The Bowie City Activist

C&C Dance Company where America dances at Melford in Bowie, Maryland USA, and the life and legacy of my MCI Communications Corporation boss & Chairman William G. McGowan is honored! "The meek shall inherit the earth, but they'll never increase market share" - William G. McGowan “Fred Robinson will forever be known in Bowie as the Mayor who spent $72,000 of city tax money attacking a reputable dance education and recreation business that half the towns’ children have attended at one time or another”, said Dahms in a press release dated August 6, 2006. "Frankly, there are people in this community, who like me, do not trust Fred Robinson enough to handle a police force because of STUPID things like his assault on the C&C Dance Studio" Richard Dahms quote from Annette Esterheld's February, 2004 Bowie Blade News article, "Activist takes on mayor over tech center dance studio". "I grew up on the streets of Bowie. When someone picks a fight with you, you fight". 1998 Richard Dahms quote to Bowie Blade News writer Cheryl Allison  "I intend to bring down the discriminatory last vestiges of the “Old Boys Club” here in Bowie. I have many issues with this election that I am still working through. You have a complete mess on your hands!"    A private e-mail message from Richard Dahms to The Bowie City Council dated Sunday, November 6, 2005 1:25AM Subject Matter: Chamber of Commerce Membership Cancellation. Blade News Editor John Rouse copied. "The City of Bowie Election is April 7, 1998. It's a three way choice between Bowie's Past, Present and Future. Vote for the Future - Richard A. Dahms for Mayor"  -  1998 Bowie Blade News political advertisement entitled "Taking It To The Streets" copy of which can be found on the Bowie City Activist website by clicking on the January 7, 2006 icon above or by navigating in the drop down box to the January 7, 2006 BCA webpage. "I have wrestled with the Logue/Robinson local political monopoly. They have made me stronger. Iron sharpens iron" - Richard A. Dahms EDITOR'S NOTE: To my MCI Friends and Family - I know the real truth about what happened to our beloved MCI, and why WorldCom CFO Scott Sullivan redeemed the $700 million in MCI debenture bonds in February, 2002 only 4 months prior to the revelation of the largest financial fraud and largest corporate bankruptcy in American business history. WorldCom corporate raiders Bernie Ebbers and Scott Sullivan trashed one of America's great companies.  We can all be proud of our MCI legacy -  we built a company that we can ALL be proud of.   Bill McGowan: Thank you...you were a Great American!!!!

Greetings Friends! Welcome to the Bowie City Activist website at www.bowiewatch.org sponsored by The Dahms Group, LLC. There is much work to be done in Bowie - people to see, places to go, and dance studios to be defended. So, let's get busy in Bowie. Here are the highlights of this webpage. Previous pages can be viewed by clicking in the drop down box found on this page: •CITY OF BOWIE APOLOGIZES TO THE OWNERS OF THE C & C DANCE COMPANY •KUDOS TO THE CITY OF BOWIE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT •CITY COUNCIL COMEDY CAPER •KROEMER'S DEPARTURE RAISES QUESTIONS •COLLISION COURSE 1998 •ANNOUNCEMENTS •BOWIE BRIEFS •MAILBAG CITY OF BOWIE APOLOGIZES TO THE OWNERS OF THE C & C DANCE COMPANY On behalf of the citizens of Bowie, allow me to provide you with an apology that you will never receive from several arrogant officials of the City of Bowie who are responsible for the assault on your fine educational and recreational business, the C&C Dance Company. I apologize to you and your family on behalf of the City of Bowie. Please accept the City's sincere apology. In the past several months, I have tried to obtain an exact status of your business as it relates to Robinson/Brady/Jenkins failed Melford covenants, but the cowards who assaulted your business will not respond to me with an exact status. In Dance War Theatre (new subscribers on blind distribution would have to see early Bowie City Activist e-mails that pre-date www.bowiewatch.org to understand), I give you Fred Robinson's County Council defeat. I worked very hard behind the scenes to help block Robinson's election in response to his assault on your business. Even a moron knows Bowie taxpayers do not pay taxes to put your business out of business. The fact that it wasn't a rendering plant, made the assault on your business by certain officials of the City of Bowie so obvious that it could not even be obfuscated by Blade News writer and Fred Robinson crony Judge Gerard Devlin, who displayed a complete lack of JUDGMENT by accepting a payment from a city political campaign last year. The GUARDIAN ANGELS prevailed (but this time, not the ones from Brooklyn, New York when I welcomed them to the City, and on Channel 4 News defended their right to picket on a Kenilworth city street that just happened to be in front of Devlin's home). I have been faithful in the defense of your business in the Court of Public Opinion since using my Bowie public domain status in 2004 to launch the successful "Operation Dance Shield" and "Operation Dance Storm". In 2005, I asked Diane Polangin and others to join us in the defense of your business when officials of the City of Bowie colluded with the Greater Bowie Chamber of Commerce and the Bowie Blade News to block my successful participation in the 2005 city election. Regrettably, our friend Bill Aleshire got caught in the cross-fire and was a political fatality. We honor his memory in the service of defending your business. The Bowie City Activist website is visited by hundreds of citizens in Bowie with each update, and our friend Ingrid Turner defeated Robinson by less than 60 votes. Again, I apologize on behalf of those three arrogant individuals who pass themselves off as public servants - Mayor Gee Fred Flintstone; Dennis Brady who took a bow (or, a bowl movement) at your 2004 C&C Dance recital and received large applauses from the audience when we thought C&C was saved, but in fact C&C was not saved at the time (Dennis, that was very misleading); and of course, movie star and bit part player in chick flick films Jackie Jenkins. If they ever make a movie of the City of Bowie versus MIE/C&C Dance Company and Operation Dance Shield and Operation Dance Storm, perhaps Connie Jenkins can write a movie review for the Bowie Blade News. I would recommend the late Moe Howard to play Gee Fred Flintstone if Fred Flintstone himself is not available to play the part. May I suggest Charlton Heston in his prime to play Richard Dahms. We can show the movie in Dance War Theatre where Connie can write her movie review. Thank you for the opportunity to serve, and thank you for the education and recreation your company provided to my daughter. My daughter's C & C Dance experience was very educational. Again, I apologize to you, your family, your teachers and your students on behalf of the City of Bowie. The Chairman & Commander of the successful Operation Dance Storm Forces, Richard P.S. - This electronic message is brought to you as a public service

KUDOS TO THE CITY OF BOWIE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT In all the years I have been observing Bowie City Government, it is my observation that the Public Works department is the one department that citizens respect the most in Bowie. Once again, the department responded to an emergency as a result of the violent storm that hit on Thursday, September 28, 2006. The Public Works department was on scene almost immediately, and worked through the entire weekend, and subsequent weekends.  The City's Public Works department is headed by Jim Hendrickson, a very competent man who silently and quietly heads the most visible and best department in Bowie. I am reminded of the blizzard of 1996. The day after the blizzard, the roads in Bowie were clear and I needed to get to my work at MCI. However, I ran into difficult driving when I reached my MCI office in Tysons Corner. Bowie's roads were clear, but upscale McLean, Virginia's were not. We are blessed to have one of the best Public Works departments anywhere. Great job Bowie Public Works!  CITY COUNCIL COMEDY CAPER Perhaps the funniest Bowie City Council caper in recent months fell victim to District 3 Councilman Todd Turner. Reference is made to the October 5, 2005 Bowie Star article, "Bowie debates a councilman's voting rights" by Jason Flanagan. A city council vote on a property known as the Dixon property became a bell weather for an alleged conflict of interest matter involving Councilman Todd Turner.  The Council had previously discussed the Turner's status on the Council behind closed doors only to become a matter of public record during the Dixon property discussion in early October. It was alleged Todd Turner's fulltime position as director of constituent services for County Councilman Doug Peters was a conflict of interest with Turner's part-time City Council position. Mayor Fred Robinson delivered a letter to Turner informing him that he must choose between his two positions. "Mr.. Turner should have the ability to represent the people who put him into office", said Kevin Conroy. The Bowie City Activist agrees. The alleged conflict of interest was a smokescreen. Any Bowie City Council input into issues regarding proposed development outside our city limits is only non-binding advisory. The only development issues that Turner would have to recluse himself would be for proposed development within the city limits.     The most hilarious part of this city council caper was Mayor Gee Fred Flintstone. It was funny to watch the mayor fumbling to find what the intent of his own letter to Councilman Turner was. Talk about incompetence. Here Robinson writes Turner a letter telling him to chose between his City Council job in which he had been elected by the people or his county job as an aide to County Councilman Peters, and then Robinson publicly cannot tell Turner what the intent of his letter was. It was absolutely funny to watch Robinson requesting help from the city attorney on the intent of his own letter bearing his signature. The mayor's incompetence keeps us entertained.

KROEMER'S DEPARTURE FROM BOWIE RAISES QUESTIONS Kurt Kroemer anounced he is leaving Bowie! The District 1 Councilman joins his predecessor Valerie Bennett and in earlier times, Judy Santini under the old city ward system that is largely district 1 today, as councilpersons who have abruptly left Bowie without completing their term. What is it about District 1 that cannot keep their council persons? In the Mayor's State of the City address, he fails to mention that there is a silent flight out of Bowie with people voting with their feet. If the Bowie City Council is truly representative of the city and what is occurring in our community, then we should not be surprised that a city council person is leaving without completing his/her term. However, his departure raises some questions: •Did he know when he ran for office a year ago that he was going to build a house in the Annapolis area? Building a house takes time and planning. •Both Bennett and Kroemer moved to Annapolis. Is Annapolis considered a "move-up" from Bowie? Or, said another way, is Bowie a step down from Annapolis? •Kroemer's reason for moving is to be closer to his son's school, St. Anne's School. Why is Kroemer's son already enrolled in an Anne Arundel school if the move was not already pre-planned? Aren't there enough private and public school options in Bowie? •Kroemer states at a city council meeting that "Bowie is the best place he has ever lived?" If this statement were true, then why is he moving? The Bowie City Activist wishes Kurt Kroemer well. He is a good man, and our community is less because of his move. Rebecca Sunday wanted the seat in November, 2005. The Bowie City Council would be re-miss if it selected someone else, and did not appoint Sunday to fill the void. As we learned the last time the seat was vacant, there are plenty of people out there who would apply for the seat without ever going through the rigors of an election. Sunday went through the city's election process, and therefore is more qualified. See the November 14, 2005 Bowie City Activist webPage by navigating to the drop down box. Kroemer's exit out of Bowie is a statement (no matter what the circumstances). COLLISION COURSE 1998 After I ousted City Mis-Manager Moore in 1992 and long time Mayor Dick Logue announced he would not run in 1994, things quietly began improving in Bowie from my vantage point. Gary Allen was elected mayor against Betsy Burian in an open 1994 race. I caught wind of the Boardroom fight that occurred in the hiring the new city manager, David Deutsch. The Logue/Robinson political monopoly appeared dead and the new leadership prevailed. Under Mayor Gary Allen’s watch, wildlife and trees were respected in our city. We had a better group of people like Judy Santini, Betsy Burian and Dale Grant on the city council. The new city manager, David Deutsch, dug in and I thought things were OK in my hometown in the mid 1990s. I returned to MCI Communications as a financial consultant under a contract that lasted more than a year. Finally, after a five year absence from my former company, I accepted a position that grew into considerable influence in MCI and life kept me very busy. The joy of my life came in 1996 with the birth of my daughter, Sarah. As far as the city was concerned, I was gone often as I traveled quite frequently on MCI business. As a funny aside, I once checked out MCI Chief Operating Officer Tim Price’s corporate jet to take my executives on a whirlwind tour of MCI across America. MCI had four corporate jets. There were no rules on who could check out the use of the corporate jets. So, acting in my capacity of Chief of Staff for a Senior Vice President whose 2,000 employee organization was spread out throughout America, I "checked" a MCI corporate jet out like you would check out a library book. In Sacramento, California, after speaking to a group MCI employees and en route to the airport to fly to our next stop in Denver to address a few hundred MCI employees, I received word that Tim Price (back in D.C.) wanted to use his jet to take care of a Fortune 50 customer. When he found out the jet was gone and who signed it out, he yelled from the top floor of MCI’s World Headquarters, “Who in the hell is Dick Dahms and how can anyone just sign the jet out???” Needless to say, there was a new corporate policy after we returned from our Whirlwind Tour, although for the record, I did not break any existing internal MCI corporate rules at the time. Back in Bowie, I went to our County Library branch one day, and I took a real good look at the facility. There were drips of water coming from the ceiling, the carpet smelled of mildew and the whole library looked very shabby. Sometime in 1996 or 1997, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Blade News suggesting that the City of Bowie acquire the Library and go into the library business. I even suggested that it be job enrichment for the good job our city manager, David Deutsch was doing. Once a regular letter to the editor writer, it was my first letter written to the Blade News after a long absence. I was quite content to be a one-time Bowie Mayoral candidate and had great confidence in Mayor Gary Allen’s ability to be honest and fair. During his four year absence from the Council, Fred Robinson twice tried unsuccessfully to run for County Council. Richard Castaldi from Greenbelt was our County Councilman. Back in the early 1990s, I discovered Richard Castaldi to be very constituent oriented and we had dinner together once as he listened to me talk about the city’s management problems from my perspective. It is quite easy for me to understand why Fred Robinson lost to Greenbelt’s Castaldi in a predominantly Bowie district and why he failed to be elevated to the next level of legislative service. It was Richard Castaldi who forced the Logue/Robinson regime to clean-up its code enforcement act creating the city’s Administrative Review Board. I remember testifying quite angrily in Upper Marlboro because we had such incompetent people (Logue/Moore/Robinson) at the helm. In retrospect, Dick Logue was very competent as a mayor because he did have a thought process. But not Robinson. He was never competent. I knew Mayor Dick Logue. I sparred with Dick Logue, and I ran against Mayor Logue. I can assure you, Fred Robinson is no Dick Logue! In 1998, after two unsuccessful runs for County Council, Robinson re-emerged at the city level after Mayor Allen announced he would not seek re-election. My collision course with Fred Robinson in 1998 was inevitable. During the 1998 three way mayoral contest between Robinson (D) and Betsy Burian (R?), the city infamous "South Bowie Fence Fight" occurred. A supporter of my mayoral campaign owned a prominent fence along Northview Drive. He allowed my campaign to string a line of 12 "Dahms for Mayor" signs on the fence. Every night, my signs were maliciously taken down, and my friend's prominent fence was being damaged. Fred Robinson (D) won the election with 51% of the vote. Burian (R?) received 44%, and Dahms (I) received 5%. I was surprised by the result given my numbers in the 1992 campaign against Mayor Logue. However, in retrospect, I did not have any poll watchers and I was not present in City Hall when the City Clerk counted the vote. ANNOUNCEMENTS - A bank account in the name of "Friends of Richard Dahms" has been opened. In the past, I have financed my own city political campaigns. In 1998, I financed the campaign entirely myself, and did not accept campaign contributions when they were offered because I knew I would not win. In 1992, my "Citizens for New City Management" campaign had a fund surplus, and the fund surplus was returned to each campaign contributor on a pro rata basis. Has anyone in this city ever made a political contribution and received left over money back pro rata? I financed the Maryland Public Information Act lawsuit threat against the Logue/Moore/Robinson regime myself. We have City Manager David Deutsch as a result of that effort. I write the Bowie City Activist website without compensation so the public can judge me by my words, and the public can see how I think. I have never asked my community for money to fund my local political activist activities. This is a work of caring about our hometown. If anyone values the long distance work that the Bowie City Activist has performed in Bowie for many years now, and wants to contribute a free will offering or gift, then feel free to write: Friends of Richard Dahms, PO Box 3049, Crofton, Maryland 21114. Checks should be made out to "Friends of Richard Dahms". - The Dahms Group, LLC has completed a telecommunications finance consulting engagement at a well known Annapolis, Md. company that was recently acquired by AT&T for $300 million. Because of a confidentiality clause contained in the contract, the name of the company cannot be publicly disclosed. BOWIE BRIEFS - The Bowie City Activist website congratulates Councilwoman elect Ingrid Turner on her election as our District 4 Council woman. She is an individual who we can ALL trust and respect. CONGRATULATIONS INGRID!!!!!!!! - Boy Scout Troop 1283 is having its annual citrus fruit sale on Saturday, December 2, 2006 from 9:00 Am to 1 PM at the parking lot of Cresthill Baptist Church. Navel Oranges, Indian River Grapefruit and Tangelos are all $22 per case. Email dsbagnell@earthlink.net to reserve your order. - The BCA will be happy when Verizon completes its cabling work in the city. The contractor workers are doing a poor job of picking up their trash left behind on city streets. - Cool Wave Water is coming to Bowie! Look for a private label and a press release. MAILBAG Letters to the BCA can be sent to richarddahms@comcast.net. Please indicate whether or not you want your name to be published. NASH WOODS/MELFORD ZONING SWAP. Actually the Nash Woods preservation may have been the genesis for considering mixed use at Melford, but it was a different path. The "less esteemed" editor was not so kind once any open minded conversations which affected Nash were complete. I think auntie may have taken a bigger flip flop than Robinson in order to sell papers…… MORE ON MELFORD. Richard, you point out the correct history. Turner, Conroy and Lyles have always thought some housing is necessary to jump start the property (not to mention finally bring in taxes- we loose about $4 million a year by 'standing firm and doing nothing'). There may be differences on how many and what type of housing units but the three Councilmen have maintained the belief that the developmental mentality is to work, live and play in the same area. It is all across this Country and really was part of Gov. Glendening's 'Smart Growth' program. LETTERS. We need some anti-Fred letters to the "so called" editor of the Blade between now and the primary. RD Comments: We won't need to do anything because Flintstone will do something stupid on his own like flip flopping on the Melford covenants causing anti-Fred letters to be written by Blade News readers. DOUG PETERS. Dick, you and I are long term buddies . . . but you missed the boat on Peters. The Post had it right yesterday with its endorsement of Bobby Henry. SHUKOOR AHMED. Thanks Richard for your endorsement. I will circulate to my email contacts tomorrow. I am working hard...and I sincerely appreciate your support....You were always supportive.... Thanks. Shukoor. A MESS. Richard you are a mess, you can quit the day job and become a comedian, Ha, ha! RD: Thank you!!! BLADE NEWS ARTICLE. I read the article in the Blade about you and the first thing I said to (NAME WITHHELD) was, "I'd like to hear Richard's side of the story". Of course, the Blade did not give you a chance. WHAT HAPPENED? OK Richard, what really happened to you with Fred Robinson and the police? RD: On the advice of my legal Counsel, I really cannot comment other than saying I was going about my company business on Friday, September 22, 2006 when I found "Robinson for County Council" signs on public city property in violation of the Code of Bowie. The election was over, and as far as I was concerned, Ingrid Turner had been elected the District 4 County Council representative. As BCA readers know, I caught Mayor Robinson failing to certify his mayoral campaign finances in last November, 2005 city election as required by city law. It is also against city law to place campaign signs on public property. I took the signs off city property and delivered them to Robinson leaving them on the street and honking my horn to let him know they were there. The facts as described by Robinson are in dispute and the Court DID NOT rule on the facts. This whole mis-understanding is yet another Gee Fred Flintstone screw-up. ----------------------END OF LETTERS------------------- The Bowie City Activist can be reached at richarddahms@comcast.net. The Bowie City Activist is brought to you by The Dahms Group, LLC as a public service. Have fun in Bowie land! Until next time, this is your Bowie City Activist, Richard Notice: Content on this website may not be copied or reproduced without permission. © 2006 – The Dahms Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.