WICOMICO COUNTY: The Cannon Coup

You voted for an Executive run government but John Cannon, Councilman at large and Council president, doesn't agree with you so he's attempting to reinstate Council government through abusing his legislative powers and bullying other Council Members into giving him power!

This comment came through on the Larry Dodd bust article last night and it raises some very interesting points.

"Please tell me how can retired employees get to create a personnel manual..especially when they did work for the county they did nothing with Human Resource Dept.or they were not the director of it either.. The Director of HR should be the one that is creating the manual... Laws have changed. And new policies need to be made for the issues that HR Dept.have come across other the years. The Council knows nothing about nor does the retirees... U have to have the Human Resource director help with creating this..And with this draft they have the retiree insurance coverage change and to make trust for the retirees prescriptions it's going to make the insurance for the current employee's insurance go up at least 20% or more.. Is County Council going to give what they do make being a Council member for insurance.. The insurance did not go up this year. If there is not a problem with it why change it. County Council nor Retirees do the hiring or firing nor do they deal with the day today issues that Human Resources does every day... Not to have the HR director creating or even helping with the new manual is crazy as hell to me. And if you really look at it they have stripped the Executive from doing his job or anything. He will not have any job duties at all because they have been reassigned to another in the Executive office. The County Council is a joke. Let Bob Culver do his job. Let him run this county for once. The good old boys have not let him do his job yet.. Get rid of the good old boys Bob..."

Reality is, this above comment is absolutely spot on!

It's no secret Cannon has been much like a gigantic bull in a china shop lately, bumping into all the china and sending it crashing to the ground. His last stunt with Steve Roser (Leslie Lewis-disgruntled ex-employee with an axe to grind) has definitely caused quite a few problems for the council as one of the victims has a lawyer poised to sue them for defamation. He has targeted employees and County Executive Bob Culver with a vengeance and now, it needs to be brought into the public forum because the voters are the ultimate judge on what is and isn't going to fly in our local government.

Joe Holloway (R)

Just why is it that Cannon and the Council trying to usurp you, the Wicomico County voters, when County Executive Culver has had many achievements during his first term? Is he making the Council look bad or is it just because Cannon is power-drunk and cajole his fellow council members on the council to go along with his program? He has a notorious reputation of lying to and bullying his fellow council members. Perhaps it's time the others started to man-up and tell Cannon to pack sand because he's taking them down a path they will pay politically as well.

Joe Holloway has largely turned against his longtime friend and now finds fault with everything Culver in spite of the many good things his work has brought to Wicomico residents. This leaves all of us to wonder, just whose side is Joe and other council members on? It's certainly not the voters' side; the people who voted them into their offices.

John Hall (R)

The only Council holdout is John Hall, who as of recent events since he called out Cannon on the budget sidestepping and failing to adhere to the County Charter, has been largely blackballed by his fellow councilmen. One example is the Wicomico GOP membership forum on Monday where Hall was not asked by Cannon to participate. There have been other incidents where the rest of the council have socially ousted Hall since his tiff with the Council president in June over failure to work with the Executive office on budget cuts.

The whole crux of the matter is this: Cannon puts his personality clashes with others and personal vendettas over what's good for our County and us. Can we afford to continue this farce of a government?

In short, Cannon is attempting a coup via legislation but it's up to us, the voters, to stop this madness and let Culver do his job for once!

Many County residents conferred about this situation in private discussions, have all back Culver and the Executive form of government they voted for. They also state that should Cannon (and other members of the County Council) continue to go recklessly down this wrong road, he (they) may find his (their) political days are over. Unfortunately for all elected officials, voters are now more informed and engaged, which spells disaster for government tricksters pulling fast ones on the public. We can thank Donald Trump for opening our eyes to the many swamps that surround us, Wicomico County's Council being one of them.

If Cannon were a smart man, he would best work with Culver instead of constantly micromanaging things he has no business managing at all in the first place!

This is a developing story so rest assured, there is much, much more to come...