On the podcast this week, we noted that it was the third
time that Tom Coale had joined us on the show. It turns out that we miss
counted. It was actually the fourth time in the three years that we’ve doing
this show that Tom has sat down to chat with Paul and I.
We obviously like having Tom on the show.
The fun thing about Tom is that he enjoys talking about the
HoCo loco politico scene as much as we do and he really knows his stuff.
The big loco politico news this week was the announcement
that long serving ultra lib Liz Bobo will not be standing for reelection in
2014. Liz has been in elected office in HoCo since 1977, beginning on the
county council, then as county executive and finally as a Delegate to the
General Assembly since 1995.
Whether you agree with her politics or not, that’s a pretty
impressive run.
The big question is who will take her place. Immediately
after the announcement, Mary Kay Sigaty’s name was mentioned as the logical successor.
Tom disagrees. Tom thinks that Mary Kay will hold on to her council seat
through at least the first phase of the downtown Columbia redevelopment. She was the sponsor of the enabling legislation for the redevelopment, a role that put her at odds
with her one time sponsor, Liz Bobo.
So who then?
The other names I’ve heard are Clarence Lam, Terri Hill,
and even Joan Lancos.
We also spent time discussing the school board race, the
redevelopment of Symphony Woods, the bicycle master plan, the Main Street MusicFest and more.
You can listen to the 73rd episode of “and then
there’s that…” here.
