The five candidates who win the Republican Primary on Sept. 10 will run in the Nov. 5 general election. The primary features five separate races for commissioner, based on four commissioner residency districts and one commissioner at large position. Voters can only pick one candidate from each of the five groups.

The Republican field includes:

* At large seat: Ben Cassell, Bob Newberry and Richard A. Smith.

* District 1 seat: Joe Cupani, John "Squeakie" Lofland, Bob McCormick and Dan Shortall.

* District 2 seat: Stephen S. Hershey Jr., Rodney "Nemo" Niedomanski and Barb Pivec.

* District 3 seat: Robert W. Foley and Peter B. Lee.

* District 4 seat: Mike Koval and John T. McQueeney Jr.

Except for Foley, all the Republican commissioner candidates attended the forum. Each gave opening and closing statements and, in between, took questions from people in the audience.

A Kent Island resident asked Lee - who plans to move from District 3 to District 4 - if he felt he was being honest with District 3 voters. She said a commissioner who doesn't live in the district would be going against the principles of the Character Counts! program - the character education program touted by the county. Lee said he is qualified to run in District 3 according to the county election board. He said he plans to move about a half-mile away from his current home and, if elected, would represent the entire county.

Kent Island resident Rick Moser asked McQueeney about campaign contributions from developers whose plans go before the county planning commission. Moser is president of the Kent Island Defense League and a Democratic candidate for the at large commissioner seat. McQueeney, an incumbent commissioner who also serves on the planning commission, said he has taken contributions from various people, including developers and a conservationist. McQueeney, who voted to oppose the Wal-Mart project on Kent Island, said one contributor was an official in the company that wants to build the Wal-Mart.

"I haven't turned any donations down, but none has turned my head either," said McQueeney.

"I'm concerned about our water quality in this county," said Dick Walls, a resident of northern Queen Anne's County. He said decisions by current and past commissioners have allowed projects to be built that polluted the water. How do you improve water quality, he asked.

Lofland said at one time he wished you could put up a fence across State Route 304 to keep development limited to Kent Island and south county. But you can't just blame the commissioners, he said, because the commissioners need feedback from citizens. "Really, we've got to blame everybody in the room. Everybody from here to the bridge."

Jan Burns said she is concerned about the density of development and its effect on aquifers that supply drinking water. "We have a lot of wells that have gone dry in Queen Anne's County," she said.

Newberry said the county needs to lobby hard in Annapolis to convince the Maryland Department of the Environment to make water use restrictions tighter. He said MDE uses an 80 percent depletion standard - when the average depth of an aquifer falls 80 percent - to signal a drought emergency. He said that's like waiting until your gas gauge falls to "E" before deciding to fill up your car with gas.

"The state kind of has to pick up their scale a little bit," said Newberry.

McQueeney said the commissioners took wrote a letter to Gov. Parris Glendening asking him to add Queen Anne's County to the list of counties under MDE's level 1 mandatory water use restrictions. Cecil County is the only Eastern Shore county under the restrictions. 

Cassell said the county put up signs about a week and a half ago urging residents to conserve water, but "the drought didn't happen a week and a half ago."

"You can't take water for granted anymore. ... It goes back to growth," said Cupani. He said the county should find the annual average of building permits issued over the past 10 years, and use that figure as a cap.

Pivec said it's an emergency situation now for people without water in their homes. She said the county commissioners need to communicate a clear message to residents on what needs to be done.

Most residents said they opposed allowing slot machines in Queen Anne's County. Hershey and Lofland favor the idea. Koval said residents should decide by a referendum. Niedomanski said legal gambling is an issue that will be decided by the state; he was not sure about supporting it for Queen Anne's County. Newberry said he would consider slots under "performance based governance," a strategy for county government that would address growth, taxes and education. 

The Republican candidates also spoke about other issues. Smith said he would introduce a 5 percent cap on property tax assessment increases. He also said he would reintroduce the 2-1-2 plan, which would eliminate the at large commissioner position. Instead there would be three residency districts - with two commissioners from a Kent Island district; one commissioner from a Grasonville/Queenstown district; and two commissioners from a district that includes the Centreville area and north county.

"We need managed growth, not smart growth," said Shortall. He said an industrial park needs to be built in north county. The county debt ($1,440 per capita) is too high, he said.

Support of the fire and rescue services is one of his main issues, said Niedomanski. He said impact fees should have been raised in small increments since the first impact fee ordinance was introduced in 1990. Hershey said preserving the quality of life, education and residential development were all important issues.

"If we can't control our spending, we can't control our taxes," said McCormick. 

"The county needs leadership. We're at a fork in the road," said Cassell. He said the county takes in enough revenue, but better decisions need to be made to spend money wisely.

Koval said a building permit cap is needed to manage development. "My platform is to limit the growth. Put a number on it," he said.

In response to a question about the impasse in contract negotiations between the school board and teachers union, Cupani said the county commission should have a representative on the school board just as it does on the planning commission.

Pivec said the county needs a new vision. "The process of county government creates the biggest impact on people's lives," she said. 

Lee, a member of the county planning commission, said his service on that panel will help him as a commissioner. McQueeney, seeking his second straight term, said health, education and safety are his three main issues just as they were in 1998. He said the current board has approved measures or is in the process of revising policies or ordinances to better control growth.

One resident took Lofland to task because his yard has junk on it, saying she didn't appreciate his vision for Queen Anne's County if that was his vision for home ownership.

"Yeah, my yard has been in a hell of a mess," said Lofland. He said his kids were stripping cars to run in the demolition derby in Harrington. He drew laughs from the audience when, during his closing remarks, he promised to clean up his yard.

Lofland said his philosophy was that a man could do what he wanted on his property as long as it didn't infringe on the rights of others. He said he decided to run for commissioner last January to try to get more north county residents interested in county government. 

"And by God I've succeeded in what I started to do," said Lofland. 

©The Star Democrat 2002