Insider Politics Blog

Toilet Activist Files to Run for Maryland Lt. Governor

Duane Davis, known for leaving toilets as political protest outside the Historic Courthouse in Towson, is running as a Republican in 2014.

A Milford Mill man known for political protests involving putting toilets in front of a county government building in Towson has filed as a candidate for Lt. Governor in 2014. Duane "Shorty" Davis has filed as the running mate with Brian Vaeth, a Perry Hall man. Davis was charged in February 2011 with planting a fake destructive device in the form of a toilet outside the Historic Courthouse in Towson and making false statements about a fake destructive device. He was acquitted of those charges seven months later. Davis, a caterer, said in a February 2013 article that the incident in 2011 was a protest of alleged corruption in Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration. He claims that he had made political statements using toilets previously, …

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O'Malley: 12,000 MD Jobs Could Be Lost

Gov. Martin O’Malley visited Howard County to warn of effects of sequestration.

Governor Martin O’Malley said Wednesday in Elkridge that Congress’s inability to compromise on budget cuts has led to a situation where across the board cuts could slow Maryland’s economic growth. Sign up for the Owings Mills Patch newsletter here and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for instant news updates and community conversations. O’Malley said that 12,000 jobs in the state could be lost due to sequestration. To put that number in perspective, the governor said approximately 30,000 jobs were created in the state last year. O'Malley's remarks came at FLIR Systems, a defense systems company in Elkridge, which is in Howard County. “All of the great work that each of you does here is threatened by the uncertainty of the dysfunction in …

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County Executives: Utilities Must Give Us Data

In a letter to the utilities' regulatory agency, leaders of seven jurisdictions outline changes they said need to be made in light of the power failures during the derecho storm.

  Less than two weeks after a massive storm disabled power to more than three quarters of a million Maryland residents, elected leaders wrote in a letter to a state regulatory agency that utility companies need to improve their performance and disclose critical outage information when government agencies request it.  In the letter to the Public Service Commission, officials urged the regulatory agency to consider changes to the way utilities operate, including burying some power lines underground, mandatory staffing levels and improved disclosure of outage information to local municipal officials. The letter was signed by Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and the executives of Anne Arundel, …

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County Leaders Oppose Teacher Pension Shift

Effects of shift would devestate county budgets, executives say. Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz absent from Annapolis news conference.

Leaders of counties from around Maryland said a plan to shift part of the cost of teacher pensions from the state would have serious consequences for the budgets of local governments. Nearly two dozen leaders from counties around the state, all members of the Maryland Association of Counties, met in Annapolis on Wednesday to show their opposition to Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to shift to local governments. Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, the immediate past president of the association, said counties such as his have already been hit with severe cuts in state aide over the last three years. "We gave at the office," said Ulman, a Democrat, adding that this issue affects every county in the state. "This puts a potential dangerous squeeze …

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Baltimore County Biggest Teacher Pension Loser

Proposed state budget would offset some costs but the county would still owe more than any other jurisdiction.

  Baltimore County would be the biggest loser when it comes to the shifting of teacher pension costs to the state's 24 local jurisdictions under a budget proposal introduced today by Gov. Martin O'Malley. O'Malley's proposed fiscal year 2013 budget includes shifting  $240 million in teacher pension costs to local governments. After accounting for more than $244 million in so-called offsets that O'Malley said would soften the blow, Baltimore County would still have to cover about $1.8 million in costs as a result, according to a Maryland Department of Budget and Management document released at the request of Patch. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, in an interview with WBAL radio, pegged the "hard costs" to Baltimore County at as much as $10…

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Howard County Executive Offers 'Outside Perspective' at ROG Meeting

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman attended a community group's meeting in northwest Baltimore County Monday evening.

A county executive made an appearance at Monday's monthly Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Coordinating Council meeting, but probably not the county executive you're thinking of. Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, who was invited to discuss how he works with community organizations, spent much of his 20 minutes saying he felt the absence of local municipal government was a good thing for Baltimore and Howard counties. Neither county has an incorporated city with its own local government. Without municipal government, Ulman said the counties are dependent upon having strong and active community organizations. It’s the county government’s responsibility to work with those organizations, he said. “I generally think it’s a good thing. There’s…

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Bryan P. Sears' Insider Politics

Kamenetz Elected to MACo Board

Legislative, budgetary experience seen as invaluable to association of counties.

Just one month and one day into his first term as county executive, Kevin Kamenetz can add another position to his resume—board member for the Maryland Association of Counties. Kamenetz was elected to the 16-member board Friday during the association's winter conference in Cambridge. "MACo will be addressing many complex issues in the coming year," newly-elected MACo President Ken Ulman, Howard County executive, said in a statement released by the association.  "County Executive Kamenetz's legislative and budgetary expertise will be invaluable as we move forward." "The board works best when there are a number of different points of view, and with his 16 years of legislative experience and background as an attorney, County Executive …

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