Today's meeting of the county commissioners droned on forever, but it was all the stuff of governance. From my vantage point, I get to read the faces in the audience, and it's educational -- almost as informative as, say, a report from the budget director or guidance from the director of planning on the consequences of federal and state mandates on water resource management.
When you start to talk about water and sewers, the first to fall asleep -- or begin reading email texts -- are the reporters. But they have short attention spans anyway. They like drama.
I recall an exchange I had with a veteran city editor at the old Baltimore News American when I challenged his decision to remove from the home delivery editions a sewerage assessment story from a Harford County bureau story I had assigned.
"It's a sh** story!" he roared, defending his destruction of hard work and diligent reporting. "Nobody wants to read a sh** story!"
I replied that people who just got a big hike in county assessments didn't think it was such a dull story, but he prevailed. He was, of course, the city editor, and I was just a lowly county editor. I did point out that the newspaper would not survive if all it sent to Harford (or Howard or Carroll) County readers were cops and robbers stories in downtown Baltimore, but that was laughed off, too.
The biggest story under discussion Thursday was the status of a plan for compliance with federal and state clean water rules. At one point, I stopped the report and asked the very capable staffer to put it in terms that the average citizen would relate to. What happens to the couple, or small builder, who has been planning a house in the future? How will these rules affect businesses, who need to comply with runoff when they put in parking lots? What will farmers have to change?
We no longer live in a world where the biggest environmental decision was to make sure the cows drank downstream and the people drank upstream. In today's crowded, chaotic and increasingly polluted world, everybody is downsteam from somebody's cows.
And the local elected officials have little say in the remedies. They are obliged to comply, even when the plan is not yet fully formed.
I found myself wishing that a few of the candidates in the upcoming election were on hand for a primer on what complexities they face. Their rhetoric in the primary campaigns would suggest it's all so easy. I was thinking that they have not yet heard the question, so how could they have the answers.
Whan the teachable moments were all finished, just before we adjourned, one of the successful candidates came in, looking very earnest in his suit and tie and his portfolio under his arm, and took a seat in the front row.
Late again, clueless, and so emblematic of the qualities of aspiring leadership.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
My take on the local election results (so far)
The question put to me was: What do you think of the people's choice in the recent Carroll County election?
Stock answer is this: People get the quality of government they deserve.
If you didn't vote, and most registered voters apparently did not, then you take what you get. If you did vote, and things don't turn out the way you thought they would, it might mean your judgment needs a battery check. Or perhaps you were misled. Or both.
As far as the commissioner by district vote is concerned, this election was really about the one six years ago, when the people's choice was to change from three commissioners at large to five by district. Prior to that bright idea, every registered voter had the opportunity to vote for one, two or three commissioners. In their wisdom, the voters decided in 2004 to give up two choices and settle for one. I don't get it, but then I once voted for Barry Goldwater, so what do I know.
Then voters stood by in relative silence while the South Carroll Republican Club and the Carroll County delegation to Annapolis subverted a bipartisan process prescribed by law and pushed through a "local courtesy" change in the proposed districts.
For those who have better things to do than pay attention to what's happening to their voting rights, that means that five or six representatives in the state legislature make a deal with the delegates from other counties to go along with something that those other folks want to put over on the rest of the state -- or at least the opposition party in their home county -- at some future date.
This practice seems to work well, because you'll see several of these every year during the 90-day sessions in Annapolis, which may be what inspired the late legendary newsman H.L. Mencken to say, "Lock up your daughters and hold on to your wallets, the legislature is in session."
All of this fooling around with processes, of course, was to make it easier for the party insiders to manipulate elections, and the demographics, and, therefore, perhaps have their way with the results. Many voters did not get it that they lost two votes, two choices. Some have not gotten it yet; a citizen asked me, after the primary, "NOW can we vote for more than one?"
NO!
Dirty politics must work, because the number one priority of the local GOP establishment was to find a way to dilute the popularity of incumbent commissioner Julia Gouge, who was too moderate for the party zealots. Her appeal was strong county wide, especially in the south county, and an effort to destroy her with a (gag!) newspaper bought and paid for by a cadre of Julia haters did not work.
When she won relection in 2006, some of the same players started a (gag) newspaper in the northeast, once they had confined her candidacy to a smaller geographic area. This rag hammered at her relentlessly for four or five years, and the old Third Reich mantra of telling a big lie and telling it often had the desired effect. Some people believed it.
But just getting people to believe the big lie is not enough. You have to own a candidate or two who will capitalize on the atmosphere and run against the incumbent. If you spend enough money, tell a big enough lie often enough, with variations, find a stooge or two, or three, to run against the incumbent, you can defy even the logic of Abraham Lincoln, who said, "You can fool some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
I can't help thinking of the venom in the declaration of a staunch Republican back in 2002, when he said, "I will spend my fortune, if I have to, to get rid of Julia Gouge!"
So Haven Shoemaker emerges from the lies, half-truths, and dirty dealing to win the right to represent the voters of the second district (revised). He has a victory, but can he be proud?
In the first district, Robin Frazier is another favorite of the back room crowd, and was able to ride untruths and promises of lower taxes to victory as well. No mention, of course, that she was a commissioner that made policies leaving the county's growth out of control and schools inadequate. The literature, and the tone, of her campaign was starkly similar to that of Haven Shoemaker, and Buettner, that other paragon of virtue, and Richard Rothschild, the man who sees violations of the Constitution in every shadow. I hear that he believes it is unconstitutional to zone property, or plan land use, despite the mandates of 66B under the Maryland constitution. Apparently he has no problem with the property owner across the road from you opening a junkyard. Or another of those self-service storage complxes. Frazier is on record, too, as opposing restrictions on property rights, including zoning. The two of them might petition the local delegation to make a local courtesy bill excusing Carroll County from state law and compliance with 66B.
So, we have two Republicans who have reservations about the value of planning, or zoning, another who as a mayor led the fight to take private property by eminent domain from the leading Hampstead taxpayer, the golf course, so the town government can get access to the water from the wells (perhaps Shoemaker should listen to a Frazier sermon about not coveting thy neighbors well), and a "business" oriented guy named Doug Howard in south Carroll who has been critical about spending money for parks and recreation land. Maybe he didn't hear that if it is the volunteer labor and financial donations of rec council members (read that parents of thousands of kids) that takes care of the biggest costs.
Only one of the winning Republican candidates was frank and forthcoming, and therefore considered to be reasonable, about the complexities of local government, and that is Dave Roush, in the Westminster district. But but compared to the list of -- well, fill in your own charitable thought here -- candidates who ran against him, Roush really did not have much of a challenge. His most likely competition was a tea-party booster who simply talked herself out of contention. That was encouraging; maybe it means people really can see through the razzle-dazzle and find true value in candidates.
So, except for the Roush victory, the well-heeled and ultra right wing types behind the scenes in Carroll County had a good day. But it's not over yet.
In addition to Roush, three other candidates ran straightforward, honest, honerable and informed campaigns, despite not all agreeing with each other, or Roush, or certainly my own thoughts on certain issues. Those other three are still in the race for the genereal election, as Democrats. They are Doug Mathias in District 3; Michelle Johnson, District 4; and Hugh McLaurin in District 5.
If the voters, once they realize they can only vote for one commissioner now, think about how they got flim-flammed into that position, they might vote against the dirty deals machine, elect moderates, even perhaps, a Democrat or two.
Gee whiskers!
Stock answer is this: People get the quality of government they deserve.
If you didn't vote, and most registered voters apparently did not, then you take what you get. If you did vote, and things don't turn out the way you thought they would, it might mean your judgment needs a battery check. Or perhaps you were misled. Or both.
As far as the commissioner by district vote is concerned, this election was really about the one six years ago, when the people's choice was to change from three commissioners at large to five by district. Prior to that bright idea, every registered voter had the opportunity to vote for one, two or three commissioners. In their wisdom, the voters decided in 2004 to give up two choices and settle for one. I don't get it, but then I once voted for Barry Goldwater, so what do I know.
Then voters stood by in relative silence while the South Carroll Republican Club and the Carroll County delegation to Annapolis subverted a bipartisan process prescribed by law and pushed through a "local courtesy" change in the proposed districts.
For those who have better things to do than pay attention to what's happening to their voting rights, that means that five or six representatives in the state legislature make a deal with the delegates from other counties to go along with something that those other folks want to put over on the rest of the state -- or at least the opposition party in their home county -- at some future date.
This practice seems to work well, because you'll see several of these every year during the 90-day sessions in Annapolis, which may be what inspired the late legendary newsman H.L. Mencken to say, "Lock up your daughters and hold on to your wallets, the legislature is in session."
All of this fooling around with processes, of course, was to make it easier for the party insiders to manipulate elections, and the demographics, and, therefore, perhaps have their way with the results. Many voters did not get it that they lost two votes, two choices. Some have not gotten it yet; a citizen asked me, after the primary, "NOW can we vote for more than one?"
NO!
Dirty politics must work, because the number one priority of the local GOP establishment was to find a way to dilute the popularity of incumbent commissioner Julia Gouge, who was too moderate for the party zealots. Her appeal was strong county wide, especially in the south county, and an effort to destroy her with a (gag!) newspaper bought and paid for by a cadre of Julia haters did not work.
When she won relection in 2006, some of the same players started a (gag) newspaper in the northeast, once they had confined her candidacy to a smaller geographic area. This rag hammered at her relentlessly for four or five years, and the old Third Reich mantra of telling a big lie and telling it often had the desired effect. Some people believed it.
But just getting people to believe the big lie is not enough. You have to own a candidate or two who will capitalize on the atmosphere and run against the incumbent. If you spend enough money, tell a big enough lie often enough, with variations, find a stooge or two, or three, to run against the incumbent, you can defy even the logic of Abraham Lincoln, who said, "You can fool some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
I can't help thinking of the venom in the declaration of a staunch Republican back in 2002, when he said, "I will spend my fortune, if I have to, to get rid of Julia Gouge!"
So Haven Shoemaker emerges from the lies, half-truths, and dirty dealing to win the right to represent the voters of the second district (revised). He has a victory, but can he be proud?
In the first district, Robin Frazier is another favorite of the back room crowd, and was able to ride untruths and promises of lower taxes to victory as well. No mention, of course, that she was a commissioner that made policies leaving the county's growth out of control and schools inadequate. The literature, and the tone, of her campaign was starkly similar to that of Haven Shoemaker, and Buettner, that other paragon of virtue, and Richard Rothschild, the man who sees violations of the Constitution in every shadow. I hear that he believes it is unconstitutional to zone property, or plan land use, despite the mandates of 66B under the Maryland constitution. Apparently he has no problem with the property owner across the road from you opening a junkyard. Or another of those self-service storage complxes. Frazier is on record, too, as opposing restrictions on property rights, including zoning. The two of them might petition the local delegation to make a local courtesy bill excusing Carroll County from state law and compliance with 66B.
So, we have two Republicans who have reservations about the value of planning, or zoning, another who as a mayor led the fight to take private property by eminent domain from the leading Hampstead taxpayer, the golf course, so the town government can get access to the water from the wells (perhaps Shoemaker should listen to a Frazier sermon about not coveting thy neighbors well), and a "business" oriented guy named Doug Howard in south Carroll who has been critical about spending money for parks and recreation land. Maybe he didn't hear that if it is the volunteer labor and financial donations of rec council members (read that parents of thousands of kids) that takes care of the biggest costs.
Only one of the winning Republican candidates was frank and forthcoming, and therefore considered to be reasonable, about the complexities of local government, and that is Dave Roush, in the Westminster district. But but compared to the list of -- well, fill in your own charitable thought here -- candidates who ran against him, Roush really did not have much of a challenge. His most likely competition was a tea-party booster who simply talked herself out of contention. That was encouraging; maybe it means people really can see through the razzle-dazzle and find true value in candidates.
So, except for the Roush victory, the well-heeled and ultra right wing types behind the scenes in Carroll County had a good day. But it's not over yet.
In addition to Roush, three other candidates ran straightforward, honest, honerable and informed campaigns, despite not all agreeing with each other, or Roush, or certainly my own thoughts on certain issues. Those other three are still in the race for the genereal election, as Democrats. They are Doug Mathias in District 3; Michelle Johnson, District 4; and Hugh McLaurin in District 5.
If the voters, once they realize they can only vote for one commissioner now, think about how they got flim-flammed into that position, they might vote against the dirty deals machine, elect moderates, even perhaps, a Democrat or two.
Gee whiskers!
Friday, September 24, 2010
What part of (fill in the blank) don't we understand?
The man we elected handily to be President of the United States, elected him because we found hope and idealism and some ideas for needed improvements in his words, is finding out that people have a short attention span.
Or maybe he's finding out that a large chunk of the public has a mean streak, a dark side. A stubborn refusal to accept new facts. And there are lots of people, Republicans and conservatives of various funks, who have nothing to do but cheer on the malcontents. It's American politics -- Didn't like who got voted in? Well, then, do everything we can to see that they fail, even if it means flushing the country down the drain.
Not everyone won the election when Obama came to office. A lot of white, middle class, under-educated, overly-opinionated, impatient, distrustful of change people think they lost the election, and they refuse to accept the vote count. It might sound like the whole nation is saying, "We don't care who won the election, we didn't agree with the vote so we'll continue to pretend the campaign is still on. Maybe we can get a recount and go back to Ronnie Reagan, or even dig up Barry Goldwater -- maybe he'd still make a good VP. As good as Cheney, anyway."
But of course, the whole nation is saying no such thing. You don't get to stay a couple of steps ahead of China by being totally stupid; marginally stupid, maybe, but not the whole country.
For the sake of soothing feelings here, let me define stupid, as opposed to ignorant. Ignorant is not knowing, as in needing an education. Stupid is having access to knowledge but refusing to be confused by the facts. We are all born ignorant, and through the efforts of our parents and teachers we become informed, engaged American and world citizens. Or at least that's the way it used to work, but that was before -- this is now.
There used to be a lot of ignorance, but not too much stupidity. Regular folks didn't know everything and they at least knew THAT, so they looked for bright, capable men and women (eventually) to serve in public office and learn what we needed to know to be a strong nation, or state, or town. If their term in office didn't measure up, we voted in someone who might do a better job.
Going back to the pioneer spirit that lots of people like to invoke these days, just look at the venerable mountain man, that solitary trapper of the great American West, who first laid eyes on the plains and towering mountain ranges. Most of them started out their adventures in ignorance, but they learned a hard lesson. There were no old, stupid mountain men; they learned what would kill them, and avoided life's grizzly bears.
But times change. Now some people celebrate ignorance, and embrace stupidity, because doing otherwise is to admit that those ideas of yesteryear are not enough to sustain a nation. If you don't like change, no matter how inevitable it is, no matter how many manifestations it has in everyday life, well, just ignore it as long as you can, and fight it blindly when it can no longer be ignored. Turn back time, if needed, but diehard conservatives will not concede that there might be a new and better way.
They'll even find one of those grizzly bears that the mountain men were smart enough to avoid, and try to make it a vice president, or even .... no, we will never be that stupid.
Or maybe he's finding out that a large chunk of the public has a mean streak, a dark side. A stubborn refusal to accept new facts. And there are lots of people, Republicans and conservatives of various funks, who have nothing to do but cheer on the malcontents. It's American politics -- Didn't like who got voted in? Well, then, do everything we can to see that they fail, even if it means flushing the country down the drain.
Not everyone won the election when Obama came to office. A lot of white, middle class, under-educated, overly-opinionated, impatient, distrustful of change people think they lost the election, and they refuse to accept the vote count. It might sound like the whole nation is saying, "We don't care who won the election, we didn't agree with the vote so we'll continue to pretend the campaign is still on. Maybe we can get a recount and go back to Ronnie Reagan, or even dig up Barry Goldwater -- maybe he'd still make a good VP. As good as Cheney, anyway."
But of course, the whole nation is saying no such thing. You don't get to stay a couple of steps ahead of China by being totally stupid; marginally stupid, maybe, but not the whole country.
For the sake of soothing feelings here, let me define stupid, as opposed to ignorant. Ignorant is not knowing, as in needing an education. Stupid is having access to knowledge but refusing to be confused by the facts. We are all born ignorant, and through the efforts of our parents and teachers we become informed, engaged American and world citizens. Or at least that's the way it used to work, but that was before -- this is now.
There used to be a lot of ignorance, but not too much stupidity. Regular folks didn't know everything and they at least knew THAT, so they looked for bright, capable men and women (eventually) to serve in public office and learn what we needed to know to be a strong nation, or state, or town. If their term in office didn't measure up, we voted in someone who might do a better job.
Going back to the pioneer spirit that lots of people like to invoke these days, just look at the venerable mountain man, that solitary trapper of the great American West, who first laid eyes on the plains and towering mountain ranges. Most of them started out their adventures in ignorance, but they learned a hard lesson. There were no old, stupid mountain men; they learned what would kill them, and avoided life's grizzly bears.
But times change. Now some people celebrate ignorance, and embrace stupidity, because doing otherwise is to admit that those ideas of yesteryear are not enough to sustain a nation. If you don't like change, no matter how inevitable it is, no matter how many manifestations it has in everyday life, well, just ignore it as long as you can, and fight it blindly when it can no longer be ignored. Turn back time, if needed, but diehard conservatives will not concede that there might be a new and better way.
They'll even find one of those grizzly bears that the mountain men were smart enough to avoid, and try to make it a vice president, or even .... no, we will never be that stupid.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Boy, did I make the right decision
Nine years ago, in a moment of exasperation, I decided to run for public office. The punishment for my rashness was getting elected, and being slow to learn, I ran again, and was again punished with victory.
I thought I would make a positive difference. I was too far along in life to think I could change the world, but perhaps I could preserve the public's faith in a little patch of it, the county in which I live and had raised by sons. I was miffed about being lied to -- miffed more at myself for falling for it, after all those years in journalism; you'd have thought I would have known better. But I had allowed myself to be deluded, and the only path to redemption was to get involved, pick up lance and shield, and tilt away at cynics and manipulators who would exploit the people. I was not smarter than everyone else, but I was reasonably honest, and I was determined to guard the processes so the average citizen, who was as clueless as I had ever been, would be given half a chance to know what what going on, why, and who were the players. It was just basic journalism 101, really -- the five W's -- who, what, when, where, and why, and sometimes how.
My guiding theory was that, given the facts, the people would choose to follow the leader who shined the light on those facts. Boy, was I wrong. So, about two years ago, I decided I would not run for re-election. But I have no regrets for myself. If anything, now that I have finished two terms in elected office, I may finally have attained another level of education.
Join me here as I relate my thoughts on political correctness, liberals versus conservatives versus nut cases, the futility of transparency in any level of government, and how we manage to remain a world power when it seems that the current direction of public involvement seems like a bad dream about the Jerry Springer show, with an audience that knows more about Dancing with the Stars than it does how local government works.
I thought I would make a positive difference. I was too far along in life to think I could change the world, but perhaps I could preserve the public's faith in a little patch of it, the county in which I live and had raised by sons. I was miffed about being lied to -- miffed more at myself for falling for it, after all those years in journalism; you'd have thought I would have known better. But I had allowed myself to be deluded, and the only path to redemption was to get involved, pick up lance and shield, and tilt away at cynics and manipulators who would exploit the people. I was not smarter than everyone else, but I was reasonably honest, and I was determined to guard the processes so the average citizen, who was as clueless as I had ever been, would be given half a chance to know what what going on, why, and who were the players. It was just basic journalism 101, really -- the five W's -- who, what, when, where, and why, and sometimes how.
My guiding theory was that, given the facts, the people would choose to follow the leader who shined the light on those facts. Boy, was I wrong. So, about two years ago, I decided I would not run for re-election. But I have no regrets for myself. If anything, now that I have finished two terms in elected office, I may finally have attained another level of education.
Join me here as I relate my thoughts on political correctness, liberals versus conservatives versus nut cases, the futility of transparency in any level of government, and how we manage to remain a world power when it seems that the current direction of public involvement seems like a bad dream about the Jerry Springer show, with an audience that knows more about Dancing with the Stars than it does how local government works.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Turning the page
After perhaps thousands of newspaper features and columns in regional papers over the years, and then two terms of political office, it's time to turn the page. That's what I'll be doing here, in this location, for the foreseeable days ahead.
Any topic is up for comment. Local politics, social foibles and trends, things you may not have heard elsewhere, whimsy. It will be about life in our time and place, and the consequences of our humanity. We will celebrate the best of things and berate, if we want to, the worst examples of things people say and do.
As this is a work in progress, it will likely change in format and appearance as I get used to turning pages that have no paper, but the essence will be the same that inspired imaginations and stimulated minds and terrified tyrants since the first moveable type made it possible to send words far and wide.
Please drop by regularly.
Any topic is up for comment. Local politics, social foibles and trends, things you may not have heard elsewhere, whimsy. It will be about life in our time and place, and the consequences of our humanity. We will celebrate the best of things and berate, if we want to, the worst examples of things people say and do.
As this is a work in progress, it will likely change in format and appearance as I get used to turning pages that have no paper, but the essence will be the same that inspired imaginations and stimulated minds and terrified tyrants since the first moveable type made it possible to send words far and wide.
Please drop by regularly.
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