Dyson, McKay clash at first Senate race forum

Friday, Oct. 6, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photos by Reid Silverman Sen. Roy Dyson, the incumbent Democrat, said enforcement of laws protecting the Chesapeake Bay is ‘‘good in some areas, not in others. In St. Mary’s County, the lack of law enforcement is incredible.” E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo During his remarks at Tuesday evening’s forum at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Republican senate challenger Thomas F. McKay said he supports a bill to fund vouchers for families who choose to send children to private schools.

If the heat didn’t rise, the intensity certainly did. The two combatants went toe to toe for 30 minutes before a standing-room-only crowd on Tuesday evening, clashing on nearly every question posed by panelists.

McKay (R) assailed Dyson (D-St. Mary’s, Calvert, Charles) from the outset, questioning his vote against a comprehensive environmental initiative passed several years ago and accusing the incumbent of bowing to partisan politics in blocking a state takeover of 11 under-performing Baltimore City schools.

Dyson voted against Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act in 2004, which imposed a ‘‘flush fee” on septic users. Revenues went into a dedicated fund to upgrade wastewater treatment plants and rid waterways of dangerous nutrients. He said he opposed the bill because he was upholding a pledge in his previous campaign to resist tax increases. ‘‘If we want to be serious about cleaning up the bay, we’ve got to go back to the 1984 laws,” referring to the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Law, which prohibited development within 1,000 feet of environmentally sensitive waterways.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation recently issued a ‘‘dismal report card” for the health of the bay. Dyson said enforcement of the laws protecting the Chesapeake ‘‘is sporadic. Good in some areas, not in others. In St. Mary’s County, the lack of law enforcement is incredible.”

But McKay said Dyson has failed to take action when given an opportunity to improve the bay, pointing to the Restoration Act legislation. ‘‘He can’t just talk about it,” McKay said. ‘‘He has to act on it.”

Later, the two rivals sharply disagreed on the proposed state takeover of 11 Baltimore City schools earlier this year. Dyson said he opposed the proposal because Ehrlich and State Schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick had no plan to improve the failing schools. He warned that it would have set a precedent that could have led to a state takeover of deficient St. Mary’s schools. McKay alleged that Dyson was playing on the fears of residents and said St. Mary’s schools were in no danger of state control.

Dyson said the state has not provided enough money to improve academic performance at those schools failing to meet performance standards. ‘‘The money is not there to bring the schools up to par because the state hasn’t put any in their plans,” he said, also noting that rural systems have been overlooked in favor of city schools.

McKay said he would support legislation to provide vouchers for families who choose to send their children to private schools. ‘‘That creates a competition” among schools, he said, ‘‘and that truly makes us all better.”

McKay is considered Dyson’s toughest competition in years. A former congressman and state delegate, Dyson has said his work over three decades in elected office shows he can produce results.

Meanwhile, McKay touted local improvements in the last four years while he led the county government. He said the county has reduced taxes, readied for new school construction, protected Patuxent River Naval Air Station from encroachment and spared it from BRAC, and adopted a transportation plan to relieve congested roadways.

This term, he said, ‘‘has not been perfect, but we have brought about changes.”

McKay said funding of the Hughesville Bypass is only a small piece of the region’s transportation needs. Dyson has long promoted construction of a second span of the Gov. Thomas Johnson Bridge, ‘‘but we need to look at all the transportation needs, not just piecemeal needs.”

McKay also blasted Dyson for being part of a state legislature that the Wall Street Journal called the worst in the country for businesses. The rating was issued after the General Assembly passed the Wal-Mart bill, over Ehrlich’s veto, which required companies with more than 10,000 employees to contribute 8 percent of their revenue to employee health-care benefits.

Dyson argued that Maryland has a ‘‘very hospitable” business climate that has helped lure companies to St. Mary’s. ‘‘We are one of the high-tech capitals of the world, one of the most sought-after states” for businesses to set up shop.

E-mail Paul Leibe at pleibe@somdnews.com. Staff writer Alan Brody contributed to this report.