Has anyone heard from Commissioner Dave Roush?

     As Carroll County commissioners Richard Rothschild and Robin Frazier display their one-note ideology over and over again, colleague Haven Shoemaker has spoken up in opposition to the extreme tilt to the Right and may have redeemed himself as a reasonable and more centrist, pragmatic thinker.
     Why, indeed, give $6,000 a month in taxpayer dollars away so Rothschild can lay claim to a "national presence," which, Rothschild laments, has brought him undue scrutiny and criticism similar to that suffered by Sarah Palin.
     Rothschild, not satisfied with self-serving rhetoric, wanted to hire a like-thinking hack -- that's what real news people call a hired spin master  -- to polish up the image for a larger audience.
     Shoemaker knows a grandstand play when he sees one, because he made a few beauties in successfully campaigning against incumbent Julia Gouge in The Election The Republican Central Committee Engineered through savvy redistricting and reduction in the Gouge base.
     But now, to his credit, Shoemaker has had enough, and has said so.
     Doug Howard, who I once thought was a lot brighter than average, seems to prattle on about the Rightness of the new board's agenda, as if the five of them have somehow been anointed with mandates to completely reverse everything that could be called reasonable progress in recent years.
     His defense of the inability to find a planner as reported in a recent issue of The Carroll County Times actually inspired horse laughs in those who know what's really the problem. Howard said it may be difficult to find a professional planner who can work with the policies of the current board of commissioners and take the plan where the commissioners want to go.
     Ya think?
     NO self-respecting professional planner would touch the Carroll County planning job unless they were ready to retire, and willing to toss their reputations and take the money and move to Florida.
     That's why former economic development director Larry Twele left the county for a job Howard County. No dead-end streets for him.
     Virtually every planner -- and economic development professional -- knows that Carroll County was on the right track with reduced emphasis on residential growth and development of zoned areas to attract modern, state of the art business. The election of this board was a huge U-turn to the pre-1960 era.
     It is unsustainable. Rothschild does not even understand the definition of that word, but he does not like it, because it does not fit his iron-bound politispeak. Here is a guy who refuses to acknowledge that islands are disappearing because water is rising.
     But we all saw all of that coming. Where we are and where we are headed, at least until the next election, is no surprise.
     What is a surprise to me, and some other observers, is the absence of any semblance of leadership from Commissioner Dave Roush.
     Roush had strong opinions when he served on the economic development commission, and later on the Board of Zoning Appeals. He heard all the testimony of the advisers and saw the results of professional surveys on what direction the county needed to go to keep the tax rate down and create local jobs of a status to pay for the county quality of life. He spoke up, contributed to the dialog.
     So where is he now?
     Of all the candidates for commissioner in the last election, Roush had the most solid position of understanding of the issues the county faces, and the consequences of turning back the clock. Frazier was and is hopelessly didactic about conservative values and clueless about realities; Rothschild was obviously an ideologue with a conspiracy mentality. Howard had potential, in a benign, deer-in-the-headlights sort of way, but has failed miserably to examine the facts because he's too busy justifying actions. Note to Howard: It's okay to think for yourself. Key word is "think."
     Shoemaker has come to the party.
     I expected a lot more than I have seen or heard from Roush. Perhaps he is not being served well by the press, which tends to ignore or under report reasonable comment.
     But I never questioned his judgment, and thought that as a commissioner, in a position that requires openness and leadership, he would stand up for what he knows.
      He is past due.