Tuesday, March 17, 2009

23 out of 26

While Marc Norman wraps himself in the US Constitution and proselytizes about the threats to our rights as citizens to petition the government he neglects to come clean about the tactics his group used to secure signatures for his petition for a referendum on CB58.

Allow me to share some things that most people are unaware of. 23 out of 26 petitions submitted to the Howard County Board of Elections in the first phase of the petition gathering were submitted by union employees, not union members. All these employees signed an affidavit that they were not paid for this. I find that very hard to believe, but we’ll leave that alone for a minute. At least one of these union employee petition gatherers identified themselves as being members of the Howard County Citizens Association.

Only three of the 26 petition gatherers, Marc Norman, Angela Beltram, and Amy Polefrone were from Howard County. Together these three people collected only about 10% of the total number of signatures submitted.

The union is not concerned with traffic or big box stores or the health of the existing supermarkets around Turf Valley. Before they got on board with Marc Norman and his statistically insignificant Howard County Citizens for Open Government, they approached Brian Gibbons, the developer of the proposed shopping center and offered him a deal. If Harris Teeter agreed to go union, the union would support the development. When Harris Teeter declined the union hooked up with Marc Norman.

I seriously doubt if anyone who signed the petition was aware of this.

This petition has a stench so bad it can be smelled from here to Annapolis.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the only stench is this blog: smells like Talkin's mouthpiece.

If you have to get to point B from point A, who cares who it is that helps you get there as long as it is legal and until you can prove that they were paid for their work, your argument holds no water. The union has their motives. Marc Norman has his motives. You even have a motive behind your ALWAYS pro-Talkin slant on this blog. So start looking at the impact of the County's approval and then disapproval to our processes and take your head out of Talkin's butt.

Anonymous said...

The real stench in Howard County is the stench of corruption eminating from the CE's office and several other local politicians who think they're above the law.

Your credibility level is tanking worse than the Stock Market.

Dennis, you've turned into a lieutenant of smear in the politically corrupt machine that is running roughshod over the County.

You do this time and again to Bobo as well. You resort to petty attacks any time someone is on the other side of an issue from you.

Anonymous said...

I forgot something.
If you (Dennis) don't believe in frivolous petitions and appeals and lawsuits, then maybe you'd be interested to see how many appeals currently pending in Howard County (Board of Appeals) were filed by Dick Talkin and Sang Oh. They file a separate appeal for each single review comment from DPZ that they disagree with.

Talk about abusing the system and trying to overload the County staff. It's done in the hopes of getting the County to retract the comments. It's too bad that the County can't charge these ridiculous attorneys for the County staff time and resources that are wasted by their frivolous and abusive tactics.

Anonymous said...

great stuff! wordbones is the man!

Anonymous said...

Actually, several developer attorneys work for the county and collect taxpayer money as well.

And if WB would like to talk about out of towners staking a claim in Howard, let's talk about out of town campaign contributions.

Anonymous said...

Good point. How much of Napolean Ulman's campaign money came from outside of Howard County? How many people broke campaign laws by given under multiple names or corporate entities?

Or, we can go back to my as yet unanswered question posed to Dennis about whether he owns GGP stock, and whether Ulman or any other Planning Board members own GGP stock? I think anyone testifying in support of the Town center rezoning application should have to disclose if the own GGP stock, and if so, how much.

Anonymous said...

Buy that man a green beer.

PZ is the man!

wordbones said...

Please don't give him any alcohol!
-wb

Anonymous said...

Dennis.... As usual, you're mixing separate topics to confuse the facts and suck up to Dick (Talkin).

Every Howard County citizen has suffered because the Board of Elections decided that even though they can verify the signature and intent of Dennis J. Lane on a petition, they're going to throw it out because he printed his name as Dennis Lane.

This is an issue that cuts across all political ideologies. Just think how difficult it will be to collect enough VALID signatures on the Chamber of Commerce's petition to raise the number of signatures necessary for referendum.

The Board's retroactive decision to rescind their certification is appalling. While you oppose their opinion, the will of 9,300 County citizens should be respected and validated by our government.

Then Messrs. Talkin, Oh and Gibbons can present their case to challenge the petitions.

Anonymous said...

Why do you feel that union employees have less standing than business people, local residents or corporations? Your use of "code" words to foster class discrimination is deplorable.

Grow a pair and stand up for the right of all citizens to challenge their government through referenda. No matter who circulated the petitions, only registered voters in Howard County can sign them and cast their vote on election day.

Anonymous said...

Real simple question.... do you support the Constitution and the right of EVERY American (black, white, brown, catholic, jew, mormon, muslim, republican, democrat, communist, gay, straight, tall, short, rich, poor, union or management) to be afforded ALL protections contained therein? If your answer is yes, why do you engage in cheap shots against citizens who choose to exercise those Constitutional rights?

Take a long look in the mirror and reflect upon the Constitutional protections that allow you to write your blog without the government breaking down your door.... unless of course, the County SWAT team is outside.

Anonymous said...

Bob- get real. Union members are only participating in this referendum to protect themselves and their employers from having to compete with a non-union grocer. That is not how land use decisions should be made.

Anonymous said...

FM,

Why would unions having an impact be worse that out of towners providing campaign money that has an impact on election results?

Anonymous said...

Freemarket,
I totally agree with you.

Anonymous said...

I never said, nor implied, that any one special interest group that tries to curry favor with politicians is better or worse than any other.

Anonymous said...

Freemarket - although I understand the point you made, it is essentially irrelevant to the overriding question about the referendum process. There is nothing in the law that says that union members can't be involved in gathering the signatures. So it should not even be part of the discussion. Dennis brought it up to distract from the main issue, which is the changing of the rules.

As I've said before, I don't personally agree with the referendum effort, I don't oppose the store, but Marc Norman et al have the right to puruse legal recourse if they want to. Let their case have its day in court.

Anonymous said...

WB

Give em hell

Just remember some of the comments are coming from the disgruntled with axes to grind.

HH

Anonymous said...

And the other side has a thinly veiled personal agenda.

Anonymous said...

I'm curious, what thinly veiled agenda?
We would all like to know.
HH

Anonymous said...

HH - you'd know if you just opened your eyes. Since you don't, it seems obvious you don't want to see it.

What's really goofy is why WB is so worried about this issue going to referendum? If it's just a local group with an axe to grind, then the rest of the County will shoot it down.

Why is WB so opposed to someone or some group exercising their civil rights to take an issue to referendum? Why does he think it's ok for that right to be taken away due to some technicality?

Why do you agree with him?

Anonymous said...

pzguru

what in the world are you talking about? You are obviously so obsessed with your own bad taste from your Howard County experience that you miss the point. The laws and procedural system we have in place are there for several reasons. Why should the county make zoning decisions on our behalf and allow a disgruntled citizen or gourp of citizens to hamstring the legal development of land? Our elected and appointed officials are there for a reason. We have delegated them to make our zoning decisions on our behalf. I may not agree with every decision.
So what!
Why should I cost my county thousands or millions in government or legal costs to defend the decisions of our elected or appointed officials?
Sounds irresponsible and stupid to me. I want to reduce my taxes, not increase them because of gadflies and paid union employees.
HH

Anonymous said...

HH represents the worst of the Republican party. PZ represents the best hope.

HH will never understand someone who disagrees with a position but defends the Constitutional and Democratic right to advance the postion. HH only knows his personal cravings, can't think beyond or expand into higher thought - so obviously stunted.

HH is a local Chamber of Commerce R - he wants little government until they can help him (these ideals include buying campaigns for favors from those elected with money written off as a business expense).

PZ represents Rs who want little government to save taxpayer money, and represents local government service to everyone equally.