A View From The West: Incomptence On Both Shores

First, allow me to thank you all for the welcome to this forum. It's only natural based on the partnership I have had with Joe over the past year that I would contribute to Salisbury News. Whether my credibility will be shot...that's up in the air, especially since blogs are completely disrespected in some aspects...however, that is a conversation to be had on a different day.

I am writing to you Salisbury with good cheer, believe it or not. Take heart, my friends. You are not the only jurisdiction with incompetence in the executive branch of government. I live in Prince George’s County, the richest black suburban jurisdiction in the country. I am proud of that fact. I am not proud of the fact that our county executive is…”special.”

If you had heard my latest podcast, you would have heard Johnson on WTOP Radio in Washington, DC said that rape is not a crime. Somehow, he got re-elected in 2006. Lately, he has been getting closer to a deal in bringing in new management of our hospital system. Actually, he has been getting closer to a deal since last year.

But that as they say are for starters. Let’s do a little something you probably learned in elementary school called “Compare and Contrast.” Believe it or not, Johnson has some things in common with Salisbury Mayor Barrie Tilghman.

Let’s start with elections. This time last year, Tilghman held a candidates forum with three of the six candidates running for City Council last year…or should I say the three that she wanted to win…at the time. Remember, Louise Smith was not part of the new dream team until recently.

In 2006, Johnson avoided debating his challenger for the County Executive chair, Rushern Baker. Because the two did not debate, Johnson was able to win, all but barely.

Both areas have a problem with a particular crime. In Salisbury, it was graffiti. In Prince George’s County it’s triple digit homicides. Yes, that is a problem and it looks bad. Prince George’s County is right next to DC, where the homicide rate is actually lower. When compared with Baltimore City and Baltimore County, the city was close to cracking 300 homicides last year. The county, which literally hugs the city, is no way near triple digits.

Both officials have a tendency to avoid the media, especially if it’s critical. Johnson, in his blaze of glory, avoided questions in regards to an incident involving county police injuring a reporter. I have remarked that I heard from the county spokesman so much, I thought our County Executive’s name was John Erzen.

Finally, both mayor and county executive, despite being on opposites sides of the bay, have the tendency to show incompetence. I have already told you the situation in regards to our hospital. That’s right up there with the misplacement of $10 million that happened under Tilghman’s watch.

I’m lucky…and I am putting that VERY loosely. You guys will have a mayoral election next year. Please do not make the same mistake that 52 percent of Prince George’s County residents made by re-electing the incumbent. Tilghman has shown her disdain for people who are trying to keep a check in balance. The audit was late for two years in a row. It should be noted that this audit contained a management letter that criticized the city accountants for not doing even the basic of accounting rules.

The police chief and Tilghman herself are suing a resident of Delaware over a free speech issue that they don’t even have a case for. I would love to see them try to do that in the Washington, or even Baltimore media market.

I am not about the personal attacks, but I am about calling it as I see it, a mismanagement of the city that needs to be rectified quickly. If Tilghman is not as incompetent as evidence shows, she would at least have some dignity and clean up some of her mess before she is either voted out in 2009 or declines to run for another term.

If she does however run in 2009, I would suggest city voters NOT re-elect her to another four years. There is a saying that goes “people deserve the government that they elect.” I am sure that no one in the Crossroads feels they deserve another four years of mismanagement.

P. Kenneth Burns is the editor/writer of Maryland Politics Today and is a contributor to Red Maryland and Salisbury News. He Lives in Laurel, Maryland. His email address is kennyburns@marylandpolitics.us.