Scandal Brewing At PAC-14

We haven’t written much about PAC-14, Wicomico County’s public access cable channel in quite some time.  Because of that, many of you may think that all is well there.  Sadly, you would be mistaken.  The crew running PAC-14 (along with some of the vocal “supporters”) are just as conniving and deceitful as always.

We have to admit that we made a mistake.  We tried to be fair and allow PAC-14 Executive Director Mike Goodson and a majority of PAC-14’s board the opportunity to do what they said they were going to do.  Instead, this merry little band has decided that giving Wicomico taxpayers the “middle finger” is the best route to obtain their goals – and those goals have little to do with providing viewers an opportunity to watch their government in action and providing citizens the opportunity to produce local content.  No, the goal of the PAC-14 board is to siphon money from the taxpayers and build an entity that will eventually be handed over to Salisbury University so that taxpayers will no longer have even a marginal say as to how a portion of their tax dollars are being spent.

Thanks to elected officials like Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt, Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton, Salisbury council members Louise Smith, Gary Comegys, and Shanie Shields, along with unelected “volunteers” such as Phil Tilghman, Elizabeth Bellavance and WCBOE President Mark Thompson, expect PAC-14 to blossom into an organization which wastes money (your money) on consultants and plans for grand schemes while refusing to adhere to the basic rules of transparency (which are in their own by-laws).

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Despotism Returns to Salisbury

When elected officials waste your tax dollars your recourse is limited.  You can complain.  You can lobby your officials.  Ultimately, you can vote those persons out in the next election.  One of the wonders of our great nation is our willingness and ability to replace politicians with the ballot rather than the bullet.

Sadly, there are instances in our local, state, and federal governments when officials steal from the taxpayer – either through embezzlement or spending public monies that are not lawfully appropriated.  Do we resort to the bullet?  Of course not.  This is America; that’s what prisons are for.

During the fascist regime of the former Queen of Barrieland, Salisbury taxpayers witnessed a constant, and consistent, stream of spending public funds without lawful appropriations.  When current Salisbury mayor Jim Ireton ran for his present post he promised voters that this type of behavior would not be repeated under an Ireton regime.  Sadly, this has proven NOT to be the case.

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Goose Stepping Down West Main Street

If anyone in the environs of Salisbury, MD thought that the days of the fascist state of Barrieland were over … THINK AGAIN.

Imagine an employee of your local government coming into your home or office – WITHOUT A WARRANT.  Imagine that same person taking photographs of your home or office, WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION.  Now imagine those photographs showing up on a local blog as part of some bizarre attempt to demean you.

If your name is Joe Albero, you don’t have to imagine it.  It’s already happened.  Before Christmas, an employee of the Salisbury department of Neighborhood Services and Code Compliance (NSCC) made a stop at Mr. Albero’s property at 300 West Main Street.  Supposedly, this individual was there to inspect Albero’s property because of reported code violations due to the recent rain storms we have suffered in the area.

During the reign of Queen Barrie Tilghman Salisbury’s NSCC department was infamous for handing out citations and harassing businesses and residents alike who weren’t part of the political “in crowd”.  Albero certainly qualifies.  However, Mayor Jim Ireton promised that those days were over when he was sworn into office.

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Speak Out Against Crime in Salisbury

Attend this evening’s Salisbury City Council meeting.  During public comment ask this simple question:

Will you continue to support the rising crime rate or will you take action against crime, starting now?

Let the Barrie Comegys bloc – Gary Comegys, Louise Smith, and Shanie Shields – know that you want change!  This means letting Police Chief Allan Webster go and putting someone in the job that is more concerned about fighting crime than attacking Mayor Jim Ireton and Councilwoman Debbie Campbell.

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Jim Ireton’s Answer to Salisbury’s Crime Problem

  When Jim Ireton was running to be Salisbury’s mayor there was no question that crime was a TOP concern of voters.  Things don’t seem to have gotten much better since his election.  At Tuesday’s meeting of the Salisbury Crime Taskforce Ireton provided some hint as to his solution for the crime problems – GRANTS.

While Jim’s FRIENDS – Frank Kratovil, Barbara Mikulski, Ben Cardin, and Barack Obama – may be doling out taxpayer dollars by the bucket full, at some point in time Ireton is going to have to DO SOMETHING about fixing the problems facing Salisbury.  That means Ireton needs to understand that crime is one of, if not THE BIGGEST problem facing his once fair city.

At Tuesday’s meeting a member of the taskforce asked Ireton what was the status of a grant Salisbury applied for to replicate a highly successful crime initiative in Annapolis.  Ireton’s reply was a song an dance about how “competitive” the application process was and how applicants were being “scored”.

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Gary Comegys Simply Can’t Keep The Stories Straight

Salisbury city councilman Gary Comegys smells blood in the water; so does the Tilghman Times.  Sadly, they can’t quite figure out whose blood it is.  Is it Councilwoman Debbie Campbell’s?  How about Mayor Jim Ireton’s?  Therefore, Comegys is trying to play both sides against the middle, while Councilwoman Louise Smith simply peers over the side of the boat in her typical demented haze.

Evidently SPD chief Allan Webster was warned by the people actually running Salisbury that Ireton would fire him if he spoke to the press again regarding his campaign against Campbell.  Therefore, the Tilghman Times is using Comegys as the current attack dog for the Barrie Comegys party.  Unfortunately, Comegys doesn’t have the mental capacity to keep all of the lies straight in the Barrie Comegys party’s little soap opera we have all come to know as TapeGate.

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Who Is Running Salisbury?

I thought that elections were held last spring.  However, the person who was elected mayor of Salisbury certainly isn’t the person running the city’s government.  If Salisbury mayor Jim Ireton really is in charge, he must be schizophrenic, because he publicly states that one thing will happen and voila, the opposite occurs.

Here are just a few recent examples:

Investigating Debbie -

Police chief Allan Webster claimed that he was investigating Salisbury councilwoman Debbie Campbell over a “surveillance tape” that Webster claims was in her possession.  Let’s forget the fact that this supposed incident occurred 11 years ago!  Let’s forget the fact that there is no prosecutable offense EVEN IF Webster is telling the truth; and that’s a REALLY BIG IF.

On September 1st, the Tilghman Times (another big if in the veracity department), Ireton ordered Webster to cease his “investigation”.  Of course, the next week another document from Webster’s office regarding this fiction shows up in the newspaper.

Way to control your department heads JIm!

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“Daily Times” Becomes the Story in TapeGate

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.

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The Joke That Is Salisbury’s Tapegate

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!

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Barrie Comegys Party Wants to Waste More Tax Dollars

When will they ever learn?  The Barrie Comegys bloc on Salisbury’s city council wants to throw more tax dollars (potentially millions more) down the drain.  Since Mayor Jim Ireton vetoed their attempt to take a notorious property owner off of the hook for cleanup, their response was tried and true (at least in Democrat circles) – they played the race card.

BARRIE COMEGYS WANTS YOUR MONEY

I understand the argument for acquiring the Lake Street property.  It could serve as a means to jump start the proposed North Prong redevelopment project.  As someone who supports redevelopment of the North Prong (just not the ham fisted Barrie Comegys approach), acquiring the property could have some merit.

However, to call this property a “brown field” is probably being generous.  Given that no one has any idea what kind of clean-up problems will be encountered if the city took possession of the property, it makes good sense to find out BEFORE the city is on the hook.  In fact, Councilwoman Terry Cohen made such a specific motion to amend the agreement before council last Monday.  Councilman Gary Comegys stated that he would support such an amendment ONLY IF it did not stop the city from acquiring the land.  Councilwomen Louise Smith and Shanie Shields (the other two legs of the Barrie Comegys Party stool on the Salisbury council) also voted down the amendment.

Let’s try this again.  NO ONE knows what the clean-up will cost.  It may me $10,000.  It could be $1 MILLION!  For all anyone knows, it could be more.  YET, Comegys stated that it was more important to acquire this piece of land.  Basically, the Barrie Comegys position is that this land is worth ANY PRICE.

Why not?  The taxpayers are footing the bill.

RACE PIMPING IN THE ‘BURY

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