It looks like Ken will enjoy his trip to California this weekend. Congratulations Ken! I hope you and your bride enjoy a much needed rest.
I hope Chris has a getaway planned as well. He too deserves a break after running a very spirited and intense campaign.
What messages do I get from the election results?
1) COPE was a big NOPE. Angela Beltram and her minions were less than advertised in influencing voters. Cooler heads prevailed.
2) Democrats for Merdon were a very small group. The only ones behind those individuals who stood beneath the people tree pledging their support to Chris were the gold plated figures on the people tree.
3) We may not know who represents District One until Thursday. Tony did better than many expected him to. This is the one race besides the Governors that could be decided by absentee ballots.
4) Being a member of the Colloseum Gym on Red Branch Road in Columbia continues to be good luck for county exec candidates. Chuck Ecker is a member, Jim Robey is a member and Ken Ulman is a member. Chris Merdon is not a member.
5) The people in Howard County are more informed than I thought. The strongest evidence of that was Allen Dyer failing to win a seat on the school board.
Daily
19 hours ago
19 comments:
ToTC:
I guess you can gloat over the results. I do take issue with your analysis that the voters were better informed than you thought. A better statement would be that the voters are more partisan (democrat) than you thought. I could understand Ulman and Robey eeking out a close win, but the results defy logic.
The ironic part is that for all of the negativity from Ulman and Robey, I guess they really didn't need to go that route. OR, maybe it means that going negative is the right strategy. A truly depressing notion.
The voters chose a CE who stands for rampant growth, back door deals with developers (nothing new based on Robey's 8 years in office) and many other negative traits. I just don't get it. People scream for a better zoning process, but then vote for the very person who has violated the process so many times.
The voters got fooled - I hope they are can live with their choice for the next 4 years.
more informed than you thought? blahhh, that is a laugh out loud statement. unfortunately people in this county are ignorant. most dems just pick the big ole D without researching. repubs do it too by simply picking the R. the smear mailings from ulman and phone calls from sheryl crow and lance armstrong were just ridiculous. i feel so bad for county workers and the new council. i cant imagine ulman running this county and being a boss. i hope he proves me wrong but doubt it. congrats to mary kay sigaty. it will take a while for me to get over merdon losing.
"cope was a nope"? hmm... both CE candidates had no growth or slow growth signs on top of signs. Both candidates released positions against growth and in favor of zoning reform. The winning CE candidate last week announced height limits on buildings and less density in town center....
Sounds like a resounding win to me for the comp lite people.
Hmmm,
Where to start?
I guess it would be best to respond in order.
Anon Uno,
I am not gloating. I voted for Elrich, Salazar, and McCarthy. All three of those fine individuals lost.
I did vote for Ken Ulman. I know him.
Allan Kittleman is my senator, not Robey. I voted for Allan. I know him too.
You see, I don't vote the party, I vote the person. Negative campaigning has absolutely no effect on me. It is unfortunately part of politics. I simply tune it out.
Both Chris and Ken have worked with the development community. That comes with job. To think that our CE would not work with the development community is incredibly naive.
Anon dous,
See above.
While I do think there are partisans on both sides that will vote a straight R or D, most of the voters I spoke with had choices in both parties. On my mostly Republican street, Ken Ulman did very well.
Anon tres,
We shall see, we shall see.
I think in the end most people are searching for a middle ground between those who want to stop growth and those who want to let the market regulate itself.
COPE and Angela Beltram respresented an extreme that made me and others feel very uncomfortable.
you said you voted for both ellrich and salazar. huh??? how was that possible? 2 different council districts. please explain.
ken ulman did well on your republican street because you influenced them as I influenced my neighbors that are democrats and my best friend who is a green party member. the average person unfortunately doesn't give a crap about local politics and votes along party lines so in howard county the dems get the majority of votes. that is simply why he won. well bush hurt too. countless people asked me while campaigning, "is merdon a democrat?" when i said no they looked at me like i was the devil.
Anon quatro,
I voted Elrich for Gov, not the Ellrich for council.
-wb
Anon cinco,
"ken ulman did well on your republican street because you influenced them as I influenced my neighbors that are democrats and my best friend who is a green party member."
You greatly overestimate my ability to influence my neighbors. I live in a new neighborhood where everyone is new and nobody reall y knows each other yet. Ken won here because he helped this community out in a dispute with the developer (yes, that's right, a developer).
Details?
Dr. Bruce Taylor (developer) tried to force all the residents to buy his cable service whether they wanted it or not. He had the HOA (which he still controlled) sign a ten year exclusive agreement with his own cable company.
Ken Ulman stepped in and got Taylor to cancel the agreement and open the community to all cable and internet providers.
The interesting thing is that we are not in Ken Ulmans district, we are in Chris Merdons and Chris was strangley silent on the whole issue.
That is how Ken won in my neighborhood and it had very little to do with George Bush
well it's too bad ken went so negative...did he bring up the taylor cable situation in his lit or web-site or forums if he alone helped you all. merdon was silent? i saw it go down on channel 70. what taylor did was disgraceful and that is why developers get a bad wrap. i am glad the whole council eventually did something about it. i would love to know every side to this issue. i wish i would have paid more attention when it first hit the radar.
Don't I owe you and your dog a Guinness?
Never mind. The bet was about comp-lite.
David,
Yes the bet the was on the "legality" of Comp Lite.
You can buy me a Guiness any time though.
-wb
Anon seis,
I don't know if Ken ever put anything about this in his lit or on his website.
-wb
I thought the bill was introduced by Feaga and was for the Hickory Ridge senior housing on Cedar Lane? Were there two developments affected by this cable question?
It was introduced by Charlie Feaga. Charlie is an old family friend of the Taylor family.
The bill was to create a new cable license for small systems serving communities of 1,600 homes or less. Taylor needed the license in order to cross a public right a way with his lines.
In his defense, I don't think Charlie knew the full impact of what Taylor was trying to do. He seemed genuinely taken aback by the testimony from the residents of Taylor Village at the public hearing.
Charlie actually offered to withdraw the bill but Ulman convinced him to amend instead. It was the amendment that prohibited Taylor from making the service mandatory and stipulated that all competing services (comcast, verizon, et al) have equal access to the communities covered by this new license.
The exit polls show that Lou Ulman won the race because people wanted to send a message to "Republicans"
Nationwide, George Bush and the Iraq war cost Republicans a number of local elections
It didn't hurt that Lou Ulman spent so much money and time on effective negative campaigning
Lou Ulman showed that democracy works, if you have a rich father with strong establishment ties and were born into privilege
Where are the exit polls I keep hearing about? At this point, I'm almost willing to pay to see them. But only those dealing with Howard County specifically. Using national exit polls to draw inferences about specific local races is, like many of the voters, "stupid."
Enough with the anecdotes. Give me data!
Hey anon,
Are you one of those Howard County voters that Brian Harlin was referring to?
"exit polls show that Lou Ulman won the race "
What exit polls are they?
I thought it was Ken who won the race. I guess that just speaks to accuracy of exit polls.
Ken Ulman is Lou Ulman's proxy. They needed to go negative to hide their own faults, like a fluffed up resume, only 4 years experience, complite, etc.
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