IS HOWARD COUNTY EXECUTIVE KEN ULMAN MANIPULATING JOURNALIST TO GAIN FAVORABLE NEWS COVERAGE FOR HARPERS FOREST OWNER, SLUMLORD AND CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTOR PHILIP E. RATCLIFFE?
I am addressing this matter to investigative journalist at the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post newspapers. There's been a developing story in Columbia Maryland for about the last year which started out as a rather simple matter between a largely lower income and disabled apartment community and some rather inept property management. It could have been resolved swiftly and thoroughly with competent management but sadly, County Executive Ken Ulmans campaign fundraiser and owner of Harpers Forest Apartments, Philip E. Ratcliffe chose a different route to the dismay of the tenants who live here and of which I am one.
There's no shortage of detailed accounts from tenants at Harpers Forest Apartments, many with photo's and documentation of violation after violation of sub-standard maintenance conditions, health and safety hazards and the repeated attempts by some tenants to have their grievances addressed by Maryland Management who has refused. Appeals by tenants have been taken to almost the entire Howard County Government including local HUD office and three Democratic elected officials - Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, County Councilman Mary Kay Sigaty and perhaps to a lesser extent Maryland States Attorney Douglas Gansler. All of these officials refused to return a single telephone call or e-mail sent to them by their constituents who have lived in unsafe and unsanitary conditions and received abusive treatment by management at Harpers Forest Apartments. The mistreatment ranges from one tenant, Charles, who was blackmailed by staff when he was told he had to foot the $3000.00 to have his kitchen damages repaired which were the result of a crumbling infrastructure and maintenance staff who, by their own admission, repaired plumbing leaks with duct tape, to a similar situation which happened to me when Harpers Forest Management refused to repair damages in my kitchen which resulted from a reckless management who refused for more than three days to respond to repeated emergency calls reporting continuous water leaking and increasing property damage. All of the elected officials were contacted and every one of them refused to respond. When all normal channels of registering grievances were exhausted and as a last resort I posted this information online and was told Harpers Forest Apartments was not renewing my lease, even though I've had an excellent landlord-tenant relationship for over five years. Let me clarify - they approved me for lease renewal before they disapproved me. They sent me a letter offering to renew then after a few days later I was told I had to vacate. Just one more example of the ineptitude that permeates everything that is Harpers Forest Apartments. When there are rodent and insect infestations Harpers Management refuses to address the problem always saying that that tenant is the only one who ever complains, which might be believable by some til you have a dozen tenants who were told the exact same thing. In the case of the bed bug infestation tenants are told there will be no treatment of the property and that they need to destroy their own furniture and buy new items. With the introduction of a local journalist who approached me about doing a story, this matter has now morphed into a much larger issue that questions whether or not the supposedly independent press is being manipulated by Ken Ulmans office to benefit a campaign supporter and to and cover up his own negligence in addressing tenants complaints. I always thought the role of the press was to, among other things, report on activities of government representatives, present that information objectively to the public so that we may better know what our government 'of the people' is doing in the name of it's citizens.
Based on an experience I've had recently with one Howard County Journalist this principle may have been compromised. Ken Ulmans office may be trying to manipulate news coverage of his campaign supporters business operations and his own actions to help cover up those misdeeds. The journalist, let's just call her Mona, contacted me to ask if I'd speak with her because she might consider doing a story about the landlord-tenant issues. I responded right away indicating that I'd like to speak with her and would contact her after the weekend to arrange a meeting. I intended to call on Monday, but this being the first journalist expressing interest I wanted to run the idea around in my head a bit before meeting with Mona, but she took the initiative contacting me on Wednesday of that week saying that she was being pressed by Ken Ulmans office to hurry up and speak with me and return to the County Executives representatives to file her report. File what report? I thought journalist write news stories and present them to the public, but Mona wasn't doing that. Mona was rushing around to present her report to the Howard County Executive and she noticeably jumped when Ulman snapped his fingers telling her to move faster. This is why some of us see some possible improprieties between this journalist, her paper and County Executive Ken Ulman. It appears her allegiance is not to the public but to a Democratic elected official and his financial backers. If by prearrangement Mona had already agreed to report to the county executive, then by the time she contacted me claiming she wanted to write an article, she was already being dishonest. Is it possible that these private and cozy arrangements between elected officials and journalist is just a holdover from the Bush administrations practice of paying commentators, as they did with Armstrong Williams, to write favorable articles supporting their governmental policies? Is it possible that all this talk by President Obama about a change from eight years of destructive Republican rule is just more political smoke and mirrors and are all politicians really alike? Is it possible that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats? Is it possible that Mona's professional obligation is to partisan elected officials like County Executive Ken Ulman to the detriment of private American citizens who usually can't access these officials and therefore have very little real political power. Is it possible Mona and Kens allegiance is to wealthy slumlords and high ranking Democratic Party financiers who can buy any and everything they will ever need, including apparently political favors?
