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!