Time for housecleaning

With the primary now history, I’m going to considerably shorten the sidebar of links, particularly the campaign blog links and the Maryland U.S. Senate race. So most of the campaign websites will fade away sooner or later as the campaign that spawned them has become defunct. Some of the websites had a sort of “goodbye” notice on them already. Here’s a sampling.

Thomas Hampton, U.S. Senate: My sincere thanks to anyone who voted for me, and moreover, to anyone who voted, period.

*****

Stuart Simms, Maryland Attorney General: Thank you! Thank you!

We did the best we could with the time and resources available to us.

Congratulations to Doug Gansler and the other successful candidates.

Now on to a Democratic victory in November! Let’s take back our state and nation.

*****

William Donald Schaefer, Maryland Comptroller:

To the residents of Maryland:

I want to thank those who worked so hard for me in this campaign and throughout the 50 years I’ve been fortunate to serve the people of Maryland in public office.

I especially want to highlight and compliment the excellent staff of the Comptroller’s office who are the smartest and most dedicated workers in Maryland government. I am deeply honored to have served along side them these eight years.

Although I will not continue as Comptroller next year, I hope a tradition of serving people will continue. I would consider that my best legacy.

I also want to congratulate the nominee Peter Franchot who ran a good race, and I wish him luck. If he wins the general election, he will inherit an excellent agency and I’m sure he will maintain it as such.

No matter what the coming years hold for me, I will fondly remember my years in public life. There is nothing like public service. I have been asked many times what my proudest accomplishment has been. My answer is: everything was important. Everywhere I go around the state, I see something that I can be proud of, whether a revitalized neighborhood or a tourist attraction.

I’ve also been asked, how do I want to be remembered? Two words: “He cared.”

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Doris Schonbrunner, Wicomico County Sheriff: Major Doris Schonbrunner would like to extend sincere thanks to the citizens of Wicomico County who voted for her and supported her candidacy during this 2006 election. Your confidence and your support are greatly appreciated.

(You’re welcome.)

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Larry Dodd, Wicomico County Council District 5: I would like to thank the citizens of Wicomico County for giving me the opportunity to serve them for the last four years. It has been an honor to represent the citizens of Wicomico County as a member of the Wicomico County Council. Best wishes go out to the Candidates in the General Election on November 7, 2006.

*****

So this afternoon I’ll be working on the site and deleting a good number of links. I’m also deleting one winner, since Rudy Cane is already assured of reelection I’ll take that one off to squeeze things that much closer together. You should be able to find his e-mail and general info on the Maryland General Assembly website.

Well, now I can work on a few other things that have been sort of backing up. I’ve found a couple items outside the realm of electoral politics that I think are worth commenting on so I will over the next few days.