First off, thanks for having a forum where we can directly get answers from candidates.  This aids the process of choosing our representatives in government.  If only state and federal candidates did this.

My first set of questions has to do with the transparency of your candidacy. 

For a long time, you were the proprietor of the “Stop Mirant” website aimed at accountability and sustainability related to the power plant near the Gov. Nice Bridge.  Your actions in use of the Swan Point HOA funds were advertised as being for the health, safety and welfare of all citizens near the plant.  However, is it true that many of the inland Swan Point residents became quite upset when they discovered that their funds were being used in a battle over your view shed, not for the health safety and welfare of the citizens of the area?  After all, Mirant was spending $2 billion to come in compliance with Clean Air standards, and your efforts were to block this under the guide of concerns over water quality.

Also related to your efforts with Mirant, in accordance with your pledge for transparency, will you publish the letter you received from their lawyers related to your use of a Mirant company email in an unethical fashion?

Second, there have questions raised about the waterfront land connected to your property.  Swan Point (or at least the vast majority of the area) is in the state designated “Critical Area,” an environmentally sensitive zone under strict guidelines as far as how the land can be used.  Tree removal is forbidden by critical area regulations and even if a variance is granted, mitigation requires that for every tree removed, another must be planted.  I have attached two pictures (one in this post and other in the one that follows) that show the land in question before you owned it being thoroughly forested and its current state being mostly cleared.  Can you show the approved variance allowing this clearing?  I know from experience that other citizens trying to do ANYTHING in the critical area on their own land have been denied by PGM staff.  Reconciling the law and the reality in this situation is vital for transparency.  Were you required to remove your tiki bar by government authorities?

Finally, you sit on the county board of appeals.  The American Planning Associations’ ethical guidelines state that all members of government boards must step aside whenever there is a conflict of interest.  In the past, all other candidates who sat on a appeal or planning board stepped aside to keep politics out of the planning process.  Will you do the same?  Do you feel that it is ethical for you to continue to sit on this board and run for office at the same time?

More to the point, you have stated on this blog your opinion on many matters of regulation that come before the Board of Appeals.  The reason the BOA is separated from the political boards of the county is so there is a fair and objective sense of opportunity for the applicants.  How can you claim to be fair and objective and sit in judgment of others if you have already stated your position on so many pertinent issues which regularly come before the BOA?

Outside these issues of transparency, I have a few questions about the planks of your platform. 

I echo the questions from others related to what specifically you think is the smartest kind of growth.  Where should this occur and under what guidelines?

Do you believe your promotion of wind energy will result in higher electricity bills for other consumers?

I very much support your idea to broaden the tax base and lower rates.  This is very pro-growth (in terms of overall economic growth).  What new consumption should be taxed?  More importantly, how much do you think (approximately) property taxes can be cut?

Should the relative size of county government be expanded, shrank, or left unchanged?

Ken Robinson’s land after tree removal (see above post for context)

You’re not asking questions.  You’re making accusations.

I’ll address those.

Of the $200K spent on taking on the Mirant case, 10K came from the Swan Point Property Owners Association so I don’t where you’re getting your information from.  The other $190K came from fundraising within the community.  If Swan Point residents were so upset with me, they never would have donated so generously over a period of about one year.

We never wanted Mirant not to build the scrubber, we wanted them to mitigate the plume which they could have done.  We also did not want to coal barge facility and we did not want them tapping into the aquifers to cool the scrubbers.  We won on the latter.
The Mirant email question was an accusation during the height of the battle that was unwarranted, untrue and never went anywhere.

The photos you show are incredibly misleading.  The trees were taken out by Hurricane Isabel.  The property was reforested and now has fairly mature trees there since the storm took place almost seven years ago.

I have recused myself on several occasions on the Board of Appeals.  The most recent was when a variance was requested with funds coming from the Maryland Heritage Area Authority (MHAA).  Though I was not familiar with the case prior to the hearing, I felt that since my wife is a member of the MHAA, I let it be known I was most comfortable to recuse myself.

I don’t think you really care about the other issues you bring up.

I missed one of your accusations.

Were you required to remove your tiki bar by government authorities?

No. It is a licensed duck blind and has been since the 1970’s

Furthermore, everything that was done on the property was done with state and federal permits which took more than a year to acquire.  The permits included saving the land from erosion.  Everything was subsequently inspected and approved by the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Do you honestly think we could have taken on such a massive project secretly?

Ken,

I guess this proves the county does have a file on you.  Great answers!

It comes with the territory Julia.  There will no doubt be more between now and September 14.

Something smells here. Like a Sam supporter grasping at straws. Mr Graves has continued to let the voters in his district down, now he resorts to this? Too little too late. Vote him out! Time for Mr. Grabby Feely to go! By the way, as far as I know Mr. Robinson has never been the subject of a sexual harassment complaint! Ken has my vote!

Thanks Maria.  I am actually complimented that this is the best my opponent can do.

The other accusation we will soon hear is how I am not a fulltime resident of the county.  I am.  I have been since 2003.  I have been a property owner since 2001.  My business is mostly in DC where I am a member of the Georgetown Business Association.  My wife is a professor at The George Washington University.  All biographical information about me can be found on my collateral materials, my website and our campaign video: http://www.kenrobinson2010.com/videos/woc/

There are no secrets.

I don’t think I would have served on the Board and then President of the Swan Point Property Owners Association for five years if I was not ubiquitous in Charles County.
And I am such an environmental nightmare that I have been endorsed by the Sierra Club, supported by the Environmental Integrity Project and serve on the Advisory Board of the Maryland Clean Energy Center.

So Bluecrabber posts this yesterday afternoon and gets an immediate response from Ken.  We hear nothing further from Bluecrabber other than to repost this elsewhere on the Delusional Duck.  Ken passes the transparency test and Bluecrabber reveals what his post is really about…a desperate campaign tactic designed to draw attention away from all of the shortcomings of his opponent Sam Graves.  It is yet another example of backfiring.  I can’t wait see what words of wisdom Mr. Graves has for the county in tomorrow’s edition of the Indy.

Bluecrabber, from reading your post I’m going out on a limb here, and say I don’t think you are too fond of Mr. Robinson, and he’s not going to get your vote in the upcoming election.

Well I don’t think Mr. Robinson is GOD’s gift for a politician either, but he has my vote, because I’m tired of Mr. Graves do nothing, I’m better than you attitude. So in my eyes, Mr. Robinson is the less of two evils, and I’m willing to give him a chance, because he certainly can’t do any worse than Mr. Graves.

If Graves were to be re-elected it would irreparably further damage the reputation of Charles County.

We have an opportunity to NOT let that happen.

It is yet another example of backfiring.

Yeah, send in the CLOWNS! 

Bluecrabber,

I know you have subsequently disappeared after making the post but you did ask the question:

I echo the questions from others related to what specifically you think is the smartest kind of growth.  Where should this occur and under what guidelines?

I draw your attention to the following which I also posted elsewhere on the Delusional Duck as it relates to Smart Growth:

Smart Growth is more than a generic term.  It was legislation that came into being during Parris Glendening’s administration in the late 90’s.  The basic idea is that you create livable, walkable communities near public transit systems.  Its intention is to move away from the sprawl development model that has characterized much development throughout the U.S. and particularly the eastern seaboard.  Under the Smart Growth initiative in Maryland, state dollars for such things as roads and sewer are supposed to be directed to Priority Funding Areas or PFA’s. i.e., dense urban communities near public transit systems identified by local government at the time the legislation was passed.  This was in turn to diminish the trend of forests and farmland depletion as well as easing water pollution problems (such as how sprawl development is affecting the Chesapeake Bay). 

Many question how successful the program has been in Maryland because local governments did not stick with the PFAs they identified and continued to allow significant development to occur in rural areas; so the pattern of sprawl and the problem it brings continues to occur.  It is also not an attractive model for developers who find mixed-use communities and “in-fill” development simply more costly and complicated to build.  The Ehrlich administration got rid of the state’s Smart Growth Office, and O’Malley put it back in place four years ago. 

The problem is that Maryland is projected to growth by 1.1 million people in 2030.  It will be difficult to make the Smart Growth legislation tougher at the state level, but examples such as Rockville show that if a local governments use Smart Growth as a guiding philosophy, good things can happen and developers can make money—they can make lots of money.

Julia Ken passes the transparency test

Yes, this is why bluecrabber will walk up to that Diebold machine and park his claw next to Ken’s name ;-)  Why not?  The more transparent Ken gets; the more it shows how lacking Graves is.