Eastern Shore Undercover Endorsement for Wicomico County Council District 4

In the District 4 race for Wicomico County Council, Republican Bobby Lee Leath Jr. is running against Democrat Erin Patterson. I want to tell you about both candidates. I also want to share a personal concern and issue that I have with one of the candidates.

I met Mr. Leath about six months ago outside Fat Boys, where I stopped to buy crabs for my family. He told me he was running for council because he believes we need common-sense leadership. Much like myself, he was tired of all the arguing and personal issues between the legislative and executive sides of our government. You have heard me say that many times, so his words stood out to me.

We talked for about 15 to 20 minutes. He was kind, and he truly seemed to genuinely care about this community. Since then, I have seen him at council meetings, press conferences and candidate forums and each time, he is kind and cordial in speaking with.

I have also learned more about his background. Mr. Leath proudly served our country in the Army National Guard. He has also worked in corrections, so he understands what our first responders deal with.

He is also a small business owner right here in Wicomico County, so he understands the aspects and importance of budgets and responsibilities. That means he knows what it takes to make payroll and keep a business going. It also means he understands how county decisions affect working class families.

Mr. Leath has laid out what he plans to focus on if elected. He wants to look at ways to lower the property tax burden for seniors on fixed incomes. He also supports law enforcement and first responders, safe schools, and better school transportation.

He wants to help local businesses and create jobs close to home. He also wants more open communication and careful use of taxpayer money. Roads, drainage, flooding and aging infrastructure are on his list too, along with support for our veterans.

He also said he wants to work with the County Executive, other council members and local towns, even when they disagree. In his words, "My commitment has always been about people, not politics." I truly believe he means that!

Now I want to talk about Erin Patterson and being transparent, I have some serious person issues with Mrs. Patterson, over her character and things she has said to and about, Eastern Shore Undercover.

Let me start off with a comment she made on another news outlet that was taking shots at Eastern Shore Undercover. One of her comments on that page said, "After doing a ride along with the SPD it's funny-not-funny how wrong most of his personal musings are."

She wrote that 20 weeks ago, and we left her on the page, because we knew she was running for council and always want to try to give the benefit of the doubt to those who could potentially end up in a leadership position.

It is no secret that the Salisbury Police Department does not like Eastern Shore Undercover. What bothers me is that someone running for office is taking shots at our own page, and could potentially be sitting on the council, causing us more issues that we've had to deal with over the past 4 years.

So let's look at more details of Patterson and Eastern Shore Undercover. She started following our page in early 2025, and I looked it up, she commented a total of 164 times. Now, being fair and transparent, those 164 times consisted of comments and messages.

She has sent in photos of storms we've had here on the shore, she has commented in a positive and negative manner about the various things we post but many times, she is very confrontational with people on the page.

We do our best to remove comments with name calling and attempts to degrade others and it is stated right in our social media policy. Unfortunately, a fair amount of her comments had to be deleted for calling people names.

An example of that, there was a call posted about an individual having back pain and someone questioned why someone would call 911 over back pain. Patterson's response to that individual was as follows: "Heart attack, dumbass".

I have a serious issue with ignorance and I have an even bigger issue with name calling from someone who wants to be a leader in our community. I don't agree with it. When we see our president do it, I don't agree with it. When we see our governor doing it, I just don't think leadership should be calling people derogatory names. Just shows their character, or a lack thereof.

Furthermore, in January of 2026, people were disagreeing with then council President Angela Blake about censorship. Mrs. Patterson told anyone who disagreed, "Just comply it's not that hard." That conversation was about limiting what people could say at a Salisbury City Council meeting, and many people believed that was a violation of their rights.

I don't think anyone should be told to just go along with leadership. I will never think that is ok. Citizens should always have the right to speak up at their council meetings and being told to "Just comply".

I could go on about her comments toward residents she hopes to lead. Instead, I will tell you what finally got her banned from our page. On August 17, 2026, she commented on a post about ICE.

She was making a statement about me not banning people from the ICE post and wrote, "Yet you banned 200 people for laugh reacting when Charlie Kirk died. Mind you a laugh react is also just generic with no intent to cause actual harm."

I have absolutely no tolerance for anyone laughing at a person's death, and I banned those people. I am sorry, but I cannot support a leader who defends that type of action. A person who wants to represent this community should have character, and I think the character shown at justifying someone's death is far from what we need on this council.

That is why Eastern Shore Undercover proudly endorses Bobby Lee Leath Jr. for Wicomico County Council District 4.