From the Harford County Department of Public Works:
It has come to the attention of the Harford County Department of Public Works that a political candidate has sent a letter to residents of the area surrounding Moores Mill Road in Bel Air regarding an upcoming construction project that will result in the temporary closure of a portion of the road. The candidate’s letter contained erroneous information, and was presented in such a way that the recipient might believe that the candidate is an officeholder with authority over the project.
Jeff Stratmeyer, Chief Engineer of the Division of Highways and Water Resources, sent a letter to residents of the area regarding this project on June 3, 2013 with information about the project. “During construction, the road will be closed to through traffic, but all local residents will retain access to their homes,” Stratmeyer explained in the letter.
Stratmeyer further added, “Ingress and egress to Harford Day School, Heritage Woods Apartments, Child Time Day Care and other businesses will be maintained during construction. A detour plan will be implemented for the duration of the project. Harford County has assigned a construction manager and site inspector who will be at the site on a daily basis to oversee the reconstruction project.”
“The position of the Craig Administration is that information regarding construction projects or other on-going initiatives of Harford County Government is best provided by county officials responsible for those projects and not candidates seeking election to public office,” said Robert B. Thomas, Jr., spokesperson for Harford County Government. “The correspondence issued by the political candidate contained inaccurate and misleading information, specifically as it relates to both the location and status of Phase II of this road improvement project,” Thomas added.
Phase II of the project pertains to the section of Moores Mill from Business Route 1 to Maryland Route 924. While Phase II has been designed and the acquisition process is nearly complete, at timeframe for construction has not been determined. The reconstruction of the section of Moores Mill Road from Maryland 22 to the roundabout at Southampton Road was completed a number of years ago and included the replacement of the bridge over Bynum Run.
To provide ongoing project updates of accurate information to interested citizens, the Department of Public Works has set up a facebook page for the project at https://www.facebook.com/MooresMillRoad. Any questions regarding this project can be directed to Project Engineer Carlos L. Smith at 410-638-3509, extension 1370, or by email at clsmith@harfordcountymd.gov.
A copy of the letter, written and distributed by former state senator Art Helton, is provide below:
Helton is one of the spend thrifty politicians that has helped ruin this state.
And continues to do so almost on a daily basis.
Helton……Senator……What a joke
So if I am a “former senator” I can use the title SENATOR and make it look like I am going to help everyone on Moores Mill Rd. He is a joke and oh the office is not a “state” office address. Kinda like when Craig leaves office…he can use County Exec. Yeah OK, Not Gov.
The man is shameless, along with his Treasurer. Encouraging people to call with questions about road construction when it would appear that the real intent is to solicit money for his campaign. He is truly a clown.
Another deceptive Democrat. Is there no shame?
String Him Up!
This is absolutely ridiculous that A.) he uses “senator” on letterhead misrepresenting his current position as a general citizen,
B.) he misleads the residents of this area that he can actually do something for them, and
C.) he injects himself in what is a county managed operation.
You have to remember, deception and misdirection is the “art” to misleading the public. He will do anything to try and keep his small name in the mix. I can just see him sitting at his kitchen table with his old lap top that will not stay on with out a power cord and he Lexmark color printer . After he does his spell check he the adjusts his font. Then when he can’t figure out how to do this or print it he has his youngest grand child come in and complete this task. Art, your too old and out of touch. This response is as ridiculous as you are.
I missed the aol email address.
Everyone that got a letter should call Harford County Monday and ask them why they were lied to and what they are covering up.
What a bag of wind. 1 term (2 years) and he still calls himself a senator, just like Marion Barry being mayor for life while he was sitting in a jail cell. I am so glad that I moved out of Aberdeen, out of Harford County, and out of the state. Delaware isn’t perfect but at least I’m not getting taxed to death and my grandchildren are getting a decent education.
Republican, Democrat, Tea Party, Libertarian, etc.—in Art Helton’s case, party affiliation matters not: he’s been an insincere, ego-centered, aggressively ambitious, out-for-himself bag of wind for decades. The best thing to do in his case is to try to ignore him and hope he eventually goes away.
The real question everyone has missed is would this guy who parks his billboard trucks around Harford county wrote this letter to all those people If he wasn’t running for a political position?
Great ,,,, just what we need,, Another physco running around playing politition…lets hope this wacko doesnt carry a gun….
The last message I received from Art:
Art Helton
Apr 12
to me
I’m so sorry to bother you,but we really need your help at the moment,my family and I came down here to Manila Philippines for a short vacation,unfortunately we got mugged at the park of the hotel we stayed,everything we had on us was stolen including,cash,credit cards and cell phone….We need your help to settle the bills and flying back home,we’ll surely pay back as soon as we get back home.
Your contribution will go along way here,Please be so kind to reply back so i can tell you what to do and how to get so cash wired to me down here.
Art.
Art Helton is a dangerous man. He will politically take you out if you cross his path.
Art Helton is a pathetic person. He is a perpetual loser that gives his party a bad name (and he doesn’t even realize it). It’s actually sad that he won’t go away and let the Democrat Party of Harford County catch a breath of fresh air instead of being subjected to his stale B.S.
The few remaining elected Democrats in Harford County cannot stand this guy, but are probably too afraid to anger the old Ogre for fear of retalliation during their next election.
BTW, remember when Art recently jumped into the anti-Walmart fray? Same shit, different day!
I’d like to thank Senator Helton for taking the time to draft and mail me a letter about what was going on in my area. First and foremost…I find it funny that people are saying that Senator Helton LIED in his letter. Actually, the target area should have been referred to as “Phase I, part B” vs. “Phase II”, but everything else he had to say was accurate. The construction will continue to create a headache for those of us who have to get in, out and around that area. The other thing that I find interesting is that this “blog” allows anyone to create 27million different aliases to post “hate speech” about someone or something, but when any “reader” has a positive comment that isn’t related to the negatives, or disagrees with one of The Dagger’s writers – the comments get hidden; magically.
Art responding to his own story.
That is NOT hate speech! learn the difference