County Executive candidate banned from politicking at Frederick Fair

The Great Frederick Fair is in full swing this week at the Frederick County Fairgrounds. The annual hootenanny is replete with carnival rides, baked goods, ag-education seminars, all kinds of horses, cows, pigs and every barnyard animal you could practically name.

Without question, the extravaganza would not be complete without the eager politicians politiking.

The annual Fair is a fine way for political candidates and current elected officials to meet their constituents and future voters. It’s another opportunity for citizens to engage with their future and current elected leaders on policy and local issues while hawking down that extra large, 10,000-calorie funnel cake and foot-long beef dog.

While politicians and candidates are encouraged to attend the annual occasion, there are some basic ground rules they need to follow.

For example, the Republicans and Democrats typically set up shop within a confined area – usually a tent of some kind. All politicking and political canvassing (if you want to call it that) must be limited to one area. That means elected officials and political candidates aren’t granted carte blanche to roam the fairgrounds to harass attendees or bombard uninterested parties with campaign literature.

Generally, candidates have only one simple ground rule to abide: Keep the politicking inside their respective tents.

But Frederick County executive candidate Del. Kathy Afzali managed to find a way to have herself banned from politicking at the fairgrounds.

Dozens of Frederick County Fair attendees reported to A Miner Detail today that Afzali and her campaign team were warned multiple times by Fair officials not to politick outside of the designated Republican tent.

Complaints were leveled with the Fair board and Afzali and her campaign team were effectively banned from politicking on fairgrounds property, according to multiple sources who today attended the Fair.

Sources also reported to A Miner Detail that Afzali and her campaign team were “slapping stickers on children without parental permission and walking about the fairgrounds politicking in restaurant lines and at tables.

Requests for comment have invariably gone unanswered when attempting to reach the Afzali campaign.