Delegate hopeful blasts county's ‘backroom' deals

Baptist minister Phillips opens his campaign

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009

Phillips, pastor of the Faith Family Fellowship Baptist Church in Waldorf, told the Republican audience at the Charles County Lincoln Day Dinner last week, "I want to be your Republican delegate in Annapolis."

With a cadence and thunder usually reserved for pulpit talk of hellfire and brimstone, Phillips then began hammering Cooper, whom Phillips said at the dinner he believes will be running for the 28th District delegate seat currently held by Del. Sally Y. Jameson (D-Charles) in 2010. Phillips also said he expects Jameson to give up the seat early.

Cooper, Jameson and Victoria Benedict, chairwoman of the Charles County Democratic Central Committee, all denied the rumor.

"When I get angry, I see red," Phillips told the audience. "I see a state that is operating in the red. I see families that are losing their homes, their cars, their jobs, because they are in the red and the companies they work for are in the red. I see businesses closing and corporations on the verge of leaving the state, because they cannot afford to be here."

Phillips accused Cooper and the commissioners of committing "unethical political acts, like private backroom deals … while they drive around in their SUVs you and I paid for. While they walk around with body guards that you and I paid for. How ridiculous is that, in Charles County?"

The commissioners purchased three Ford Explorers last year during the height of the oil bubble, and they have hired four civilian security guards to work at the county government building in La Plata. One of the guards occasionally accompanies the commissioners to meetings outside the government building.

Phillips' speech brought to the surface several unconfirmed succession scenarios on the lips of Charles County political observers these days. Phillips' scenario imagines Cooper taking Jameson's seat and leaving Commissioner Edith J. Patterson (D) an open shot at the commissioners' presidency.

"After Wayne Cooper's rumored takeover of Sally Jameson's office, just before [the] election, [which] will allow him to run as an incumbent in 2010, we can expect absolutely no protection from [Democratic] legislators who, by sheer pressure in Republican fashion, thwarted our commissioners' attempts to create a well tax," Phillips stated. "Unholy, backroom, shady deals must go."

According to Benedict, Phillips repeated a common rumor that emerged after Jameson's illness last year. Jameson did not disclose the nature of her illness, but missed several weeks of the 2008 General Assembly session.

"It's not true," Benedict said. "[Jameson is] doing fine. She's not planning to resign. … She's not stepping down."

Cooper said he believes Jameson is running in 2010, saying, "As far as I know, she is." As for his own delegate run in 2010, Cooper noted that anything could happen, but said, "I haven't even considered it."

"I'm not stepping down, I'm not stepping aside, I'm not stepping anywhere for anyone, whether it's Wayne Cooper or anyone else," Jameson stated unequivocally on Tuesday. "I have every intention of running for re-election in the upcoming election."

Cooper and Jameson also took exception to Phillips' characterization of the county's proposed environmental fee. Cooper noted that the funding idea had been proposed by the county's Water Advisory Task Force and discussed by the commissioners in open session several times.

"We've tried to do everything totally in the open, totally in public," Cooper said. He acknowledged that the fee is unpopular, but said, "As leaders, we have to plan for the future. We can't just do what feels good now."

Jameson also dismissed Phillips charges of shady dealing on the well fee, saying, "There were no deals made by anyone for the so-called well tax. There was no pressure put on me by anyone because nobody knew about it, so, therefore, my decision not to agree with the commissioners on the well tax was mine and mine alone."

Phillips, 43, is a father of two, pastor of the Faith Family Fellowship in Waldorf and the president of the board of Charles County Center for Abused Persons. He is also serving as president of the newly formed northern and southern Republican clubs which begin meeting this month.

Phillips is still getting his footing on the issues. He has not yet filed to establish a campaign fund.

When asked what he would cut from the state budget to lighten the tax burden, he suggested cutting state funding for a Baltimore golf course and the Baltimore Zoo. The zoo receives more than $3 million out of a state budget of $31.6 billion. As for big ticket items, such as state health care spending, Phillips said he is still studying those issues.

Phillips closed his speech with the imagery of the Boston Tea party, saying, "The state of Maryland is ripe for a revolution. And, let me tell you this evening, ‘Johnny, get your gun and bring your tea to Annapolis.' It's time to throw something in the harbor."

jfriess@somdnews.com