This Bud’s Not For You, Frederick
There’s a scene from the cult-classic movie, Office Space, when the protagonist is being interviewed by two consultants (the Bobs) after having decided that when it came to work he just didn’t care anymore. The three men sit down at the conference table, both Bobs facing the main character. The Bobs were hired to figure out who to keep and who to let go while the company downsized.
The Bobs looked at the main character’s file and one remarks, “it looks like you’ve been missing a lot of work lately.” The main character responds with, “I wouldn’t say I’ve ‘been missing’ it, Bob.”
That’s how the Frederick Republican Party should feel after today’s announcement from County Council President Bud Otis that he was leaving the party and becoming “unaffiliated.” Even the Frederick News Post notes:
Dozens of times since the election, Otis has broken from the Republicans on the council to join Democrats in supporting various measures. He has said the council has a “good majority” that works to get things done.
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When you side with the Democrats more than you side with your own party, what is the point of sticking around as a Republican at this point? Bud had an opportunity to overcome his character flaws when he became the president of the county council. However, not only did Bud buck the party “dozens of times,” but he even did so on big votes like the 2017 county budget as well as the the time he voted to repeal the English-only ordinance.
Frederick County Republicans learned a valuable lesson by putting their trust in a man who betrayed the trust of his friend and former boss, Congressman Roscoe Bartlett.
Don’t take my word for it, feel free to hear what Mrs. Ellen Bartlett has to say about Bud Otis’s character in a recent WFMD radio program:
“’What Kirby Delaughter[sic] is telling you, I believe is 100% true, because what most people don’t know, Roscoe Bartlett fired Bud Otis for that kind of kick back stuff,’ said Ellen. She went on to say,’But, Bud said ‘oh no, please, I’ll just resign’. So my husband let him resign. He should not have let him resign, he should have carried it through, there were other things, too. All through his life this is the kind of thing he has done.’”
What Mrs. Bartlett is referring to are the allegations that Councilman Delauter brought against Bud, claiming that Bud was trying to bully him into compliance by threatening Delauter’s company.
In the end, Frederick has learned a valuable lesson about a man who’s demonstrated that he believes there is nothing higher (friendship, political alliances, the county itself) than Bud Otis himself. Unfortunately they have to suffer the ramifications of purchasing their bottle of snake-oil until December 2018. Let’s hope it isn’t another day longer than that…
