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Michael O'Connor, former host of Comcast Cable Channel 10's "Pressing Issues," announced Monday that he will run as a Democrat for the Frederick Board of Aldermen.

"Quite simply, I love this city and I think I can help Frederick," O'Connor told about a dozen supporters, including past and present city leaders, outside City Hall. "And if I think I can help Frederick, and I believe that I can, how could I not try?"

O'Connor, 42, a Frederick native, returned to the city in 2001 after living in Brunswick for seven years. He has worked as business manager at St. Katharine Drexel Catholic Church in Frederick for two years.

His Frederick upbringing and serving as a marshal of resources at the church make him qualified for an alderman seat, he said.

"Elected officials must be good stewards," O'Connor said. "We must spend public dollars wisely. We must protect public resources. We must preserve the quality of life that makes this such an attractive place to live, work and play."

O'Connor identified fiscal responsibility, first-class facilities for the Frederick Police Department and promoting an informed and open democratic process as his top priorities in seeking an aldermen seat. He also said that he wanted to strengthen the city's Land Management Code.

He used some of the city's recent financial decisions to drive home his points, calling the city's early retirement buyout plan a "mistake," its $121 million bond issuance "ill-timed" and the city's acquisition of the Hargett Farm Property "not adequately explained." He said that the city must make responsible decisions in the wake of challenges. "We must not compound these challenges with self-inflicted wounds," O'Connor said.

Citing votes on the city's bond issuance and early retirement buyout plan, O'Connor also criticized what he deemed complacency on the part of the Board of Aldermen in accepting last-minute information, resulting in uninformed decisions.

"If the aldermen do not have all the information they need to vote, then maybe they shouldn't," O'Connor said. "Sometimes the answer should be ‘no.'"

O'Connor was moderator for the political show, "Pressing Issues," until December 2008. O'Connor ran for and lost a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates in 2002. He lives in Frederick with his wife and two daughters.

Other candidates who have filed paperwork to run for one of the five seats on the board are Republican Senitta R. Conyers and Democrats Andrew Kotkin and Kelly Russell.

The filing deadline for candidates is July 7. The primary election is Sept. 15. The general election is Nov. 3.

Leaders to discuss date, partisanship of city elections

Frederick city leaders will continue a discussion next week about changing the year of the city's elections to align with that of the presidential or gubernatorial races.

The discussion will take place at 7 p.m., Wednesday.

The mayor and aldermen first publicly discussed the idea of moving the city's election date in January, citing low voter turnout and possible cost savings. The city will pay the Board of Elections about $140,000 to run its 2009 elections.

All of the aldermen except C. Paul Smith (R) said at the January workshop that they would be in favor of moving the city's elections. Smith expressed concern about competition for attention with national or statewide races. "There are only so many headlines a paper can run," he said.

Mayor W. Jeff Holtzinger (R) will also initiate a discussion on the possibility of a non-partisan election, a topic discussed in previous administrations and proposed by Republican mayoral candidate Randy McClement in February.

If leaders voted to change the elections, it would go into effect in 2012, and involve a three-year term for anyone elected this year.

E-mail Erica L. Green at egreen@gazette.net.