Familiar name will be on GOP ballot next year

Bailey will cede school board seat for repeat run

Friday, Aug. 7, 2009

A week after Charles County Republican Central Committee Chairman Charles J. Lollar sent a letter to supporters announcing the formation of an exploratory committee to run for Congress, four-term Charles County Board of Education member Collins A. Bailey confirmed that he too will vie for the seat he sought last November.

This time, Bailey, 55, who owns a lumber company, will give up his school board seat after 16 consecutive years for the right to take on Hoyer (D-Md., 5th).

"My heart's always been for giving our youth more opportunity, but while we're preparing them here at the local level, I see the federal [government] draining away their future with uncontrolled spending," he said. "I'm concerned about the future of my children and yet-to-be born grandchildren and my fellow citizens."

Candidates can only file for one office and Bailey believes the problems on Capitol Hill are more severe than those in the county school system.

"I just feel like we have to stop the madness in Washington," he said, acknowledging the two large campaign signs along Route 301 in White Plains and Route 5 in Bryantown serve as an informal announcement of his intention to run again.

Bailey, who lives at the southern edge of Waldorf, was soundly defeated in his first run for Congress. Hoyer received 74 percent of the vote to Bailey's 24 percent.

With Lollar leaning toward running, it appears he'll have a tough primary fight on his hands next year just for the right to go up against the 15-term incumbent.

But Bailey welcomes the challenge, just like in 2008, when he defeated two little-known GOP challengers to advance to the general election.

"I hope he does run," Bailey said, noting that he considers Lollar a friend and a strong candidate with a solid message. "I hope it gives voters a chance to hear some issues before the primary. We're facing some serious issues and Congress is making it worse."

In particular, he laments a skyrocketing federal deficit and government bailouts of the financial sector as well as the insurance and automobile industries. Meanwhile, he decries how the federal stimulus package has failed to stimulate economic growth as it was supposed to and has come at a steep cost to taxpayers.

"It's just been one thing after another," Bailey said.

He believes Hoyer has become a pawn for the Obama administration and an advocate of House Speaker Nancy S. Pelosi's liberal agenda.

"The agenda that has been in Washington has been wrong for many years," Bailey said. "The difference is now Congressman Hoyer is a leader of that agenda, pushing America down a path of greater spending, diminished economic liberty and even in the direction of European–type socialism."

But Bailey, who has long been an advocate of fiscal conservatism on the school board, is most troubled by the projected $1.8 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

"Anyone who's part of that has proven themselves incapable or unworthy of representing us," he said. "… You can't spend your way into a balanced budget."

During his 2008 campaign, Bailey said he met lots of voters who shared his views of reduced spending, smaller government and upholding the Constitution. He hopes to reinforce that theme in his second run.

"I think the voters deserve to have a choice between more individual responsibility and a government nanny," he said.

abrody@somdnews.com