Candidate Spotlight: Jesse Colvin of Maryland

Hear directly from Congressional candidates on the biggest issues in preservation today!

Jesse Colvin, an Army Ranger and business consultant, is running for Congress in the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Jesse says that the Federal Historic Tax Credit program recently helped save the Phillips Packing Plant in Cambridge, MD, a local site that is personally important to him. While Jesse also says that federal permitting and approval timelines should be improved, he believes that “permitting and approval serve a valuable purpose: ensuring developments of federal property are indeed beneficial to our society.”

To learn more about Jesse’s thoughts on historic preservation issues, read his answers to our candidate survey below:

1. What is your name?

Jesse Colvin

2. In which Congressional district are you running for election?

Maryland’s First Congressional District

3. Is there a historically significant place that is important to you in your Congressional district?

Yes, the Phillips Packing Plant in Cambridge MD. The plant is the last vestige of what was once a 60-acre campus that employed thousands and fed our troops during the world wars. It was recently saved by $3 million award from the federal Historic Tax Credit program. This investment shows that we can retain historic sites and develop them to improve the greater community. And by doing so, we retain the important character that historically has made, for example, our Eastern Shore a wonderful place to live and create a business, while also creating jobs for local residents.

4. What do you think of current proposals in Congress to require Congressional approval of the President’s decision to designate national monuments?

I disagree with plans to require Congressional approval of these presidential designations. The Antiquities Act of 1906 is one of the great legislative accomplishments in American history. Since it was championed by Congressman John F. Lacey and signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt, the act has helped to preserve invaluable places like the Grand Canyon, Mount Olympus, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and, in our district, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad in Church Creek. The law provides the president the authority to save important locations from destruction — and it has worked wonderfully.

Congress already has the inherent power to remove a monument designation if it believes a place has been designated improperly. By requiring Congressional approval of new monuments, Congress would go against the intent of the Antiquities Act — to provide for expeditious protection of important land already under federal control.

5. The National Historic Preservation Act requires federal agencies to consider the effects of federal undertakings on historic properties before approving a project. Federal undertakings include: projects that need a federal permit, receive federal funds, or are located on federal land. How do you think this law impacts our communities and development timelines?

In Section 1 of the Act, Congress declared its intent to preserve, inter alia, (1) our nation’s “historical and cultural foundations . . . in order to give a sense of orientation to the American people” as well as (2) “historic properties significant to the Nation’s heritage”. These intentions are worthy of a great nation that doesn’t think and act rashly, but strategically. That doesn’t think merely about the next few months, but next few decades.

Federal permitting and approval timelines can and should be improved — we all want societally-beneficial development to move forward. But permitting and approval serve a valuable purpose: ensuring developments of federal property are indeed beneficial to our society. As on most topics, I believe we shouldn’t just simply strive to get it done fast, but to get it done right. And that is especially true when it comes to developments that could harm sites important to our national heritage. Should we build a hotel or apartment complex on the site of Liberty Hall? Or, rather, should be value and preserve the site in order to teach each generation about the importance of liberty and sacrificing for a common ideal? In my opinion, the answer is obvious — and part of that is the requirement that our government ensure such sites are protected from (or during) development.

6. Have you had the opportunity to meet with the State Historic Preservation Officer and/or State Archaeologist? Have you met with any local preservation groups?

While I have not met the State Historic Preservation Officer and/or State Archaeologist, I and my staff have been in touch with Preservation Maryland, a local non-profit dedicated to preserving Maryland’s unique heritage. Like Preservation Maryland, I believe we should strengthen the federal Historic Tax Credit to help spur development in rural areas and small towns, which are such important parts of my district. If elected, I look forward to working with preservation groups to do just that.

7. How do think that federal funding of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Science Foundation impacts our district?

These agencies play a key and direct role in our district. Just this year, the NEA has awarded millions of dollars to nonprofits in our state, including a grant to the Ward Foundation, Inc. at Salisbury University. Similarly, Maryland Humanities used NEH grants to allocate money to the Wor-Wic Community College in Wicomico County on the Lower Eastern Shore, which will use that money to inspire Marylanders to embrace lifelong learning, exchange ideas, and enrich their communities. And the NSF provided funding to retain science professors at UM-Eastern Shore, one of our Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

These programs not only provide funding for our local communities, they inspire each of us to be better people and more engaged Americans. As Maryland Humanities executive director, Phoebe Stein, wrote in the Baltimore Sun last year regarding the grants provided by these agencies, “One of the high school students who participated in our veterans oral history program proclaimed it ‘life-changing.’ And a Wicomico County teacher said Maryland History Day taught his students ‘to research topics, to draw conclusions. They learned to address social issues, they learned to work well with others, they learned history, but most importantly they found their passion that led these young people to realize their dreams of college and a future they never knew was possible.’” Such results are the dream of everyone who cares about our country and its future. It seems to me that these programs are worth the comparatively few pennies we give to them.

 Note: Jesse’s opponent, Rep. Andy Harris, also received a survey. He chose not to respond.