Talbot County Council President Fabricating New Excuse

 Estimated read time: 6 minutes

Four years ago, Talbot County Council President Corey Pack spoke eloquently defining the Talbot Boys as a veterans' monument.  In another interview after the vote to save the Talbot Boys, he stated we shouldn't cave in to the vocal few and destroy our history in the process.  

Last month he changed his tune and said it's time for the Talbot Boys to go.

Last week, he fabricated a new story to justify getting rid of the Talbot Boys:

Pack says he’s heard that some people will not travel to the area and some local businesses are considering relocating as a result of the county council’s decision to keep the Talbot Boys monument where it is.  -WMDT News

A disclaimer before continuing is in order.  The WMDT News clip is poorly written.  For example, at the beginning of the story, the reporter writes:

Pack says the county council’s vote to keep the confederate monument on the courthouse grounds may be driving people away.

What is not clear is whether or not Pack referred to the Talbot Boys as a Confederate monument.  Elsewhere in the article, the Talbot Boys is referred to as "the Talbot Boys monument."  

Here's the bottom line.  If Pack referred to it as a "Confederate monument," he is wrong.  If the reporter referred to it as a "Confederate monument," she is wrong.  The Talbot Boys is a veterans' memorial.  Nothing more.  Professionals, be they politicians or reporters, should get the description correct.

Pack goes on to claim that he's heard some people say they won't travel here because of the decision to leave the Talbot Boys standing.  He takes the accusation a step further and claims some businesses have stated they will take their business elsewhere because of the decision to keep the Talbot Boys.  This sort of innuendo is wrong on many levels and only illustrates what sort of shady politician Pack is.

Businesses are here to make money...

...or at least they should be.  Anytime a business flexes its economic clout, politicians need to ask themselves if they really want a business to be making public policy or should the people be making the policy through the politicians.  It is clear with whom Pack aligns himself.  Money talks and he's willing to let money do his job and make public policy.

I don't even need to be educated to see the flaw in the argument that some businesses may relocate.  It is almost as hard to relocate a business as it is to start a business.  It takes capital, and a lot of it.  The relocation will cost a lot of customers, a customer base they will need to rebuild from scratch in their new location.  Walmart might be able to take such a stand and suffer the immediate losses, but most small businesses aren't going to take the risk.  

If Walmart takes the risk, should we care?  No, good riddance.  Whoever the County Commissioners were who brought in Walmart to Easton should be erased from the history books and tarred and feathered for their blunder.  That would take a tome-sized article for an explanation.  Suffice it to say that you can click on the Shop Local Delmarva tag in the left column or the original Shop Local Delmarva blog to read the articles I haven't yet migrated here. 

No business, big or small, should dictate public policy with the threat of economic repercussions if the community's politicians refuse to bow to their wishes.  That's not how we govern.  Pack should know that.  Either money through increased taxes is important to him or he's fabricating an excuse to push his own agenda to get rid of the Talbot Boys.

Tourists may go elsewhere...

...and others will come.  The Committee on Monument Equality and Preservation has a grand vision for the Talbot Boys and Talbot veterans of other wars.  First on their agenda is a Union Talbot Boys followed by a monument to the African-Americans who fought for the Union (in segregated companies at less pay) and the eighteen Union soldiers who brought their families to Talbot County and built the only known town founded by former slaves, Unionville.  As Pack stated five years ago, we shouldn't cater to the vocal minority who is offended or we won't have anything left.  If the Committee on Monument Equality and Preservation is successful in building their dream, the Talbot courtyard will draw more tourists to the area than currently drawn.  Talbot County will set the example for the nation of how a community builds, heals, and unites itself instead of canceling and erasing the past and its participants from our collective memories.

Who are these tourists who said they may go elsewhere?  

Who really cares?  

The better question is who does Pack think he serves - tourists or the citizens of Talbot?  Unless he can provide third party verified numbers of the decline in tourism that is not COVID-19 related, hearing a couple of people say they'll take a visit somewhere else is anecdotal - at best - fabrication - at worst.   Again, no politician should be following the money.  They should be following their constituency and what is right for their community.

Transparency is a must

On the left: Big Government   -   On the right: You, Average Citizen
Every citizen has a vested interest in who or what is influencing public policy and our politicians.  Politicians shouldn't be driven by the dollar sign.  They should be driven by what is right for their constituency.  Somewhere along the way, politicians have decided it is their job to tell us what we want, what we need, and what we should think.  It's time to take the government back and force politicians to do their job of telling us how we can get what we want instead of allowing them to push their own agendas on us.  

First up, who are these businesses trying to dictate public policy through their economic clout?  The citizens of Talbot didn't vote for a business owner to represent them so if a business owner decides to flex their economic muscle to influence public policy, the citizens have a right to know who they are.  Pack needs to produce the list of businesses that have threatened the county with economic loss if the Council doesn't change its mind on a public policy.  The citizens can then decide if they want to support that business or take their business elsewhere.

Second up, who is the typical tourist threatening not to come here?  For privacy reasons, obviously, we don't need names.  If there is some threat of serious economic loss over a public policy issue that warrants further investigation from our politicians, we need to know the typical profile of the "customer," i.e. visitor/tourist, for one reason - to ensure the politicians aren't fabricating a reason to scare us into accepting their agenda. 

Third up, politicians don't have their job to push their agenda.  They have their job  to tell us how we can do what we want to do.  The Council has entertained the idea of tearing down the Talbot Boys for the last five or six years.  They have yet to entertain the idea the Committee on Monument Equality and Preservation presented.  Pack claimed in the August council meeting that no citizen's group has come forward with a plan.  Either that's a lie or he's not doing his job.  The half dozen citizens who formed the Committee on Monument Equality and Preservation has been working on a plan for the last four years and in contact with County Manager Andy Hollis periodically.  Their latest request delivered through Andy Hollis has been a request for the Council to provide a Memorandum of Understanding so the group can start collecting donations.  Why is Pack running down to St. Michaels tourism director to bolster his fabricated economic backlash story instead of addressing the half dozen citizens trying to build something that will ultimately increase tourism?

What you can do

You are the politician's boss and that's why they have a job.  The outsider politicians like Comptroller Peter Franchot and Senator Chris Van Hollen have no say in our local politics.  Make sure they know that.

You, Average Citizen on the left, when you don't write your politicians

Councilpersons answer to us.  Ask Pack and Lesher for the names of companies that are  threatening to relocate over the Talbot Boys issue.  Ask them for the raw numbers of third party verified statistics on the potential negative economic impact the Talbot Boys may be causing.  And ask them why they won't entertain the proposal the Committee on Monument Equality and Preservation has been working on.

Ask Devilio, Callahan, and Price what they are doing about the Talbot Boys.  They appear in support of keeping the monument, but also appear not to be aware of the Committee on Monument Equality and Preservation's efforts over the last four years.  Tell them you want transparency and want to know which companies have threatened to relocate if the Talbot Boys remain.  

Send a quick email to the appropriate people listed below:

Corey Pack:  cpack@talbotcountymd.gov
Peter Lesher:  plesher@talbotcountymd.gov
Laura Price:  lprice@talbotcountymd.gov
Frank Divilio:  fdivilio@talbotcountymd.gov
Chuck Callahan:  ccallahan@talbotcountymd.gov
Peter Franchot:  pfranchot@marylandtaxes.gov
Chris Van Hollen: https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/contact/email

  • Chris, your senator, doesn't want to talk to you.  You have to go with a generic email form some flunkee future politician-in-the-making will get, but the form asks a lot of personal information no one needs to know.  The government loves to track, label, and categorize us.  Here's the trick.  Create a believable pseudo-identity.  Keep that identity in a notebook to use anytime you want anonymity.  Want a good example?  How long did it take you to learn Mark Twain wasn't a real person?  Samuel Clemons knew the importance of anonymity long before Google could've even been imagined.  You have the right to be heard no matter what name you choose to be heard under.  And, really, do you want a call from a politician?  The 555 exchange worked for Hollywood; it should work for you.  Anonymity is essential to the continuance of our democracy, especially in this age of the Cancel Culture.  Exercise your right to be anonymous.

 

TL;DR folks:

This article is something of importance if you live in Talbot County.  Please read the whole article.  If you live outside of Talbot County, what's in the article doesn't affect you much so there's no need for you to read it unless you really want to.

Now please excuse me while I indulge in a Pink Floyd listening orgy.  Almost fifty years ago, they wrote an album relevant to current events of today.  I'll only entertain you with fifteen minutes of their performance: 

For your listening pleasure:

 

Posted by A Drunk Redneck




Comments