This is going to be all the information I can muster on the election, based on the many posts I’ve done this election season. Don’t forget, I also link to most of these campaigns on my right-hand sidebar.
First of all, here are my overall summaries on various races:
Governor
U.S. Senate
County Executive
House of Delegates/Senate District 37
House of Delegates/Senate District 38
I also attended several candidate forums over the course of the campaign, summarized here (with attendees):
Both candidates for Wicomico County Sheriff.
County Council candidates Caldwell (at-large), Holloway (District 5), McCain (at-large), Werkheiser (District 5), Sample-Hughes (District 1, unopposed), Pretl (District 3). Cannon (at-large) was a latecomer.
County Executive candidates Pollitt and Jannace. Rick Pollitt comments on one of my statements here.
The other forums were pre-primary so more participants were invited.
All three State Senate candidates from District 37, along with the five candidates vying for the District 37 Delegate seats.
Delegate Elmore from District 38A, along with all four District 38B contestants.
State’s Attorney (Davis Ruark is unopposed).
All five candidates for Orphan’s Court Judge.
Both candidates for Sheriff.
Register of Wills (Karen Lemon is unopposed).
Both candidates for Clerk of the Court.
County Council candidates Sample-Hughes (District 1, unopposed), Prettyman (District 2, unopposed), both District 3 candidates, David MacLeod (District 4), both District 5 candidates, and at-large candidates McCain, Caldwell, Cannon, and Graf (who is a write-in for the general election after losing the GOP primary.)
County Executive candidates Alessi and Pollitt.
Both candidates for Sheriff.
Another item that proved to be interesting was the Ten Questions. I actually reuse them on the summaries of the U.S. Senate and General Assembly races, but here’s the link to each individual candidate’s answers.
Kevin Zeese (U.S. Senate)
Lih Young (U.S. Senate). She lost in the Democratic primary but re-entered the Senate race as a write-in. I didn’t know this when I did the summary.
Rich Colburn (Senate District 37)
James Adkins (House of Delegates District 37B)
Addie Eckardt (House of Delegates District 37B)
Patrick Armstrong (House of Delegates District 38A)
Michael James (House of Delegates District 38B)
Additionally, as some of the GOP candidates have been the featured speaker at the Wicomico County Republican Club meetings, here are summaries of what they had to say there. Note that pre-primary, other candidates who lost in September are also featured speakers.
September (John Cannon, M.J. Caldwell, both County Council at-large)
August (Bonnie Luna, District 38B Delegate candidate)
July (Rich Colburn, District 37 Senator, and Mike Lewis, Sheriff)
May (Michael James, District 38B candidate)
March (Ron Alessi, County Executive)
As far as candidates go, I have covered the most of the five recognized write-in candidates someplace in here. Most in Wicomico County are familiar with Charles Jannace’s bid for County Executive, and as alluded to earlier, Lucy Graf is running for County Council at-large again. I also have listed in my Governor’s summary the John Simmins write-in campaign, but was not aware that Charles Ulysses Smith, an also-ran for the Democratic Senate nomination (along with Lih Young, who I discussed earlier as rerunning for U.S. Senate) has also filed as a write-in for Governor.
Finally, I wanted to touch on the various issues that are on the ballot. I’ll start with state issues, and rather than type the whole text out, an explanation prepared by the state is here. (This is an 8 page .pdf file, the final two pages are irrelevant to Wicomico County.) In Wicomico County, we also have Question A, which deals with allowing the Sheriff’s Department collective bargaining power with binding arbitration.
State Question 1 deals with state parklands. In my not-so-humble opinion, this is yet another attempt by the Democrats to both usurp power from and embarrass the Ehrlich Administration. The Question stems from an attempt to sell over 800 acres of surplus state land in St. Mary’s County to a private developer.
I wrote a letter to the Daily Times on this subject back in March of 2005 (pre-blogging days). In part, I argued that:
To me, the word “surplus” implies not needed for any purpose. In an era where the trend is for government to overuse its power of eminent domain, I find returning state land to the private sector (and to tax collection) a refreshing trend…I would like to see a lot more state land turned over for private use. The extra taxes collected could help lower that burden on the rest of us.
As is the case with much of our state government, the Democrats were fine with executive authority when they had the executive. But once Governor Ehrlich came into office, it was no fun anymore. Join me in voting NO on Question 1.
Questions 2 and 3 are a matter of cleaning up judiciary laws. At the risk of allowing frivolous appeals to continue up the court ladder, I’ll vote YES on Question 2 and allow the $10,000 limit by voting YES on Question 3 (with some reservations there too.)
Several election law changes are involved with Question 4. Among them:
E-poll books at each polling place
Separate precincts at college campuses. (I believe SU would be exempt from this as the Asbury UMC is right by campus.)
Supermajority (4 of 5) decisions by the Board of Elections, which is currently 3-2 Republican
Voter registration and absentee voting assistance at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, etc.
Provisions affecting only Baltimore City (and Somerset County)
A study of Election Day voter registration
Because of last four provisions, we don’t need to pass this. This Question came about from the petition drive done this spring to stop early voting (which succeeded in court without needing the petition) so rather than get the half a loaf we would’ve gotten by passing this, we can get the whole enchilada now by dumping this question. Vote NO on Question 4.
Now I turn to Question A. I asked a friend of mine in the Sheriff’s Department who would be the collective bargaining agent for the deputies and was told FOP Lodge 111. This friend gave me a hypothetical:
“…let’s assume that LEOPS is achieved and that may well happen, even if Question A fails. What happens if Question A is voted into law is that the FOP can then demand arbitration on schedules, uniforms, cars, management, etc., which as you are keenly aware of relinqueshes (sic) management issues to the union.”
Here’s the way I look at this. The even better solution would be to elect a Sheriff, County Executive, and County Council who are willing to work in harmony and hammer out the improvements in pay and benefits our law enforcement officers deserve, rather than place all in an acrimonious position from the start by passing Question A. So vote NO on A.
Wow. I believe that’s about it. We do have to reconfirm one judge to the Court of Special Appeals, Ellen L. Hollander. I see no reason not to.
There will be six pages on my particular ballot, and that’s a lot to vote on. Hopefully you’ve been paying attention, and no matter what choices you make I hope they are careful and learned as I advocated in the Daily Times.
