Over the summer and into the fall, Joe was a leading voice in local and national media against the headlong rush by Baltimore county to establish speed cameras in the area. Passed with the noble intention of protecting children in school zones, Joe recognized that this was the foot in the door for a dangerous trend of citizen surveillance. This was the same justification used in England to usher in a system that today has placed hundreds of thousands of cameras across the country from school rooms to village squares. As always, Joe took a common sense approach and recommended that instead of up to 170 cameras around the county, resources for more police in high risk areas would be a more effective use of public money and would provide a far greater level of protection for our county's children.

The revelation in last week's Baltimore Sun that five members of the Baltimore County Council will be retiring with pension packages worth over a million dollars each has the media calling Joe once again looking for a common sense approach to the issue. Said Joe, "There may have been a time when we could just hold our noses and look away from these sorts of abuses, but with unemployment rising and vital public services stretched to the limit, those days are gone. It is time for Baltimore county families to ask if we can afford golden parachutes for part-time councilmen when so many are suffering."