Guy joins Town Hall Alliance slate

Friday, Oct. 9, 2009

He is the fourth member of the Republican Town Hall Alliance slate, which includes Commissioner Larry Jarboe of the Golden Beach neighborhood. Richard Johnson of Valley Lee is running to represent southern St. Mary's and Dan Morris of Mechanicsville seeks to represent the Leonardtown-Hollywood area.

Kenneth F. Boothe, another Republican, is also running for president of the commissioners. Incumbent Francis Jack Russell (D) has already filed for re-election.

Guy, 62, was a Democrat until the day he filed for commissioner on Tuesday afternoon. "I term myself very conservative," he said Thursday, the day he filed for the slate.

He said he was recruited into the slate. "I've known Larry Jarboe most of my life. He had asked me to come to their meetings," Guy said. He agreed with the slate's platform of transparency in local government and clamping down on spending.

"I just don't like the way things are going, mainly in spending," he said. If elected as president of the commissioners he said he would like to "control spending and give people a break on taxes if possible."

Guy said, "We're the stewards of the people's money and we should act like it."

Regarding transparency in government, he said, "There should be no more Christmas Eve meetings." The commissioners voted 4-1 on Dec. 24, 2008, to offer $5.3 million for 172 acres of farmland in Leonardtown for public facilities use, including schools and a new library.

Guy is a St. Mary's County native. "We've been here since 1636," he said of his family. He graduated from St. Michael's High School in Ridge. He served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force and retired in 1994 as a senior master sergeant. He ran the Southern Maryland Pool and Spa business in Hollywood for a time but now says he is semi-retired.

Guy ran for school board in 2002 but lost to Bill Mattingly. Guy was on the county Democratic Central Committee for four years starting in 1998.

jbabcock@somdnews.com