HdG Volunteer Enters City Council Race
Tom Barnes is a longtime Havre de Grace resident and is the leader of the HdG Drama Guild.
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Havre de Grace resident Tom Barnes has filed to run for City Council, officials confirmed Wednesday.
Barnes, a community volunteer and the head of the HdG Drama Guild youth organization, made the announcement of his candidacy on Facebook. He also started a Facebook page for his campaign.
In a Facebook post, Barnes said it's not his intention to run to represent any singular group, organization or party, but to serve the entire city.
"I refuse to run against anyone," Barnes told Patch in a phone interview Wednesday. "I’m running for the City of Havre de Grace."
Three seats on the City Council will be up for a vote—those of incumbents John Correri, Randy Craig and Barbara Wagner. The mayor's position, currently held by Wayne Dougherty, is also up for election.
Dougherty is the only incumbent to declare his intentions to run for re-election. He'll be seeking a fourth consecutive term.
Former City Councilman Fred Cullum, who spent 16 years in office during eight non-consecutive terms, told Patch he intends to run for council again.
Candidates may file to run for the mayor or city council positions between March 5 and March 19. The election will be May 7.
Both Dougherty and Cullum filed at City Hall on Tuesday, while Barnes filed Wednesday.
Barnes, who has lived in Havre de Grace for going on 10 years, said he's interested in making the city a better place to live—and a more inviting place to move back to and visit.
"One of the things that I don’t like to hear is ‘I want to get out of this town.’ You hear it a lot from younger people: 'There’s nothing here. There’s no college. You have to go across the county.' To me, it's about the future of Havre de Grace," said Barnes, who has two high school-aged sons. "How do we bring our children back so our grandchildren can be raised here? What’s the city going to offer?"
Barnes said he plans to sit down with representatives of all aspects of the community as he ramps up his campaign.
"There's nothing wrong with our city that can’t be fixed," he said.
See Also:
- Cullum To Run For Council, Not Mayor (March 2013)
- Former Councilman Says He'll Run in May Election (Feb. 2013)
- 2013 Havre de Grace Election Application Process (Feb. 2013)
- Havre de Grace Election Filing Begins March 5 (Feb. 2013)
- People of the Year: Tom Barnes (Dec. 2011)
Want more Havre de Grace news? Get the Havre de Grace Patch daily newsletter!
Planning to run for office? Email havredegrace@patch.com
Hollee Sifford
8:17 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Welcome aboard Mr.Barnes and good luck to you in the run for council:)
Tom Barnes
8:59 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Thank you, Hollee. Your best wishes are appreciated. Someday, I would love to see you run as well!
Annette
9:56 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
WOW
Hollee Sifford
9:59 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
All i can say to that is ...lol :) love my city and love the kids and love volunteering and taking in a council mtg when i can.....BUT..To be honest sitting on the dias is not my cup of tea but thank you for your confidence...Now if I could somehow make a board of Ed mtg:( my work schedule does not make that possible.
Barbara Snyder
10:01 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
A Marxist? Good grief, Lighten Up! What terrifies you so that you need to call names and assign negative labels?
Bobbi Zachry
11:55 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Good luck Tom. You have raised two very talented and wonderful boys. I enjoy coming to watch them in plays and I tell them how well they do every time I see them. If you serve the city as you have served those boys you will be a great asset to our city. Best of luck
Tom Barnes
12:37 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
I am humbled, Bobbi. Thank you so much. I will bring that same determination and drive to the council, as I do all things in life.
Brian Ferri
12:28 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Good Luck Tom. If a person cannot attach a real name to a comment, to me, it isn't worth addressing. Obviously, "Lighten Up" isn't smarter than a 5th Grader. Consider the source.
Tom Barnes
12:40 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Thank you, Brian. I don't mind the commentary, honestly. It does provide an outlet for people's aggression's - and like I said, it gives me a prime opportunity to let the citizens of HDG who don't know me in the least to know who I am and what I stand for. It is their vote, and I don't take a vote lightly when it comes to candidates.
Laurie Rossi
2:10 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
All the world is a stage and some need to hide behind their masks all the time...
Good luck to you! Todd misses hanging out with all of you!
Tom Barnes
6:58 am on Friday, March 8, 2013
Thanks Laurie!
(And Todd is welcome any time, but I know his life has to be busy these days!)
John Cole
8:19 am on Friday, March 8, 2013
#Lighten Up
There is an absolute necessity for social programs such as education, emergency services, and even heath care.
This is not Marxism or even socialism; it is an absolute necessity for society to function.
Indeed, there are social programs out there that are faulty and need urgent attention, but then – so does our tax system!
However, none of this has much to do with being on the City Council. We need the best people to advance our community.
Tom Barnes
9:48 am on Friday, March 8, 2013
Thank you, John. I was going to make that point as well about the local politics vs. national ones, but chose not to jump into a fray any further. I want to have frank discussions about actual issues in regards to our town.
I am not going into this election as a know it all. I need citizens, city departments and businesses input in order to be a success as both a candidate and as a council member. I will not be there to serve my own needs but that of the city.
Emil Brandau
7:03 pm on Sunday, March 10, 2013
Tom, I think you would do well as a city councilman, despite our differences on any broader political scale. Between my own libertarian views and your liberalism (no, not "socialism"), our common ground is in terms, mostly, of social issues. Most of the problems that I see with our government involve the federal level (this also being where we likely disagree), but they're almost irrelevant here. Local issues are completely different from national ones, and even if we DID elect a legitimate Marxist, it wouldn't have much impact as they would for one be outnumbered, and two - what would they even do? As if any town is going to get involved in major macroeconomic decisions. Those powers are delegated to the states and not the counties/cities. They don't matter in this case, so even if Tom was a Marxist it wouldn't matter much.
On the issue of "there's nothing in this town", one question I have is in regards to, well, what could there be? "There's no college"; would HdGU suddenly exist under a Barnes administration? Maybe this sounds a bit blunt, unrefined, but, what could actually be done? I've heard ideas get tossed around from an ice-skating rink, to an arcade, to an expansion of the theater/arts programs, but nothing has really come to pass. What could realistically be done about the apparent nothingness?