I will be the first to admit that until politics came to my back door in the form of the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC) over four months ago, I was unaware of the importance of each American to be involved; especially with their local government.
As an American, the democratic process seems to be the very core of our pride in our country and is why so many have and still fight for that right. So you can imagine as a “political newbie” my shock and disbelief upon witnessing firsthand the total lack of democracy in this corner of the Eastern Shore as is evidenced by the following two examples.
During several of the Queen Anne County Commissioners meetings, several residents of Caroline County voiced their opposition and questions to the hard skills facility and questions were asked as to how to get a meeting with the commissioners in their county. When I called their office, I was told that they had already contacted the GSA/State Department requesting a meeting with them with the elected officials and residents regarding the FASTC and that the office would contact me once the time and date were confirmed. After more than three weeks and several follow-up emails from the commissioner’s office, an email from the feds was sent to the Commissioners declining the meeting stating that “…we will be unable to attend the Caroline County Commissioners’ meeting. The original intent of the request for invites was to provide a more interactive dialogue in a smaller group atmosphere. It is our understanding that the Maryland Open Meetings statutes require full and open meetings of all elected bodies, which means that this would, in effect, become another meeting similar to the three public meetings the General Services Administration and Department of State have already held in Queen Anne’s County. Unless you are able to scale back the atmosphere of the meeting so that it is not a public meeting, we unfortunately have to decline attending this particular meeting.”
Now I have been to EVERY GSA/DS event and I know that the Dpt of State said that they would be happy to meet with ANY organization or group to discuss the project. They met with the Eastern Shore Leadership Council. I’m curious why Caroline County does not rate in the feds’ eyes.
Knowing that the Caroline residents were concerned, the commissioner’s office agreed to meet and discuss the project. A room of over two dozen residents, a handful of QAC residents and only ONE of the three county commissioners discussed concerns, facts and ideas. Though EVERYONE in the room was both grateful and impressed that Mr. Jeff Ghrist, Caroline County Commissioner, cared enough to be present, the dismay of the group that the other two commissioners did not see the importance to attend was unmistakable. At the end of the meeting, the question was asked if the Caroline residents could have a public comment period during the next commissioner’s meeting as the QAC commissioners do. We were told that this practice is NOT done. There is no venue set up for our friends in Caroline County to speak with the commissioners at their meetings. Now wait a minute, so they are ELECTED to the position of local government where they are to represent the people but will not listen to those same people? We were astonished and appalled at the same time! Where is the democratic process here?
Of course the second example comes into play when you look at the fact that our very own Congressman, Frank Kratovil who actually lives here and is a neighbor of ours, has not seen the importance nor had the courtesy to meet with even one Ruthsburg resident! What a shameful display of disregard for the constituents that he is supposed to be representing. How can anyone represent people whom he has never met before?
Wait now, let me clarify that….when he was running for Congressman and needed each one of us he did go to every voter’s home and personally introduced himself and spent much time talking to the residents – notice I said that while he was running. Now that he is in office and we want to speak personally with him, there is no response. No coming to our homes this time, not even a meeting set up at his own office on his terms. For that matter, I have yet to receive a phone call or personal email from the man.
Again, if this is to be named a democracy, then why can we not depend on our ELECTED officials to at the very least meet with us personally; especially in regards to such a major issue as the hard skills training facility? I know that he has been on the bay with the watermen. He has found himself in front of the press at a local guitar shop. He speaks out at the local college. I just do not understand why the residents of Ruthsburg are not important enough for our Congressman to care about.
Lastly need we not forget the blatant restriction, or attempt thereof, of our Constitutional right to Freedom of Speech on January 7th at the FASTC meeting held in the cafeteria of QACHS. How sad it was that our own government representatives would deny us this vital form of democracy. They even admit it by stating in their letter that there were THREE public meetings.
As I stated at the beginning of this piece, I’m a “political newbie” and while I have learned to expect this type of disregard and dismissal from the feds, I am shocked at these two examples. The people who comprise these local, ELECTED boards and commissions are our neighbors, friends, people we go to church with and those we trust our children’s welfare to. How can they behave in such a manner as this? We put them in these positions, isn’t it the democratic process that they listen to those who elected them and act accordingly? Last I checked, this is not a dictatorship…….or is it?
Sherry Adam
Ruthsburg