The stink of seafood wasn't the only thing hanging over the J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake this year. The recession loomed, too, personified by one Earl De Vincentz.
Retired from the Baltimore City Fire Department, now a corrections officer at Eastern Correctional Institution, De Vincentz planted himself at the front gates of the annual Crisfield political fest so he could have a word with the men who would be governor.
The 65-year-old got the ear of Martin O'Malley as the Democratic governor and his electric-green entourage strolled in.
The guards got a 2 percent pay cut last year, no raise this year and expect to have to take three to five unpaid days off next year, De Vincentz complained to O'Malley. De Vincentz said things weren't so bad for him, since he collects a firefighter's pension. But for his young co-workers trying to support families on guard salaries, it's really tough.
The governor expressed sympathy, but said things could have been worse for state employees.
"Check around the country," O'Malley told him. "We've been able to avoid the massive layoffs" that other states have had to impose on state employees.
Next up was Brian Murphy, the young Smith Island Baking Co. entrepreneur seeking the Republican nomination.
De Vincentz shared his plight with Murphy, whose response could not be heard over the chants of "Let's go, Brian!" that his supporters were leading at the time. But he, too, looked sympathetic, nodding his head a lot.
Finally, De Vincentz got a moment with Republican former Gov. Bob Ehrlich.
"You think you can correct the problem?" the corrections officer asked.
"I think we can certainly correct some of them," Ehrlich told him.
That third tete-a-tete was cut short when a woman approached Ehrlich. "I'm sorry, I'm sweaty, but I just wanted to touch your hand," she said by way of introduction.
Bernadette Sgorski, a 52-year-old mother of three from Churchville, told Ehrlich how she'd been laid off from her job at a bank. Her husband's work in commercial construction dried up 16 months ago.
"We're hurting," she said, bursting into tears. "I never thought I'd be like this. I have to go on medical assistance. I've never done that in my life."
Ehrlich gave her a hug. De Vincentz patted her back.
After Ehrlich moved on, Sgorski and De Vincentz chatted a while. Sgorski kept apologizing for crying.
But perhaps it helped get her message across. "This is the pain that's out there," she said.
Stand by your cake
Obesity has become such a big issue that first lady Michelle Obama came to Camden Yards this week to encourage kids to get some exercise. (No matter that the very same day, the ballpark's all-you-can-eat section was profiled on SI.com.)
Could this be trouble for gubernatorial hopeful Murphy, since he sells Smith Island cakes? Health Magazine just declared the eight-to-10-layer cake Maryland's fattiest food.
Murphy stood by his product.
"I don't know why people are surprised" by the ranking, he said. "It's a cake made with butter, sugar, fudge and love. Of course it's fatty. You shouldn't eat it every day."
Murphy also noted that the baking company he founded on Smith Island about 18 months ago has put 21 people to work on the island of 250. "And we're just getting warmed up," he said.
One more slice
Ever since the Smith Island cake was declared Maryland's official dessert in 2008, Annapolis lobbyist Bruce Bereano has served it at his Tawes tent.
This year, slices of the confection were displayed below a photograph of Del. D. Page Elmore, the Republican chairman of the Eastern Shore delegation who died last month at the age of 71.
"In honor of former Del. Page Elmore," read the sign. Beside that was a copy of House Bill 315, the Smith Island cake bill.
Elmore sponsored the House bill and, as Sun columnist C. Fraser Smith reported at the time, made a deal with House Speaker Michael E. Busch to get it through the House. Elmore voted for repeal of the computer services tax in the House Ways and Means Committee, and Busch made sure Elmore's cake bill passed.