Maggi, Fisher announce joint candidacy for county commissioner
Paul Paterra/Observer-Reporter
Larry Maggi is seeking his sixth term as Washington County commissioner and is running a joint campaign with Cindy Fisher, chair of the Cecil Township Board of Supervisors.
Larry Maggi
Cindy Fisher
Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi announced he is seeking a sixth term as Washington County commissioner and is teaming up in the campaign with Cindy Fisher, chair of the Cecil Township Board of Supervisors.
Their joint announcement was made Thursday at Democratic Committee headquarters on East Wheeling Street in Washington.
Fisher said she hasn’t quite liked what has been going on in county government the last few years and is running for a spot on the board of commissioners to change it.
“We, as a county, are not better off than we were three years ago. We are standing still,” she said. “I figured if I had the opportunity to step up and kind of right the ship and I don’t, then I can’t complain about it. I want to bring it back. I want less in-fighting. I don’t want us to be on the front page of the newspaper because we have elected officials going to jail. I want us to be on the front page of the newspaper for the wonderful things we’re doing.”
Maggi said the success Fisher has had in Cecil Township makes her a prime candidate for county commissioner.
“Cecil Township was voted one of the best places to live in the country,” Maggi said in citing a factor that led him to team up with Fisher. “Southpointe has thrived there under her leadership. She’s kept taxes without an increase. She has the same fiscal responsibility that I do. We don’t want to raise taxes. We don’t want government growing. We want to try to make government smaller. We both have that in mind and that’s our goal. We’re both working to make the county a safer place to live, a safer place to work and a place to raise a family.”
The ability of the two Democrats to control taxes in their respective positions was something that each highlighted during Thursday’s announcement.
Maggi said the county has not had a tax increase in 13 years, and Fisher said there has not been a tax jump in Cecil Township during her 10 years as a supervisor and for about a decade before that.
“You have to make sure you’re spending on the needs and not the wants,” Fisher said. “You have to make sure you’re spending on things that are good for the residents and not on excessive government or excessive salaries or anything like that. I think it’s important to work within the resources that you have or go from there. I’m not an instant-gratification type of person. I work personally within the money that I have and I intend to do that in the county the way that I’ve done that in Cecil.”
“I’ve been there for 20 years, and for 13 years, we haven’t raised taxes,” Maggi added. “For nine of those years, we were under Democratic leadership. We can’t keep growing. It’s not up to government to make all of the decisions. You’ve got to let businesses thrive. You’ve got to let the businesses prosper. You can’t saddle the people with big government. That’s my concern. County government is getting big. We’re overspending. We need to control our spending.”
Something Maggi and Fisher want to focus on is the effort to bring internet and broadband services to all areas of the county with a particular focus on rural communities.
“We know how important broadband is to Washington County,” Maggi said. “We voted to allocate $30 million in federal money to bring broadband to rural and underserved areas of the county because we cannot grow these areas, educate our students, and attract business without internet connectivity. We’re going to continue working on it. That’s going to be one of our top priorities. “
Former state Rep. Pam Snyder was on hand and stressed what she feels is a need for a Democratic majority on the three-seat board of commissioners.
“They will do what Washington County needs,” she said of Maggi and Fisher. “We need the Democrats in control, not just of the commissioners office, but of the row offices. You’re a mess over here. We need to clean it up. These two leaders are the ones that can lead this ticket and make it happen.”