Questing for Atlantis

I meant to post this last week, but after I had it 75% written and then lost it all I said to hell with it and decided to do it later. So here it is.

A couple weeks ago now I spoke at the Queen Anne’s County Commissioners Meeting. My purpose in speaking was to respond to an advisory opinion issued by the county Ethics Commission against my father (he spoke as well, in fact my comments follow and build off of his).

To offer a little bit of context, my father is a real estate broker and occasional small-scale developer. Queen Anne’s County unfortunately happens to be in the grip of a fervent, one might even say rabid, anti-growth movement. Even though the county is still something like 80% open land and in no danger of being over-developed (For the record, nowhere in QAC is over-developed or anywhere near it. I went to school in north New Jersey so I know what I’m talking about) the anti-growthers, who should rightfully be recognized not as anti-growth but as anti-freedom, are insistent upon stopping any and all development in county. As a result, since my father is a proponent of a reasonable growth policy, they have been fervently against his appointment to the county Planning Commission.

Their most recent move was to get Commissioner Fordonski to file an eleventh hour request for an advisory opinion as to whether my father or the one other person not opposed to growth would have a Conflict of Interest preventing them from serving. The Ethics Commission, in a clearly incorrect decision, held that yes, it was a Conflict of Interest (I’ll post more on this later most likely), hence the comments by my father and I.

You can watch them here. Once you click the link, choose Commissioners Meetings, then Commissioners Meeting 1/26/10 Part 1 of 2. My father’s comments begin at about 00:53:33 (be sure to watch his comments and then the back and forth afterwards). After that I speak at 01:08:15.