You're watching Open Agenda. Here's our
host, Joe White.
>> Welcome to Open Agenda. I'm your host,
Joe White. In the studio with us now is
M. Trish Melvin from Futland. Thank you.
Mr. Michael Langford from Salsbury.
Thanks for coming out.
>> Thanks for having me.
>> Michael, you have been working very
diligently uh on an investigation into
the residency and eligibility of former
council president Deshawn Dowy and his
role as council president.
uh you filed a complaint in early
October stating that you had evidence uh
which you you shared with us here of
hidden him no longer residing in
Salsbury from at least 2 months ago
maybe even up to nine months ago.
Correct.
>> Correct.
>> Uh I want to go through that because you
know at the end of the day public trust
in your elected officials is of the
utmost importance. it to some degree to
some level this has been violated and at
the same time it felt like with the
press release that came out last Friday
it's being swept under the rug and Trish
I'd like to have you I'd like to have
Joe Venosa come in and talk about this
timeline and then I'd like to come back
in and get your perspective after having
heard this evidence and see how you feel
like the press release and the press's
coverage of this incident has really has
it aligned [clears throat] up with with
what the facts are.
>> Okay. All right. All right. Will you
stick around, Michael?
>> Absolutely. Thank you.
>> All right. So, when we come back, we're
going to bring in Dr. Joe Venosa. We're
going to go through the timeline of
President Dowy's resignation.
>> Welcome back to Open Agenda. In the
studio with us is Dr. Joe Venosa. Thank
you for coming out.
>> Thank you.
>> Michael Langford. Thanks for sticking
around. So, Michael, you have asserted
that Deshaawn Dowy has knowingly and
intentionally
deceived the voters, the election board,
and the city of Salsbury. So, I want you
to explain how do how have you come to
know that he's done this and done it
intentionally?
>> Well, uh, man, it just starts by
listening. You know, what we do here on
the show all the time. Um, and and I
kept hearing that Deshawn lived across
the bridge. And I kept hearing this from
different people in the community. It
was not like one person from one
background or one kind of political
disposition. And I just kept hearing
this and it was a strange thing. And
frankly, people I don't know people true
crime is huge, right? I don't know why
people don't dig more, but there's a lot
publicly available. So, I bothered to do
that work and then I was shocked to find
that, you know, he uh both working in
Bair and living in Essex, which is in
Baltimore County.
>> So, Dr. have noticed that we've heard
that former council president Dowy was
on another radio show stating that this
was just the last couple months and that
the the details are vague,
>> but we're looking at Michael's research
here. There's there's nothing vague
about this. In fact, the the the the
thing that might be the most vague is
whether or not this actually started in
January of 2025. Mhm.
>> So, Michael, I I want to talk about, you
know, you used court documents
specifically where collections notices
were served uh for civil complaints
against former council president Deshawn
Dowy by multiple entities, a doctor, the
state of Maryland, uh a finance company.
Some of these documents were not able to
be served as soon as January 15th, 2025.
one another attempt on January 24th,
2025 and then again two more attempts in
June of 2025.
Uh what is this telling you about the
trend of when he actually was likely not
a true resident of Salsbury any longer?
>> Yeah, potentially as recently as January
that he was not in the address that he
was registered with when he filed for
the city which is 422 Creek Bed Circle.
>> Okay. Now, Dr. Dr. Venosa, we've talked
about many times a conflict of interest
when former council president Deshaawn
Dowy worked for Green Street Housing. We
came to realize back in the spring that
he was no longer employed there. Now, we
did not report it or discuss it. That's
a personnel matter.
>> However, in the court documents that
Michael Langford has picked up, there
was a wage garnishment that was put on
his salary in May of May 23rd, 2025. and
it was not able to be served because he
was no longer employed at that time. So
that's official court documents.
>> It is it is
>> uh there's also a finance company,
Mariner Finance, who had a suit against
him as well as a doctor out of Berlin
and some of those documents were not
able to be served in September uh in
2025 most recent. Yeah.
>> So uh Michael, you also have found some
some housing information. Uh we we know
his address in Essex now. Uh we know
that that house was was on the market
for for rental. Correct.
>> Yes. And the house in Essex, the
interesting thing is that came from the
kiosk at the district courthouse and
that has to be updated by Deshawn. So
this is the part where he knowingly and
intentionally deceives us all is that he
had to update the Essex address. So he
knows because he's telling I guess HR
with the city who's updating it in the
courthouse records that the in order for
him to receive mail it's Essex
>> and when was that?
>> We don't know when he updated it, right?
But we checked it in early October. I
initially filed my complaint on the
second and I believe I found the Essex
thing a couple days actually after I
filed the initial complaint.
>> So sometime in October. We know that
he's employed currently at the Bank of
America on Tollgate Road in Bair. In
fact, you have found his his
professional page that lists not only
his his office, but his his phone
number, and you've done a a a map a
mapping of how long it would take to
drive there. It's over 3 hours. Correct.
>> Correct.
>> So, is it fair to say that that he was
not living in Salsbury?
>> That was that was the thing that made me
dig when I saw that he was on their
website. um even if they're slow to
update it, it's like, well, they got him
on it initially, so he's been working
there for a while. And then you look at
that and you see how I what I one of the
things that actually raised the red flag
to me is it is common for the city
council in Salsbury to go to every two
weeks during the summer so people can
take vacations and stuff with family.
However, before 2025,
uh we can see that the council met like
every week. That is the normal way
unless it's summer. One week would have
been a work session and the next week a
legislative session.
>> Correct. And now we're doubling up and
we've been doing that all of 2025 again
since January. So we are now getting
>> So it's it's highly plausible that this
whole rescheduling of our city
government is possibly because desy that
time period was living over the bridge
in violation of our city code.
>> Yes. Well, and so let's talk about the
city code that there was a charter
amendment 2024-2
that allowed for a change in wording
that you did not have to live in your
district but doiciled.
>> Correct.
>> Wow. We are parsing words here. Um
government isn't really good at
semantics anyway. But um
>> University.
>> Well, what what does that mean? I mean,
does that mean that he he doesn't have
to have a legal address, but he can just
be staying on a couch somewhere? So when
you I'm still waiting to hear um back
from law offices on how you would
establish the criterion because there is
not actually a legal definition of
doicile. There is a legal definition of
residency because like the state can
establish residency, right? And there
are certain procedures around housing
that have to do with one's residency,
but doiciling is a specific political
like maneuver on their part to avoid
accountability. I believe
>> and I remember this kind of came up a
little bit back in the mayor race or
yeah in in 2013 when there was some
controversy perhaps over Megan's
residency in the city and the election
board had to examine that and kind of
come to the same issue with well what is
residency versus doiciling and I guess
that change was in part a reflection of
the problems we've had with other
candidates and people in office right
>> what we do know is that on October 17th
2025 the board of elections had a closed
session
regarding the complaint that Michael
Langford filed amongst others. I think
others have also filed but his address
wasn't changed until the same date. Now
it went from
>> his voter registration
>> voter registration was changed to
another address in Salsbury. So does
this speak to a cover up? Is this is
this an attempt? Because you have
documentation that the house that he was
initially lived in was sold. Correct.
>> Correct. So, he really couldn't state
that he lived there anymore. There's
ESTA uh documents that say he definitely
didn't live there because it had new
ownership.
>> Correct.
>> And it was only at the point that there
was a closed session because and I and I
don't want people to to lose sight of
this, the days matter. October 17th is
nine business days prior to his
resignation, which was, I believe,
carefully orchestrated on a Friday
afternoon to avoid a lot of press
coverage. That was the last workday that
he could actually address the
allegations against him with the board
of elections that met in the closed
session. Correct.
>> Correct. That's my understanding from
the city clerk who I filed my complaint
with. And so afterwards, once I reached
out afterwards and that that was
actually last Friday was the the last
date for him to respond to the official
inquiry from the election board and
instead of responding, he resigned. Now,
Dr. Venosza, we got to talk about the
local media coverage here. Um, we we saw
on Friday this this press release from
former council president Deshaawn Dowy
stating he was resigning for a business
opportunity. I think Michael has laid it
out perfectly clear that this this was
this was a cover up at least months in
the making but maybe 9 months in the
making.
>> U the at the same time our local media
pushed out the the press release as
written and then directly moved on to
crosswalks.
>> Well, let's let's get to that. But let
me say this even before that. It's my
understanding that no one on the city
council and certainly not the mayor's
office and anybody in the city
administration ever was told by Deshaawn
Dowy that he had resigned. He never even
called to say, "Hey guys, heads up. I'm
resigning." Now, this is someone who's
been the city council president whose
job it is is to help organize, you know,
meetings and run the city government. So
to totally ghost and abandon and truly
jump ship in that my opinion extremely
cowardly pathetic way is is almost
comical if it didn't affect real things.
So that
very in my opinion also AI generated or
AI generated influenced letter that he
released um as you said was sent out
with no contact of any local officials.
It was sent out effectively as you said
on a Friday as basically it seems like
he was running away and the local media
which we have been deeply critical of
and I think for good reason. That's part
of why we have done what we do
throughout uh the past 18 months
basically doesn't report the news. What
do they do? They take the press release
and they just echo it out. In fact, the
whole time this was happening, I thought
of the George Orwell quote, you know,
that basically this is just public
relations, right? It's it's not real
media. It's not investigative uh
journalism. It's not even questioning at
the most basic level. And then you have
what I also think is a very coordinated
effort by the secretary of housing, Jake
Day, and his friends in the local media
to push other stories because this also
needs to be said. Deshun Dowy in a lot
of people's informal discussions was
Jake's handpicked successor to be the
next mayor of Salsbury or at least to
help the pro-development changes that
have been in the works and that crashed
and burned in a pretty epic way. And it
makes sense why they don't want to focus
on this story.
>> Yeah. I mean we this this story has been
whitewashed in a lot of ways of away
from the the the the crosswalk.
>> Sure. And you know, we're not here to
debate the crosswalk issue, but at the
end of the day, that this council
president, former council president, has
has appointed folks on to the planning
and zoning committee,
>> has also blocked uh appointments to
other committees,
>> and also made a decisive vote last
January that for the density uh the the
the increase in density because that
ended up passing 4 to
and it needed a fourth vote to be veto
proof.
>> Not only that, but it also triggered
several lawsuits which are and again
regardless of how you feel about the
density issue, it triggered lawsuits
that cost the taxpayers money anyway. So
continuing continuing so he's continuing
to cost us money even if he is living 2
or 3 hours away. I think one of the
aspects of the press of what the what
you were saying there is that the
uncritical acceptance of what people in
power are saying is just against what
the whole uh was it
>> support the state right it's it it's the
whole the whole point
>> point of freedom of the press point of
freedom of of of of the press is to act
essentially as an informal check on
authority
>> yes it is not to you don't go like
people in positions of power you're like
authority is actually supposed to be
separate from power. I mean that's part
of like the university thing honestly is
that we have a lot of you know research
that comes through the universities and
that's not necessarily driven by people
in political positions of power.
Obviously university is political you
know but it that's one of my biggest
problems in disappointment in the press.
I took journalism classes. I've worked
for newspapers. I've worked I've been on
you know I did a radio show back in
college. So I've always been interested
in this kind of stuff. And it's just sad
to me as an adult to see that our local
community where people have a career of
decades, they have college degrees in
this and I see no journalism. I see, you
know, acceptance of people just in
positions of power and that's not really
how they should be doing their job.
>> I think as a little side note to the
history, some of the most important
groundbreaking investigative
journalists, not just in this country,
but in others, tended to not have
degrees in journalism. I'm not to say
that that can't be useful, but certainly
the people, the individual local
journalists who have taken exception to
our even attempt to cover this stuff.
Um, the pearl clutching, frankly, from
my perspective. Um, I I expect better
from people that supposedly have that
professional training.
>> And look, and honestly, we we we talked
about this on our social media outlets
when this came out last Friday because
we knew it wasn't me represented
properly. we all have day jobs uh to
some degree. So we film our shows on
Tuesdays and Thursdays. That's just a
fact. Um and so we're we're not ready to
run into the studio and and and put out
a show on a Friday afternoon.
>> But we're seeing not just from this
elected official, former elected
official, but other elected officials.
Bad news is put out on Friday afternoon
>> to help get it forgotten about by Monday
morning.
>> Yeah.
>> When we get around the water coolers
again.
>> Not this week. So, uh, what do you want,
Michael? What I mean, you don't feel
like this has been completely addressed
and and at the same time, we don't know.
Is this a two-month process or a 9-month
process? Are are you ready to let this
go? I mean, he's out of office now. What
do you want?
>> So, my understanding of the process is
it's [sighs and gasps]
I believe that he resigned to avoid the
actual accountability.
>> Okay. So my understanding is the next
step of the process would have been an
open meeting that would have been called
with the board of election would have
called Mr. Dowy to account after that
10day period. He there would have been
some scheduling of a meeting and then he
would have had to in person account for
rather than face any of that and rather
than account for any of his he just
resigned. I think that actually puts the
issue to bed in that regard. But I think
that the fact that there was a process
that my biggest thing was in just over a
month that somebody who was, you know,
violating his oath of office, lying to
the public, and frankly breaking the law
because the city charter and code like
forbid this kind of behavior. Um, you
know, that because the city process was
respected, because the city had a
process that wasn't able to be swayed,
because people followed through. Um, I I
think that's the most important thing
about our local government and I think
I'm very pleased with that. So Joe, I
want to ask you, is this part of a
bigger political complex? I mean, you
brought up former mayor Jake Day, who's
the uh secretary of housing for the
state of Maryland. Now,
>> there's other politicians and other
stated candidates out there who have
also aligned with this pro-development,
pro-subsidity
>> uh political scene.
>> Do you think that the reason why former
council president Dowy resigned was to
protect that political machine? I think
to an extent I think his initial
instinct is just just to protect himself
because I think that's what people like
that do. But Mr. Dowy comes out of as
you said you know a petri dish that has
developed locally here um you know
largely through the former mayor and
through Shore progress which Mr. Dowy
was an affiliate with in which they run
candidates who typically are young, who
seem dynamic, who talk about change and
challenging power and you know the only
thing the only change they get is when
they cash the checks from the
developers. It seems uh from their
campaign contributions or their jobs
because they are unfortunately in my
opinion the epitome of what is so
dangerous about when local government is
hijacked. They don't really care about
regular people's concerns and issues.
And let me say this, and again, don't
take my word for it. Talk to people like
J. Michael Mitchell and Kevin Lindseay.
Talk to other people in district 2 who
have talked about the fact that Mr. Dowy
was never a fixture in the community,
who often never responded to constituent
outreach, who often only came for photo
ops and then disappeared. Now we know
why. Um, that kind of failure, not just
on Mr. Dowy's part, but that kind of
failure is is really concerning when we
know that local government does have the
greatest impact on our lives and it is
the greatest source of us as citizens to
be empowered and to and to have a voice.
So when you've got people that are
bankrolled by special interests, when
you've got people that are so
duplicitous, so dishonest, so
narcissistic to the point that they're
willing to to go through the lengths
that Mr. doubt he was in this cover up.
It is not only shocking and appalling,
but it is deeply damaging to the nature
of the community that he claims he cares
about so much.
>> Well, I want to I I want to bring in
Trish Melvin. She's followed this as as
as a regular citizen as well. And I and
I want to get a sense from her how she
feels about the importance of the lack
of transparency
by the local media and by the the press
release that was put out by former
President Deshawn Dowy. All right. Would
you stay with us, Michael?
>> Absolutely.
>> All right. So, when we come back, we're
going to bring in Trish Melvin. We're
going to find out her thoughts on the
resignation of Deshawn Dowy. So, stay
with us. We'll be right back.
Welcome back to Open Agenda. Joining us
back in the studio is M. Trish Melvin
from Fruitland. Thank you for coming
back. Mr. Michael Langford. Thanks for
sticking around.
>> Thanks for having me.
>> So, we we ran through the series of
facts, the dates, the the evidence that
we know and and the misleading nature of
the press release that was put out
Friday. Trish, I want to ask you. You've
been watching the story since Friday
when it first came out and also you've
been listening even to radio interviews
that have happened recently with uh
former President Deshawn
>> Dowy.
>> Do you feel like the press coverage, the
mainstream press coverage and the press
release that's put out matches the
information that you've seen here today?
I think there's a gap um between the
investigative work that uh the team's
done and what I've heard, you know, on
the radio and and have read.
>> Now, you're you you have been
politically active with uh the the
county council,
>> uh particularly with fighting against
287G and and Michael, I think you're you
kind of describe yourself as as someone
who who has a very a lot of left leftist
center ideals. Deshawn Dowy is is on
that same side. I mean, how do you feel
about the the fact that this is this is
what has transpired?
>> I think that's one of the biggest uh
misdirection tools in our in the
propaganda locally is that people often
think that people are getting personal
in some way when they're talking about a
behavior or a position, right? And how
people conduct themselves. You guys
often talking about like say uh County
Executive Jordano, right? We're talking
about the performance in that role, not
that person, you know? And in this case,
Deshawn's not someone that I'm actually
close to. You know, he's someone that
I've, you know, he asked me to be on a
housing task force at one point for the
city. Didn't go anywhere. Wasn't
effective, but you know, um able to have
a conversation with him, able willing to
hear me out. Um not actually against him
being in that position like outright,
not against him as a person. And it's so
when finding this out and once I start
digging and finding this I'm like this
is so deeply wrong and disheartening to
anybody on the left because it's like
we're people on the left right now
there's a lot of people that are very
upset with the direction that the
country is going you know um on a
national scale to the local scale and so
uh you know for us to have somebody
who's you us you know on the left to
have somebody who's a representative
that's somebody who cares about the
values and the ideals that we all
profess to uphold and And then to see
them betray that by how they conduct
themselves when they actually get into a
position of power. It's it's
>> what do you what do you make of him? I
mean he is spoken at work sessions about
uh adding a partisan element to the city
of Salsbury elections which is I mean as
someone who's conservative on the right.
I I like the fact that the city of
Salsbury doesn't have partisan
elections. Does this does this play a
factor in this whole deception game? I
mean, is it is it hard to to understand
if we're more worried about the local
folks or are we more worried about the
political machine?
>> I I see a lot of I I often see this
tightening of a grip, you know, um on
both sides of the political aisle where
they try to narrow who has access or
ability, and I think that the move to
change the city to partisan elections is
that that narrowing who can participate.
And I do agree with you that it's like a
terrible move for our community.
>> Well, Trish, you're you're a very
independent-minded person. Um, how do
you feel? I know you're a resident of
Fruitland, but how would it make you
feel if you were a resident of Salsbury
and and and and we shift to this very
partisan type of rhetoric, especially
when you when you have folks who maybe
ideologically align with you, but also
deceive the public in this way.
>> You know, at the local level, I don't
think partisanship has a has a role
because public safety is not a partisan
issue. Roads are not a partisan issue.
uh the things that we address at the
county council and are addressed at the
city council are not necessarily
partisan and I think that detracts from
the efficiency of resolving issues when
you see it through the lens of
partisanship. I think it's important you
know beyond local government state and
federal of course but at our level I
don't see where it has a role. Now I I'm
not a taxpayer of the city of Salsbury,
but one of the questions I would have if
I was is how much of the salary, it's
not a very high salary, but how much of
the salary that's been paid to the
former council president Deshawn Dowy
has been collected
illegally um or of of not true nature,
>> false pretenses,
>> false pretenses.
>> Yeah. I I think where he is knowingly,
intentionally deceiving people, I think
the resignation is a maneuver that will
help inoculate him from true
accountability for those actions. I
think that his resignation and saying
that he's resigning for the quote
unquote right reasons, another
opportunity, right, will prevent any
further like legal repercussions for
him, which I believe is why he resigned.
Well, I mean, if we're going to have
charter amendment changes like we see
2024-2
to change wording from residency to
doiciled, maybe this is something that
needs to be addressed in the on the go
forward that if someone does obtain
payment for services that could not be
rendered because they were really
ineligible that they should be
responsible for those misappropriated
funds. I mean, I think that's what we're
seeing here. I agree. We've seen it with
the county government and we we really I
think are also seeing it with the city
government here.
>> Yeah. I mean, he it's extremely I I said
this in my comments last night. It was
an extreme it's an extremely selfish act
for him to assume a position of power
when there are over 30,000 residents in
the city that are now denied an
opportunity to serve. Those people don't
have access to have a say. And I I agree
wholeheartedly with Trish that most
things, especially locally, I I believe
most laws can be justified through
public health and safety or they ought
not to be at all.
>> Sure.
>> Or it's not a if it's greater than that,
it would not be a local issue.
>> Mhm.
>> Probably not.
>> Yeah. No, we're not. We're not deciding
about um you know, abortion or gun
control on a in a small municipality.
Yes. So those kinds of issues that can
be very divisive, we actually if you
actually get involved, if you actually
show up to the council meetings, um it
you really have an ability to engage
with people. What I found is that it's
not people that I necessarily on the
surface thought I would ideologically
believe, you know, we believe the same
thing. So of course we'll agree the same
on this issue. That's not necessarily
the case.
>> Yeah. Which is which is welcoming at the
least. It is because I mean when you
again when you go back to listening when
you it's about conversations with
people, listening to people,
relationships with people. I mean
politics ultimately in the best way is
about that.
>> Well, thank you both. I appreciate your
your your coming back and your insight
into just how this was handled from the
public standpoint. Michael, thanks for
all your investigative work. Good job.
Way to stand up for the little guy.
>> Thank you.
>> Thanks for watching this episode of Open
Agenda. We'll be back later this week
with another new episode.
Uh, my name is Michael Langford. When an
elected official knowingly and
intentionally violates the rule of law
meant for us all, it is something deeply
unethical and ought to bar them from the
ability to serve in public office in the
future. And it is in the public's best
interest to know the actions which took
place. Because make no mistake, Mr.
Deshaawn Dowy has misrepresented himself
to such an extent that he has lied to
the city election board, the city of
Salsbury incorporated municipality, his
fellow council members, his constituents
of district 2, and every resident of the
city of Salsbury, over 30,000 people who
actually live here.
By spending at least the majority of
2025 outside of Wcomamako County, let
alone the city, Mr. Dy has selfishly and
callously acted upon a philosophy of
rules for thee and not for me. It is
deeply hypocritical and wrong for
someone to gatekeep a position of power
in this way to benefit themselves. It is
one of the most shockingly selfish acts
I've ever witnessed. He has broken the
oath he took when he initially was
appointed and took a seat on the
council. Thus, I filed a complaint on
October 2nd of this year in which I
provided over 60 pages of documentation
to substantiate the claim that Mr.
Deshawn Dowy has been working and
doiciling outside of his elected
district which disqualifies him from
public service as council member for
city council per city code SC2-2 and
charter resolution number 2024-2
to share with people the process in the
effort of transparency so that people
can know you know the first thing that I
did in this process was just listen and
people talk and a lot of times I take
things with a grain of salt but when I
continuously hear that Mr. Dowy was
living across the bridge from multiple
people who don't believe the same things
that don't affiliate with one another. I
just looked into it and all I did was
Google it. You can Google his name in
the word bank and you'll find out where
he works. It the wild part was going and
finding that Deshawn is living in Essex,
which for people who don't know where
Essex is, that makes sense cuz it's
Baltimore County over 3 hours away. I
listened. I followed a process and I
trusted city officials to carry out the
city's investigation and I waited. And
the fruits of that process is that a
corrupt politician is no longer in
office and that someone else from our
city gets an opportunity to serve and
that people know that they can do more
to better the quality of service we
receive from the government by paying
attention and upholding the integrity of
a process. I want to thank the city
election board and city clerk for
carrying out the process professionally
and efficiently as was possible while
Mr. Dowy was nonresponsive to the city's
inquiries. To Mr. Dowy, I say good
riddance and look forward to seeing what
city council will be able to accomplish
when the person at the helm, the
chairperson, chooses to serve the
public's interest in the residents of
Salsbury over personal ambition and
political theatrics.
Sometimes public officials will do
things we disagree with, which I think a
lot of people are here tonight to talk
about, but it is another more disturbing
thing when a public official actually
lies to us, violates their oath of
office, and breaks the law. Thank you
for your time.
>> [applause]
>> Thank you, Mr. White.
>> The issues with Mr. Dowy run deep and
are of grave concern. And again, I'm
very disappointed that the local media,
which unfortunately has political
connections to Mr. Dowy and to his main
political benefactor, Jake Day, has
refused to really investigate it. That
is why citizens like us on Open Agenda,
have had to resort to investigative
journalism as amateurs because there's
been an absence of it. It's frankly
disappointing and disgraceful.
I know what I'm doing, man.
