Meet the Candidates for 1-B Delegate: Jason Buckel and Kevin Kelly

God bless America. There are only 12 days until primaries. Get your election pants ready because it is on like Donkey Kong.

This week let’s talk about the candidates for the House of Delegates 1-B.

So first let’s figure out where everyone wants to rule delegate.

With the help of theseventhstate.com, I was able to find this super helpful map of the district lines for Western Maryland. District 1B (the part shaded in a beautiful baby-poop green) covers most of Allegany County which includes Frostburg, and excludes most of Cumberland.

So today we’ll start with our LaVale, Frostburg, Cresaptown, Beal Air, and Northern Cumberland -ers. Who do our 1-Bers get to choose from?

It’s your lucky day because have a match-up between incumbent Kevin Kelly (D) and Attorney Jason Buckel ( R).

Let’s start with the new guy.

Jason Buckel graduated from Bishop Walsh, then graduated from George Mason University and soon earned his law degree from University of Maryland School of Law.

Jason with his daughter, Karina. I creeped
and snatched it from his FB page.

He’s currently a partner at Buckel, Levasseur, & Pillai. He has an adult daughter that currently attends his Alma Mater, George Mason University.

His website is says that he’s a member of the Alco Republican Central Committee and has been since 2006.  Buckel is also a member of the LaVale Lions Club and a parishioner at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Side-Note: I had to know what a parishioner does so I did what any good journalist would do and I Googled it. A parishioner literally means: “an inhabitant of a parish, especially one who belongs to or attends a particular church.” So he goes to that church. Got it. Am I the only one that didn’t know that? Yes? Anyway. Buckel has been openly critical of the incumbent Kelly’s campaign and candid on his plans for the county. These are all super indicative of his values as a politician and his opinions. I like a man that’s an open-book. Makes my life easier.  Here are a few articles I found:

Cumberland Times News Article

Side-By-Side answer comparison of Buckel and Kelly

Buckel's Website: Stands on Issues

NEXT

That is a glorious moustache.

Kevin Rutherford Kelly. (Alright so that’s not his middle name but I couldn’t find his real one and I like Rutherford.) Kelly is another home-grown candidate. He graduated from Bishop Walsh (TWINSIES Buckel!) then from Frostburg State University. He received his J.D. from the University of Baltimore Law School. Kelly is running for his sixth term as 1-B Delegate.

There’s a really interesting interview that I already linked above that side-by-side comparisons of the answers that both Kelly and Buckel gave for the same questions.

Side-note: I do my very best to avoid entering my analysis of any of the candidate’s political viewpoints, but the answers, in my opinion, are interestingly similar. The biggest difference is the amount of specific detail that Buckel offers for his plans. Now it’s a super brief interview so I’m not suggesting that it’s a clear indicator of the positions for each person. However, it’s definitely worth taking a look at.

Anyway, Kelly is a member of the Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Civil Law and Procedure, via his FB page.

So there ya have it! Those are your two options. Soon I’ll look at the candidates for 1-C State Delegate. Spoiler: between the two candidates, there are: 9 children, 6 dry-cleaning locations, and 2 funeral homes.

Find out who claims what!

Happy voting!

 

Special Extra: There is a gif of Kevin Kelly not being able to find a working microphone and it is one of my favorite things. We've all had one of those days, Kelly.