⚡ The Jessica Fitzwater Problem in Frederick County

Should Jessica and David go to Jail?

Jessica Fitzwater Controversial and Contentious

⚡ The Jessica Fitzwater Problem in Frederick County

She took money from David Trone in very suspicious circumstances. Supposedly all of Trone's family and friends gave her money on the same day at the same time. Was it legitimate and the family just decided to get together and give money together even when David and his wife are divorced? Or was he using the names of family to hide the fact that he was contributing more money than allowed by law and using family names to circumvent the law. People have gone to jail for that in Maryland. Should Jessica go to jail?

- County Executive under strain.

Jessica Fitzwater is still in her first term, and Frederick County residents are already telling me they feel she’s governing with one eye on Winchester Hall and the other on Annapolis. The complaint is simple: she’s acting like a statewide candidate four years early.

- Data‑center fight becomes the symbol.

Fitzwater’s push to confine data‑center development to the Eastalco/Quantum Loophole zone has become the flashpoint. Residents see it as a political maneuver disguised as planning. A policy that benefits one cluster of landowners while shutting out others. A move that looks less like neutral governance and more like strategic positioning.

- Perception of deal‑making.

People are telling me — repeatedly — that they believe she’s cutting understandings with developers to line up future support. Not proven. Not documented. But the perception is widespread enough that it’s now part of the political weather in Frederick County. When a zoning map gets redrawn and only one set of players wins, residents fill in the blanks.

- Optics of ambition.

The talk in Frederick is that Fitzwater wants to run for comptroller in four years. That’s her right. But the frustration I’m hearing is that she’s governing like someone building a donor network, not someone stewarding a county. Every stand she takes — on data centers, on growth, on infrastructure — is being read through the lens of statewide ambition.

- Residents feel unheard.

The emails and messages I’m getting from Frederick residents share a theme: they feel she’s leaning too far over the line. Not crossing it, but close enough that they want answers. They want transparency. They want to know why certain developers seem to be in the room and others aren’t. They want to know why the county’s growth strategy feels like it’s being rewritten on the fly.

- A pattern of selective engagement.

People describe a County Executive who shows up for the fights that help her politically and disappears from the ones that don’t. Support for data centers here. Silence on other county issues there. A sense that she’s curating her record for a future campaign rather than governing the whole county with even hands.

- The Eastalco question.

The decision to concentrate data centers at Eastalco — and only Eastalco — is the center of the storm. Residents see it as a gift to one developer ecosystem. They ask why other parcels weren’t considered. Why the county didn’t pursue a competitive process. Why the administration is moving so quickly on a zoning overlay that benefits a narrow set of interests.

- Political timing fuels suspicion. The overlay process, the master plan amendments, the sudden urgency — all of it is happening while Fitzwater is already being discussed as a future statewide contender. That timing alone is enough to make residents suspicious. They’ve seen this movie before: local officials using county policy to build statewide alliances.

- No one is alleging illegality.

That’s important. No one is accusing her of breaking the law. But they are accusing her of breaking trust. Of leaning so far over the ethical line that she owes the public an explanation. Of forgetting that Frederick County is not a stepping stone — it’s a community with real people who expect real accountability.

- The political cost.

Fitzwater’s opponents are already framing her as a leader who governs for donors, not residents. Her supporters are struggling to defend decisions that look, at minimum, politically convenient. And the residents caught in the middle are asking why their County Executive seems more focused on Annapolis than on Frederick.

- My view from the inbox. When enough people reach out with the same concern, you pay attention. And what I’m hearing is consistent: they feel she’s crossing a line. Not over it, but leaning so far that she needs to answer for herself. They want clarity. They want honesty. They want to know who she’s working for — Frederick County or her future campaign.

I just published my book about the conspiracy to Kill JFK!