From Harford County Councilman Aaron Penman:
The purpose of our branches of government is to balance power, which includes the budgetary responsibilities, between the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch. Much to our County’s detriment, County Executive Bob Cassilly has trouble understanding that he is not the King of Harford County. Once again, I am disappointed with the theatrics and misinformation presented by the County Executive concerning the Hotel Tax Bill 23-034. King Cassilly’s intent is to bully the County Council and mislead our community members simply to establish more power and control.
Evidence has shown that Bob Cassilly will go to any length for selfish reasons and because of it, Harford County has suffered. This relentless power grab and overreach by Cassilly has caused division and conflict between his Administration and the County Council, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, the Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office, Harford County Public Schools, and Harford County Library, to name of few. At some point, citizens must ask, “is the problem nearly every Harford County entity or Bob Cassilly?”
Bill 23-034 allows pre-existing Hotel Tax dollars to be utilized for tourism, as it was intended, based on a percentage basis. Cassilly is now using negative commentary to attack the Maryland General Assembly and improper spending policies, but what he is claiming is simply not true. This percentage base strategy, or “spending mandate” as referenced by King Cassilly, has already been in place for Harford County. The fact is a percentage of tourism dollars has been dedicated to Harford County municipalities for many years. Bill 23-034 now allows the Harford County Tourism interests across the entire County to also share with a percentage of dedicated funding. This is needed so that tourism can thrive and positively impact our local economy.
In addition, Bill 23-034 provides valuable tourism dollars to the communities that are affected most by the visitation demand.
These tourism dollars will be spread fairly across Harford County to ensure all areas of the County are getting the attention they deserve. Without Bill 23-034, Cassilly can continue to ignore important communities in Harford County, such as Edgewood and Joppa.
The real reason Cassilly opposed and vetoed Bill 23-034 is because he intended to expand our local government by taking control of Harford County’s local premier destination organization, Visit Harford. The Cassilly Administration has already expanded the size of the local government with more than 208 new positions, while simultaneously claiming we do not need a bigger government! Tourism strategies should be kept in the hands of tourism experts, such as Visit Harford. With a dedicated funding source, Visit Harford can recruit tourism events years in advance, which is a competitive strategy utilized by many other jurisdictions.
We all know the government has difficulty with the most basic tasks, which was evident from the Cassilly Administration’s failure and incompetence planning the Harford County Balloon Festival, which ended up having to move to Pennsylvania.
Therefore, I ask that Harford County support the Harford County Council overriding the Bob Cassilly veto of Bill 23-034. Once this is all behind us, I do hope that Bob Cassilly establishes a better working relationship with Harford County stakeholders. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Dude, your inane rhetoric lands nowhere. I recently read a perfect response to your never ending emotional assault on your constituents, “Enough! Just do your job.” Your responsibility is to the majority of District B residents. NOT to lobbying organizations or a few gruff dumpy outliers.
I disagree the executive office is worst now then ever they are out of control. The people in the county should not support this government
Guess what? Those of us who insist our elected representatives support and adhere to fiscal responsibility, accountability, smart planning and development, care and concern for the future livability of Harford County, you know common sense management, support Bob Cassilly. You are an outlier. Get back on your excavator and ride into the sunset.
Once again Penman is only out for himself, not the citizens of the district.
Shitmans political career is over
Penman’s next bill concerning ADU’s only supported by outsiders not the constituents he is supposed to represent.
Only Penman and his developers want more housing squeezed into existing lots zoned for one dwelling.
His only game is personal enrichment.
Penman is a joke. So now he’s going to pretend to give a hoot about his constituents. It’s always about himself, his cronies and his agenda. What’s the angle – who does he know that wants this money?
Bob is the joke and I find it interesting that he won’t deny he is under an active criminal investigation. Penman is spot on to point this out as well as other actions by our County King. You have to ask who is really afraid of the truth coming out, Mr. Penman, who keeps telling us what is going on, or Bob who won’t say a word and lets his hired hands do his bidding. I have a feeling time is short for many of the Bob loyalists who will turn faster than spoiled milk if Bob is charges with a crime. Bob has brought division and embarrassment to what was the strong republican party in Harford.
Penman is a self serving democrat with a republican label. Read his proposed legislation, 24-001. It’s directly, almost verbatim, to that of progressives in California, for example. He is doing the direct bidding of a democrat governor and legislature. And, with all of Penman’s initiatives, it won’t matter who the citizens of Harford County elect. All the council members, even the County Executive, will become an ancillary administrative staff of the State of Maryland. That’s what our Councilman from District B will do for his constituents. You like it? You’re in luck. As far as our current CE, he is a gentleman and a scholar. Bob Cassilly has most certainly NOT committed any crimes. Penman and his cohorts have been and continue to use lawfare, directly from the progressive democrat playbook. Penman should at least have the courage and chutzpah to come out of the closet and be loud and proud with his allegiance to the Democrat party. The truth will set you free. Wouldn’t you agree, Truth Be Told?
A gentleman and a scholar? That is comical. I see you are full on Bob Kool-Aide! My bet his is legacy with be just like his disbarred brother with criminal charges to boot.
Aaawww man, you got my number. The bigger and meaner the criminal, the more Kool-Aid I swill.
Is Penman really defending the Maryland legislature’s spending policies?
If Penman were a true republican he would advocate ending the hotel tax, allowing the hotels to charge less and be more competitive to the hotels in the surrounding jurisdictions.
Every jurisdiction in the state has a hotel tax. Harford County was the last county to pass it.
It’s paid for by out-of-town visitors.
Just because everyone else does it does not make it a good idea.
Let the out of town visitors spend their money at local businesses instead of the government taking and spending it.
Sure let’s drive visitors to other parts of the state that are using local hotel tax they collect to promote themselves. Then businesses here don’t have to worry about those visiting customers.
Should we not make visitors pay sales and use tax as well?
I’m just here with the popcorn, but I have to ask, “Why would removing a 6% hotel tax drive visitors to other counties?”
The issue with the hotel tax legislation, as I understand it, is that it requires part of the hotel tax be designated for a non-gov’t entity with no oversight from the County and no required public transparency of spending. Why would anyone be in favor of that?