You Can Bring A Horse To Water But You Can't Make Him Drink

There's been much discussion around Salisbury about the final results of the Mayoral Election. Many people are saying the election was rigged or altered. 

Look, let's just face facts. Only 20% of the registered voters voted. Americans are becoming less and less interested in elections partly because they aren't satisfied with the candidates, some are simply too busy, but most simply couldn't care less any more. Even more importantly, Salisbury over the years has historically had a lower than average voter turn out in the state of Maryland.

The majority of voters elected a Mayor who wants to raise your taxes by $19,000,000.00 a year to clean the river, build 500 affordable or subsidized housing units Downtown as well as a Lock Out Ordinance that allows the Mayor or Chief of Police to close you down after two calls. 

Many find it extremely hard to believe that the majority of voters wanted their taxes raised and so forth and so on. Yet what the majority of registered voters didn't do is get out there and VOTE. 

I've made a few statements since I started running for Mayor. One was, "This is not Joe Albero's election to lose, it's the citizens' election to lose". I also stated, "This is not the Super Bowl for Joe Albero". 

Life most certainly goes on but unlike most of you who live in Salisbury, I at least have a choice of moving and getting out of a City that seems to want to control your every move and take every penny you have left in fees or taxes. 

I have no anger. I simply have a choice. Yes, you have a choice too but like most find out very quickly, your homes aren't worth what you owe or it simply kills you inside knowing you can't get half of what your property should be worth. 

I laid out a platform that would start us in the right direction. It wouldn't be an instant turn around but now you have 2.7 years of what I feel could be the most devastating legislators this City has ever experienced. It all depends on Jake Day from this point forward. If Jake is as honorable as he comes off, maybe, just maybe there will be hope. However, he's a young man who clearly wants to be wanted. 

If the new City Council becomes a rubber stamp for Mayor Ireton, combined with Governor O'Malley, Salisbury is doomed. Remember Ladies & Gentlemen, this is just my opinion and I seriously pray that I am completely wrong. I got into the race because I care. There are some out there that are laughing and or attacking me because I lost by such a large number. Did I lose or did you lose?

Tuesday Mayor Ireton came out with a feel good introduction to his economic development plan. Here's the problem, (as I see it) with his plan. It only talks about DOWNTOWN. As many of my critics stated to me while I was running, why are you only talking about Downtown, Salisbury is much bigger than Downtown. Then ALL of them became silent once I introduced my economic development plan as it included the entire City. 

I welcome any one of you to come back with comments on this Post telling me ONE single item in which you firmly disagreed with ANYTHING on my platform or plan. 

Jim Ireton cannot reach out to other communities and businesses on the western shore and encourage them to relocate to Salisbury. First of all, he doesn't have the time as a part time Mayor. Secondly, I instantly knew his press conference yesterday would only focus on Downtown and nowhere else. It all sounds good but when you've been in business as long as I have, you know a good marketing person when you see one and the only thing Jim Ireton is good at is fluff pieces, hence his life long career working for the government and not the private sector. He'd never survive where he'd be held accountable. Nor can he talk the business language necessary to convince owners to relocate here to Salisbury.

Once the election results came in Mr. Ireton instantly went on the attack. He attacked Debbie Campbell and then Tim Spies and Terry Cohen. How incredibly disappointing it was that even in victory Jim Ireton couldn't demonstrate that he's a gracious leader. Just the opposite, his statement reflected a total lack of class.

Debbie Campbell has been a personal friend of Jim Ireton since he was a child. Debbie, Tim and Terry helped get Jim elected the first time around. As a mature adult you can agree to disagree but when Mr. Ireton started going off about Jake Day winning and finally getting a Council that he wanted to move Salisbury, (or shall I say Jim Ireton) forward and that Tim and Terry should be on notice, I lost all respect for the man at that point. 

When the numbers came in I was very professional. I expressed my congratulations to ALL Candidates and I called Debbie Campbell a hero to this community. Many of you seem to conveniently forget how difficult a time Debbie had once elected. It was constantly 4 to 1 votes, Debbie putting her reputation on the line as the watch dog of Salisbury. We watched the Waste Water Treatment Plant suck $84,000,000.00 out of taxpayers pockets and it didn't work. We watched developer reimbursements in the tens of millions of dollars, we watched TIF money being thrown around like candy at a parade.  The Fire Boat, the pipe stem annexation at Sassafras Meadows, the list goes on and on. Debbie Campbell stood firm in her beliefs and at that time I personally watched Jim Ireton stand at the podium and express his disbelief that Barrie Tilghman and the City Council continued to ramrod Debbie Campbell. 

Then came Terry Cohen and the votes were then 3 to 2 for two years until Tim Spies was elected. Agree or disagree, no one will ever tell me that those three didn't truly have the City taxpayers in mind on every single decision they made. While Debbie was finding millions of dollars in savings on each budget, the Daily Times started a campaign against her 8 years ago and never let up. When Debbie won a position as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women, they purposely ignored her. When she was accepted to Harvard, they ignored her. 

Debbie Campbell is one hell of an impressive woman and even more so as a Councilperson. What Jim Ireton did to her is disgusting, uncalled for and flat out immature. Jim's statements the night after the results came in told me instantly, I need to keep Salisbury News going. It would simply be too big a gift to walk away and Jim Ireton having a rubber stamp media to play with just as he did yesterday. Did you see any of the media say, WHAT ABOUT JOBS, WHAT ABOUT INDUSTRY, NO. 

Because I care, I'm sticking around. However, to those who laughed at me for running and or the final results, remember Ladies & Gentlemen, not ONE other person stepped up to the plate to challenge Jim Ireton. Laugh all you want, running for Office takes incredible dedication. Moving from your home to live in Downtown Salisbury more than a year before the election was a huge challenge. Try knocking on 7,000 doors, waving signs, running a news outlet that never stopped and comments continually flowing without interruption. Each day started at 5 AM and didn't end until at least 11 PM. 

The Albero Campaign worked extremely hard and we are very proud to have given it our all. Unfortunately for Mr. Ireton, now that I no longer have to spend so much time campaigning and I've trained myself to work that much harder each day, dedicating time to follow local news now could come back and bite him where the sun doesn't shine. Then again, IF Mr. Ireton does truly start seeing the light, believe me, I'll be more than happy to publish all of the great things it took him 4 years to realize Salisbury needed in the first place. 

All that being said, THANK YOU. Thank You for each and every one of you for opening your doors and listening to my platform. After knocking on more than 7,000 doors I only ran into two people that were just plain rude. Not a bad average. Funny, I never had a door slammed in my face and I was never threatened by a single one of the nay sayers that claimed they were going to kick my butt if I knocked on their door. 

I'd also like to thank the business community. The day before the election I chose to go down Rt. 13 and ask the business owners if they'd allow me the opportunity to put up my signs. If they had dirt, my signs went up and each and every one of those business owners encouraged my doing so. There had to be 100 signs up in one day alone.

Now let's see if it was your election to lose. Good Luck Mr. Ireton.

In closing, give me a few more days to relax and make plans because  Salisbury News is about to go local once again.