Governor Marvin Mandel dead at 95; spent last days enjoying grandchildren, Ravens and steamed crabs

COMPTON, MD. — “After an afternoon of eating crabs and spending the weekend in St. Mary’s County and enjoying the Ravens last night,” Phil Dorsey, stepson of Gov. Marvin Mandel, told THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY, “the Governor died at Harborview this afternoon.”

The location of Governor Mandel’s death was at the river-front home of Dorsey, located just off Breton Bay in Compton. Dorsey’s mother, the late Jeanne Blackistone Dorsey Mandel, was married to Governor Mandel in 1974 and became First Lady of Maryland. Mandel had been vacationing with his son Paul Dorsey and Mandel’s grandchildren at the summer place which overlooks the expansive Breton Bay for the last few months as his health declined.

The Nitty-Gritty: Southern Maryland Voters Restless as Officials Dumped from Office

McKay’s genius move of producing whatever enticement worked to motivate Del Johnny Wood to support him in the GOP primary hopefully was transacted in full as McKay simply came in third behind both Morgan and Barthelme, who was making his first run for office. Perhaps Wood will soon be seen behind the meat counter at Charlotte Hall in a gravy job. But the big surprise of Wood endorsing McKay at a fundraiser likely gave Republicans a good view of Good Old Boy Democrats simply switching to the GOP to continue to run their game.

Charlie Hall: Thank God for this Country Boy – The ‘Whip’ of the Dorsey Machine

What many of them had in common was adherence to a political tradition in the Seventh District, often called “Dorsey-land” due to the tribe in local politics named for the late Judge Phillip H. Dorsey, and later led by his son, long-time St. Mary’s County States Attorney Walter B. Dorsey. Judge Dorsey had his allies and they were the Baileys, Bo, Eddie, Bernard and many more. Others who were influential in the Dorsey Machine, as the liberals who had their own machine liked to call it, were “lieutenants” of the political organization – one of whom was Charlie Hall.

To simply report that Charlie Hall just kicked the bucket is to do the man a great injustice, without describing the important role he played in the politics and life of one county of three-thousand in America.

Charlie rose from being a lieutenant to being a standard-bearer in that in 1974 he mounted a credible campaign for County Commissioner and lost the Democratic Primary to John Knight Parlett, the scion of a gas empire on the east coast.

The Same Old Tune: — Cindy Jones — Paid for by Developers – John Parlett, Boosted by Phil Dorsey and Choreographed by Tommy “Hambone” McKay

Who is the treasurer of the Blue Crab Conservatives? Elizabeth Johnson, who is the sister of McKay.

Who funded the Blue Crab Conservatives? According to financial filings with the State of Maryland, the nearly $18,000 on hand to pay for its activities, such as the pretty Cindy Jones postcard, was collected and donated principally by John K. Parlett. The companies to which the money came from were from a collection of firms, companies and corporations controlled by Parlett.

What kind of planning is taking place in the north end of St. Mary’s County that could use the wonderful advice of a former Prince Georges County politico?