We know mayoral candidate and Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors vice president Joseph T. "Jody" Landers III is an expert in real property. But he also has staked a few claims online.

Landers purchased the domain names youngforcouncilpresident.com, coleforcouncilpresident.com, conawayformayor.com and stokesformayor.com late last year.

"It was a preemptive, defensive move" that an advisor suggested, Landers said. "When we were buying domain names, we just bought a slew of domain names."

Landers said that he had subsequently "thought the better of it" and would gladly turn the sites over to Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, who is running for reelection, Councilman William H. Cole IV (who is running for his 11th district seat, not the presidency) and mayoral candidates Councilman Carl Stokes and Clerk of Courts Frank M. Conaway Sr.

"If any of those folks are interested in them, they can have them for whatever they cost me," he said.

Landers declined to name the advisor who suggested buying the domain names, but said the person "had the best of intentions."

Landers, who is running on a platform of lowering the city's property tax rates, appeared at City Hall earlier this week. The former councilman attended a ceremony Monday evening for current and former city and state elected officials to welcome former governor and mayor William Donald Schaefer's body as he lay in state at City Hall.

Landers said he planned to step from his job with the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors in late June to focus on the campaign.

Landers says he wants to grow the city's tax base by attracting new residents through lowering property tax rates. He criticized the host of new taxes that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake implemented last year to help fill a $121 million hole in the city's budget.

"I just dont see this administration having a plan or a clue as to how to deal with this," he said. "We need a long term vision so that we can grow the tax base."