Health Care in the USA - We Can Do Better!  by Carol Antoniewicz

Housing Supply Exceeds Demand by Janice Wiles

Frederick Deserves Better! and Why It's Time for an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance in Frederick by Ken Berlin

And So, It Begins...   and  Something in the Water  and A Letter to City Hall by Diana Halleman

Jack Lynch, Editor

The Alliance

The Growth Machine Slate

"The Issues are Bipartisan" - David Gray

The Importance of Jan Gardner's Campaign

Form Follows Function

Route 15 Scenic Walmart

Frederick Blue

The Curtain Rises

Housing Growth, Not Smart Growth, Not Progressive Planning

Understanding Lennie Thompson

Frederick's Tale of Two Rabbi's

Wellhead Protection

Make Believe, or Desperate Duncan?

A Progressive Concept Approved...then Defeated!

Hog Wild

Anniversary of the Frederick Citizen

We're No Gwinnett County

"An Election, Not a Selection...!"  Indeed!

A Potpourri of Thoughts and Issues...

Now That the Smoke Has Cleared

Nuts

How am I to Decide on Mayor of Frederick?

Doomed To Repeat It

Frantic Orthodoxy

Stealth Candidate

Another Perfect Day for Bananafish

This Summer Election

Building Issues

Just Powers

Death Defying Election?

In the Heat

Horse Sense for Frederick County?

Kudzu and Million Dollar Homes

Bartlett's Ozone Trip

Let the Games Begin

Blood in the Water

Coffee Klatch

Archaeology in Frederick

Bizarro World

Mr. O'Malley's March

Playing All the Cards

Who are Your Friends New Market?

Mixed Use

Beijing Spring, Interrupted

Passion, People and Politics in Frederick City

Millennium project

A Frederick Leader of Distinction

APFO Under Attack

State Lands Sale

Frederick Water Sourcing

Frederick Water

The Liberty of the Press consists of the right to publish with impunity truth with good motives and for justifiable ends, whether it respects the government, magistrates, or individuals.
People vs. Croswell

Serving the Frederick, Maryland Community Proudly!

Hairly There by Constance Trump

West Virginia Glen Looks at Frederick

Against Gun Control by Jesse Atchison

Republican Fissures by Ted Waddelow

 Jack Lynch, Editor
Note: Commentary and viewpoints on this website are copyrighted for this sole use, and are ultimately the property of the writers themselves O Under Attack

editor@frederickcitizen.com

 

Hypocrisy Indeed

August 8, 2006

by Jack Lynch

There must be great fear of David Gray in the Republican primary.  He is being maligned by any number of pro-development rabble rousers.  Apparently many of the ‘true Republicans’, those property rights radicals who supported Democrat Bruce Reeder (an actual declared Democrat) for his development beliefs, seem to think that Gray is akin to being a Democrat.  He is not. 

One of the most common things you hear referred to – an easy charge with little recourse to correct or defend, is that he is a ‘waffler’, which is a charge often leveled against national Democrats.  I have no specific example of his wavering decision making, but even if I did, I’d have to suggest that it might mean he is thoughtful about his choices in office and listens to the people.  Listening to the public is something that he is known for in office.  While the three pro-development Commissioners, ‘Heil Hitler’, for every rezoning and development plan.

Reeder charges in a Frederick News-Post letter to the editor (8/7/06) that Gray is akin to a tax and spend ‘Democrat’.  I imagine that any accountant and tax consultant understands taxes and has a clear knowledge of their effects.  And Gray certainly has it right, when he recognizes that taxes have increased because of infrastructure costs that support new development needs.

Now Frederick News-Post columnist, Roy Meachum, charges (7/30/06) that Gray is a hypocrite for having taken advantage for his property rights and subdividing his farmland into a few homesites.  Now if I understand hypocrisy, it consists of maligning another for doing exactly what you do, or believe in doing.  So isn’t it actually the other way around?  Aren’t the pro-development folks hypocritical for criticizing a candidate for using their property as they see fit?

I stand by the man’s right to use his property.  It adds to his understanding of why a farmer might sell the farm, or why a developer would want to build a subdivision.  Surely, in office, you must hope that he will at least occasionally approve some growth.  Being slow growth and concerned with infrastructure is not to be a dead zone for new development.  It would be two faced to not support his right when you’re asking for similar and broader rights for other property owners.

Roy Meachum appears to be a supporter and tool of Mike Cady.  Now I don’t know that Cady has ever owned a bit of land and sold it off for homes, so I guess that selling three home lots makes Gray a much worse blight for development than approving thousands of homes on prime farmland.

Meachum also says that he supports Representative Bartlett, who famously asked the county to allow him to tap into the new water line in order to build a senior development on his property. 

The infamous Gladhill property, claimed by Cady to be essential to the water pipeline, which is not true, was the reason to extend the New Market growth boundary and allow rezoning of the Gladhill property for more homes. 

It could actually be simple political payback.  Gladhill interests clearly supported the mysterious pig roast and developer candidate rally last month. Then fingers pointed in all directions about who hosted the event. Anytime everyone denies involvement and points fingers, you can bet something is rotten in Denmark. That’s how county politics work.