Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter (yeah, the guy who doesn’t want the media to use his name without permission) is in the news again.
Background to the latest kerfuffle. Delauter owns a construction company that bids on contracts with the County and its subdivisions. The propriety of this practice after Delauter’s election, first to the County Commission in 2010, and then to the County Council in 2014 after the County’s adoption of a charter form of government, has resulted in a series of conflicting rulings from the Frederick County Ethics Commission. Most recently, the Ethics Commission has allowed the bids to continue.
In 2014, this arrangement resulted in several conflicts between Delauter and municipal officials in northern Frederick County, losing him the support of two mayors and a town commissioner, all Republicans, in the general election. He won anyway, 2014 being what 2014 was in Maryland.
In May, the County Ethics Commission issued an opinion affirming its conclusion that the practice was not unethical under the new Charter. The public outcry was so strong that three of the five commission members resigned shortly thereafter, and County Executive Jan Gardner, a Democrat, issued an executive order banning such bids. She also asked the County Council to consider a law banning elected officials from bidding on County contracts.
Tuesday, August 18, by a 4-3 vote, the Council passed a law barring companies affiliated with elected officials from bidding on county contracts. Gardner, of course, will sign the bill.
Now we get to the fun part. Today comes a blog post from Frederick blogger Frederick Local Yokel (yay, bloggers! And great name.) that reveals Delauter still has serious anger management issues. And he’s a bully. He even wrote his thoughts down in a handwritten note and then posted it on Facebook, with more nasty comments. We have to go with the photo because ain’t no way in hell I’m friends with the likes of this cretin.
The handwritten note, in case you can’t read it, says: “Doug: you’ll have to ask council members Otis, Fitzwater, Keegan-Ayer and Donald for donations since they don’t see value in WF Delauter doing work in Frederick County. Kirby”
The names he cites are the four council members who voted for the bill to bar Delauter from bidding on county contracts.
What a classy guy you got there, Frederick. A real piece of work. And he’s not at all bashful about sharing with the public just how shitty of an elected official he is. So a point for candor, but he still is an embarrassment of a council member.
