|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
SAMPLE PODCASTRace for Board President Heats Up
State Del. Murray D. Levy (D-Charles) came out swinging last week with a heated public commentary on the race for president of the Charles County Board of Commissioners, the post he held until 2004 when he was promoted to the General Assembly. Levy endorsed Democrat Wayne Cooper, the commissioner Levy helped install as the board president, in a podcast on Cooper's campaign Web site. And without mentioning Cooper's opponent, Commissioner Al Smith (R-Waldorf), by name, Levy painted the race as a choice between a "strong leader" and a "hot politician." "The last thing we want as a leader is what we would call a 'hot politician,' somebody who's off the mark, talking before they know what they're talking about," Levy said. "A hot politician is one who is in the paper all the time, quoted all the time," Levy said later in the 10-minute segment. "People love you or they hate you. That's not what you want. You don't want to be hated. . . . You want everybody to feel that when they come before you, you're going to listen." While Levy carefully avoided mentioning Smith and rarely even referred to Cooper's "opponent," his comments were interpreted by some as an attack on Smith, who has tried to make leadership, style and character the chief issues in his race against Cooper. Levy often crossed swords with Smith when they served together on the county board. Smith, who has built a reputation as an outspoken commissioner, turned the table on Levy, charging that Levy's comments about the kind of leader residents do not want at the helm of county government described his own tenure as commissioners president. "As far as Murray's attributes or what he claims we don't need in this town, when I hear that, it sounds like to me it's great introspection on Murray Levy's part because I feel like he's describing himself," Smith said. "That's pretty much a characteristic of how he led things. He was in the paper a lot. He jumped out and made decisions sometimes without having all the facts at the time." Cooper heralded Levy's endorsement as a "watershed moment" in the race. "Murray knows that this county doesn't need a shoot-from-the-hip, bellicose politician who is going to be disruptive to the democratic process or to the goal of ensuring that our county remains economically viable and a place where our citizens' quality of life is put first," Cooper said in a statement. But Smith played down the importance of the endorsement. "Cooper needs to put that under his pillow at night and sleep well if he feels that this is a watershed moment," Smith said. He went on to say that he believes Levy's endorsement power has diminished markedly following the Democratic primary in which Gregory V. Billups, the man Levy and other Democratic state lawmakers recruited to join their slate, finished last in the four-way race. "Murray can choose to ride the horse he wants to ride, but I'm not so sure that this horse is going to get him to the destination that he feels he needs to get to," Smith said. "With all due respect to Greg Billups, it just goes to show you that Murray Levy's judgment and Murray Levy's endorsement doesn't carry a whole lot of weight in this county right now." Smith said Levy has much at stake in this race because he was a critical player in Cooper's step-up from District 2 commissioner to board president. "Murray hand-picked Wayne Cooper to be the president," Smith said. "I don't think that Murray wants to have to deal with the fact that perhaps he might have made an error in judgment." Levy said he wanted to get involved in the campaign and help Cooper win. "I feel very strongly about the need for teamwork on the board," Levy said. As to whether inserting himself in the tough Cooper-Smith race could tarnish his own chances in the hotly contested race for state delegate, Levy said: "All you can do is run the best campaign you can run, and don't get caught napping." |
|||||
|
© 2008 TCI Sitemap Homepage |
||||
