For County Council – at-large

As promised yesterday here are my endorsements for the two at-large ballot spots for each party in their September 12 primary. Because all four Democrats who are on the current County Council decided not to run for re-election for whatever reasons, both of these seats are open. In fact, a “perfect storm” scenario for the County Council could have District 2 representative Stevie Prettyman being the sole holdover from the current council’s makeup, and the split in that situation could vary anywhere from a 6-1 Democrat majority to a 5-2 Republican one. All three Republicans who are on Council now (Prettyman, District 3’s Gail Bartkovich, and Larry Dodd from District 5) are seeking another term.

I’ll start with the Democrat side. Here are their four contenders for the two spots:

Carl Crumbacker, Sr.
Brenda Hughey-Jones
Bill McCain
Gary Tucker Jr.

Unfortunately, I really don’t have a lot of basis to judge Brenda Hughey-Jones from as she missed the NAACP candidate forum due to an emergency. While it’s likely I heard her on WICO because I tried to catch all of the candidate interviews Bill Reddish did, nothing from it sticks out at me. I did get a flyer with some of the items she’s committing to doing as a County Councilperson but they were general concepts rather than specific ideas and issues. In Gary Tucker’s case, I did hear him at the NAACP forum and on the radio, but he didn’t seem as prepared as one would like to see in either instance. I’m certain he has a passion for something but he couldn’t bring it across to me.

So in this case I almost by default have to endorse the other two for the Democratic nominations to the at-large County Council seats. Luckily it doesn’t work that way because both men have ideas and principles that are worth further exploration as the campaign unfolds.

Most intriguing to me in McCain’s case was a call for tax incentives for first-time homebuyers and targeting affordable housing districts. I know his background is in real estate appraisal but these are things that Wicomico County needs. Believe me, I know because I’m in the housing market right now! Fortunately I do have some means to get a decent house in a good area but not all working families do. I had one opportunity to turn a house that was being rented into an owner-occupied dwelling but alas, it fell through. It would be great to see others manage to achieve this feat and I’d like McCain to further elaborate on this platform plank as the weeks elapse toward the November election.

Meanwhile, Crumbacker impresses me as a fiscal conservative who’s running because Wicomico County needs a vision and a plan to be run properly. Noting that “citizens are sick of bad service” got my attention as well. Of course, bad service now should fall under the eye of the County Executive but having someone on the Council who’s keeping that in mind is no bad thing. Both of these men seem, at least at first glance, to shade their views toward those of so-called “Reagan Democrats.”

Because of this, I believe Carl Crumbacker and Bill McCain are the wisest choices to advance to the general election on the Democrat side.

Switching back to my GOP home, vying for their two slots are:

M.J. Caldwell
John Cannon
Lucy Graf
John Herweh
Sheryl Peters

Much like the case of Hughey-Jones on the Democrat side, I know next to nothing about John Herweh and thus have no basis to have an informed opinion. Now I do know a little more about Graf and Peters because the two women are related to each other and publicly announced they’re running as a tandem. In particular, the feisty Graf was a hit at the NAACP forum. But my impression of both was that they are quite firmly in the moderate camp of the GOP. I know that Peters is a solid Republican (president of the Lower Shore Republican Women’s Club) and I admire both of them for seeking the seats; however, advocating a “revisit” to the revenue cap is worrisome when I feel the citizens have spoken on the means they feel government should live within.

Aside from what I thought was a misstep by M.J. Caldwell in talking about “holding the budget hostage” to promote hiring diversity (my idea of diversity is hiring every one of the best people for the job regardless of pigmentation, presence of Y chromosomes, and choices of bed partner and faith), I think both Cannon and Caldwell represent solid conservative choices for County Council. They both have the added benefit of advocating growth while wishing to keep it in the core areas most suited for expansion.

Thus I’m urging local Republicans to advance John Cannon and M.J. Caldwell to the November election.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.