Sunday, December 11, 2011

CD6: Robin Ficker Unveils New Lawnsign // GOP Civil War: Roscoe Bartlett, Alex Mooney, Bud Otis Attacked

Ficker Unveils Lawnsign: Maryland Juice received an exciting announcement from Robin Ficker Realty's campaign for Congress. He's unveiling a new lawnsign in his quest for the GOP nomination in Maryland's 6th Congressional District:


This lawnsign is in contrast to That Guy with the Speak English Lawnsign (see photo at right), and it in some ways highlights one of the points Maryland Juice has been trying to make about the 6th District GOP Primary. I would suspect that Montgomery County's GOP voters are a different creature when compared to the rest of the CD6 Republicans. Ficker's press release bragged:
Robin Ficker, Republican for Congress & Jobs in Maryland's Sixth District, said today that he is the only candidate for Congress to have NO Gas Tax Hike on his campaign signs
Ficker is a maniacal lawnsign campaigner, so you can expect to start seeing his "Ficker/Gas Tax" lawnsigns... everywhere!

GOP Civil War Begins in CD6: Meanwhile, it seems the sniping from GOP candidates' supporters is now beginning. Former County Commissioner Richard Weldon of the Frederick-based Tentacle recently wrote a two-part series about the CD6 GOP Primary. In Part Two he said some very complimentary things about GOP. Sen. David Brinkley: "Sen. David Brinkley offers Sixth District voters their first viable alternative to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett in almost 20 years." But in Part One, he ripped into some of the other candidates:
Speculating over the political future of Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R., MD 6) has fast become a routine spectator sport. It's just too juicy to ignore, the idea the 10-term congressman might be vulnerable after two decades of electoral dominance....

His longtime chief of staff, Harold "Bud" Otis, was reported to have been building a potential GOP loyalty base just in case Dr. Bartlett backed out....

Regardless, it was a stupid move from a normally shrewd political operator, and one that has now resulted in his resignation, punishment for the sin of political disloyalty.
Frankly, Mr. Otis' actions always seemed questionable, if not downright inappropriate.... 
Former State Senator and current state GOP chairman, Alex Mooney, has also never hidden his own aspirations to replace his former boss. He once served as a chauffeur for Roscoe, so I suppose that automatically qualifies him for Congress.

Given the current state of gridlock and ineptitude in the United States House of Representatives, why not send Mr. Mooney to Capitol Hill? He has proven that:
  • He can make bombastic statements that appeal to partisan voters;
  • He can raise huge sums of money by employing scare tactics and hate-mongering;
  • He will consistently place the interests of a political party ahead of the interests of plain ol' citizens; and
  • His lack of legislative accomplishment ensured that he was never put in a position to influence any major policy issue.
Sounds like a model congressman! No doubt House Republicans would relish one more obstructionist in the mix, another loyal voice to join the Hallelujah chorus...

If he starts raising money (and he no doubt already has), then he should immediately resign his position as Maryland GOP Chairman....
Indeed, Maryland Juice previously noted that GOP Chair Alex Mooney was leaving the party in debt after quitting roughly a year into the job. I'm not surprised people are pissed about that. We also recently wrote about Mr. Ficker's own recent attack on State Senator David Brinkley. He noted that the legislator is a carpetbagger in the CD6 Primary:


Lastly, Roy Meachum on the Frederick-based Tentacle blog recently commented on the CD6 race, but unlike the others, he criticized the incumbent:
“The incumbent congressman promised the initial round to run a single additional time... that was nearly 20 years ago....

The first few terms went swimmingly when Gregg Cox was in charge of his office, but the original chief of staff left for a high-ranked Civil Service post with the Defense Department.

“On Mr. Cox’s departure, Harold F. (Bud) Otis, Jr., took over. His strongest credential apparently was that he shared Mr. Bartlett’s Seventh-day membership. Before being summoned to Capitol Hill, he was president of the church’s Family Enrichment Resources, infamous within Seventh-day Adventist circles for producing and selling a (disastrous) videotape Biblical series. Coming off a controversial and troubled stewardship, Mr. Otis markedly restricted access to his boss.

“During my Washington years, I saw this frequently. In order to keep their jobs, Capitol Hill staffs shut off elected officials from most matters the employees choose to ignore. In every instance, the representative or senator was defeated at the polls, sooner or later.”

And sure enough, from my October 21 column, in his turn, the new chief of staff ‘protected’ the congressman by restricting access” to Roscoe Bartlett. “My attempts to warn (the U.S. representative) of his distancing from the electorate was waved off and I tried a couple of times.”
Ouch. This race is getting hot!

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