An Anonymous Commenter Questioned Andy Harris

If environment and the Chesapeake Bay is anywhere on a voter's priority list, they won't vote for Harris. He has an openly hostile record towards efforts to protect the Bay and supported efforts to develop the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge.

In fact, he has even received hundreds in campaign contributions from the developer, Duane Zentgraf.

Andy Harris has a long record of taking a common sense approach to improving the environment. He has opposed open bay dumping of dredge spoils, opposed a landfill near unicorn lake, and has repeatedly voted to protect endangered species just to name a few examples of Andy's environmental record.

The Blackwater issue was not about the environment, it was about local control and changing the rules retroactively. Local decisions should be made at the local level. Local elected officials are elected to deal with zoning issues as well as numerous other things.

The local elected officials approved the development near Blackwater. A State Senator not from the area wanted to overrule the decisions those local officials made because he did not like the local officials decision.

Not only did the Democrats want to overrule local control, but they also wanted to change the rules after the fact. That is patently unfair. If an individual abides by all of the rules, they should not be changed after the fact.

Two questions were presented to legislators in Annapolis when considering the bill were not whether they liked the development or opposed it, they were:

1) Should politicians who are not elected by the local citizens whom the development will have a direct impact on impose their will on the local residents?

2) Should the state change the rules retroactively on someone who has already followed all of the current rules?

Andy believes philosophically that the best decisions are made at the local level where the politicians are the most accountable. Andy also believes it is unfair to retroactively change the rules.