Our guest yesterday on “and then there’s that…” was Councilperson Courtney Watson. Courtney recently announced her intention to seek another term on the council representing District 1 which includes Ellicott City, Elkridge and Hanover. Lately she has been spending her Saturday’s going door to door talking to the voters in District 1 and I was curious as to what she was hearing. Courtney related that the council job is 20% legislative, 20% zoning and 60% constituent services. That translates into spending most of her time addressing voter concerns like broken street lamps or cars speeding down residential streets not necessarily topics such as Healthy Howard that tend to dominate the news.She also told me that about half of the people she meets do not know who she is.
She did invite me to join her on one of Saturday neighborhood canvasses and I just might take her up on that.
You can listen to the latest podcast here.
7 comments:
Only half the people she meets don't know who she is? I would have guessed that only 5-10% of residents know who their council person is and/or the County Exec. I doubt that the people she meets are a representative sample of the county at large (or even her district for that matter).
I think I'd typify it as a representative sample if she goes to every door in her district....
And sounds like a pretty typical politician's load...taking care of constituents, what a concept.
WB, you should definitely tag along...with a live feed and video camera!
5-10% recognition is way too low. People aren't as ignorant as you think.
Bet she won't be knocking on any doors in the neighborhoods around the old Carroll Plantation at Doughoregan Manor, where she's known as Courtney "Sewage Plant" Watson.
The real 20-20-60 rule: 20% of the Courtney's campaign contributions come from everyday citizens, 20% from people appointed to county boards and commissions and 60% from developers and their agents.
Why did Watson vote against a Route 1 revitalization project that was community supported and for a Route 40 developer supported project? Guess the Route 1 folks didn't give her enough money!
You do the math - Route 40 developers Jared & Francie Spahn + Dr. Bruce Taylor + Sang Oh = THOUSANDS of $ in campaign contributions. US 1 developer Patrick McCuan = ZERO $ in campaign contributions. Draw your own conclusion.
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