St. Mary's Official Makes Unofficial Announcement
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 22, 2005
St. Mary's County commissioners President Thomas F. McKay (R-At Large) said last week that he has decided to leave his position to run against Democrat Roy P. Dyson for the three-term incumbent's state Senate seat.
Well, almost.
With the usual caveats about his commitment to his current post atop county government and not wanting to get ahead of himself, McKay, who held a fundraiser about three weeks ago, said if the deadline to file as a candidate were today, "I think I would file."
"I've certainly decided to fight to send some change to Annapolis," he said in an interview, adding that he would probably announce the formal decision by late this year or early next year. "We need to give the conservative philosophy a chance to govern in this state."
McKay's sentiments will come as little shock for anyone with half an eye turned toward St. Mary's County politics. Even though the election is more than a year away, many political observers have been expecting that McKay, who is in his first term as commissioners president, would challenge Dyson.
"If he doesn't challenge Roy Dyson," said Frank Taylor, chairman of the St. Mary's Democratic Central Committee, "there's going to be a lot of people that are going to be either disappointed or surprised."
Dyson, in his 10th year as a state senator, said it is premature to discuss the next election: "What are we, 17 or 18 months away?" But he did describe what he sees as the differences between himself and McKay. He said he opposed decisions by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) to increase automobile registration fees and impose a "flush tax" surcharge on water bills, but McKay favored those moves.
"If you're not for tax increases, then clearly you want Roy Dyson. If you're for slower growth in the county, you're going to want Roy Dyson. If you're not for a taxpayer-funded baseball stadium, you're going to want Roy Dyson," he said.
On Friday, he said he has been hearing from constituents unhappy about property taxes, the rate of development in the county and the burden on the Ridge Volunteer Fire Department.
"I'm doing a job that somebody else should be doing," Dyson said of the local concerns being brought to him, "and now he wants my job."
McKay was one of eight children raised on his family's farm in Hollywood. He has worked in the family grocery business in the county and has family ties to politics. His father served in the General Assembly. McKay said one reason he would want to run next year is so his parents, both of whom are in their eighties, would be able to see him take the oath of office in Annapolis.
"Who knows how many more years they'll be available to see that happen," he said.
With McKay preparing to run for Senate, other people have their eye on his seat in county government. This month, Jack Russell of St. George Island, who runs an environmental program for students called the Chesapeake Bay Field Lab, said he is planning to run for the commissioners president seat next year. Russell, 61, a Democrat, worked as a crabber, oysterman and bar owner before he and his wife started the nonprofit group, which runs skipjack tours. He was born and raised on Piney Point and has lived on St. George for more than three decades.
"I'm a lifelong countian," he said. "It's time to roll up our sleeves, suck it up and get something done for St. Mary's County."
St. Mary's was traditionally a Democratic stronghold, but the registration gap between the parties has narrowed considerably. McKay and many others say a large contingent of St. Mary's Democrats are more conservative than those in other parts of the state. In the last presidential election, President Bush captured 63 percent of the St. Mary's vote.
Senate District 29, which encompasses all of St. Mary's, the southern half of Calvert and a slice of Charles County, has been the domain of Dyson, since 1995. Dyson, who started as a member of the House of Delegates in 1975, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1981.
McKay described Dyson's decade of experience as a liability and said fresh ideas and energy are needed. He said his conservative positions are "more in tune with the rural county and certainly more in tune with this governor." McKay said he is pushing to have enough Republicans in the state legislature so Ehrlich could sustain a veto.
"We believe the liberal left has taken control of the Maryland House of Delegates, with [House Speaker] Michael Busch [D-Anne Arundel]," McKay said. "You've got a majority of conservatives in Southern Maryland . . . they're going to need to send some conservative support to Annapolis."