In a letter dated April 20, Dels. Susan McComas, Rick Impallaria and Pat McDonough have formally requested that Dels. J.B. Jennings and Wayne Norman step down from their largely ceremonial positions as chair and vice-chair of the Harford County delegation to the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis.
In the letter, which is jointly signed by McComas and Impallaria – the former delegation chair and vice-chair – as well as McDonough, the trio accuses the Jennings/Norman failed leadership team of creating a hostile environment, leading the delegation into a legislative missteps, and being “easily manipulated by outside forces.”
“We do not take this action without cause. You both have had your probationary period to demonstrate competence in leadership and legislative skills, and you both have failed,” the delegates state in their letter.
McComas, Impallaria, and McDonough go on to list a half-dozen reasons for requesting the leadership ouster.
“Because the Delegation needs leadership that care about and is accountable to the people of Harford County, and because the people of Harford County need experienced, effective leadership, we ask that you resign as Chair and Vice Chair.”
Hints of delegation in-fighting arose in September, boiled over in early February and very quickly turned dirty.
The full letter is included below:
The best thing to do with Del. Impy and McDonough is to IGNORE them. While I have found Susan to be a good person, she has clearly sought advise from the wrong people. This letter again proves that the Republican Party in Harford County is in serious jeopardy of being overrun by self interested zealots who, have actually done nothing during their lackluster tenure in office to further the well being of Harford County citizens. Folks should not give these court jesters any stage or audience to play their games on.
Irony: The three delegates who didn’t pass a bill this session attack those who did. So Norman was appointed– he passed a bill. “The senior Republican leadership” did not. The elected school board bill failed for 2 years under McComas, but passed the legislature without a negative vote in two months of Jennings and Norman.
They may be upset, but saying Jennings and Norman don’t care about Harford? That’s ridiculous, and sending a letter like that shows who has their priorities wrong.
I don’t know that this garbage is even worth a response, but:
1: The “hostile environment” has evidently been going on for a year– ever since Glassman left and McComas took over.
2: They were elected to their positions by the majority of the delegation. If they did that poor of a job, they could be voted out.
3: Again, these two passed bills. The Harford bills, especially the school board bill, passed. McComas was ready to take the school board to referendum when the new leadership was able to get a bill passed. No missteps there!
4: McComas didn’t have a delegation meeting the entire interim last session. Glassman would meet with the councilmembers, liquor board, county executive, and others. McComas didn’t even have the delegation meet to plan for session. I get the same rate of reply to messages to all the delegates, so this just doesn’t make sense.
5: The delegation had no established rules. The attorney general made that decision. The second sentence doesn’t even make sense. Yes, the delegation has standing as a legal body: its recognized by the speaker.
6: What outside forces? The “senior Republican leaders” were voted out by the delegation! It is now after session. What could they have to consult about?
If they are ineffective, who would be put in place? McComas-Impallaria were ineffective, so there aren’t many options left. The new team got bills passed, though, and that is what effective is about.
Just how bad do things have to get before the voters realize just ineffective these delegates are? They achieve nothing in Annapolis and fight among themselves. They should be put out of their misery. Vote them out!
What an embarassing & shameful week for the Republican Party, nationally and locally.
Arlen Specter found himself at odds with GOP philosophy. Excuse me, but the core values of the GOP philosophy haven’t changed, Sen. Specter simply has his own agenda and it doesn’t include loyalty to a party and its’ philosophy that helped put him in office. That being said, how much loyalty could he possibly have to his constituents. Sen. Specter, like so many people today, adhere to only one philosophy; “It’s all about me.”
Here in Harford County, I had to be further embarassed for my party by reading the Aegis article on delegation in-fighting. With respect to the subject matter; a ‘hostile envirnoment’ was originally created by Del Impalaria when he verbally assaulted Del Stifler. Lack of leadership was shown by Del McComas when she neglected to ask for Del Impalaria’s resignation from vice-chair for his verbal attack on Stifler. To have continued with these two delegates as the chair and vice-chair would have caused far more ‘discord’ within the delegation and reluctance to contribute for fear of further verbal attacks. Evidence- this week’s Aegis. Again, I find that our three supposedly ‘experienced’ delegates subscribe to the same philosophy as Sen. Specter; “It’s all about me.”
When your philosophy is; “It’s all about me.” than you can’t very well work with others to get things accomplished (the three experienced delegates). But when you are sincerely concerned for your constituents and their well being, your philosophy is; “It’s all about them.” (our two inexperienced delegates) demonstrated this by getting bills passed.
The session is over. Maybe Dels. Impalaria, McComas, & McDonough subscribe to the theory that any press is good press. To that end I would have to agree. The Democrats had a very good week of press, compliments of Sen Specter, and our three ‘experienced’ delegates
Pardon me for stating the obvious, but J.B. Jennings was elected to the House at the same time as impallaria and McComas, 2002. Why hasn’t the Aeigis or the Dagger simply pointed that out?
McDonough was also elected in 2002, although it looks like he was elected as a Democrat from Balt. Co./City in 1979. He doesn’t even live in Harford County so I doubt he could be chair.
So the only one with more experience would be Mary Dulaney James, a Democrat.
As for inexperience, how about making a decision to drag this whole mess out once again by writing this letter.
Harford County has wanted an elected school board. It took a drastic action of getting rid of McComas and Impallaria to make that happen.
Another interesting note is that this letter was written on “District 7” letterhead, but does not include Jenning’s name at the top. I am sure the taxpayers paid for another set of letterhead.
These District 7 guys were all about unity until this happened. Until it became inconvenient for Impallaria. It really makes no sense for Pat McDonough to get involved in al this. He has bigger fish to fry in Batimore county. I would think that picking a fight with Jennings would not be the way to go. Not to mention the fact that they do this while Jennings is on duty with the National Guard.
We know Impallaria is unstable, so that sort of explains his part in this.
McComas is just weak and ineffective. Even more troublesome is the way she ran the delegation. Her complaints in this letter were many of the same complaints everyone had about her leadership. She may be a good person, but that is no reason to keep somone in elected office.
For some reason, Barry Glassman was able to keep these things in check. So was Joanne Parrott. McComas takes over and everything falls to pieces. Give Jennings a chance. McComas and Impallaria lost their leadership roles. Get over it. Move on.
The Aegis really hit the nail on the head with their cartoon this week. A bunch of children with overinflated egos.
You know the tea parties all talked about term limits. It is funny that some of these folks got up to speak at those tea parties. Term limits would get rid of almost all of them.
I say we institute term limits on all of these folks. Anyone going for 12 years in the House should be replaced. These are not royal titles after all. Find another office to run for or get off the governement feed bag once and for all.
It just irritates me that we have to pay the salaries for these “princes and princesses.”
Joe,
Don’t be too discouraged with our party. As is obvious by the article below, there are still some good Republicans out there who care more about their constituents and our party than they do about themselves. No wonder the Anne Arundel County Republican Party is getting stronger!
Colleagues Rally Around King For Anne Arundel Seat
John Wagner
Del. James J. King (R-Anne Arundel) has received a boost from his House colleagues in a bid to replace the retiring Sen. Janet Greenip (R-Anne Arundel).
In a joint letter to members of the Anne Arundel County Republican Central Committee, which will recommend a successor, Dels. Tony McConkey (R-Anne Arundel) and Robert A. Costa (R-Anne Arundel) say have agreed to support King for the seat. All three delegates represent districts that are part of Greenip’s district.
“Delegate King’s strong constituent service coupled with his high name recognition and prolific fundrasing ability makes him the best candidate to defend and hold the Senate seat,” says the April 26 letter, which King also signed.The three delegates say they came to the joint decision to avoid “infighting amongst our party faithful.”
Greenip is stepping down with well over a year left in her term. She is one of only two Republican women in the Maryland Senate.
Several other politicians besides King could pursue Greenip’s seat, including members of the Anne Arundel County Council. The county GOP central committee will forward its recommendation to Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), who officially names a successor.
Leadership is sending out a letter asking for the removal someone when they have just been put on active duty defending their Country?
Looking at the photo at the top of this story tells a lot about the folks we have representing us. With a couple of exceptions, what a bunch of degenerates we have down there. Are these seriously the people who get elected. The one on the left is the only normal looking one out of the whole bunch. The second one from the left at least looks happy. The other three are like a bunch of bums. How much do we pay these people. Impallaria is a scary looking person. It just seems like he is going to explode at any minute.
Change gon’ come. JB is running for the Senate seat that Andy Harris will have to vacate to take on Kratovil again. McDonough hates JB so much, that he will jump into the Senate race, too. There will be blood.
Of course, there is going to be a slate of three new people running for the House of Delegates in the 7th, Booker, Kline and Szeliga. So we need to spread the word about sweeping out the old, and bringing in the new!
Two terms, eight years, and zero accomplishments. And they want you to send them back? Focus on getting things done, and not petty partisan squabbling.
I have done a lot of research and I have been able to find out very little about Booker and Szelgia, but Steve Kline seems reasonable, he has good ideas, and from what I have learned he is very energetic and open-minded.
According to the Avenue News, I see he is the new President of the East County Republican Club. Not sure if he is officially running, but he might be worth a look.
Matilda,
Please see my website for information. I am anxious to represent the 7th District in Annapolis.
Marilyn Booker
Marilyn, I would be anxious about representing the 7th district, too. Are the three new people running as a slate against the three existing delegates?? That seems complicated and potentially dangerous. Does the party back candidates in the primary? What do they have to say about this?