah, Cave's Valley owns over a hundred acres adjoining this parcel that was up zoned 4 years ago. No worries about that ever being down zoned. Speaking of Steve Whalen, maybe he will be a man this year and donate directly to Quirk instead of laundering money thru his Daughter, Employees, and Personal Fitness Instructor. http://tinyurl.com/9ngwb3b
I'd suggest the following to the good people of the county. Get a coffee can and save 50 cents a week to give to a council candidate that pledges not to take developer money and commits to fundamental reforms. IF your district can get 1000 people to do the same, honest candidates can compete. Immediately put June the 24th, 2014 on your calendar and commit to working your polling place for an honest land use candidate. I repeat, if we do this, this county could be taken back!
Diane Whitaker Beezley
6:44 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
One word, Convoluted.