It gets a little harder to take potshots at people after you’ve spent some time with them. More often than not I come away from a meeting with someone who’s views and opinions I find objectionable with respect if not agreement.
In other words they become human and cease being an abstract.
There are exceptions, after meeting Allen Dyer for instance. I still think he believes he’s the smartest guy in the room. My respect level didn’t change with him after meeting him.
It did with Paul Lemle, our latest podcast guest. I expected a different sort of Paul than I met. I expected a politically ambitious Allen Dyer disciple lefty.
That pretty much describes the guy I met. The difference is that he is honest about who is he is. When he decided to run for the HCEA presidency he told us expected to lose. His main goal was to increase his exposure for the next election. He ended up winning.
He also told me that he was disappointed that union didn’t endorse Allen Dyer again this time around. He remains a supporter.
I don’t get that but I respect his candor.
Expect to see more of this Cajun transplant in HoCo loco politics. He’s smart, has social media savvy, and doesn’t shy from bucking the Dem establishment including the county exec. A year ago I never heard of the guy and now he’s getting more attention in the school board race than the candidates.
Respect.
In the news recap we beat up the General Assembly some more, kicked the Elkridge hornet’s nest three times and welcomed the news that Starbucks will no longer add insects to their drinks.
We went a little long with this episode, about six minutes longer than last time. You can listen to the 64th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.
