{"id":46,"date":"2002-11-04T23:53:14","date_gmt":"2002-11-04T23:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/?p=46"},"modified":"2002-11-04T23:53:14","modified_gmt":"2002-11-04T23:53:14","slug":"election-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/?p=46","title":{"rendered":"Election Selection"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time ever, I’ve decided to open my votes for November 5th election
\nfor public perusal. I’ve included some comments and a bit of my individual
\nresearch along with each choice.<\/p>\n

I have to say that I enjoyed making the list. It forced me to take a better
\nlook at some candidates and justify each selection in some way. It will also
\ngive me a neat checklist when the election results roll in. As a republican
\nvoting in a largely
\ndemocratic<\/a>
\nstate, I’m bound to
\nlose more than I win but that matters little. I can’t complain if I don’t
\nbother to cast a ballot and – let’s face facts – what republican doesn’t
\nhave a lot to complain about in Maryland?<\/p>\n

If anyone has the itch to share, please do, even if you read this long
\nafter the fact. For anyone still undecided, I found the
\nvoter’s guide<\/a>
\nprovided by the
\nWashington Post<\/a>
\nto be a very handy guide. Check it out.
\nOne more thing: don’t forget to vote, unless of course
\nyou disagree with me.<\/p>\n

Governor<\/b>:
\nRobert L. Ehrlich. Jr.\/Michael S. Steele<\/p>\n

This is the easiest vote on the ballot for several reasons. It’s certainly
\nthe one with the highest profile and the one I’ve spent the most time thinking
\nabout. However, it wasn’t a hard decision. A republican with a chance to
\ntake the governor’s post is a no brainer, even if I wasn’t a bit disgruntled
\nabout the last eight years of Mrs. Townsend.<\/p>\n

Comptroller<\/b>: Gene Zarwell<\/p>\n

I like Mr. Schaefer – he’s certainly a familiar face – but the state
\nis currently facing a deficit of over $1 billion. Is it his fault?
\nNah. Should he take some of the blame? Just a little. Besides,
\nthe man has an AOL<\/a> email address.
\nIt doesn’t really matter anyway. This is just a throwaway vote
\nin the face of what I’m sure to be an impressive victory for Donnie.<\/p>\n

Attorney General<\/b>: J. Joseph Curran Jr.<\/p>\n

Mr. MacVaugh says some of the right things, like mentioning he would
\nbe “… Bob Ehrlich’s attorney general …”, but sometimes there is just no substitute for experience.
\nAs the incumbent, Mr. Curran has this qualification down. Note that I
\ngot over the fact that he too has an AOL email address (you’d think
\nthat the people at joecurran.org<\/a>
\nwould be nice enough to give him one, sheesh).<\/p>\n

Representative in Congress (D 2)<\/b>: Helen Delich Bentley
\nChalk this vote up to the balance in the House, where the republicans
\nhave a decent chance of controlling both House and the Senate along
\nwith the presidency. My biggest problem with Bentley is the fact that she
\nlooks feeble; she’s not a spring chicken by any means.<\/p>\n

State Senator (D 31)<\/b>: Philip C. Jimeno<\/p>\n

Ugh, this one hurts. On one hand, Mr. Jimeno is proud of a report card that
\nin my opinion should send him to detention. One the other, David Kile
\ndoesn’t even sport a college degree or a couple of issues I’m particularly
\npassionate about. If I was in Florida, I’d punch both holes or neither and
\nlet the voting machine figure it out.<\/p>\n

House of Delegates (D 31)<\/b>:
\nJohn R. Leopold, Don Dwyer, Thomas R. Gardner<\/p>\n

This one is more of a crap shoot because I get to pick three of six.
\nMr. Leopold came by and visited us during dinner one night, much to the
\nchagrin of the wife. Despite this, he still gets my vote. Dwyer
\ngets a vote for sheer effort. He waves to my wife every day on the
\nway to work – rain, sleet, snow, or shine. She doesn’t wave back but
\nshe’ll make the wave that counts. Mr. Gardner gets my last vote
\nbecause he actually mentioned the deficit. Imagine that. It’s
\na republican sweep for me.<\/p>\n

County Executive<\/b>: Phillip D. Bisset
\nWithout revealing the innocent parties, let’s just say that
\nthis one is personal. It’s a simple vote against a
\ndisliked incumbent.<\/p>\n

County Council (D 3)<\/b>: Ron Dillon, Jr.
\nThe retired catering manager of La Fountaine Bleu vs. the manager
\nof Dillon’s Bus Service. It’s a toss up and I’m full.<\/p>\n

Judge of the Circuit Court<\/b>:
\nNancy Davis-Loomis, Paul A. Hackner
\nThe only two candidates present me with two choices. I don’t
\neven understand why they bother with the ink, given that I’d
\nguess they only need one vote each secure the office
\n(it probably has something to do with that pesky election law). Let’s
\npretend I’m the only one. Everyone, leave this one to me.<\/p>\n

Court of Appeals\/Special Appeals<\/b>
\nHere’s some more wasted ink that presents three candidates for
\ncontinuance of office. How many people lose these things
\n(hey mom, I lost to Daffy Duck, the famous write-in candidate)?
\nI’ll save the internet some bytes and skip listing their names.<\/p>\n

State’s Attorney<\/b>: Michael W. Burns
\nLet’s go for the newbie with an eye on Ehrlich’s Project Exile
\nprogram. Punish gun crimes like you mean it.<\/p>\n

Clerk of the Circuit Court<\/b>: Robert P. Duckworth
\nI can’t help but chuckle when I hear his name. He should
\nbe a shrink (2 points if you get the joke). What is it
\nwith Serabian talking about men being problem employees?
\nLet me write that down and figure out what that has to
\ndo with anything.<\/p>\n

Register of Wills<\/b>: George N. Nutwell
\nThe only candidate gets my vote. Someone wake me before I
\nget to the questions.<\/p>\n

Judge of the Orphan’s Court<\/b>:
\nPaul R. Shelby, Gordon H. Witherspoon, Jacqueline Boone Allsup
\nThis is another pick of three out of six. Paul Shelby and
\nGordon Witherspoon seem to be the best qualified. Nancy
\nPhelps went to Lansdowne (my alma mater), so she’s
\nout. Jackie Allsup gets my toss up vote.<\/p>\n

Sheriff<\/b>: John Edward Moran IV
\nWhat is with the IV’s at the end of these guy’s names?
\nBoth of these candidates seem to be pretty good. This is
\nactually a close one. When in doubt, vote along party lines.<\/p>\n

Question 1 – Interim Peace and Protective Orders<\/b>: Against
\nThis just doesn’t sound necessary to me. I’d need to know more and
\nI just don’t have the time to research it.<\/p>\n

Question 2 – Legislation Authority of the General Assembly<\/b>: Against
\nYou have to be kidding me. This sounds so far reaching and so encompassing
\nthat liberals and dictators everywhere must have rejoiced when it was first
\napplied to paper.<\/p>\n

Question 3 – Certified Real Estate Appraiser<\/b>: Against
\nLet’s get this straight: the government wants your property and gets
\nsomeone on their payroll to determine its worth. Somehow I think
\nDutch Ruppersberger is involved in this one.<\/p>\n

Question A – Ammended Ordinances<\/b>: Against
\nHere’s a lazy vote. I don’t know why so I’ll just say no.<\/p>\n

Question B – Fire Adminstrator<\/b>: Against
\nI leave this vote with mixed feelings. It almost got me.<\/p>\n

Question C – County Executive Vacancy<\/b>: Against
\nI’m running short on juice and so is my ability to reason.<\/p>\n

Question D – Arbitration for Law Enforcement Employees<\/b>: Against
\nThis sounds like a cost cutting measure but it also sounds like
\nthe dirty parts of my employment agreement.<\/p>\n

Question E – Arbitration for Uniformed Firefighters<\/b>: Against
\nSee question D.<\/p>\n

Question F – Cooperative Purchases<\/b>: Against
\nI’m a reasonable person and I have to vote yes to something. Don’t I?<\/p>\n

Question G – Purchasing Contract Limits<\/b>: Against
\nCompetition slows things down. It also ensures fair prices and
\nguards against those nasty political favors you hear so much about.<\/p>\n

Question H – Uniform Bidding<\/b>: Against
\nHere are some words to guard against when taking true\/false tests:
\nalways, never, and ONLY. Let’s keep everyone honest. Shall we?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time ever, I’ve decided to open my votes for November 5th election for public perusal. I’ve included some comments and a bit of my individual research along with each choice. I have to say that I enjoyed making the list. It forced me to take a better look at some candidates and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}