Frederick County Republicans Release Statement on Otis

By Eric Beasley

Well the storm has been brewing since the 2014 elections, and it looks the sum of Frederick County’s Republican organizations have decided to call out Bud Otis based on his record. Not personal attacks, but calling him out for claiming to be a Republican that “Shares our values” and taking that promise back as soon as the lure of power became too strong.

Below is the letter signed by Billy Shreve, Chairman of the Republican Central Committee, Mark Schaff, President of the Republican Club, and Brian Harris, Vice-Chair of the Young Republicans.

In response to Councilman President, Bud Otis’s party affiliation change and leaving the Republican Party, the Frederick County Republican Central Committee would like express a heartfelt thank you for finally acknowledging that you are not a Republican, do not represent Republicans, and we are grateful that you have turned in your card.

Councilman Otis stated “based on the intense acrimony, uncontrolled anger, and mean spirited personal attacks made against me for my council leadership by some outspoken members of the local Republican party led in part by the new local chairman.” This is just another misrepresentation from Councilman Bus Otis. The pressure he felt was from those that had voted for him. The local Republican Clubs and Central Committee received many calls and emails from constituents complaining and angered by Bud Otis’s votes. Councilman Otis was invited to a Club meeting to address his voting record. Republicans came from all over the county came to express their displeasure with him. He heard over and over “I regret ever voting for you, you don’t represent me” from his constituents.

Bud Otis also said “The local leadership of this party in this county has engaged in a policy of petty personal attacks division, anger, and bullying in a misguided and destructive attempt to control me.” If by “control me” he means voting as his constituents thought he should and would, then yes, the Party and the voters expects that. He then went on to say “They clearly have little or no regard for the citizens of Frederick county and this government chosen by our voters, and initially endorsed and pushed by them while part of the previous board.”
Regard??? How can Councilman Otis speak of “regard for the citizens” when he campaigned as a fiscal conservative and once elected ignored his voters.

Bud Otis ran on the reputation of our beloved Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, deceitfully took money from Republican supporters, and sent fundraising letters to Blaine Young’s donors touting Blaine’s endorsement asking for campaign donations. Bud Otis even pledged in writing that he would never vote to raise taxes as he stated here in his own words –https://www.facebook.com/budotis/?fref=ts.

Councilman Bud Otis did all of this for his own benefit and aspirations. He did so because he knew he would never be elected as a Democrat. He used our conservative values, our Party, its members, and constituents all in the name of deception.

After being elected Council Otis’s first act was to meet with the Democrats and construct a deal that would put him a power position. For that, he has voted in unison with them to enact and pass their agenda items to raise taxes, increase spending, and get rid of English as the official language. With Councilman Otis’s vote they have increased County Government spending by $35 million on the last two budgets.

Now, we as a Party Committee no longer have to deflect comments and allegations about Otis’s voting record and defend our Party position. Republicans in Frederick County now see Bud Otis for what he truly is, a” bait and switch” candidate.

We call on Councilman Bud Otis to resign and let the Party place a true conservative on the council, which is what the voters of Frederick County intended when they voted. We also feel the voters are entitled to a refund of their hard earned money wasted on donations to his campaign. Councilman Otis has defrauded the voters of Frederick County and they deserve to be compensated. Maybe his actions and deeds should be brought to the ethics committee as fraud and misrepresentation of the voters is surely an egregious act. But for now they can only ask for their money by contacting him at 240-397-0353 or BOtis@FrederickCountyMD.gov.

Sincerely,

Frederick County Republican Central Committee – Billy Shreve, Chairman

Frederick County Republican Club – Mark Schaff, President

Frederick County Young Republicans – Brian Harris, Vice-Chairman

While reading this letter, I could feel the frustration from all three organizations. I’ve seen it for years now, all three of these organizations walked away from the 2014 election thinking, “well, we lost CE, but at least we can keep a check on Tax And Spend Gardner with 4 seats on Council.”

Boy, were we wrong…

As stated in the letter, the County government has grown by $35 million in just the last year. The County also threatened to confiscate private property (Citizens/Montevue) through use of eminent domain. That’s something Liberty-Lovers like to call “comply with the government or we will shoot you.” I personally liken those actions to extortion, give us your property or we will take it from you by force.

I imagine the County Republican Organizations are glad that Councilman Otis has changed registration. Now, these groups can speak out publicly against his reckless and self-serving actions that harm our pocketbooks.