Like his pal Barack Obama, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley pledged to run the most transparent administration in history.  Well, we all saw those health care negotiations on C-SPAN – right?  Now the O’Governor is keeping media outlets that don’t tow the party line from attending State House press conferences. Oh yeah – WE THE PEOPLE are excluded as well.

As O’Malley’s poll numbers have dropped over the past year, the Governor’s press office has excluded media and citizens from press conferences in the Governor’s Reception Room. They have also established new barriers for obtaining press credentials for the State House press corps.

Reporter Hassan Giordano of the Baltimore Independent Examiner describes his frustration with the Governor’s interference of an open and transparent government in Maryland and, specifically, the lack of access to the Governor unless you are one of the few favored media representatives known to write or produce pro-Administration pieces:

"While certain members of the Press, including myself, have been stalled and consistently delayed our press credentials, due to some new process the O’Malley administration has put in place, many are questioning why now? As if not already known as the liberal oppressor of all things conservative, Governor O’Malley is now playing games with certain reporter’s credentials, who are too closely tied to conservative publications."

Maryland voters shouldn’t be surprised.  Sunlight has always been considered a powerful disinfectant.  When you are playing fast and loose with the taxpayers’ dollars, as O’Malley has been doing for three years, sunlight is the last thing you want.

What is really depressing is that the liberal Maryland media is putting up with this.

H/T:  Maryland Senate Republican Caucus

Tracey Sahler, “Public Information Liaison” (that’s “Spin Doctor at Taxpayer Expense” for you non-bureaucrats out there) for the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE) really earned her pay this week.  She’s proving the old adage “It’s not what you know, but who you know” is definitely true when it comes to the WCBOE and the Daily Times.  Thanks to her relationship with the paper’s managing editor (her husband, Erick Sahler), Daily Times reporter Greg Latshaw will not only print the WCBOE’s spin, but their lies as well.

Sunday, the paper ran a front page story – “Wicomico School Travel Expenses Scrutinized”.  This piece was in obvious reaction to pieces ran last week by both Delmarva Dealings and Salisbury News outlining just a few of the abuses found by Wicomico County Councilman Joe Holloway.  Holloway has spent months attempting to get this information from the WCBOE and has been stonewalled every step of the way.  He has requested copies of the receipts for specific line items and has still not received those!  Yet, what was Mr. Latshaw’s lead for this puff piece?

The Wicomico County school system is viewing every out-of-town conference or business lunch with increased scrutiny as it prepares for big budget reductions.  "We would anticipate the (seminars and conferences) budget to be substantially and significantly reduced," said Superintendent John Fredericksen.

The WCBOE has refused to cut this year’s travel budget – instead choosing to cut from SPECIAL ED!  They have been caught using taxpayer funds for trips to Hooter’s, junkets to Vegas (including tickets to a Toby Keith concert), and dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse!  It appears that the taxpayers have even been charged for Superintendent John Fredericksen and Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt to have lunch.  Yet, Latshaw (and his boss Erick Sahler) want the public to believe that the WCBOE is attempting to be a faithful steward of the taxpayers’ money.

Fredericksen Lies … Again

Quite possibly the biggest whopper in this work of fiction is a quote from Fredericksen:

Fredericksen said the school system is pleased to comply with Holloway’s request for more detailed information and will likely have the information to him by the end of next week.

That’s right John, you’re PLEASED to comply.  That’s why you stonewalled Holloway for months in his attempt to receive a printout of WCBOE travel expenses.  The only reason he received those was because one of your bureaucrats let it slip (at a council meeting) that the only thing required to fulfill Holloway’s request was to enter the necessary codes for travel expenses into the computer and hit “PRINT”.  Fredericksen has previously issued a letter to Holloway claiming that it would cost thousands of dollars to provide the information.  I guess those folk over at the central office are getting paid $1million an hour.

Holloway requested copies of receipts of a small number of transactions WEEKS AGO.  If you are so PLEASED to comply with the request, why hasn’t he received them yet?  If you were so PLEASED to provide the information, why did you call Council President Gail Bartkovich and ask if Holloway’s request was JUST from Joe Holloway or was it from the entire council?  Why did Bartkovich consider it necessary to have the council hold a vote DEMANDING the information?

Sure John, you’re PLEASED to comply.

Fredericksen also claims that overnight travel has been “frozen”:

We’ve frozen all national travel.

Last year, Fredericksen told the county council the same thing.  Yet, when it was brought to the board’s attention that a few members of council had uncovered instances of overnight travel they were told that a “freeze” simply meant that all instances of overnight travel were being “scrutinized”.

THAT’S WHAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING ALL ALONG!  A “FREEZE” means that the practice has been stopped.  These bureaucrats just don’t get it.  The money they spend doesn’t fall from the sky.  Hard working men and women sweat and toil to provide those dollars.  The least these people can do is spend that money with some sense of respect as to where it came from.

Sadly, the board, Fredericksen, and his top bureaucrats seem to believe that taxpayers exist for one purpose – TO FUND THEIR FOLLY.

IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN

The WCBOE argues that their primary concern is “the children”.  Yet, as Holloway pointed out, teachers are being forced to spend their own money on supplies.  Taxpayer money is thrown away giving retirees INCREASED benefits.  Travel funds (whether needed or not) are being squandered.  Parents are denied school choice and the WCBOE’s four employee unions seem to dictate policy.

This problem is not unique to Wicomico County.  When the Washington Post, hardly a leader of conservative thought, admits that the MSEA (the state teachers’ union) is more concerned about lining their own pockets and featherbedding their own jobs than providing a quality education for Maryland’s children, then you know that things have really gotten bad in the Once Free State.

SPIN, SPIN, SPIN …

Latshaw’s article causes more questions to be asked than provides answers.  Why did Latshaw use up over 1/3 of his article attempting to defend training for WCBOE employees?  I don’t recall anyone saying that there shouldn’t be any training.  Why didn’t Latshaw address the questions that have been asked by some officials and the public, namely wasteful use of travel dollars (concert tickets, dinners at VERY expensive restaurants)?  Why did Latshaw print obviously false statements?

As the 2010 elections become closer, perhaps the WCBOE should give Tracey Sahler another pay increase.  As they become a leading issue of the county elections, they will need for the Daily Times to continue “getting their back”.  Taxpayers are tired of excuses.  They want to see our children educated.  They don’t want to see money wasted on junkets to Vegas.

While Maryland Sen. Andy Harris prepares to formally announce his candidacy to unseat freshman Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD), the Daily Times has decided to get an early start in promoting Kratovil’s re-election.

Starting off with a front page puff piece by Greg Latshaw in Sunday’s edition, the Daily Times makes their strategy for 2010 clear.  Kratovil and his Gannett allies are having a tough time defending his voting record, so the decision has been made to promote Kratovil as “independent” and lowering expectations for Kratovil.  This was a dominant theme of his 2008 campaign and Kratovil and the media are hoping that it might work again.

At least Latshaw’s piece was factual, if a tad fawning.  Sunday’s inside piece by Nicole Guadiano simply re-wrote Kratovil’s voting record.  The three biggest votes that Kratovil has cast to date are on the Obama PORKULUS bill, Cap & Tax, and ObamaCare.  Guadiano claims that Kratovil voted against PORUKLUS.  This simply isn’t true.  Kratovil did vote against the original House version but VOTED FOR the bill that was actually adopted.  (I wonder if DT Managing Editor Erick Sahler will print a correction on that one?)  Kratovil’s vote on Cap & Tax was neatly buried in the middle of the article.  As for voting against ObamaCare, we’ll give Kratovil SOME credit for that vote.  However, voters know that it was their dedication (exhibited by attending town hall meetings and calling Kratovil’s office) which yielded that vote.  Besides, Kratovil still has an opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama when the reconciliation bill is voted on.

To preface Harris’ announcement with a trifecta of pro-Kratovil propaganda we were treated to this morning’s lead editorial.  I’m all in favor of a vigorous op-ed page.  I just wish that the Daily Times wasn’t being so transparent.  Let’s face it, this morning’s piece read more like a sex act than a mere endorsement.

We know these folks loved Wayne Gilchrest.  Since Harris knocked Gilchrest out, they’ve decided that Kratovil is the second coming of Gilchrest – just cuter and more cuddly.  I don’t even have a problem with that; that’s what editorial pages are for.  I just expected them to not twist the truth so severely when discussing Kratovil’s record:

Kratovil was frequently among a minority of Democrats who voted with Republicans for or against various bills, including health care reform, the stimulus bill and more recently, a jobs package. He voted with Democrats on climate change and abortion issues.

As noted above, KRATOVIL VOTED FOR PORKULUS.  The ObamaCare bill that he voted against was quite similar to proposals he was hawking to various lefty groups in his 2008 campaign.  Let’s face it.  The only reason Frank Kratovil voted against ObamaCare was because voting for it would have been equivalent to standing on US 50 and cutting his own throat.  Kratovil’s fiscal recklessness to date made it politically impossible to vote for the jobs bill. (Plus, Little Tommy Pelosi didn’t HAVE to get his vote on that one)

Happy New Year.  Expect plenty more of the same from the Daily Times.  We can also expect justification for O’Malley’s record and plenty of defense for the profligacy of Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt and the Wicomico County Board of Education.

NOTE:  Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist and accuses me of calling the kettle black, remember that Delmarva Dealings is primarily a journal of opinion.  We have NEVER claimed to be an unbiased reporter of news.  While we pride ourselves on being able to back up statements reported as fact, we always have (and will) be a publisher of conservative opinion.

Bearing Drift’s Brian Kirwin hit the nail on the head – the Washington Post’s surprising (yeah, right!) endorsement of Democrat Creigh Deeds is BECAUSE Deeds promises to raise taxes.

The Delmarva blogosphere continues to grow.  Back in August we published a few statistics about blogs based in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.  We promised to start doing a quarterly report.  Here it is.

For each state we’ve listed a cross-section of blogs with their Alexa ranking and growth (or decline) in page views over the last 90 days.  We have also included info on several newspapers in each state.  Note that this listing is not comprehensive, but serves simply to give an overview.  If you are interested in seeing the Alexa statistics about a particular site that is not listed here, simply go to Alexa and enter the site’s URL under “Site Info”.  You can even compare up to four sites.

Here are the 3rd Quarter, 2009 Delmarva Blog Rankings:

Starting next quarter, we’ll list the previous quarter’s Alexa rank for comparison.

Salisbury has become one of the most dangerous cities in America.  The spendthrift policies of the Barrie Tilghman administration has led Salisbury to the its own fiscal crisis.  A newly elected mayor has shown an inability or unwillingness to control his own police chief.  You would think all of these would make important and interesting stories.  However, Salisbury’s own Daily Times (and one of its reporters) has become “the story”.

Salisbury councilwoman Debbie Campbell held a press conference Thursday afternoon to answer attacks by former(?) mayor Barrie Tilghman and Salisbury police chief Allan Webster.  As Campbell was preparing for the press conference she received an email from Tilghman Times reporter Laura D’Alessandro.  While the first half of D’Alessandro’s email sounded almost like a journalist, it was the last half that showed her true vocation – sleazy attack dog for the Barrie Comegys party :

According to a letter from Chief Allan Webster to former Mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman on April 3, 2009, you told the Chief you didn’t know anything about the issue. This information is false.  Are you aware this is a misdemeanor under section 9-501 of Maryland state criminal law?  How and why were you able to install surveillance equipment in your office as a private citizen?  Is this a standard service offered by SPD?  What is on the tape?  Are you covering the burglary? (all emphasis mine)

How does D’Alessandro know that the information from Campbell is false?  If D’Alessandro is to be believed about the memo from SPD officer Mark Tyler then there is a sizable credibility gap between Campbell and Tyler.  Campbell has faithfully served the citizens of Salisbury while (again, according to D’Alessandro) Tyler has admitted to violating police procedure and possibly committing an illegal act.  Sorry Laura, the objective reader will have to side with Campbell on this one.

However, if you are the Tilghman Times you aren’t appealing to the objective reader.  In the case of D’Alessandro’s work I doubt that they are appealing to the literate.  Rather than report the news, the Tilghman Times has sought to shape the it.  In this case we are not talking about the bias which is, unfortunately, par for the course at the Tilghman Times.  In this case we see actual collusion between the Tilghman Times, Webster, and his allies.  Now, thanks to D’Alessandro, they ARE THE NEWS.

Throughout D’Alessandro’s tenure as the Tilghman Times city reporter we have documented work that can only be described (charitably) as shoddy.  Disgracefully biased is a kind description as well.  However, with her “coverage” of Webster’s whining and TapeGate, I can confidently state that D’Alessandro has hit a new low.  Given the notoriously low journalistic quality of Gannett, in general, and the Tilghman Times, in particular, that is quite a claim.  Regardless, it is a claim that I will back up if you continue reading.

Think this through logically

Webster called Campbell regarding this matter on April 3, 2009.  This is 11 years AFTER this incident supposedly occurred.  At the time, no mention is made of a memo supposedly written by Tyler that very same day.

In June, Campbell requested a copy of any police reports regarding this matter.  Webster replied, “Major Jeff Livingston researched the information you provided and found no report for the Baptist Street address.”  Notice that there is NO mention of Tyler’s memo.  Yet, this “memo” miraculously appeared yesterday.  If you didn’t know better, you would have thought that you were in Lourdes or Fatima rather that Salisbury, Maryland.

Webster might try to claim that this memo was “evidence” in his so-called investigation of Campbell.  There are just a few problems with that.  Police are supposed to investigate crimes.  Even if the evil Debbie Campbell did everything that Webster claims, waiting 11 years to “investigate” makes it a moot point.  There is no crime that could be prosecuted.  Remember, the impetus behind this phony “investigation” was so Webster could claim that he was a “whistle-blower” and cower Salisbury’s new mayor into letting Webster keep his job.

Back to the Tilghman Times

Using an obvious fiction (the Tyler memo) as its linchpin, D’Alessandro and her employers have attempted to weave a tale of intrigue.  In reality the facts are relatively simple:

• You have a councilwoman, recently re-elected by an overwhelming majority, who has been beyond reproach in the conduct of her public affairs, who claims that she never saw this tape.

• A police officer, Mark Tyler, who admits in writing to having violated police procedure and possibly having committed and illegal act, claims that (on his own volition) he handed over police evidence to a private citizen (Campbell was not on council at that time).

• Perhaps the police chief should be the tie-breaker?  Allan Webster has severe credibility issues of his own.  Webster has deliberately filed false information in court documents (no one would believe that he didn’t know where he lived) and has even made provable false claims to the very newspaper that holds him up a a credible source.

To date, the only persons publicly supporting the veracity of Tyler are D’Alessandro, the Tilghman Times, Webster, and Barrie Comegys party mouthpiece Jonathan Taylor.  If you were in a court you would rather have the leaders of the Crips, Bloods, and MS-13 as character witnesses.

In Friday’s article we see the bias and collusion between the Tilghman Times and Webster (Tyler is in all probability merely acting as a witless stooge for his boss):

Notice the headline.  The “Officer states” while Campbell “sticks to … claim”.  No Bias there!

Campbell “admitted during a news conference Wednesday that she did request that the Salisbury Police Department install surveillance equipment in her SNHS office, but denied any knowledge of a tape alleged to be in her possession.”

This is a complete fabrication on the part of D’Alessandro.  Campbell didn’t “admit” to anything.  Campbell clearly stated in her remarks (of which D’Alessandro has a verbatim copy):

When it became clear that my office had been broken into and my computer searched, I reported the matter to the police. After several break-ins, the investigating officers requested my consent to install video surveillance equipment in my office. It is important to note that I was not present when the Salisbury Police installed the camera. Frankly, I do not even know where the camera was, or what type of camera was used. (emphasis mine)

D’Alessandro was prodded, by me, to ask if Tyler had been disciplined for violating police procedure.  However she attempts to imply that Tyler did so at the directions of a superior -

Webster could not answer whether Tyler could face consequences for releasing police evidence to a private citizen, but Tyler’s memo said he was instructed to execute the investigation by former acting chief Ed Guthrie, who no longer works for the city and did not return calls for comment.

No it does not.  The Tyler memo clearly states that “The writer (Tyler) agreed and immediately returned the tape to Ms. Campbell unviewed.”  The memo only mentions Guthrie in the beginning of the memo, claiming that Guthrie told Tyler to meet with Campbell regarding the break-ins and to assist in the investigation.  Of course, even IF Guthrie had ordered Tyler to hand over the tape, that would have been an illegal order.  I guess “the writer” doesn’t understand that the Nuremburg defense isn’t very successful in the United States.

It should be noted that D’Alessandro gave very little coverage to Campbell’s press conference.  Why?  The reason is simple.  Half of Campbell’s statement was referring to the deplorable job D’Alessandro has done in writing about these matters, including discussion of D’Alessandro’s email where she called Campbell a liar and a criminal.

D’Alessandro and her employers at the Tilghman Times have gone from biased coverage to actually working with the Barrie Comegys party in an attempt to discredit those who are attempting to bring about positive change in Salisbury.  They already have Mayor Jim Ireton cowed.

They aren’t going to stop until their readers and advertisers let Gannett know what is going on.

If you live on the Northern Neck AND you oppose ObamaCare, you’re just dumber than a sack of hair.  At least that’s the view of certain members of Virginia’s lefty blogosphere.  Why not?  The Obamamaniacs can’t win the argument on merit, so let’s ridicule the good voters in Virginia’s First District.

It seems that Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) had a town hall meeting in Warsaw.  It appears that most of the overflow crowd was opposed to ObamaCare.  According to some probable “come here” on the Daily Kos (and repeated on Fred2Blue), these were just about the dumbest folk he’s ever come across:

Unbelievable.  My first exposure to true lunacy.

People who live in glass houses …

Were there a few people there who were a little misinformed?  Probably, but no more than you would find at your local Democrat committee meeting.  Sure, I’m a little dismayed when people take everything that Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or even Mark Levin say and treat it as gospel.  Unfortunately, that’s the way of world.  As an example, when Democrats attempt to argue that the “public option” isn’t a form of socialized medicine they are either lying, deluded, or simply parroting (the vast majority) what they have been told.  Yet, it would be rude for us to call them stupid.

It is, unfortunately, the reality of modern public discourse that too many of our fellow citizens are not sufficiently informed about Issue X or Bill Y.  I’m as guilty as the next guy.  In an age where our elected representatives don’t even have time to read the bills they are voting on, how can the average citizen?  Even if we did, you can’t understand most of them (which is, I believe, deliberate).

Back in the day, most engaged citizens relied on the media.  Perhaps the media was semi-objective back then.  However, in my nearly half-century the media has never been particularly objective.  Citizens realize this.  They now have options and tend to self-select media that has a bias most like their own.  Glenn Beck may be funnier than Katie Couric, but he certainly isn’t any more biased.  At least Beck is billed as “conservative”.  CBS makes the laughable claim that Couric is “objective”.

We can only hope that these people are critical in their interpretation of this information.  However, if / when they are not, there is little we can do.  However, to simply call citizens stupid because they MAY be misinformed or because you don’t like the source of their information simply gives evidence to the weakness of the left’s own arguments.

I don’t like kicking a guy when’s he down, but few people deserve it more than Jonathan Taylor, house blogger of Salisbury’s Barrie Comegys party.  Still facing criminal charges after being slapped with a judicial order related to his harassment of local resident Donna Ennis, Taylor just can’t shut up and let things blow over.

Taylor is infamous for promising to stop some of his nastier behavior and then simply doubling down.  C’mon, when you go after people’s kids (as he has done with the children of Salisbury councilwomen Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen) we have moved from bad taste to pathology.

Since being slapped by a judge last week, Taylor has since promised that his site would be going “invitation only” (a means of libeling decent folk without them being able to see it) to reneging on that claim and promising that his comments would no longer be moderated and that anonymous comments would no longer be permitted.

This was not true from the start.  Any moron can set up an account on Blogger and comment.  They can do so anonymously, unless you want to call a handle like “Moron123456” not anonymous.  While Taylor certainly has a history of being a liar, and a pretty nasty one at that, I won’t call him a liar on this one.  He’s probably just too stupid to understand that commenting as “Moron 123456” is no different than commenting as Anonymous.

Now Taylor claims that he no longer reads SbyNEWS.  He’s even gone so far as to claim that he’s locked himself out of his own internet router to keep him from seeing his favorite website.  Personally, I could care less.  It’s just that Taylor must have a really low opinion of his few readers (most of whom are probably people like me, who only check out to see how low the man can go) to believe that we would believe that he would lock himself out of his own internet router (which can simply be reset back to the original password anyway).

We’ll see if Taylor is even able to stop mentioning SbyNEWS on his site.  Given the nasty case of “man-love” Taylor appears to have for SbyNEWS publisher Joe Albero, I doubt it.

As for those of you wondering why I would waste disk space and bandwidth on this guy, the explanation is fairly simple – Taylor is the kind of guy who gives justification to those who want to regulate the blogosphere.  In other words, he’s dangerous.  We’re seeing that with the filing of civil and criminal complaints against him.

No, it’s not what Taylor says that makes him dangerous.  He’s not clever enough to present any argument that can’t be knocked over by a feather.  His behavior, while deplorable, is just a sad fact of life in an age of coarsened discourse.  It’s the combination of inanity and hate that makes him dangerous.  America is one of the very few places where free speech is near absolute.  Even in liberal democracies like Canada and the UK, we are seeing dangerous regulation of speech.  We have already seen attempts by statists in the US, who self-identify from the left and right, attempt to encroach on one of our most basic liberties.

I may disagree with some of my philosophical opponents on the internet.  However, I attempt to respect their opinion and always acknowledge their right to hold those opinions (no matter how misguided I may believe them to be).  These people are important to the overarching aim of public discourse.

It is people like Taylor, who can best be described as moral and epistemological nihilists, that are a danger to our society.  Will a Jonathan Taylor be responsible for the downfall of Western civilization?  Of course not.  However, the behavior of a thousand Jonathan Taylors could well give cause to actions that might be.

This morning I was torn as to whether or not I would buy a copy of this morning’s Washington Post.  However, as I glanced at the front page of the Outlook section I saw that my old friend Frank Atkinson had an op-ed.  Case closed.

Besides being a genuinely good guy, Frank is one of the sharpest minds of his generation.  Phi Beta Kappa at Richmond, Order of the Coif at Virginia Law, an early member of the Federalist Society, a veteran of the Reagan Justice Department and counselor to Gov. George Allen, Frank is a top notch constitutional lawyer and the author of two books.

His analysis of this fall’s statewide campaign is excellent, if slightly flawed.  Atkinson begins his op-ed by quoting the great Guy Friddell:

In Virginia, even the mountains are moderate.

While the quote and overall theme of a moderate Virginia electorate works with Atkinson’s analysis, this is the one area where I have any serious quarrel.  Overall, Virginia’s electorate is quite conservative – if your definition of conservative is being in favor of fiscal restraint and limited government.  In other words, “small l libertarian”.  If, however, Atkinson is using “moderate” to mean the average, or median Virginia voter I can’t even quarrel with that term.

Yes, there are a few instances of Virginia voters jogging left in recent elections.  However, they can be fairly easily explained.  Virginians did not know who they were voting for when they went with Obama in 2008.  Most voters didn’t because the media deliberately hid his record from the public.  Besides, the Obama campaign spent a small fortune on Virginia – both in media and “boots on ground”.  Mark Warner ran for governor as a conservative.  The media helped to promote that image despite his record.  In Warner’s Senate race, let’s face it, Jim Gilmore was outspent, ran a bad race and suffered from too many ties to a Bush administration that Virginians (and Americans) had grown weary of.  Now Virginians are growing weary of a Democrat-led takeover of our nation’s economy.

The bottom line is a simple one – Virginians want decent, if not extravagant, services while maintaining a relatively low tax structure.  With the exception of Northern Virginia, they are economic conservatives.  Atkinson admits as much:

Most Virginia independents voted Democratic in 2008 — and in several preceding elections in the state — mainly because of their exasperation with the national Republicans’ spending spree, prolonged wars and ethical lapses. They did not think they were endorsing a massive increase in federal spending and debt and an unprecedented expansion of government control over the economy.

Why should economically conservative Virginians vote for GOP candidates who govern as if they are charter members of the Great Society?

Beyond the moderating tendencies of the Virginia voter, Atkinson also argues that Virginians will attempt to strike a balance of power.  On this argument, I am forced to disagree completely.  The idea is a good one.  The sentiment is nice.  However, I have never seen any empirical evidence that a desire to moderate the influence of one party or another was a motivating factor in the votes of a sizable portion of the electorate – in Virginia or anywhere else.  It simply doesn’t happen on anything but an anecdotal level.

In the end, I believe Frank to be right.  The race for governor will certainly tighten (thesis or no).  The more Virginians see Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, et al attempt to guide America down a statist path, the more likely that Republicans will sweep the statewide races in Virginia this year.

On days like this I am reminded of a comment made by my friend and Red Maryland colleague Brian Griffiths.  It was something to the effect that more things appear to be written about Salisbury town government than most cities 10 times its size.  He’s right.  I’m one of many culprits; but at least I can be thankful that I’m not in the idiot pen with the Tilghman Times and the Barrie Comegys crowd.  Case in point – TAPEGATE.

The Story -

It all began in early July.  Salisbury police chief Allan Webster thought that the town’s new mayor, Jim Ireton, might send him packing.  Fair assumption given Webster’s record and the city’s less than stellar crime statistics.  Ireton had made both an issue during the recent mayoral campaign and Webster attacked Ireton in the Tilghman Times on multiple occasions.

To save his job, and reportedly to pad his pension, Webster went on the offensive by publicly attacking Ireton’s two allies on council – Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen.  Unfortunately, Ireton’s bungling of the matter appeared to make Webster and his cronies even more brazen.

To date, Webster has asserted (on several occasions in collusion with the Tilghman Times) that his rights were violated, that city personnel policy was circumvented, that the Salisbury taxpayers should foot all of his potential legal bills, … and that he was was somehow being persecuted as a “whistleblower”.  What makes this so amusing is that it was either Webster or someone acting on his behalf that provided copies of the documents (which Webster claims are damaging to his reputation) to both the Tilghman Times and to the house blog of the Barrie Comegys party.

Webster’s claim of “whistleblower” status is based (if one can call it that) on a purported investigation of Councilwoman Campbell.  Webster claims that Campbell has possession of police surveillance footage supposedly taped about 12 years ago when Mrs. Campbell was the founding Executive Director of Salisbury Neighborhood Housing Service.  TAPEGATE!

The Bit Players -

While this appeared to start out as a means for Webster to keep his job (Webster must have believed that Ireton possessed the requisite sand to sack him) this matter quickly degenerated into something that was no longer amusing, but embarrassing, to anyone living in or around Salisbury.  While the Young and the Restless may be taped in California, the Old and the Nasty was doing a location shoot on Delmarva.  Barrie Tilghman was back in town.

It is highly unlikely that Webster is sufficiently devious or clever to wage the type of war we’ve seen against Ireton, Campbell, and Cohen.  However, the suspicions of many were raised when her thought to be former lackeys at the Tilghman Times began quoting her on the matter.  Email correspondence between Webster and Tilghman was handed over to the paper and Tilghman’s house blog.  Is Barrie Tilghman making another power grab after her chosen were humiliated in last spring’s elections?

True to form, the Tilghman Times ignored facts to print supposition from Webster and the Barrie Comegys party.  Unfortunately, Ireton’s refusal to take a stand on this matter has done little but harm his own credibility.

Was There A Crime? -

A credible newspaper would check to see if an actual crime had been committed prior to running a front page story claiming that an elected official is suspected.  However, in the evidently still Land of Barrie we don’t have a credible newspaper.

According to one of Barrie Tilghman’s emails provided to the Tilghman Times:

"My next step, barring an explanation/discussion with you is to contact the (Wicomico County) state’s attorney with the information or conceivably the (Maryland) Attorney General’s Office that did the investigation in the (former Police Chief Colbourne) Dykes matter. I do not want to have to do that either as mayor or former mayor," Tilghman’s e-mail said.

Evidently neither Webster nor Tilghman followed through on this thinly veiled threat.  The reason was simple enough; either would have been laughed out of State’s Attorney Davis Ruark’s office.  As Ruark notes:

"Assuming a crime has been committed at some point 12 years ago, the statute of limitations has run … and therefore it does not appear there would be any validity to any criminal offenses at this point,"  he said.

IF Webster were even marginally competent, he would realize this.  Short of murder (which has no statute of limitations), I am unaware of any crime that could be prosecuted after twelve years.  Therefore, by his own admission, Webster was wasting police resources in a crime-ridden city investigating an offense that probably wasn’t a crime twelve years ago but certainly cannot be prosecuted now.

Remember, that is ASSUMING a crime took place 12 years ago.  Even if that were the case, Mrs. Campbell wouldn’t be guilty of a crime.  Again, by their own admission, Webster and Tilghman claim that Campbell may have been given the mysterious tape(s) by a member of SPD.  That’s a pretty strong defense, unless they are now claiming that Campbell participated in a conspiracy.  They should go ask Davis Ruark how hard it is to prove a conspiracy count.

If It Couldn’t Get Any Sleazier -

The Barrie Comegys party is never content with simple innuendo or mere accusation.  No, why merely attack someone when you can go after their families.  For this you need a special kind of scumbag; someone who makes Richard Nixon’s 1972 dirty tricks squad look like the Merry Pranksters.  You need Jonathan Taylor.

Taylor is a special kind of Barrie Comegys acolyte.  Utterly void of any morality and possibly deranged, Taylor is the kind of surrogate people like Barrie Tilghman and her ilk simply drool over.

The tape that Campbell is accused of nabbing was supposedly a surveillance tape of her offices at SNHS.  This was done because of a series of break-ins at their offices.  What does Taylor claim?  It’s a “sex tape”.

The Videotape would contain something damning to Debbie Campbell and that’s the reason it has disappeared. Joe if you are that interested in this rumored sex tape i’m (sic) sure you can get one cheaper over on the corner of Church street.

Is there any evidence of this?  No.  Is this anything but the most rank speculation?  No.  But that doesn’t matter any more than the fact Campbell has children matters.  Given Taylor’s position as the house blogger for the Barrie Comegys party, I’m beginning to smell the faint scent of hypocrisy when people like Salisbury councilman Gary Comegys decry the public discussion of his failure to pay child support.

The State’s Attorney for Wicomico County has already noted that there isn’t a crime to be prosecuted.  So, what does Taylor do?  He speculates that Campbell will be indicted.

Fortunately, very few people read Taylor’s trashy version of events (according to Alexa).  Admittedly, no one with even the basest mammalian intelligence would actually believe this person.  However, a subset of his small readership will.  Let’s take a related example:

Take last year she was afraid to tell Jim and Terry she was going to the Andy Harris fundraiser because she wanted them to think she was with them in the political world. She told her little savior boy Joey to not take any pictures of her so no one would know she actually went. These are facts. This time she is going to make sure she has Jim protect her so she can maintain her little fake innocent act. If you have ever seen her opposite side you would see what a lying and manipulative bitch this woman is.

We’ll forgive the bad syntax.  Calling Campbell a “bitch” merely helps to prove my point; so we’ll let that go as well.  It’s the lying and / or sheer stupidity that I can’t stomach.  The event in question was a fundraiser for a congressional candidate.  Perhaps Taylor is too obtuse to understand that when you give money to a federal candidate you have to fill out a form or card providing your personal information.  This info becomes a matter of public record.  As for Jim (Ireton) protecting Campbell, she hardly needs protection.  If she did, I doubt that Ireton would be providing it; as I’ll discuss in the next section.

Beyond providing more evidence that Taylor is everything he claims Joe Albero to be (but fortunately isn’t), times a factor of 100, why bring this sleazy Albero wannabe into a relatively serious discussion?  His ties to the Barrie Comegys bloc help lead us to the conclusion that Tilghman, Comegys, and Webster are using an on-the-dole, judgment-proof sociopath to slur a woman who is possibly the most popular elected official in Salisbury.  Taylor’s penchant for lies and his willingness to go after Barrie Comegys opponents AND even their children speaks volumes about the people who once led Salisbury (and wish to once again).

The Real Culprit -

Sadly, neither Barrie Tilghman, Gary Comegys, Allan Webster, the Tilghman Times, nor even Jonathan Taylor are the real culprits in this disgusting little morality play.  The real culprit didn’t even do anything.  In fact, it is the inaction of Salisbury mayor Jim Ireton that makes him the chief culprit in this sad little affair.

We should forgive Ireton for bungling this matter in the beginning.  Ireton is not the kind of guy who likes to get into arguments.  He was fairly new to the job.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to be the kind of person capable of leading his employees either.

After weeks of being attacked in the press, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the source of the attacks was Webster.  Yet, Ireton proved incapable of keeping a muzzle on his own police chief.  At least Barrie Tilghman didn’t have that problem while she was mayor.

We also need to remember that Ireton ran for office with crime as a leading plank in his platform.  While Ireton and some of his pals may have deluded themselves into believing that “cleaning up the River” was the key issue in his election, a close analysis of the election returns shows that it was crime, taxes, and fiscal responsibility that were the top issues in that race.  The only Salisbury voters who would be upset with Ireton’s sacking of Webster would be the Barrie Comegys bloc on council (Webster can’t vote in Salisbury elections).

Some of Jim’s pals argue that he can’t fire Webster because the Barrie Comegys gang would overturn him.  Possibly, but doubtful.  In a city racked with crime, Webster has admitted to wasting police resources investigating an elected official when nothing could be prosecuted even IF there was a crime.  During a summer with shootings on a scale that seems to rival Charm City, Webster has spent his time waging a little vendetta against two councilwomen and (at times) the mayor.  Even if these events hadn’t occurred, Webster’s record as chief literally SCREAMS for a change.  Besides, CHANGE is what voters wanted.  If not, we would be calling Gary Comegys “Mr. Mayor”.

Gary Comegys is many things.  Stupid isn’t one of them.  While Louise Smith and Shanie Shields may back Webster in a showdown, Comegys wouldn’t want to risk a re-election run with the city’s current crime stats AND his having been responsible for Webster keeping his job.  Even if he did vote with the rest of the Barrie Comegys gang, Ireton would be lauded by the people who put him in office for FINALLY having taken a stand on something.

Jimmy’s not stupid either.  Why then does he continue to back Webster while the he savages Ireton’s political allies?

It has been a poorly kept secret for some time that Webster wants to run for Somerset County Sheriff.  It has been rumored that Ireton has made a deal with Webster to keep him on until Webster declares his candidacy (as a Democrat) in 2010 when Webster would resign.

Honestly, I don’t know that this is true.  However, Ireton has already been caught using his office for partisan political purposes.  As someone who is quite fond of Jimmy and who wishes him nothing but success, to say that I would be disappointed if this were true is a gross understatement.  His job is to run the city AND keep the promises he made to Salisbury voters last spring.  This includes change.

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There you have it – TAPEGATE!  We can only hope that before he gets too settled in, Salisbury’s new mayor will do what it takes to stop this nonsense AND prevent it from occurring again in the future.  If not, voters may soon be pining for those goose-stepping days of the Tilghman administration.