![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
The Fightin' Third
Yes, that's right, it's time for another *gripping* installment of Local Politics Theater. This week it's our special Midterm Elections episode!
The state primary elections are exactly one week from today. This will be the first time that I'm really having to make some decisions before I vote. In the general elections, so far, my choice has always been obvious; and in most of the primaries the last two times, the outcome was more or less foreordained at that point and I could vote based on whimsy. This year, there are some contested primaries where I don't actually know who to vote for yet!
The most important race is the gubernatorial election - despite Maryland's recent tendency to re-elect incumbents no matter what, Erlich has done just a horrible, and *publically* horrible job, and has so consistently had no support from the legislature (How many times did he try to get slots passed?), that the Democrats have a fairly good chance, I think, of ousting him. If they do a good job of getting the party excited - make them feel the necessity for change, for new voices, let them see that they really can have a say in the way their government is run, open a dialogue of debate, show the state that we aren't satisfied -
So of course the mayor of Baltimore is running unopposed in the primary. *yawn* You'd think they'd have learned from what happened four yeas ago, but if there's anything Maryland politicians aren't good at, it's learning from their mistakes.
The state senator and delegates are also unopposed in the primary, but they're all incumbent Democrats and pretty secure, so I can forgive that. The county sherriff and all the judges are also unopposed, but it's probably a lost couase to get people excited about *those* races.
However, our senator - John Sarbanes, who is much beloved by our people as boring but effective - is retiring. There's actually something of a race going on there, but our Congressman, Ben Cardin, is running, and is one of the two front candidates. He's similar to Sarbanes as being known for being boring but good at what he does, and he was endorsed by the teachers' union, and his voting and public record can probably pull in the sick-of-the-war moderates when it comes to the general election. Plus he knows *our* district, so he'd get my vote out of simple loyalty even if the rest didn't look so good. There's a couple dozen more people running, but his main competiton (neck-and-neck) is Kweisi Mfume, about whom I've heard enough since he took over the NAACP to make me feel slightly skeevy about him anyway.
And since Cardin is running for the Senate, the district's congressional seat has come open. This is actually the the race I'm most unsure of, and the district is blue enough that the primary will almost certainly decide the seat. Sarbanes' son is running (Yes, this is a most exciting time for the good ol' third!) and seems, as of the latest polls I could find, to be slightly in the lead. Possibly because people are confusing him with his father. But even if I liked him otherwise, I've always been chary of dynastic politics (the Gore/Bush race just cemented it) and would probably vote against him just based on that. But his campaign so far has been all style, no substance, and he has no political experience at all really other than descent.
The second place candidate is Peter Beilenson, who is some kind of politically active doctor. I think he was on some committees or something? He's endorsed by my mother and was best supported at the state fair, both of which are definite plusses in my opinion. On the other hand, his record and campaign literature is not terribly impressing me - it's not making me go *barf* like, say, Kevin O'Keefe's does (Endorsed by five out of six highschool coaches!), but it's generally pretty bland. And I have, somewhere deep in my hindbrain, a distrust of doctors as politicians. (No, it's not because of House. It's probably down to some obscure SF novel I read in my youth. I think I'll blame Heinlein - he's easiest.) If I vote just to block Sarbanes, it'll be Beilenson, and I'll be okay with that. (Alas, the union has declined to endorse anyone and make my decision for me.)
O'Keefe the previously mentioned, and Oz Bengur due to previous experiences, I'd rather not vote for. John Rea doesn't even have a web site, so no. Paula Hollinger gets votes for being female and in the State Senate, loses points for being that particular sort of over-made-up-middle-aged female that grates on my nerves, and never doing anything interesting in the Senate, and having a very vague campaign platform on everything but her pet issues.
If it was just down to me voting for who I like, I would favor either Andy Barth or Mishonda Baldwin. Andy Barth is a mild-mannered yet plucky reporter who has gotten some really nice write-ups in the Baltimore Sun and has consistently impressive campaign literature and a great public image and record of actually using his reporter's clout to help people, and may actually be a Kryptonian in disguise (hey, you never know!). Mishonda Baldwin is a young black female lawyer and Desert Storm veteran, with extensive activist and civic experience, who is running a well-thought-out grass-roots campaign based, in its foundation, on sheer idealistic frustration, and who has a froot loop's chance in hell of winning.
I think at this point it might come down to the last minute, and I'll vote Beilenson if it looks like he and Sarbanes are in a close race, and Baldwin if not, but I'm definitely open to argument on this one.
The comptroller of Maryland is actually a very important, if non-shiny, office; s/he has one of three seats on the Board of Public Works, which is the UN Security Council of Maryland development. The current comptroller is the 87-year-old William Donald Schaefer, the Harlan Ellison of Maryland politics. Traditionally, in this century, incumbent comptrollers stay in office until they die of old age, but Schaefer's been making such a hash of it lately that his challenger, Janet Owens, is substantially leading in the primaries, and people are actually *talking* about the race. Owens is currently our county executive (yes, there are a lot of AACo people running in state races this year.) I'm not overly impressed with her record as County Executive - to start with, she screwed over the schools even worse than NCLB did. But, with one notable exception, she does have a fairly good record when it comes to preserving open space, parks, environmental areas, and greenways, which is what we really need in a comptroller right now. She's probably a better choice than Schaefer.
But Maryland politics will be so much more *boring* without Schaefer around to jump into aquarium tanks and call his constituency a shithouse and publically grope interns! Oh Willy Don. I think rubbernecking syndrome is the only reason we elected him comptroller after the other old guy kicked it. And surely he'd die before he could do too much more harm anyway, right?
Either way, Owens is out of the County Executive's seat, so *we're* ahead of the game. Runing in her place are long-time county sheriff George F. Johnson IV, and Dennis Callahan, former recreation & parks commissioner. I actually got to speak to both of these guys at a BRIDGE thing not too long ago, and Johnson is as much the more impressive in person as he is on paper. Callahan's kind of euch in person, and everything flashy that he did as Parks commissioner was ill-thought-out and selfish.
And I think it's Simms for attorney general - the second-place guy got kicked off the ballot, and Simms has the Sunpaper's endorsement as well as some other really nice testimonials, and a good campaign compared to the third guy. (I'm almost tempted to support the Republican for this one, just 'cause he had people out on streetcorners today - in the pouring rain - pulling for him.)
...does the Register of Wills actually *do* anything?
The state primary elections are exactly one week from today. This will be the first time that I'm really having to make some decisions before I vote. In the general elections, so far, my choice has always been obvious; and in most of the primaries the last two times, the outcome was more or less foreordained at that point and I could vote based on whimsy. This year, there are some contested primaries where I don't actually know who to vote for yet!
The most important race is the gubernatorial election - despite Maryland's recent tendency to re-elect incumbents no matter what, Erlich has done just a horrible, and *publically* horrible job, and has so consistently had no support from the legislature (How many times did he try to get slots passed?), that the Democrats have a fairly good chance, I think, of ousting him. If they do a good job of getting the party excited - make them feel the necessity for change, for new voices, let them see that they really can have a say in the way their government is run, open a dialogue of debate, show the state that we aren't satisfied -
So of course the mayor of Baltimore is running unopposed in the primary. *yawn* You'd think they'd have learned from what happened four yeas ago, but if there's anything Maryland politicians aren't good at, it's learning from their mistakes.
The state senator and delegates are also unopposed in the primary, but they're all incumbent Democrats and pretty secure, so I can forgive that. The county sherriff and all the judges are also unopposed, but it's probably a lost couase to get people excited about *those* races.
However, our senator - John Sarbanes, who is much beloved by our people as boring but effective - is retiring. There's actually something of a race going on there, but our Congressman, Ben Cardin, is running, and is one of the two front candidates. He's similar to Sarbanes as being known for being boring but good at what he does, and he was endorsed by the teachers' union, and his voting and public record can probably pull in the sick-of-the-war moderates when it comes to the general election. Plus he knows *our* district, so he'd get my vote out of simple loyalty even if the rest didn't look so good. There's a couple dozen more people running, but his main competiton (neck-and-neck) is Kweisi Mfume, about whom I've heard enough since he took over the NAACP to make me feel slightly skeevy about him anyway.
And since Cardin is running for the Senate, the district's congressional seat has come open. This is actually the the race I'm most unsure of, and the district is blue enough that the primary will almost certainly decide the seat. Sarbanes' son is running (Yes, this is a most exciting time for the good ol' third!) and seems, as of the latest polls I could find, to be slightly in the lead. Possibly because people are confusing him with his father. But even if I liked him otherwise, I've always been chary of dynastic politics (the Gore/Bush race just cemented it) and would probably vote against him just based on that. But his campaign so far has been all style, no substance, and he has no political experience at all really other than descent.
The second place candidate is Peter Beilenson, who is some kind of politically active doctor. I think he was on some committees or something? He's endorsed by my mother and was best supported at the state fair, both of which are definite plusses in my opinion. On the other hand, his record and campaign literature is not terribly impressing me - it's not making me go *barf* like, say, Kevin O'Keefe's does (Endorsed by five out of six highschool coaches!), but it's generally pretty bland. And I have, somewhere deep in my hindbrain, a distrust of doctors as politicians. (No, it's not because of House. It's probably down to some obscure SF novel I read in my youth. I think I'll blame Heinlein - he's easiest.) If I vote just to block Sarbanes, it'll be Beilenson, and I'll be okay with that. (Alas, the union has declined to endorse anyone and make my decision for me.)
O'Keefe the previously mentioned, and Oz Bengur due to previous experiences, I'd rather not vote for. John Rea doesn't even have a web site, so no. Paula Hollinger gets votes for being female and in the State Senate, loses points for being that particular sort of over-made-up-middle-aged female that grates on my nerves, and never doing anything interesting in the Senate, and having a very vague campaign platform on everything but her pet issues.
If it was just down to me voting for who I like, I would favor either Andy Barth or Mishonda Baldwin. Andy Barth is a mild-mannered yet plucky reporter who has gotten some really nice write-ups in the Baltimore Sun and has consistently impressive campaign literature and a great public image and record of actually using his reporter's clout to help people, and may actually be a Kryptonian in disguise (hey, you never know!). Mishonda Baldwin is a young black female lawyer and Desert Storm veteran, with extensive activist and civic experience, who is running a well-thought-out grass-roots campaign based, in its foundation, on sheer idealistic frustration, and who has a froot loop's chance in hell of winning.
I think at this point it might come down to the last minute, and I'll vote Beilenson if it looks like he and Sarbanes are in a close race, and Baldwin if not, but I'm definitely open to argument on this one.
The comptroller of Maryland is actually a very important, if non-shiny, office; s/he has one of three seats on the Board of Public Works, which is the UN Security Council of Maryland development. The current comptroller is the 87-year-old William Donald Schaefer, the Harlan Ellison of Maryland politics. Traditionally, in this century, incumbent comptrollers stay in office until they die of old age, but Schaefer's been making such a hash of it lately that his challenger, Janet Owens, is substantially leading in the primaries, and people are actually *talking* about the race. Owens is currently our county executive (yes, there are a lot of AACo people running in state races this year.) I'm not overly impressed with her record as County Executive - to start with, she screwed over the schools even worse than NCLB did. But, with one notable exception, she does have a fairly good record when it comes to preserving open space, parks, environmental areas, and greenways, which is what we really need in a comptroller right now. She's probably a better choice than Schaefer.
But Maryland politics will be so much more *boring* without Schaefer around to jump into aquarium tanks and call his constituency a shithouse and publically grope interns! Oh Willy Don. I think rubbernecking syndrome is the only reason we elected him comptroller after the other old guy kicked it. And surely he'd die before he could do too much more harm anyway, right?
Either way, Owens is out of the County Executive's seat, so *we're* ahead of the game. Runing in her place are long-time county sheriff George F. Johnson IV, and Dennis Callahan, former recreation & parks commissioner. I actually got to speak to both of these guys at a BRIDGE thing not too long ago, and Johnson is as much the more impressive in person as he is on paper. Callahan's kind of euch in person, and everything flashy that he did as Parks commissioner was ill-thought-out and selfish.
And I think it's Simms for attorney general - the second-place guy got kicked off the ballot, and Simms has the Sunpaper's endorsement as well as some other really nice testimonials, and a good campaign compared to the third guy. (I'm almost tempted to support the Republican for this one, just 'cause he had people out on streetcorners today - in the pouring rain - pulling for him.)
...does the Register of Wills actually *do* anything?
no subject
I doubt the Register of Wills does much more than wirte down that there *was* a will, or possibly file wills.
And maybe show up in court once in a while and say he did.
And collect a paycheck.
I'd probably look it up, if I had any interest whatsoever in what she/he actually does.
no subject
The Register of Wills is responsible for appointing personal representatives to administer decedents’ estates and for overseeing the proper and timely administration of these proceedings. We also perform the following duties: assist and advise the public in the preparation of all required forms; maintain and preserve the permanent record of all proceedings; serve as the Clerk to the Orphans’ Court; track estates and refer delinquent matters to the Court; determine and collect inheritance taxes and probate fees/court costs; audit accounts of personal representatives and guardians; mail various notices and court orders to interested persons; and, verify compliance with court orders. For further information, please contact the Register in the county (jurisdiction) where the decedent resided at the time of death.
no subject