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Is Sheriff John Anderson the key to solving the Frank Conaway lump sum mystery?

Posted by ameister on Thursday, January 19th, 2012

In the summer of 2011 there was some media coverage of Frank Conaway’s lump sum campaign finance issue. Clerk Conaway’s campaign finance reports were filled with anonymous “lump sum” contributions.

In this Baltimore Sun article from May 14, 2011 Frank Conaway Sr. is quoted and talked about:

“Conaway, the city’s Circuit Court clerk, reported a lump sum contribution of $13,785 on May 21, 2008. He noted receiving the same amount precisely one year later. Additionally, nearly all of the contributions received by The Four Bears political slate he shares with his wife and two children are marked as lump sums.

When asked about the reports, Conaway said he had no idea what a lump sum is. He said he is an almost entirely self-financed candidate and surmised that the lump sums are actually personal loans he extended to himself. Loans are required to be noted as such in campaign finance reports.

“It’s an error, you can count on that,” Conaway said. He said his campaign would contact the State Board of Elections about correcting the record.”

It is 2012 and the “error” has not been corrected. Lump sum contributions still litter Frank Conaway’s campaign finance reports which you can view here.

I decided to take a look at Sheriff John Anderson’s campaign finance reports.  I wanted to see how much money his campaign gave to other campaigns. This is what I found:

Candidates Account Payee Name(Address) Amount Date Received Expenditure Type
Anderson, John Friends Of ED REISINGER
(BALTIMORE, MD, 21202)		 $100.00 07/25/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Anderson, John Friends Of FRANK CONAWAY
(BALTIMORE, MD, 21203)		 $600.00 07/25/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Remarks: FRIENDS OF FRANK CONAWAY
Anderson, John Friends Of SHARON BARNES
(BALTIMORE, MD, 21202)		 $300.00 06/24/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Remarks: COMMITTEE TO ELECT SHARON BARNES
Anderson, John Friends Of Friends of Pete Hammen
(No address reported)		 $125.00 06/24/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Anderson, John Friends Of FRIENDS OF MARY PAT CLARK
(BALTIMORE, MD, 21218)		 $100.00 06/09/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Anderson, John Friends Of FRIENDS OF SHARON GREE MIDDLETON
(No address reported)		 $200.00 02/03/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)

Sheriff John Anderson’s campaign says it gave $600 to Frank Conaway’s campaign. There is no mention of this contribution on any of Frank Conaway’s campaign finance reports. I decided to do a “Search by Contributor” to double check my findings:

Donor Amount Recipient Date Received
Friends of John W. Anderson $200 Middleton, Sharon Green Friends Of 02/11/2011
Friends of John W. Anderson $300 Barnes, Scherod Committee To Elect 07/19/2011
The Friends of John W Anderson $100 Reisinger, Edward L. Friends Of 08/08/2011
The Friends of John W. Anderson $125 Hammen, Peter A. Friends Of 07/08/2011
The Friends of John W. Anderson $100 Clarke, Mary Pat Friends Of 06/30/2011

All of the campaigns that received money from Sheriff John Anderson reported the contributions except Frank Conaway’s campaign.

Why didn’t the Conaway campaign report this $600 contribution? Did the campaign consider this a lump sum contribution? Conway told the Sun that “the lump sums are actually personal loans he extended to himself”.

After all the Frank Conaway Sr. controversies how can he still be allowed to be part of The Baltimore Criminal Justice Coordinating Council?

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Baltimore and Maryland can trim energy costs by not allowing government vehicles to idle while overreacting to protests

Posted by ameister on Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Yesterday at 6PM I ran back to the Occupy Baltimore protest site in East Baltimore on Madison street.  There were about twenty-five protesters there.  The majority of protesters were female and over 90% of them were white. I would say 75% of them were under 30 years old.  The government felt that in order to control these protesters they needed five police cars, five state trooper cars, one blocked off street, and one large Maryland State Police incident command unit. You can view some photos I took at the protest here, here, and here.  Numerous vehicles were idling including the State Police incident command unit. I can only imagine how much money was being wasted on gasoline alone, not to mention overtime pay and vehicle wear and tear.

Those of us familiar with Baltimore are quite used to seeing government employees sitting in their idling government owned vehicles. Today the Baltimore Business Journal published an article about an outside company that has been hired by Baltimore to help cut power costs!  I have a much simpler and cheaper solution: Any city employee caught on or off the job with an idling car not in traffic will be fired. That should cut fuel costs dramatically.

This photo shows that an organization associated with greed and a poor customer service owns a lot right near the jails. What a lovely neighborhood!

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Five state trooper cars are just sitting on the empty Madison street lot- This is why we have budget shortfalls

Posted by ameister on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Our governor proposes a 7% sales tax while people like me yell and scream about cutting back on government waste. Today I ran by the empty lot where the proposed juvenile jail is supposed to be built and as of 3:30PM  there were five state trooper cars in the empty lot and one large RV/tactical emergency unit next to it.  This is a complete waste of money and manpower by the state.  Why spend this much money to fight freedom of speech? Channel 13 is already there so this is probably going to get very interesting. The protest will continue at 6PM tonight.

As I said in my other article on this subject, Maryland State police are rarely seen in Baltimore City. People like me have been calling for them to help out for at least five years, but the powers that be tell us that city cops and state police have some sort of childish turf battle going on that prevents troopers from helping the undermanned street cops.   When it comes to fighting freedom of speech and spending who knows how much of our tax dollars to guard an empty lot in the middle of the afternoon, the state police somehow find a way to show up forcefully in Baltimore.

The people who do not believe in this cause should be angry that the state wastes this much energy and money fighting freedom of speech and protests. The state could very well crack down on your future protest like they did for this one and that is why you should be angry.

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Occupy Baltimore exposes police inefficiencies

Posted by ameister on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

You don’t have to be a fan of what Occupy Baltimore was protesting to see that members of Baltimore’s bureaucracy can easily be made to look like overreacting fools.  Yesterday’s Occupy Baltimore protest that was broken up by state troopers and police in riot gear is just another example of the paranoid and ignorant paper tiger that governs us. One can only wonder what would happen if protesters finally got really specific and targeted one corrupt leader at a time.

The Sun covers the story here and the the Baltimore Brew has an excellent recap of events here. Below this post is a video from the scene.  Here is one hilarious quote from the Sun article:

“State police spokesman Greg Shipley said the six individuals were told they were entering private property, which is owned by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.”

How can property that is owned by the state of Maryland be private?  We pay for the property, but we can not go on it?

I was shocked to see state troopers in the photos. For years I have been told that Maryland State Police are not allowed to “police” Baltimore. There is some bureaucratic battle between the city and state police forces that prevents troopers from helping out in Baltimore.  These people are supposed to protect and serve, but can not figure out a way to compromise and allow troopers to help maintain peace on the streets of Baltimore. Our city police leaders are always saying how they need more cops on the streets.  I have no idea what the state troopers involved in this action usually do, but if they just had their cars parked at some of the worst drug corners in Baltimore it would make a difference.  It is embarrassing and shameful to finally see Maryland State Police in Baltimore used for such a ridiculous purpose.  At least the police can no longer talk about how it is impossible to have State Troopers enter Baltimore.  We need leaders who will use this episode to allocate Maryland State Troopers to the streets of Baltimore for useful purposes. It appears our state leaders are more interested in ratifying a 100 year old constitutional amendment (to get their names into the paper) instead of dealing with current issues.

The Schools not Jails people say they were run off site this morning.

YouTube Preview Image

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Links to think about

Posted by ameister on Monday, January 16th, 2012

The legislative redistricting map has been altered by the governor. Here is the final draft of his legislative redistricting map.

Baltimore is not the only city to fall into the new convention center/hotel trap. Down in the Virginia Beach area they are getting duped into the battle for the shrinking convention pie. Make sure you read some of the reader comments about the use of taxpayer money on this proposed project.

Check out this pretty funny satirical piece that pokes fun at Baltimore politics.

These real life Baltimore Central Booking stories are scary!  Some cops are only trying to cover their own butts and do not give a darn about why people are really walking (or in some cases jogging) in certain neighborhoods so they jump to conclusions and make up their own stories. We should all be thankful that we do not end up in central booking because of such “mistakes”.

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Update on Belinda Conaway

Posted by ameister on Friday, January 13th, 2012

It appears that Belinda Conaway’s Twitter page is no more. It once was found here:  twitter.com/belindaconaway. Twitter is a good way to keep people updated about what you are doing. A public figure with political aspirations is not helping herself by limiting communication with a departure from Twitter.  Belinda is a young woman and one would think that she would try to run for office again, especially now that her father is not going to have an easy time in 2014 (he will be over 80 years old then also). A few people think Belinda will run for Frank’s current Clerk of the Courts position in 2014. Speaking of Frank, I still do not get how he can spend two hours every Friday on the radio at a studio in the county when he is paid close to $100,000 a year to be clerk of the court by the tax payers.   I also do not understand how he can be home at 10:30AM on a Monday morning. Check out the comments section below this post of mine and read some of the interesting comments that Frank Conaway supporters have left. It appears one guy is pretty paranoid about Jewish people.

A few of you might remember how Belinda Conaway was involved in a residency controversy back in 2011.  I checked out the public records on the Baltimore County Government site and I noticed that Belinda and her husband have now fully paid their homestead property tax credited 2012 property tax bill on their Randallstown house. I took two screen shots that you view here and here.

The Maryland SDAT site lists the following important  property tax condition:
“A further condition is that the dwelling must be the owner’s principal residence and the owner must have lived in it for at least six months of the year, including July 1 of the year for which the credit is applicable, unless the owner was temporarily unable to do so by reason of illness or need of special care.  An owner can receive a credit only on one property—the principal residence.”

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I predicted the 7% sales tax three years ago

Posted by ameister on Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Our governor brought up the possibility of a 7% sales tax in Maryland. The Sun covers the story here and the Washington Post covers it here. Most of the comments left under those are articles are not in favor of the increase. Many people seemed shocked. I wonder if these are some of the same people who in 2008 criticized me for bringing up the possibility of a sales tax increase to pay for our out of control spending (check out some of the comments left under that article)?

Three years ago in this article I warned all of you that a 7% sales tax was very possible in the future. It appears we are getting very close to the future. There are two paths we can take, we can either cut spending and have state workers, people dependent on the state, and state pensioners “suffer” or we can continue to spend and waste and the tax payers can keep paying for it with new fees and tax increases. No matter what, the longer we wait to address the real issues (government spending and waste)the bigger the crash will be when things finally do blow up in our faces.

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The power of incumbency- Pete Hammen’s holiday greetings

Posted by ameister on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

In honor of the Maryland General Assembly being back in session I decided to write an article about Delegate Pete Hammen of the 46th district of Baltimore City.

A reader informed me that around the holidays he received a letter from Delegate Hammen. There was no postage on the letter and it was placed directly into the reader’s mailbox by someone other than a USPS employee. There was no authority line on the letter so it was not an official campaign piece. You can decided if this is the kind of thing our leaders should be worrying about. If his campaign did not pay for this then who paid for it? Did the taxpayers pay for this blatant political promotion? Incumbency has its benefits:

“As a resident of District 46, I was shocked to receive an office-like envelope in my mailbox today. The front said “MERRY CHRISTMAS.” I opened the envelope, and inside was a certificate from Delegate Pete Hammen, recognizing my house for holiday decorations. Also inside, was a letter, printed on his Annapolis letter head, explaining the certificate.

Isn’t this considered subliminal campaigning? I also received a birthday card from him this past July..but I’ve never met him nor campaigned for him”

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Followups to two recent posts

Posted by ameister on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

In my post entitled A coalition focused on moving Baltimore elections to 2014 I said that the Baltimore Election Change Coalition (BECC) needed to do a better marketing job. It turns out that they did send out a press release. A woman from the ACLU forwarded me the informative press release today and you can read it below. It looks like they are reading this blog.

A few people thought my idea to cut every single city employee’s pay by 10% was harsh.  Why should someone making $50,000 a year suddenly make $45,000 a year. In reality if the city was run efficiently and our politicians were not in bed with the unions such a drastic move would not have to be made. Instead of having three people doing the work of one we would only have one person doing the work of one person. Pension/insurance reform should have happened a long time ago.  We did not take our medicine ten years ago so now it is going to hurt much more than it would have then. Even though this all seems harsh, it is better than what is happening in the private sector.  Some people with manufacturing jobs were fired and were out of work for long periods of time. After months to years of no job these people were hired at similar jobs for 75% or less of their former pay. They gladly took these jobs.

I strongly feel that the middle to upper managers in the city bureaucracy who have gamed the system and now earn over $80,000 a year should feel the pain (fired or major salary cut) before the custodian who actually works hard and does his low paying job efficiently.

I will leave you with this reader comment from a Washington Post article about the proposed Metro fare hike:

“Where’s the 5% drop in crazy pension entitlements then?
Seriously, publicize your P&L and let the taxpayers decide if you are running a transportation company or a customer-funded retirement scheme. FYI, there IS a problem when over one-third+++ of your costs are retiree entitlements!“

MEDIA ADVISORY

New Baltimore Coalition to Hold Press Conference Calling for Moving City Elections to Match Gubernatorial Cycle

ADVISORY FOR                                  CONTACT:

January 9, 2012                                 Millie Tyssowski, LWV, milliety@earthlink.net, 410-448-2650

BALTIMORE, MD – On Monday, January 9, a newly-formed group, the Baltimore Election Change Coalition (BECC), will hold a press conference to build support and discuss its goal of changing the year of city elections to coincide with the gubernatorial cycle. Members of the coalition include the League of Women Voters of Baltimore City, American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP, Citizens Planning and Housing Association, National Action Network of Greater Baltimore, Baltimore’s Safe and Sound Campaign, and Teaching Our Own Understanding and Responsibility.
In 2011, voter participation in the Baltimore City primary and general elections was at an all time low. Less than 12% of eligible voters participated in the primary; only 22% of registered voters voted. General election turnout was even worse. The BECC believes that having our City officials selected by so few voters with the expenditure of monies that the City needs in the current budget crisis calls for action now.
The BECC proposes that Baltimore City join all other major jurisdictions in the State and hold its elections at the same time as the gubernatorial election – beginning with the gubernatorial election of 2014. With more officials and issues on the ballot, more voters will turn out and democracy in Baltimore City will be strengthened. In addition, the City could potentially save several million dollars.
WHAT: Press conference to announce the Baltimore Election Change Coalition and discuss the benefits of changing the year of city elections to coincide with the gubernatorial cycle.
WHO: Representatives of the Coalition and Maryland General Assembly Legislators
WHEN: Monday, January 9, 2012 at 10 AM
WHERE: 417 E. Fayette St., Baltimore, MD

###

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Baltimore’s $52 million deficit: My ideas, the online tool to fix it, and the take-home cars that help fuel it

Posted by ameister on Monday, January 9th, 2012

Baltimore is going to have to find a way to fix its $52 million deficit. The city has created an interesting web page where you can decide what to cut or tax in order to fix the deficit. Check out the site here and play around with the deficit cutter tool.

It was pretty easy for me to cut the deficit  with the limited options the city provided. The bottom line is that the city payroll made up of current and former employees (pensions and insurance costs) is too high.  In most businesses you try to cut payroll and run things more efficiently when you are losing money. Baltimore city is not run efficiently. There are 14,559 city workers- one worker for every 43 residents!  Yakov Shafranovich just posted two incredible blog entries that pertain to this subject.

At this link Yakov shows how many city workers live outside of the city and the state and which departments house the most out of city and state workers.

At this link Yakov discusses the illegal tax breaks, pensions, and take-home cars that helped plunge this city into the massive deficit it finds itself in. I feel that no city employee should have a take-home car (in 2009 at least 247 city employees had take-home vehicles) and if any elected official is receiving an illegal tax break that he or she should resign and return all the money he or she owes to the city.  The sweet deal that city retirees currently get in terms of pensions and insurance needs to be more in line with the real world. Every single city employee should take a 10% pay cut and if they think that is wrong then they can try and get a job in the private sector in this economy.

We all see the city employees who do nothing or next to nothing all day and still have attitudes.  This culture of complacency and inefficiency needs to change now.  The tax payers of Baltimore are funding this disgrace and the only way things are going to change is if the money stops flowing and city workers are actually forced to earn their incomes like people do in the private sector.

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