Open Agenda Campaign Donation Influence Ep 20
Show Transcript
Disclaimer: The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain spelling or contextual errors.
you're watching open Agenda here's our
host Joe White welcome to open Agenda
I'm your host Joe White and today's
episode is going to tie together just
how campaign donations for the county
Executives office in Waco County can
also be tied to top policymaking
Decisions by the county executive in the
studio with me is Mr Jim Atkins from
mardella thanks for coming out good
morning yep
so before we get started on exactly what
we're going to discuss with campaign
donations I think we should really talk
about why are you and I here to discuss
this and uh neither one of us are
politicians and no we're we're we have
you ever donated significant amount of
money to any politician no yeah myself
included yes um but we both do attend
the uh the the the workings of the
County government correct I mean we go
to public hearings yeah public hearings
and meetings and different agendas that
they have to to just keep up with what's
going on in the in the county and we've
also been at press conferences together
the county Executives had and uh uh I'd
like to watch the I try to get as much
updated information as I can from her
executive exclusive although when I do
cross check some of those facts you know
I have to I have to take it with a GRE
assault okay so so I think we both agree
that you know these are important things
but we probably see some things being
there in person that maybe some of the
average viewers don't see yeah it it's
it's a little different when you're in
person and you see some of the minutia
of the movements and the eye contacts
that you're able to to pick up a little
more than you are just watching it on
television yeah but at the end of the
day we're both just concerned citizens
yes exactly yeah so let's talk a little
bit about the role that campaign
donations would have with really any
public office I mean this isn't ex you
know exclusive to this this position the
county executive position but uh you
know anytime I think you see large
donations come through I mean what
what's your thought what's your mindset
yeah I I think citizens if they have a
person who they feel like is going to
represent them their thoughts and ideas
and they want to contribute either
through campaign contributions or
fundraisers or whatever that that that's
the way to do it but there comes a point
in time and ain't an amount that it
seems like you're not contributing to
help that person versus you're
contributing to try to get something in
return at a later date yeah I mean even
if we don't know that I mean it just it
it does seem odd because I mean what
would you say what would be a
appropriate amount for just a regular
citizen who thought man you know that
man or woman would represent our
community well uh I'm going to I'm going
to make a a donation to to help them buy
signs or whatever I mean what what would
be appropriate in your mind I I would
think think that you know a normal
person nor normal working person would
be in a probably $200 to $250 range that
they would contribute to someone that
they support and want to help yeah so I
think maybe if we focus our our talk on
on entities or groups that have donated
maybe at least twice that much 500 or a
thousand or more then I think that that
would be more appropriate than worrying
about maybe somebody who donated $80 or
$200 I mean we we all people do that I
say we all do that I don't yeah but uh
you know that's just part of the the
political campaign that to help buy
signs advertising and and get the word
out for somebody that you you support
well just for some perspective a yard
sign with a little metal stand cost
about $10 okay so you know somebody who
was going to donate maybe $100 or $200
to a campaign they're they're buying 10
20 signs you know maybe probably putting
one of those in their yard you know
themselves but that seems about you know
what you would expect to have a private
citizen so yes so I want to show here
some of the main contributors to that
our current County Executive Julie
gardano has received since
2022 and uh you're going to see that
there's not a lot of uh individuals as
much as there's uh entities or or or
causes behind that and I'd like to spend
some time with you to discuss it because
I think some of what you and I have
witnessed uh watching the the county
workings uh actually shows some of the
policies being directed at these high
donors these high campaign donors okay
uh would you agree yes yes so right on
top I mean you know just recently uh
Barry beum has uh been appointed now he
he was not elected he was appointed to
replace Carl anderton as our State
Delegate in this for w County um now
prior to him
being uh appointed uh he has been part
of the Republican Central Comm committee
and also donated over $6,000 to uh
friends for to elect Julie
gardano um have you noticed I mean he
he's he's been at the meetings prior to
him being appointed and he's he's still
coming now yeah he has been at the
meetings and has been very supportive in
the past of the county executive and you
know to for the council to give her what
she wants in order for her to do her job
yeah I remember specifically when we
were going through the controversy with
the confirmations from Matt lell and
Heather Langford uh Barry did get up
there and said look you just let her let
her have who she want exactly but and
and and you've put it so very well many
times that's not what the charter says
that the we we voted in a referendum to
say that we want those folks brought to
open session we want to be able to go to
our elected representatives and say hey
we're not okay with this person for
whatever reason yes and and the classic
example that that was Dan Cox when she
tried to uh get Dan Cox hired in her
Administration that that was run through
the council and the public outcry was
such that it didn't happen well kind of
tie with Barry beum uh and next on our
list is this Del Marva conservative
movement and and I think one of the the
main talking points with this group uh
whether your your political views align
with them or not is it says on their
website that they're not a political
party
however their meetings are hosted on
South Division Street at the Republican
Central headquarters so it's really hard
to discern whether they really are a
political party or not but they have so
far donated $2,000 to the friends to
elect Julie gjo and that's just since
the referendum to to for question a has
been on the B yes
so how do you feel about when you have
someone who is I mean whether you're a
Democrat or Republican it's
inconsequential on this question but if
if someone says Hey listen I represent
the Republican Central Committee or the
Republican party but in fact they
actually have some sort of affiliation
with a subset of that party I mean how
does as a private citizen how does that
make you feel well it it just makes you
feel like they are trying to
circumvent the publicity that would come
come through it you know be saying
you're a Conservative Republican well
Republicans are conservative so you know
it's a central Republican committee and
it should be yeah I mean just like
myself I mean I I identify as a
Conservative Republican I am not a part
of the deara conservative movement um
and I wouldn't be comfortable attending
a meeting at the Republican Central
headquarters if I'm not really quite
sure who is actually in charge and I
think that that's you know these
campaign contributions actually lend
themselves to some th those questions
specifically yeah and and I really think
that all that also probably led to the
uh resignation of so many of of so many
other people in in the Republican
committee that left yeah in the spring
so we want to we want to take a minute
to explain this you have the Republican
Central Committee and this is an
official group that is supposed to
represent the Republican platform in wo
County the Republican Club is a group of
of people who identify as Republicans
and they they spent a lot of their time
raising money for potential conservative
candidates in the area the Dum ARA
conservative movement on their site says
that they're not in fact a political
party although they're having their
meetings at the Republican Central
headquarters but then this area is very
gray of where one group starts and one
group ends and really who's in charge of
both groups yes and and it's hard to in
my world to say you're not affiliated
with something when you post post with
full of political songs yes you know if
you're not affiliated with this group
why are you
proudly posing in front of political
science or whatever party you're with
you can't have it both ways well and and
and just being open and transparent is
really the right way to go so talking
about a little bit of lack of
transparency um you know whether you're
for the the the Dem you know taking away
the Monopoly for the for the liquor
dispensary or not it's very
understanding that a lot of local
business owners you know when it comes
to restaurant owners or maybe even beer
store owners would in fact favor to get
rid of the Monopoly for some you know
advantages there but we've seen through
the press conference on July 1st uh the
current executive Julie gardano and the
former delegate Carl anderton said look
this dispensary bill is really just the
first step I think ultimately their
their goal is to open it up for More
Liquor Stores well I think I think the
the words that Carl anderton stated that
day were we've kicked the door open now
let's go through well and you can see on
this list that we're referencing that
there are actually several businesses
that have Financial ties to that aspect
itself now I'm not here to say whether
or not they're right or wrong what I'm
saying is what what is the price you pay
to get political influence in W Comico
County we you and I were talking $200
$250 maybe $500 just for supporting
someone you think would do a good job
but are we starting to step into an
areas where you're actually buying
influence and when we look at East Coast
management which is owned by Frank
Hannah this is Brew River they they do a
lot in the community but they've donated
over $4,000 to to this fund is that is
that because they so much believe in the
overall process that Julie would or is
this in fact a chance to buy influence
that would benefit their business
interest well when you look at the the
contributions in the past versus what
the contributions are now when you have
the uh dispensary Bill coming up and the
contributions are made through the
different restaurants and and management
groups in Salsbury and then the county
executive
is advocating doing away with the uh
dispensary and letting them buy directly
from their
wholesalers you just have to look at it
and inform your own opinion well and and
one other aspect that comes around with
this with this group of of of
individuals is the greater Salsbury
committee they came to the County
council with the initial legislative
resolution last spring to say hey we
support this they did not have open
meetings they did not keep
minutes and at the same time by the time
that the legislative resolution hit the
floor in Annapolis there was a couple
changes that were trying to be made if
at the end of the day there are
political contributions made that also
allow you to have influence shouldn't at
the very least be the most public and
trans you um transparent transparent yes
exactly yeah the public should know just
exactly I mean that was one of the
things that uh councilman Holloway was
very adamant about that it was a legisl
request and not a legislative bill being
sent to Annapolis which meant that if
the council approved it once it got to
Anapolis they could change it and write
whatever they wanted and they very
nearly did yes yes well I want to take a
break when we come back I you know we
we've touched base on a few of these
campaign contributors I want to go
through a few more and I want to really
get your viewpoint on what you think
from your from where you have sat at the
County Council meetings and to see just
where those policies have fallen into
place we'll be right back stick with
us welcome back to open Agenda I'm your
host Joe White in his Studio sticking
around for those segments Mr Jim Atkins
thanks for staying around sure certainly
so we had a chance in the first segment
to really kind of lay some groundwork
for why you know at least you should ask
some questions about why c campaign
contributions happen but let's talk
about maybe even some of the more uh
larger contributions that have been made
but also some maybe that are even
further away from from W Comico County
than we can understand right now right I
think one of the ones that's real high
on the list is the Richardson family
they live out in poville um part of the
canine or the Marva canine group um you
know I don't I don't fully understand
all the aspects of uh some of the
reasoning and I'm not trying to show
that on this show but in fact there's
campaign contributions just to one
candidate in excess of
$10,000 what is that what does that say
to
you
well again not accusing anyone or or
stating
anything in wo County in a small W
Comico County and when an individual is
willing to contribute
$10,000 to a
campaign you just have to infer your own
reference from it well I think you know
whether whether it's it's merited or not
if that it does become the line for for
supporting a candidate wouldn't that
theoretically take a lot of folks who
$10,000 would be way out of their means
oh it would eliminate 90 to 95% of the
people in the county who who would
contribute or or able to contribute that
I mean if you look at the campaign
contributions the reports don't show
minor contribution
but campaigns are run by5 And1 $15
donations from the small people yeah
yeah well especially when you're looking
at the the the council members
themselves I mean a to run a a you know
a campaign for a council member doesn't
cost nearly
$10,000 and that's shown in their
campaign Finance forms themselves let's
talk a little bit about the the
Fraternal Order of Police and Scott
Hamilton who is the president of that
now in the last election the citizens
went and and we voted to have in the
referendum to have the the executive
branch or the the county to to negotiate
directly with the fop and I think you
and I both agree that that's actually
probably a a positive thing to really
stand up for the the the law enforcement
officers I mean we're both in favor of
that exactly yeah but the transparency
of the process I mean at one point uh in
September of 2023 the lawyer for the
county you know our side you know so to
speak not that we're really on two
different sides uh came to the County
Council and it seemed as if the
negotiations would start at that time
but in fact uh did you notice that they
didn't start until January they didn't
start until January yes now you spoke
many times at the Civic Center uh at at
County Council meetings in April and May
our County Executive missed chartered
deadlines is that correct she missed
chartered deadlines and she missed
or refused to supply the council with
any ideas of what the negotiations were
uh how they were coming what items might
be a sticking point she just informed
the council that when the negotiations
were done that they would be given the
information well we in fact exceeded the
deadline pass the deadline and the
County council did have the ability to
extend it 15 days they did that and then
we exceeded did that I mean at one point
Bob Benson the County Council attorney
said hey we got a rough draft the day
before it was due and was not complete
and it wasn't complete and it was that
part wasn't put in until 4 days later so
again the correlation between over
$6,000 in campaign donations to one
candidate not a group of candidates that
actually in fact missed Charter
deadlines for the main talking point the
main interaction I mean if it wasn't for
the County Council we would have ended
up in arbitration with the fop which
would have meant our Law Enforcement
Officers men and women would not have
had a contract it wouldn't have been
vetted by the citizens in an open
session and at the same time we could
have incurred so many more legal fees is
that accurate no exactly because it was
it was negotiated by the the executive
who said that she was going to negotiate
it and at the same time she's taking
major campaign contributions from the
organization that she's negotiating with
which resulted
in questionable things I mean I have
110% support for law enforcement
firefighters I mean they need to be
compensated they need to be protected
and they need to be
respected but when you're dealing with
contracts there has to be some openness
in the negotiation and the person even
if it is just the
perception the person who is receiving
large campaign contributions can't be
the person sitting in the room doing the
contract we still have to have respect
and and transparency for the taxpayer I
mean at the end of the day the taxpayer
the one who could barely afford A1 or
$200 campaign donation deserves the same
representation in Open Session that even
our law enforcement folks do everybody
should come out of those negotiations
with the best possible outcome
but at the very least it should be out
on Open Session and and and everything
on the table but there's a couple on
here that actually very much concern me
uh one of them is St John properties um
in a very
quick uh short time frame they have uh
decided to contribute the maximum in a
in a in a in a grouping of
$6,000 um they're they're base out of
Annapolis um now the county executive
just did a groundbreaking with them out
in Westbrook uh on the west side of the
county over near the
landfill um not much is known
specifically about these folks and
actually it's under Cecil property so we
want to make sure that we're we're
accurate but it's it is St John's
properties um it's hard to say just why
somebody from outside the area who
doesn't know any of us personally as far
as we can tell would feel so strongly
about one candidate to max out the
contribution exactly I mean again it's a
perception they are they're out the area
they are looking to conduct business in
this area in this County and and lo and
behold here's a $6,000 contribution well
let's do the math let's just say we we
we pass question a and we go to a
council Matic form a government do you
think it would be worth it to someone
like that to to donate what would in
essence be $442,000 you'd have to take
the Max and somehow have you know
influence or or or stamina behind seven
different people at least four of those
seven wouldn't it be better if we could
diffuse the power instead of having one
person who maybe could be influenced
specifically by a campaign donor it's
really hard to influence four out of
seven or even seven out of seven yeah I
think so and and I think at that point
in time the uh the contributor would
probably move on to representatives of
the of the state our state
representatives or State Senators but uh
not to W Comico County not one position
for a county as small as ours exactly we
are the biggest County on the eastern
shore of Maryland but it doesn't mean
that we're a big County no uh the other
one is is a lobbyist uh based out of
tonium Maryland now I may butcher his
name is John festo Fasto um I I you know
looked him up and and again his campaign
donation isn't even on a regular cycle
it's not so I think one of the misnomers
and I'd like to say this is uh our
current executive Julie gardano has said
she's voluntarily submitted campaign
Finance forms even though it's not an
election cycle for her that's actually
not accurate at all she's been forced by
the State Board of Elections to do that
because she is actively campaigning
against question a taking donations the
question I have is why would a lobbyist
in tonium who who specializes in
renewable energy um doesn't live here uh
to my knowledge hasn't had business here
what would be the purpose of having that
support behind one single position here
in W Comico County can't answer that
question well and you know what we're
not going to be able to answer that
question here I think it's a question
people should ask themselves but one
thing I think you and I can speak to
because we we go to things outside
County Council means we've been to the
uh we watch the executive exclusive from
the county executive we've been to her
press conferences I've covered them for
for open Agenda
but when we were at the July 1st press
conference that was run we also we saw
that that the liquor dispensary Bill
wasn't done right but then at the
breakfast the legislative breakfast that
came out in in the uh uh in the
September the top priority from the
county executive was liquor dispensary
bill and we just passed this so they're
not done what you say no they're not and
and the the you could
tell by attending the council meetings
and being there in person versus what
you saw on television some of the people
who were
speaking were not going to be satisfied
with buying from Distributors yeah some
of them were looking for more
opportunities possibly to open more
liquor stores uh and and that's the big
con turn in the county well maybe
they're getting their campaign
contributions ready for that influence
so I I want to have one more segment
would you stick around one more segment
there's one one entity that we' have not
covered yet and I think we should and
that's Eastern sharder cover so would
you stick around yep we'll be right back
stay with
us welcome back to open Agenda I'm your
host Joe White still in studio with me
is Mr Jim Atkins thanks for staying and
talking about campaign donations in W
Comico County so the the last one and I
and the reason why I wanted to save
Eastern Shore undercover for last isn't
isn't to bash Earl Campbell or Eastern
Shore undercover that's that's not my
goal but I will say that just from press
conferences uh his statements uh at at
referendum hearings and that sort of
thing it's very transparent how he
feels uh in the last election cycle and
again Julie's not up for election so
since February of 2024
Earl Campbell and Easter Shore
undercover have donated $4,000 to
friends to elect Julie
gardano one thing that is clear that has
been said is and and and been in Open
Session and work sessions with Sheriff
Mike Lewis is in fact that Earl campel
did get police encrypted radios after W
Comico County went to encrypted radio
system that was a process that cost us a
lot of money to encrypt those radios and
instantaneously one single person our
current County Executive Julie gardano
did an end run around that system and
gave encrypted radios to a civilian now
I mean ear served his he served his
community he was a police officer but
he's not one now how did that make you
feel I mean you're you're a lifetime
member of the of the fire department how
did that make you feel as someone who's
been in that public service
Arena you know you you're talking in one
hand about you want to
protect the emergency providers police
departments fire departments and
whatever and then you are giving a
encrypted radio which is purpose is to
protect these people you're giving an
encrypted radio to a citizen who who
runs a Blog and puts the information out
there and it's
just theou and the way it came about was
all very suspicious again there May been
absolutely
no negative thoughts about it but when
you sit there and look at the campaign
contributions and you see who who's
benefiting from it it it raises some red
flags and and when you have the sheriff
a duly elected official not under the
executives Authority but a duy elected
official come out strongly against what
has happened
and concerned about the safety of his
officers you have to respect that well
he has come out against giving out the
crypto radios to civilian he's come out
very strongly for voting for a charter
Amendment a he said that in the work
session on August 20th in front of
everybody it's been on pack 14 but would
it be fair to say that maybe uh
political influence costs right about
$3500 to $4,000 right now in W Comico
County I would think so the question
would be how many many of us have that
kind of money and uh how do we know it
won't be $10,000 on the 2026 cycle or
15,000 I mean I think uh yes it's called
pay to play and uh you know you may not
be asking for something but you are
asking to have influence and an audience
with someone to express your opinions so
everything you've seen the last couple
years and I know you've been going much
longer uh what what is your opinion on
voting for question
a I believe that that question a the way
the charter in W comco county is set up
that the council maatic form of
government is a better form because of
the way the charter is I think for me
and and and a lot of folks have asked me
lately why why why do I support it and
it's very obvious I support voting for
question a and it's because we are still
the only County in this area this part
of the eastern shore of Maryland that
has in the last 18 years no one else has
switched to an executive form and and
you're always going to have one council
member or two that you don't agree with
but you talk about hiring that
administrator I'd like to see that
position right now the administrator is
is selected by one single person I would
like to see that qualified administrator
to have to at least be vetted out over
seven people yes well if you go back to
what councilman Hastings stated when all
this first came up with the
amendment he wanted which is is not
possible to do but he wanted there to
be specifications and requirements
qualifications exactly for the county
executive you can't do that but you can
for the administration you can for an
Administration and that and that's where
this is headed so if we want if we want
to do that it would be better to have
seven folks have to V that person be Ved
and then you know there's got to be for
people who think that this person is
qualified to do that job and it's less
likely that these high dollar campaign
contributions can work through any one
executive or any one administrator
because it really exactly yes you're not
dealing with a person anymore you're
dealing with a group of people well
thanks for your time for coming in today
thanks for all your observations thanks
for being such a great speaker at the
podium there and I do we still do
encourage people to come out do we come
out and see what's going on at the
council and and let them know your
opinion yeah because it does matter at
times it really does yes well thanks for
watching this episode of open Agenda
we'll be back next week with another new
we need somebody that's going to stand
up to this bully and hold her
accountable we want the citizens of why
comic kind to vote Yes for Amendment a
that's what we
want oh they're going to love this when
it is
