Published Letters from Baltimore County Members
September 2005
Caught off guard by reaction to afternoon on preparedness
Date: September 22, 2005
Publication: The Arbutus Times
Author: Sheila Faulstich, Secretary, Patapsco Valley Republican Club
With all the events transpiring in the Gulf Coast area, I think that we should have been able to host the Domestic Preparedness Day Sept 10. It should have not mattered who hosted the event, as long as the information was presented.
In fact, the information is clearly needed - no matter what type of emergency. We seen from Hurrican Katrina the need for preparedness training for residents. We even asked our elected officials to attend. Instead, we had complaints from some community members objecting to the group sponsoring the event, so the police stayed away. The officer who would have made the presentation contacted these additional participating agencies himself.
I cannot fault the police department. They were to present the information. It is not their fault that the big issues are not going to be addressed due to a few petty people. I think that we have let ourselves down. We are lucky enough to have this Department of Homeland Security trained officer in our precinct, as well as time for him to "train us" on a Saturday afternoon. The only thing the Patapsco Valley Republican Club did was to make the arrangements for the space and help spread the word. It is a shame that this information had to be postponed.
Clearly, this is not a time to be partisan. Even the Maryland Democratic Party and the Maryland Republican Party teamed up to assist with the relief efforts the same weekend.
Cut-rate land deals show little integrity
Date: September 19, 2005
Publication: The Baltimore Sun
Author: Sheila Faulstich, Baltimore
The City Council's judiciary and legislative investigation committee should look into the improper sale of city properties for amounts well below their appraised value ("Council panel decries sale of lots below appraisals," Sept. 13).
Mayor Martin O'Malley and his buddies on the Baltimore Development Corp. are thumbing their noses at the residents of the city while handing out plum deals to developers. This illustrates the mayor's lack of respect for his duties and for the people who reside in Baltimore.
Such deals are the worst kind of big city politics - and come at the expense of the city's integrity and its people.
Party Line (R) Smith lacks substance, avoids tough decisions
Date: September 14, 2005
Publication: The Jeffersonian
Author: Chris Cavey
Remember paper maché? In grade school, we all learned to make sculptures out of balloons and plaster of Paris. When the sculptures hardened, we painted them beautifully - but the insides remained hollow.
Today we have the "maché" county executive, Jim Smith, so pretty in his press releases and photographs, but flimsy and hollow on policy and accomplishments.
You have to give credit to Smith. No county executive, not even the infamous Dennis Rasmussen, was so good at hogging the cameras, sending out press releases and traveling the county with his taxpayer-funded entourage.
Look more closely, though, and you find a county administration that is stunningly shallow.
After a rocky start, the county executive has essentially ceded any legislative agenda to the County Council. Developers and civic leaders alike mock his one major initiative, a pilot community-revitalization program.
Smith claims credit for a "renaissance" in eastern Baltimore County, but the renaissance is driven by the construction of White Marsh Boulevard, a project largely funded by Gov. Ehrlich.
And what is Smith ignoring as he roams the county, looking for the closest available camera?
Children go back to school in portable classrooms, because this county executive opposes a new high school for the northeast area - and has the nerve to attack the state for not providing enough school-construction funding.
Throughout the county, developers lay waste to the last pockets of green space. Traffic congestion worsens. Smith smiles as if all is well.
Of course, the community leaders who know about these problems have little chance to complain. In a recent article ("Smith's roundtable prompts objections," The Jeffersonian, Aug. 25) it was even reported that Smith's "community roundtables" are scripted and tightly controlled to exclude any negative comments from the participants.
I think this county executive made a decision, right after his rocky start in 2003, to smile pretty for the cameras and try to coast to re-election.
Indeed, he seemed to get most emotional when using a natural disaster - tropical storm Isabel - to attack a possible future opponent.
Say what you will about Jim Smith's predecessor, Dutch Ruppersberger. Dutch might have been dead wrong in trying to condemn private property in Essex, and dead wrong in building a new jail in Towson. But at least he had the guts to make decisions, even those that could cost him politically.
This county executive, the paper-mache politician, would not know a tough decision if it bit him on the nose ... or somewhere else.
Emergency Preparedness
Date: September 15, 2005
Publication: The Catonville Times
Author: Paul Bunting
I was somewhat dismayed to learn that the Emergency Preparedness event that was scheduled to be held was cancelled due to the actions of several narrow-minded individuals. It seems they were upset over the fact that the Patapsco Valley Republican Club was sponsoring the event. Should it really matter?
In these times we live in, we have seen what not being prepared can cause. Just as in the south where people are trying to bring politics into the disaster as they play the blame game, partisanship should not be part of the problem when something is available that could benefit the community as a whole. It is this type of selfish narrow-minded thinking that keeps divides growing and alive. Instead of complaining, the opportunity that was presented to the community should have been accepted and welcomed by everyone, no matter what their political affiliations.
I hope for the benefit of the community that the event is rescheduled. Having this type of information available would be beneficial to everyone, even those that choose politics over people. Those individuals out there with a closed mind need to broaden their views and concerns and remember it should be people first, not politics.
Thank you.
Democrats' attacks on Katrina response are lame
Date: September 8, 2005
Publication: The Dundalk Eagle
Author: Tim Caldwell, Whiteway Road
The Democratic leadership in this country has once again risen to the occasion in the face of disaster. They realize that disaster is the only issue that works for their party. To hear them whine about the lack of federal relief and why someone else did not do something for them is sickening. But that's all they got.
The primary responsibility for the disaster and lack of preparation and response lies with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco - both Democrats - and their respective local government representatives.
The fact that needs to be repeated and remembered is that in our country, the local and state governments have total responsibility in responding to local disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, created in 1979, was formed to coordinate federal response to disasters to assist local and state governments.
If my memory serves me, the state of Florida was hit by four major hurricanes last year. Gov. Jeb Bush did an outstanding job of leading the response and relief effort at every occasion. Nothing even remotely like we saw in New Orleans occurred there.
Local and state governments always are the primary responders. Under our federal system, first responders such as police, fire and medical answer directly to local authorities. They are not under federal control and do not have to respond to federal orders.
One main point to be made in the case of New Orleans is that every state in the union has a National Guard. State National Guards answer to the governor, not the president. This is what National Guard units are for, fast response to disasters. Gov. Blanco waited for Washington when she should have been acting. To hear the media report it, all the local government could do is sit and wait for Washington. There's your leadership, folks.
What's even more amazing with this crew of "leaders" in Louisiana is that the city of New Orleans prepared its own Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. The simple existence of this plan shows that New Orleans knew the evacuation of civilians was the primary job of the city, not Washington, D.C.
The governor of any state has the authority to mandate evacuation of all or part of any area in the face of impending disaster. Any idiot watching CNN four days prior to landfall could see this was a major hurricane, capable of immense destruction. Yet Gov. Blanco saw fit to leave thousands of the poorest residents to fend for themselves in the poorest sections of New Orleans.
Thousands are now dead. The only respectable thing for these failed leaders to do is resign and admit to the mistakes that they made. But, no, instead they will cling to the Democratic Party mantra of bigger, more expensive and ultimately less effective government. What a waste.