Today it’s time to make my primary endorsements in some of the County Council races. Probably the best place to begin is to identify the players. Here’s the roster for both “teams”, the Democrats and Republicans. (At this time, I know of no other minor party or independent candidates for these seats.)
Democrats:
District 1: Mac Hayward, Sheree Sample-Hughes
District 2: none
District 3: Mike Pretl
District 4: Neil Bayne, David MacLeod
District 5: Ed Werkheiser
Republicans:
District 1: none
District 2: Stevie Prettyman
District 3: Gail Bartkovich
District 4: Bryan Brushmiller
District 5: Larry Dodd, Joe Holloway, Dorothy White
As you can read, I have just 3 contested races to deal with here, and two districts will be decided in September as just one party has candidates. As far as my personal vote, it’s still up in the air where I’ll be living let alone which candidate I’ll support. Currently I live on the fringes of District 3 (so obviously my primary vote goes to Gail Bartkovich) but I’m looking at houses in both District 4 and District 5, and there could be a scenario where I live in a house on a district border so I might just get TWO signs.
In District 1, the winner of the September 12 primary will be assured of a County Council seat because there is no candidate on the Republican side. I believe there’s some personal reasons involved with Mac Hayward getting a later start on his campaign, but really I haven’t seen or heard much from him – granted I’m not often in District 1 in my travels but you’d think I’d see him at some of the other events I attend. Hayward stressed his interest in education in the times I’ve seen or heard him.
On the other hand, I’ve seen Sheree Sample-Hughes almost everywhere – not to the Jim Gillespie level but she is a Democrat after all and I don’t make too many of their events. While she has some positions on issues that trouble me (reintegrating felons into the community and the county’s revenue cap are two examples), I think there’s a place at the table for some of her ideas and she certainly has made the extra effort to get herself seen whenever the opportunity arises. With the energy and passion she’s shown, I think youth should be served and the voters in District 1 should elect Sheree Sample-Hughes on September 12. I’ll take the chance that she uses the seat as a springboard to becoming a formidable state candidate because she’s worked harder to gain election in this race.
Turning to another Democrat race, District 4’s race features two men with interesting backgrounds – Neil Bayne, who has worked in the television and journalistic fields; and David MacLeod, onetime CIA employee who served in Africa and southeast Asia for nearly a decade. Both men share concerns about growth in Wicomico County as a campaign issue.
The impression I’ve had from what I heard and read about MacLeod is that he’s more focused on the impact of growth on the environment and may push a bit too far into the realm of restricting growth to a point where we regress instead of progress. He’s also interested in “(d)eveloping a neighborly relationship with Salisbury University administration and students.” That’s all well and good; however, one must remember (particularly SU students) that they are guests in our community, not the other way around. SU should be reaching out to us and students act more like those of manners and taste would if they were invited into our home.
But what sold me on Neil Bayne was one remark he made at the NAACP candidate forum. It wasn’t the one that drew the most applause regarding the county council’s meeting times, it was where he related to the assembled that one man and one vote were not going to solve the county’s problems. He also correctly noted that Wicomico County is always going to have to compete with the allure of the “big city” and its higher wages. (It’s possible Bayne could be on the County Council when Wicomico County becomes a “big city”, I believe we’re close to the borderline where the feds can declare Salisbury to be an urban area.) Because of his no-nonsense tone and realistic understanding of what the County Council can and can’t do to solve issues, I’m endorsing Neil Bayne for the District 4 Democratic nomination.
This brings us to the lone contested Republican race, where incumbent County Councilman Larry Dodd faces two challengers in Joe Holloway and Dorothy White. I’m very glad Holloway and White got into the race, not that I harbor any dislike for Larry Dodd, but because there’s two people who said that “yes, we have a Republican in the seat, but I think I can do the job better for (x) reason.” As is (hopefully) apparent, I like contested primaries and do not believe in automatic “incumbent protection.”
Of the two challengers, I know a little bit more about Dorothy White because I’ve had occasion to sit with her working the GOP booth at the Farm and Home Show. She was very much driven by the idea of “unity” on the County Council. But to me, I’m not sure unity is possible when you could have people who are dead set against the revenue cap (for example) at loggerheads with those who say the taxpayers voted to give themselves a break and we should respect their wishes. Some politicians misuse the concept of leadership against the will of the people as a bid to place more power in the hands of the governors rather than the governed. Joe Holloway has also made some good points in his campaign, but not enough to convince me that he would be worth a change on the County Council.
Thus, Larry Dodd is getting my endorsement for re-election, but it’s sort of a probationary one. Perhaps it’s the intimidation of being a rookie on County Council (and in the minority) or just in his personality and manner as he seems to be an easygoing sort, but I’m looking for him to take more of a leadership role this time around, while also remembering Republican principles he’s posted on his website.
And while I’m endorsing Dodd that’s not to say either alternative would be bad. We actually have three pretty good candidates in that district, certainly Dorothy White has been dogged and tenacious in her campaigning (she filed in July 2005) and Holloway apparently has some business background that would be helpful with assisting in county affairs. So I hope Larry Dodd isn’t counting just on his website and number of yard signs scattered about District 5 to assure him re-election, he has two spirited folks who want his job now and a third biding his time from the Democrat side. Tell us that you’re going to lead and give us specfics on what you want to accomplish.
At the risk of being accused of a quid pro quo, I should also thank Larry because in looking up something for this post I found out he links to my website from his. However, he needs to fix the link! There’s one too many “http” ‘s there, and I think it’s true on some of the other links as well.
Tomorrow I’m planning on tackling the County Council at-large races.
