Commissioners are not keeping their promise of engagement

     These same commissioners who ran for the office on the predication that local citizens needed more representation in land use planning are not going to participate in a meeting with local residents and staff from the Maryland Department of Planning.
     This does not make sense, unless you fully understand the real agenda of at least three members of this board.
     In any case, they are not living up to their own word; that they would encourage more local input on land use, that they would be fully engaged to ensure the constitutionality of any actions resulting in planning and zoning, and they would be both transparent and accessible.
     There was even some reference to fighting back, the "Fighting 59th" or something like that, until it was pointed out that it really sounded silly.
     Finksburg citizens -- who have the same rights as citizens who voted for any of the five commissioners -- joined with the local newspaper, The Carroll County Times, to host a meeting with state planning officials, so everyone could get up to date on the objectives of the state and the impact that state actions will have on Carroll County.
     When they were campaigning, and even before that, when they were opposing the previous master plan proposal and thinking about running for office, Richard Rothschild in particular was noisy about how real leaders would stand up to the state and listen more to We The People.
      Now, he stays home. Says there is are "more appropriate venues" for responding to the plan. Based on his activities in office so far, that means taking trips out of county to speak to those who already think like him on issues of property rights and zoning, laissez-faire versus government planning.
     If he has to meet opponents in open dialog, he gets scarce. What better venue to stand up for what he purports to be the values of most county residents than a county meeting with state officials?  No answer.
     Robin Frazier continues to play the Cheshire cat, appearing, disappearing, hard to find and totally non-responsive. She has her 21 percent and forget about the rest of the county. The reference to 21 percent is the extreme Right's number; they figure they can get support from that 21 percent of the electorate that makes up their base at the polls, and most of the rest of population fails to vote, so the ardent conservatives win by default.
     If you win re-election, that's Job One; ask the representatives "working" on a debt ceiling issue.  Job One puts you in position to obstruct. Anything.
     I'm betting Haven Shoemaker winds up going to the meeting, despite luke-warm comments so far. How can he not go, and still claim he cares what Finksburg residents think? Despite the fact that his primary reason for running was to get pay and benefits, Shoemaker at least showed some willingness to actually represent community interests when he was mayor of Hampstead.
     Howard will probably stay home. He, too, wanted a job with better pay and benefits, and one in which he could continue building his resume. But attending a meeting with real issues and opposing points of view is not high on his list of things to do right now.
     And Dave Roush?  He has other plans. Which seems to be his default mode since telling everyone on the economic development commission and the board of zoning appeals and then the campaign trail that the county needs more hands-on leadership from people with a real business background.
     Here's a meeting about the immediate AND long-term future of the county, and he has other plans. So much for hands-on.
     These commissioners obviously believes they have the support of the people who put them in office. It would seem that they have not yet given full consideration to what they have to do to earn -- and deserve -- the respect of other, still skeptical, citizens.