Thompson, Gardner question new builders group

Thursday, May 4, 2006

A new group formed by leaders of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce and the Frederick County Builders Association is drawing scrutiny from two county commissioners.

Commission President John ‘‘Lennie” Thompson Jr. (R) and Commissioner Jan H. Gardner (D) are questioning the motives of the Alliance for Frederick County. They believe the group formed solely to influence and support pro-growth candidates in this fall’s county and state elections.

‘‘It appears that they are interested in influencing the next election,” Gardner said. ‘‘It’s hard to understand how they are going to do this through education ... I have concerns that the county election is going to be full of rhetoric and propaganda.”

Donald R. Schilling, chairman of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, maintains that the Alliance for Frederick County will not endorse any candidates in this year’s election. Schilling said the group will focus on affordable housing and adequate-paying jobs so residents can live and work in the county.

‘‘These are major issues that affect all of us,” he said. ‘‘Many homebuilders are chamber members and we want to sit at a table together and present level opinions on housing and economics.”

If the alliance does decide to endorse candidates and spends money on campaign advertising, it must first register with the Maryland Board of Elections as a Political Action Committee.

Gardner is skeptical of the group’s intentions, she said, because of an e-mail inviting chamber members and homebuilders to the first official meeting of the alliance on April 26. The e-mail makes reference to this year’s elections and the need for business-friendly candidates to run.

The e-mail, sent by Bryan Patchan, executive officer of the builders association, states: ‘‘...The decisions voters make this year will affect the bottom line of each and every business in the county — yours included. You can have a say in how those citizens decide, through the new alliance for Frederick County.”

Patchan’s e-mail also states that the alliance is open for business and their business is ‘‘educating Frederick County voters about the consequences of inept and irresponsible leadership.”

Schilling said he was unaware of the e-mail.

Thompson doesn’t buy it. ‘‘This is just the latest version of the bulldozing pave-over crowd that started with Defenders, that morphed into the True Republicans that morphed into the Citizens Against Code Home Rule and morphed into the Frederick County Business PAC. This is the latest version,” he said.

The now-defunct Defenders of Citizens Rights Inc., a local landowners group and political action committee, came out against Thompson and Gardner in the 2002 election.

True Republicans included members of Defenders and also worked against the re-election of Thompson. Citizens against Code Home Rule successfully fought against Thompson’s 2002 ballot initiative to change the county’s form of government from commissioner to Code Home Rule, which would give board members more legislative power.

The Frederick County Chamber of Commerce Business PAC is a new political action committee that endorsed candidates in the 2005 City of Frederick election. Thompson, who has often criticized the chamber during his two terms in office because many of its members come from the development community, for months questioned the actions of that committee.

Thompson was successful in getting the committee to add ‘‘Chamber of Commerce” to its name, which brought the group in compliance with Maryland campaign finance laws.

But Thompson was unsuccessful in getting his board colleagues to support a resolution to petition the Board of Elections to investigate and rule on whether the committee violated state election laws by supporting candidates in the city election. Thompson and Gardner, as private residents, have asked the Board of Elections to look into the committee.

Schilling is adamant the business PAC is not in any way related to the new alliance group.