Candidates Go Bumper to Bumper in District 35A Fight

Sign slashing and political parking moves have been just two of the eleventh hour antics taking place in what has become a bitter fight in the Republican primary for District 35A in the House of Delegates.

In the five-candidate campaign for two open spots, the political slate of Jason Gallion and Dave Tritt is teaming up against incumbent Del. H. Wayne Norman Jr. The two other candidates in the race, incumbent Del. Donna Stifler and Dave Seman, have remained out of the feud and have quietly continued their campaigns in a district that covers the northern area of Harford County, stretching from Cecil to Baltimore counties.

Seman said he expects the late controversy over the destruction of political signs and disputes over sign placement will help him win the Republican nomination today.  

"Absolutely. I have stayed positive," Seman said. "I haven't sat there and whined and cried about who made mistakes."

Seman added that he is on good terms with his competitors.

"Very good," Seman said of his relationship with Norman. "I've met him on the campaign trail. … I have a lot of respect for Mr. Norman."

Norman's relationship with Gallion and Tritt, however, is not as cordial.

"I've taken a higher road; those guys have been negative," Norman said Tuesday morning at Forest Lakes Elementary School, where someone had gutted the center of a sign featuring the names of Gallion and Tritt.

When asked if such tactics should be tolerated, Norman said, "Absolutely not." 

Gallion and Tritt are running as a team, hoping that they win the Republican nomination to run for the district's two delegate seats in the November election.

"That's what we planned all along," Gallion said from Youth's Benefit Elementary School on Tuesday. "We want to finish one-two."

Norman hopes to prevent such a result.

So last night he took his fight into Gallion's territory by parking a pick-up truck that carried a 4x8 foot political sign in the lot of the Level Volunteer Fire Company, a polling site in Havre de Grace.

"It's lawfully parked in a parking space," Norman said. "I thought of that yesterday, I did it at 10 [p.m.] … I'm thinking that's good because that's Jason Gallion's turf."

Gallion did not take long to push back.

"This morning [Gallion has] it boxed in with vehicles parked on the grass illegally and you cannot see my truck," Norman said.

Two trucks featuring "Level Volunteer Fire Company" insignia were parked on either side of Norman's truck by 7 a.m. Tuesday. One was in the grass.

"We put our truck in a strategic location so people would see it," Gallion said. "Mr. Norman should've had permission to park there and he didn't."

Gallion, whose two trucks featured signs equal to size as Norman's, is a member of the Level Volunteer Fire Company and was past chief for six years.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, at Norman's request, a representative for his campaign backed Norman's truck halfway into the grass so that Norman's signs were once again visible.

Norman added that he called the election board to have the Gallion truck parked on the grass removed, but was told to call the fire company.

"I've called the firehouse and everybody who answers the phone's name is Gallion and they have not made him move his truck," Norman said.

Seman does not support any of the negative actions that have taken place since Monday night, but said that he supports Gallion pursuing whomever destroyed his sign.

"Jason called me first thing this morning and said, 'I know who did it,'" Seman said. "I said, 'Go get him.' … Jason and I are cool."

Gallion, however, refused to point fingers.

"Cowards came out in the middle of the night [and destroyed the sign.] You deal with it and you move on," Gallion said. "I wasn't there to see it so I'm not going to make any accusations."

The chief election judges at both the Forest Lakes Elementary and the Level Volunteer Fire Company sites said they have no knowledge of the details of the sign or parking incidents.

"I pulled in at 6 a.m. and it was already cut," said Joel Caudill, who is the chief Republican judge of Precinct 03-09 at Forest Lakes.

"I didn't check that stuff. That's somebody else's problem. We're here to make sure that the voting process works," Caudill added.

At the fire company site, one of the election judges, who would not identify himself, said that he is only responsible for what happens within 100 feet of the building, which did not include where the trucks were parked.

The winner of Tuesday's race will face Democratic candidates Joseph Gutierrez and John Jones, who were unopposed in Tuesday's primary.