Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens, who campaigned four years ago against big-dollar campaign contributions from developers, has collected tens of thousands of dollars from home builders and building contractors to finance her re-election bid.
An analysis of Owens' campaign finance records by The Sun shows that about 25 percent of the donations that the Millersville Democrat has banked since her December 1998 inauguration has come from firms with ties to land development. That amounts to about $135,000 of Owens' $503,000 campaign treasury.
"It's all the same folks who gave me money the last election," said former County Executive John G. Gary, who was defeated by Owens in 1998. "It shows that there is a degree of hypocrisy here when she criticized me for doing it and now she is doing the exact same thing. What has changed?"
Major contributors to Owens' 2002 campaign include home builder William F. Utz of Severna Park, who with his son contributed $7,500, and the Mills Corp. of Arlington, Va., which manages Arundel Mills in Hanover, gave $4,700.
And though Owens has received many donations from individuals, nine of the top 10 contributors to her re-election campaign are developers.
"Is that a surprise?" said Nancy Wright, president of the Broadneck Federation, which opposes an Owens-backed plan to transfer the former David Taylor Research Center near Annapolis to private developers for makeover as an office park. "She said she was going to curb growth, but we haven't seen it."
Owens - who was attending the annual Maryland Association of Counties conference last week in Ocean City - did not return phone calls seeking comment.
But her campaign spokesman, Bob DiPietro, said nothing has changed except that Owens is much better known, especially among business-minded individuals who want the county's economic engine to remain strong.
"The fact that she has received money from developers means that a segment of the business community likes what she has done and wants her to continue doing it," DiPietro said. "Just because they are developers doesn't mean they are enemies of the state."
Finance reports
Campaign finance reports released last week show that Owens is well-positioned for a fall race against one of two potential Republican challengers: Former Del. Phillip D. Bissett of Mayo or teacher Tom Angelis of Davidsonville. Bissett has raised about $60,000; Angelis has raised $6,300, including $1,500 in personal and family loans.
Owens' fund-raising dominance represents a major change from 1998. With many in the business community backing other candidates, she financed one-fifth of her campaign that year. Then she questioned the pace of county growth and criticized Gary for trading open pastures and woodlands for drywall and asphalt.
Once in office, however, Owens made a great effort to make peace with major developers. At the time, she said the perception was that she was anti-growth, which she added was not true.
Since then, Owens' popularity among developers and those in construction-related trades has improved.
At the top of her donor list is the Wayson family, members of which operate a bingo hall, bingo supply company and trailer park, with $8,500 in contributions. Second is the Powhatan Development Co., a Baltimore construction firm that gave $8,000. Another top contributor is MIE Properties Inc., a development firm owned by Edward A. St. John, a close adviser to Owens, at $4,600.
Other major contributors to the Owens campaign include:
T. Conrad Monts, a developer with an office in Annapolis who served on the David Taylor Redevelopment Advisory Committee and hired Owens' husband, attorney David M. Sheehan, to represent him in business dealings in Baltimore, $3,400.
The Sfakiyanudis family of Annapolis, which owns a civil engineering firm that has worked often with the county, $4,660.
John E. Harms Jr. and Associates, an engineering firm that has also worked with the county, $4,250.
Carl Freedman, a New Jersey developer who wants to renovate the Parole Plaza, $2,560.
Sturbridge Development Inc. of Annapolis, which built the Village at Waugh Chapel in Odenton and hopes to build a similar project on Bestgate Road near Annapolis, $3,250.
Larry and Katherine Jennings of Baltimore, owners of Baltimore-based Carnegie Morgan Partners LLC, a financial consulting firm, $5000.
DiPietro denies any quid pro quo between the Owens campaign and developers whose contributions will enable her to advertise extensively in newspapers and on television.
'Unfair perception'
"It's a very unfair perception to assume that because someone writes a check for a candidate they expect something in return," DiPietro said.
Republicans who hope to unseat Owens are more skeptical.
"She came in as a no-growth candidate and now 25 percent of her money is from developers," said Angelis, who has not received any developer contributions. "Is she influenced by it? I'm sure she is. No one gives you all that money and doesn't expect at least access."
Bissett blamed Owens for failing to come up with comprehensive land preservation and economic development plans and for allowing developers to build projects without the necessary infrastructure.
"My concern is that there is no plan in place and if that is the scenario, then it is ripe for questions," said Bissett, whose campaign also has received contributions from developers and builders, though not nearly as many as Owens.
Bissett's contributors include Reliable Contracting Co. of Millersville, $400; Dirks Construction Inc. of Davidsonville, $100, and J&A; Builders of Annapolis, $250.
Reason for giving
Big-dollar contributors say the reason they have given to Owens' campaign is because they agree with her political philosophy and her style of governance, not because they are getting an unfair advantage.
"I think Janet Owens has been business-friendly in a way that jives with the way I think business-friendly should translate," said George Maloney, the owner of Helix Construction Services Inc. of Severna Park. Maloney has written checks totaling $3,000 to the Owens campaign during the past four years.
"She has worked to bring good development to this county and it is helping to bring in tax revenue that we need to help our education system," said Maloney, who served on Owens' transition team and personnel board until he became a candidate for County Council.
But Maloney said his contributions had nothing to do with the office renovation work he did for her husband's former law firm, Kollman & Saucier. The contract was worth about $200,000, Maloney said.
"Anyone who would think that [developers have an unfair access] to Janet is pretty misinformed," Maloney said. "They haven't taken a good look at her record. She has done an outstanding job of balancing development and land preservation."
In fact, Owens has managed to set aside close to 5,000 acres of land for preservation. She also has drawn a line with some developers. Recently, she told Robert and Michael DeStefano of Sturbridge Homes that she would not support mixed-use development at a site they hope to develop along Bestgate Road near Annapolis.
Residents' complaints
She frustrated some residents, however, when she signed a redevelopment agreement for the moribund Parole Plaza in Annapolis before an advisory committee had signed off on design standards. Other residents say a $250 million plan that Owens backs to transform the David Taylor site into an office park would bring too much traffic to a residential area.
"She is clearly on the side of developers not residents," said Wright of the Broadneck Federation.
Still, her supporters say that as the top elected official in a fast-growing county with miles of coastline and within easy driving distance of Washington and Baltimore, Owens has done a good job of protecting residents from a glut of new strip malls, car dealerships and housing tracts.
"Janet has done an excellent job of balancing the demands of development and preservation," said DiPietro. "Is development running rampant? Are developers taking over? Absolutely not."