CPD-PAC

Dewey voters re-elect mayor – Ruddertowne a central issue

From The News Journal:

The movement to preserve Dewey Beach’s 35-foot height limit for buildings won the day in Saturday’s town election.

Mayor Diane Hanson was re-elected to the town commission and newcomers Anna Legates and Joy Howell each won two-year terms to the unpaid posts. All three were endorsed by Citizens to Preserve Dewey, a political action committee that opposes efforts by the controversial redevelopment of the Ruddertowne complex that would increase the height limit.

The trio will join incumbent commissioners Marty Seitz and Jim Laird, whose seats were not up for a vote, on the five-member town council. › Continue reading

Hanson reelected, 2 incumbents ousted

Article from the Delaware Coast Press:

DEWEY BEACH — Changes are coming to the Dewey Beach Town Council.
Two challengers, Anna Legates and Joy Howell and incumbent Diane Hanson are the winners of the Town of Dewey Beach municipal elections, effectively ousting incumbents Rick Solloway and James “Zeke” Przygocki from council.

Legates was the big winner, getting 565 votes of support, while Hanson received 480 and Howell had 466. Solloway received 388 votes and Przygocki got 299, while Claire Walsh and David Ferry got 309 and 229 votes, respectively.
› Continue reading

Can you believe this, two days before the election?

Mayor Hansons’ response to the latest mud-slinging attempt:

Dear Friends and Neighbors,
You all most likely received a new petty attack email today from WeAreDewey, a new unknown PAC that emerged late in the election campaign and is supported by one of Dewey’s largest bars. It seems to have the sole purpose of assassinating my character, throwing more mud, and its statement today is libelous and untrue. The accuser wouldn’t even use his full name. No wonder!
He asserts I refused to have a productive discussion over his claim to a parking space my condo had used for 20 years. His newly built condo claimed it was on their property.
He threatened to sue me personally without warning, demanded a portion of my rental income because he said the space was theirs, and threatened on Thursday before Memorial Day holiday weekend to tow my renter’s cars. So who is difficult to work with?
This was a conflict between two condo associations. I was never personally involved and in fact asked another person in the Condo to handle it so this sort of false accusation would not occur. Although our attorney said we could win, she recommended mediation. The attorney never made the statement alleged by the accuser. After mediation, our condo association repainted the lines in our entire parking lot of 11 spaces, making each space smaller, in order to leave the one disputed space empty. We also installed signs marking each space, all at considerable expense to us. This was all done at significant expense to us and none to accusers. So where’s the beef?
Also see the attached which is an ad that will be in Friday’s Cape Gazette responding to the false and libelous accusations from Highway One.
Diane Hanson
Mayor, Dewey Beach
September 15, 2011

Candidate Advertisements for Dewey Beach 2011 Election (PDF)

Ad 1 (pdf)
Ad 2 (pdf)
Ad 3 (pdf)

Rainbow Over Dewey

ELECTION RESULTS:
Anna Legates, 565; Diane Hanson, 480; Joy Howell, 466; Rick Solloway, 388; Claire Walsh, 309; Zeke Przygocki, 299; David Ferry, 229.
After a dreary Saturday in Dewey Beach, the sun makes a brief appearance: this picture was snapped just minutes after the polls closed!

Legates, Hanson, Howell win Dewey election

From the Cape Gazette:

CPD: These ladies rock
By Kara Nuzback | Sep 19, 2011
Dewey Beach —

The results are in: Anna Legates and Joy Howell will join incumbent Mayor Diane Hanson on Dewey Beach Town Council. All three candidates were endorsed by political action committee Citizens to Preserve Dewey, a group of Dewey Beach residents and property owners who work to maintain a small town feel and fight big development in Dewey Beach.
During the Sept. 17 election, Dewey Beach voters also decided by referendum to cap the amount of money town council can borrow to 20 percent of the annual operating budget.
Legates, who received 565 votes – more than any other candidate – said she sensed a huge amount of support from voters on Election Day. “Many machine voters stopped on Saturday to talk about my overall platform and how important it is to respect our zoning codes and to protect the town,” Legates said in an email. › Continue reading

Letter to Highway One

September 5, 2011
Mr. Alex Pires
Highway One Partnership
113 Dickinson Street
Dewey Beach, Delaware 19971

Dear Mr. Pires:
At the Civil League Forum on Friday September 2, 2011, someone anonymously put a
flyer on the candidates’ materials table that was a copy of a Washington Post article
about the Foggy Bottom Association with a handwritten note at the top that said the
following: “Joy Howell Gets $5 Million to Back Off D.C. Development.”
Since your firm, Highway One, has published and distributed two distorted and false
smear attacks on Mayor Diane Hanson so far in this election, I thought it best to notify you that this statement about me is completely false.
I was not on the board, President, nor involved with the Foggy Bottom Association when it was paid rightfully for the neighborhood ownership interest in the Columbia Hospital for Women. My understanding is that the developer actually underdeveloped the property. Therefore, the Foggy Bottom Association had no reason to oppose it.
Most importantly in terms of this letter, the handwritten note linking me to the transaction is completely false because I never was involved in any decision by the Foggy Bottom Association to enter into any agreement with the developer. I was never even involved in opposing it even as a homeowner in Foggy Bottom. And neither I nor any other member of the Foggy Bottom Association received any personal financial benefit whatsoever.
A few years after this transaction was consummated, I was elected president of the Foggy Bottom Association, and we opposed another development in our community. We were fortunate to have a grant from the neighborhood trust foundation to retain legal counsel to do so. The reporter wrote the story at that time, and mistakenly said that the association was paid because it dropped its opposition to the Columbia Hospital for Women condominium project when in fact the association was paid because it had an ownership interest similar to the other owners.
This letter dated September 5, 2011, serves as notice to you and any of your associates and employees that any distribution or publication of this false information attempting to link me to this transaction or any decisions to back off home owner opposition to this development in exchange for some kind of payment is defamatory and libelous.

Sincerely,
Joy Howell
13 Saulsbury Street
Dewey Beach, DE 19971 (and 1001 26thSt. NW #808, Wash. D.C. 20037)

Letter from Ron Cocome

To the Dewey Beach Community:

Those of you who attended the recent candidate forum were treated to a flyer with no identity of the circulator.

This flyer was a reprint of an old Washington Post article about the travails of our Washington, DC Foggy Bottom Community with major new development by the George Washington University. A handwritten scrawl across the top of this one-sheeter reads, “Joy Howell gets $5 million to back off DC development.”
That attack is baseless. Joy Howell had no role whatsoever in the negotiations with Trammel Crow, the developer cited in the Post article.
I represented our community in negotiations with the developer. I negotiated with Trammel Crow, at its request, because the Foggy Bottom Association had a property interest in the proposed project. By necessity, Trammel Crow negotiated with us as it did with the other property owners.

Not Joy Howell — nor anyone else, myself included — got any compensation resulting from these negotiations.
I also note that Trammel Crow developed its property within the existing residential zoning standard. The developer never asked for any zoning variance. In fact, the final development came in at some 30,000 square feet under the zoning limit for its property.

While Joy Howell was not involved in this project, Joy has given many years of tireless service to our Foggy Bottom/West End community, without any financial remuneration. Both during and after her term as Foggy Bottom Association President, Joy has been an advocate for the people of our neighborhood — a truely sensational and honorable advocate.

This unfair and false personal attack on Joy by some shadowy figure is an insult to our community and to yours. When elected by you, I know that Joy will represent your interests, making you proud and grateful to have her as a friend and neighbor, as am I.

Respectfully yours,

Ron Cocome, Former President, Foggy Bottom Association, Washington, D.C.

Article from Washington Post

Additional letters from The Cape Gazette

The Following letters all appearing in the September 16th edition of The Cape Gazette, just a day before the election.

Candidate pledges to represent wisely

The past few weeks have been enlightening.  As a candidate for Dewey Beach commissioner, I learned to what extent other property owners share my passion for our beach and town. The fundamental theme of my campaign is leadership by listening to the people and making decisions that benefit the largest number of people possible.  When voting on issues that impact property values and their use, I pledge to involve the citizens in the decision-making process.
› Continue reading

Alex Pires Response

Dear Ms. Howell:

Sorry to disappoint you, but I had nothing to do with any flyers distributed at the Civic League forum. I could not care less about you.

Stop harassing me, my companies and employees. Stay out of all of our businesses. You are not welcomed.
We have the legal right to exclude anyone, and thus are excluding you, forever.

We will not allow you to threaten our businesses, our employees and their livelihood, and then come into our establishments and enjoy our food, drink and entertainment.

Do not email me or call me or enter my establishments (Rusty Rudder, Northbeach, Bottle and Cork, Venus, Jimmys Grille(s), Dewey Beach Liquors, Outlets) again. You are banned forever. In addition, I don’t want to receive any emails or other forms of communication from you, or see you. Ever.

Alex Pires