20051229 Community Foundation of Carroll County announces Philanthropists of the Year Award

20051229 Community Foundation of Carroll County announces Philanthropists of the Year Award.

Community Foundation of Carroll County announces Philanthropists of the Year Award.

December 29, 2005 by Kevin Dayhoff

Writers note: A shorter version of this article titled, “CFCC on lookout for good deeds in honoring philanthropists” appeared in the Westminster Eagle on 01/05/06

“Charitable giving comes from the heart and mirrors the soul. Community philanthropists deserve to be recognized,” said Kathy Brown, the Director of Shepherd’s Staff as she multi-tasked at the front desk, answering questions and waiting on customers.

“It’s marvelous what the Foundation is doing for families in Carroll County.”

Brown was referring to a recent announcement that the Community Foundation of Carroll County (CFCC) is looking for “nominations to recognize the exceptional generosity and strong commitment of extraordinary local philanthropists.”

Audrey Cimino, CFCC executive director noted, “This is something we have wanted to do for quite sometime. We want to recognize those heroes who give of their time and money to make a better community. And it’s not always the huge donations – it is the accumulation of all the small donations that make things happen. You could not put a price on the volunteerism hours.”

According their website, CFCC is an umbrella organization to facilitate philanthropic activities in Carroll County since 1993. That is when a steering committee of “James Wise, Arthur Valenzano, Calvin Seitz, Peggie Roland, Donald Hull, George Giese, William Gering, and Audrey Cimino, began the process of making the Community Foundation of Carroll County a reality.”

“Beginning with a gift of sixty thousand dollars from the Estate of Rosa B. Null, a Hampstead, Maryland resident, the Community Foundation has grown to 3.4 million dollars in endowments, operations funds, scholarships and funds managed for other community organizations.”

The press release announcing the new awards program states: “The Community Foundation of Carroll County is requesting nominations to recognize the exceptional generosity and strong commitment of extraordinary local philanthropists.”

Cimino said in the announcement, this “is the beginning of what we anticipate will be a long-tradition of honoring the philanthropic efforts of Carroll County residents and businesses. Often, the long-term impact of those efforts is not recognized. Our goal is to honor and thank those in our local community who consistently respond to needs with generosity and leadership.”

CFCC marketing chair Fred Teeter gives a lot of credit to CFCC Board Chair Linda Ryan for “getting behind this effort and giving it some legs. “The Foundation came up with this project because there is no countywide recognition program to recognize philanthropists in [Carroll] County. The objective is to award an individual or family, a business, an organization, and a youth who exemplify the spirit of giving through financial support, and volunteerism.”

“Through its partnership with the Carroll County Times,” CFCC will recognize Carroll philanthropists “during the first annual Carroll County Philanthropists of the Year awards program on April 5, 2006,” the announcement continued.

Hampstead mayor Haven Shoemaker thinks the award program “is a fantastic idea.”

When asked what private sector contributions means to municipalities, Shoemaker, president of the Carroll Chapter of the MD Municipal League said, “town governments can’t do it alone… [Hampstead] is just all-local government… We operate on a shoestring budget and without philanthropy; taxes would be a lot higher than they already are. For example, we really appreciate the Hampstead Lion’s Club providing citizens with recreation, baseball programs, and the like…”

“Charitable donations mean everything to us,” Brown said, referring to Shepherd’s staff, a Westminster based Christian outreach and emergency support center. “We depend on the charity giving of the community because we don’t accept any county state or federal funding.”

Commissioner Perry Jones said, “The generosity of the community has been critical to Carroll County being the great place that it is for all our families. Carroll is very fortunate to have the Community Foundation.”

Timmi Pierce, the new executive director of the Historical Society of Carroll County remarked that she had already discussed with her staff who to nominate. “Volunteerism is really a core element for a community. Carroll County has a rich history of generosity in the community that goes to back to the founding of the county.”

A nomination form must be completed in its entirety for each nominee, and mailed to the Community Foundation of Carroll County, P.O. Box 170, Westminster, MD 21158, postmarked by Thursday, January 12, 2006. Nomination forms are available on the web at www.carrollcommunityfoundation.org or by contacting Lisa Aughenbaugh, CFCC Project Manager, 410-876-8772 or Fred Teeter, 866-775-2185.

Forms are also available at the office of The Westminster Eagle, 121 E. Main St., Westminster, MD 21157, during regular business hours.

20060105 Enemy Imaging

Enemy Imaging

January 5, 2006 by Kevin Dayhoff (1,127 words)

Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland (D) has resurfaced in the news once again. In Maryland? What the heck is going on here?

Last month Governor Robert L. Ehrlich announced hiring Bo Harmon to be his political director for his re-election campaign. The Baltimore Sun ran an article on December 10, 2005, which said, in part:

“Maryland Democratic Party spokesman Derek Walker said he was shocked that the governor would hire Harmon, and compared the political director to Joseph F. Steffen Jr., the former Ehrlich aide who was fired after admitting to spreading rumors about Mayor Martin O'Malley.

Democrats here and in Georgia immediately criticized the hire, saying Ehrlich is bringing to Maryland a virtuoso of nastiness who attacked the patriotism of Cleland, an Army veteran who lost three limbs in Vietnam.”

The Sun continued its criticism by calling the readers’ attention to a negative ad run by Senator Cleland’s opponent in the 2002 Georgia Senate race.

The ad used, what is known in the business as “enemy imaging.” Identifying an opponent with a nefarious character. Sorta like, running a picture of Governor Ehrlich with a fired state employee – Mr. Steffen.

The only difference is that after many folks, understandably, criticized the Chambliss campaign ad, the ad was taken off the air, changed and ran without the nefarious character images.

In the MD4BUSH–Steffengate saga; long after it has been revealed that MD4BUSH was a political dirty trick by democrats for which it has been suggested that several members of the Maryland Democratic Party have lost their jobs; the Sun is still running the negative ad which ‘enemy images’ Governor Ehrlich with Mr. Steffen.

So what is the rest of the Senator Cleland story? He lost his 2002 senate re-election bid because of his liberal voting record while serving in the senate and representing a conservative constituency.

Rich Lowry, writing in National Review on February 20, 2004, “Max Cleland, Liberal Victim,” put it best.

Democrat Senator Cleland “was on record supporting countless tax increases, and voted with his party's leadership against protecting the Boy Scouts from a campaign to keep them out of public schools and against banning partial-birth abortion. In many of these votes, he parted ways with his more conservative and popular colleague Miller, thus creating a major political vulnerability. He lost fair and square.”

This is what happened.

Senator Cleland returned home from Vietnam terribly wounded with injuries that would stop anyone but Superman. But he didn’t let being disabled stop him and he worked hard to recover and continue to serve his community and his country.

It was said best in a poignant Washington Post article on July 3, 2003, entitled “Political Veteran.”

After Mr. Cleland returned home from recovering from his injuries, in “1970, at 28, he became the youngest person ever elected to the Georgia Senate. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter appointed him to head the Veterans Administration. In 1982 he was elected as Georgia's secretary of state” and served until 1996.”

In 1996, when Senator Sam Nunn (D) decided to retire from the U.S. Senate after serving 24 years, Georgia Secretary of State Cleland tossed his hat in the ring. Senator Nunn had always been strong on national defense and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland seemed a perfect replacement.

He wasn’t.

In 1996, Mr. Cleland narrowly defeated his opponent, businessperson Guy Millner by 30,000 votes. He only got 49 percent of the vote.

Slate published an article by Michael Crowley on April 4, 2004 called: ““How the disabled war veteran became the Democrats' mascot.” It is not a poignant or deferential piece. Mr. Crowley wrote, “There was little reason to expect Cleland to be a star senator, and he wasn't.”

Of his 1996 campaign, Mr. Crowley wrote:

“In that campaign, Cleland made up for his lack of political skill—the Atlanta-Journal Constitution noted that he "has never been known as a deep thinker" and was prone to "platitudes" in debates—by harnessing the emotional power of his war injuries…”

After six years in the Senate, Senator Cleland’s re-election was in deep trouble at home. Although he could serve his southern constituency well enough on local Georgia issues, “Cleland's undoing was that he couldn't negotiate the dilemma facing many Southern Democrats — how to vote liberal in Washington while appearing conservative at home.” (Rich Lowry, February 20, 2004, “Max Cleland, Liberal Victim” National Review)

In the 2002 election, Senator Cleland was challenged by four-term conservative Republican congressman Saxby Chambliss, “who'd been elected in the "Contract With America" class of 1994.” (July 3, 2003, “Political Veteran” Washington Post)

Mr. Crowley wrote: “Most of Chambliss' attacks were based on Cleland's most "liberal" votes on social issues like partial-birth abortion. But in the race's closing weeks, Bush and Chambliss hammered at the fact that Cleland was voting with Senate Democrats against Bush's proposed Homeland Security Department because of its infamous provision limiting union rights. The message was that Cleland was kowtowing to big labor at the cost of protecting America.”

Then came those “GOP television ads.” They crossed the line. They were unnecessary and inappropriate and should have never been aired.

In the Washington Post July 3, 2003 article it was noted:

“both sides ran attack ads, but none was as controversial as Chambliss' homeland security spot. It opened with pictures of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. "As America faces terrorists and extremist dictators," said a narrator, "Max Cleland runs television ads claiming he has the courage to lead. He says he supports President Bush at every opportunity, but that's not the truth. Since July, Max Cleland voted against President Bush's vital homeland security efforts 11 times!"

After both democrats and republicans condemned the inappropriate ad, the ad was removed from the air.

Which brings us full circle. Since the Sun has brought it up. Beyond the issue of comparing how many articles the Baltimore Sun ran on MD4BUSH-Steffengate with how many articles it ran about the alleged criminal identity theft of Lt. Gov. Michael Steele’s personal financial records by Senator Schumer's staff at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee…

Now that MD4BUSH has been outed as a democratic dirty trick, the Sun needs to do a reality check and realize that by continuing to run the picture of Governor Ehrlich with Mr. Steffen on their web site, they may think that they are cleverly perpetuating a negative “enemy-imaging” ad on Governor Ehrlich.

What they are really doing is perpetuating a reminder of despicable gutter politics at its worse.

It is a rule of classier political practitioners that the family of an elected official or candidate for office is off limits – out of bounds. No matter what party to which they belong.

When is the Sun going to take the picture off their web site?

Just asking.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org
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The Tentacle A Tale of Two Introductions by Kevin E. Dayhoff

The Tentacle A Tale of Two Introductions by Kevin E. Dayhoff January 4, 2006

Tim Franklin was brought on board by Baltimore’s Sun in January 2004 to navigate the paper through the treacherous waters that has become the newspaper business in a new era. In December 2005, Bo Harmon was brought on board to navigate Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich through the treacherous waters that we have come to know as Maryland politics for the next election.

Each gentleman is well accomplished in their professions and came to Maryland with certain reputations. What does a analysis look like when comparing how well each have been welcomed to our great state?

In the case of Mr. Harmon, The Sun only told a misleading portion of the story. However, when one is informed of the rest of the story, quite a different picture emerges.

As you will see, if that approach had been employed when Mr. Franklin first came to town, it would have been misleading. When is The Sun going to retract their misleading “news” article on Mr. Harmon and set the record straight?

Let’s begin by comparing the articles on Governor Ehrlich’s hiring of Bo Harmon in the December 10, 2005, The Sun article entitled “Ehrlich hires '06 director,” with the coverage by the Gazette on December 16, “Don’t credit Harmon, says former boss.”

Read the entire column here: A Tale of Two Introductions

http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=1416

20060104 SDOSM TT A Tale of Two Introductions ttked
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/
Kevin Dayhoff Art: www.kevindayhoff.com
Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: www.westgov.net