Extra Buzz, Vol. 11
UPDATED Apr. 18. See addition below
A kerfuffle over a $10,000 check for lobbying activity turned up the heat between the county executive and a council member who wants her job in 2018.
Council Member Kirby Delauter (R-Dist. 5) forwarded an email to downtown hotel opponents that appeared to catch County Executive Jan Gardner (D) in a lie. But Gardner, who was also included in Friday’s email chain, shared “the rest of the story,” where it appeared that Delauter altered his email to make her look culpable.
From Kirby Delauter to Peter Samuels et al, Apr. 14, 2017, 7:35 a.m.
Peter –
Thanks for the email. See below where I looked into this for you back a few weeks ago. You can see my response and I’ll reiterate,I was told it was basically “ none of my business” and the Executive signs many checks on a day to day basis without council oversight.
Once again, Jan Gardner has snookered you and many others for your votes under her guise of “ Open and Transparent Government where everyone can be part of the process”.
It’s open and transparent only for what she wants you to see.
As you can see the Democrats and CP Otis are silent because they support the closed door policies that we now have at Winchester Hall.
Kirby
[Below is the email Delauter forwarded to the email group]
Good Afternoon Ragen,
I have compiled a listing of all payments to lobbyists I have been able to locate. Prior to 2011, the county spent no money on lobbyists. Identified below is spending on lobbyists for various purposes starting with the prior administration:
Payments toward various obligations of the County are routinely approved by administration on a regular basis. The Council has no role in these day to day payment activities.
Please forward this on to all Council Member’s for their information.
Thanks,
Heidi
X11028
Gardner disputed this, providing a different version that included lobbyist payments under the previous board of commissioners.
In response to questions from The Frederick Extra, the originator of the email Heidi Kenney, sent this at 1:30 p.m., Friday.
Good Afternoon Katherine,
The email below [Delauter’s version] is not the email I provided to Ragen Cherney, Chief of Staff for the County Council. I have attached the actual email that was sent to Ragen on April 3, 2017 which includes the information you are requesting on Bruce Berano.
Thank you,
Heidi
According to Keeney, this is her original email sent Apr. 3, 4:35 p.m.
Good Afternoon Ragen,
I have compiled a listing of all payments to lobbyists I have been able to locate. Prior to 2011, the county spent no money on lobbyists. Identified below is spending on lobbyists for various purposes starting with the prior administration:
A check of $25,000 was issued to PPP Associates LLC on 8/4/11 for privatization.
A check of $25,000 was issued to Frederick Area Committee for Transportation (FACT) with an MOU dated 10/23/13. FACT forwarded payment of $25,000 to Greenwill.
$101,000 total was issued to Funk & Bolton for the Clean Chesapeake Coalition/TDML Coalition during the timeframe of 11/16/12 – 11/21/14.
The Rural County Coalition received a total of $15,000 during the timeframe of 12/28/11 – 11/14/13 (first invoice paid to Allegany County Commissioners, formally Rural County Alliance). Bruce Bereano was the lobbyist for Rural County Coalition.
The Office of Economic Development has issued the Chamber of Commerce $24,750 total during the timeframe of FY15 – FY17 for Greenwill. These payments began during the term of the prior administration. Greenwill has lobbied for Frederick County interests including the conference center and transportation issues such as completion of the multimodal I-270 study.
Payments toward various obligations of the County are routinely approved by administration on a regular basis. The Council has no role in these day to day payment activities.
Please forward this on to all Council Member’s for their information.
Thanks,
Heidi
X11028
UPDATE: Delauter didn't respond to an inquiry about the difference in the two emails before press time. On Monday, Apr. 17, Delauter said in an email that he didn't alter anything, but simply copied the response from Gardner's staff. "She tried to do an end around by giving the check to the Chamber and then lying about it and saying she never sent funds to a lobbyist," he said in an email. Gardner spokesperson Vivian Laxton said the initial question about lobbying payment went to a staff, not Gardner, and as soon as the question was reworded, Samuel got the information he had requested.
The lobbying payment dispute was the seed of contention that culminated in Delauter and Gardner publicly calling each other out in the email thread. The county did contribute to lobbying efforts, but the question of whether the county paid Greenwill Consulting Group, LLC directly went to a county staffer, who had no such record. The enquirer, Peter Samuel, publisher of The Frederick Hotel Boondoggle, reworded the question and received a copy of an electronic payment to The Frederick County Chamber of Commerce for Greenwell in the amount of $10,750.
When Samuel saw that the check wasn’t signed, he asked to see a signed copy. The county procured a copy from its bank and sent it to Samuel. In Friday’s email thread, Gardner addressed the subject in an email: “I hope intelligent people realize that literally thousands of checks go out every month and signatures on the checks are automatically applied just as they have been for decades. We do not review and hand sign every check.”
Shades of Things to Come?
We haven’t even gotten to the city election before 2018 rears its head, with shades of the 2014 race between Gardner and Blaine Young (R).
In this corner, Kirby “Govern Like a Taxpayer” Delauter, wearing a permanent black cloud over his head. And over here, Jan “Govern Like You Care” Gardner, wearing and seeing red.
That’s assuming Delauter a) runs, and b) wins. Del. Kathy Afzali (R-Dist.4), whose legislative skills mimic her stature, set her sights on the CE office. Literally, as in measuring-the-windows sights.
But with support from the Sen. Michael Hough (R-Dist. 4) money machine, Afzali could make the primary an expensive race. Young outraised Gardner 7 – 1, or something like that. Young's supporters may be more likely to get behind Delauter than Afzali.
But, back to the city election. Yawn.
