1,000 Words About a Picture: Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie and Sen. Hillary Clinton White Marsh Photo-Op
May 8, 2008
Perhaps as a last-ditch effort to help drum up support for the sinking presidential candidate, or maybe just to show it off before it became completely irrelevant, Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie unveiled a photograph last week showing him and Sen. Hillary Clinton meeting, shaking hands and evidently discussing the state of the Union while she was campaigning in Baltimore County.
Guthrie, a Democrat representing the Edgewood and Joppatowne area, passed the picture along to a small group of associates and, upon further inquiry, explained the photo opportunity came in mid-February when Sen. Clinton made a stop at the General Motors Allison Transmission Plant in White Marsh. Continue reading 1,000 Words About a Picture: Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie and Sen. Hillary Clinton White Marsh Photo-Op
Miller, Martin, Cullum Elected to Havre de Grace City Council
May 7, 2008
Miller -490
Martin -458
Cullum -412
Correri -375
Anderson -356
Gamatoria -326
Walker -174
It was a beautiful Election Day in Havre de Grace on Tuesday; it seems like it is every year, although maybe that’s because I still have lingering frostbite from the frigid Aberdeen Election Day of this past November.
This was a strange election for Havre de Grace, really unlike any other I can remember from my 8 years or so covering elections in Harford County. There were no issues that truly caught traction, no real spats or bad blood between any of the candidates (at least none which was spilled publicly) and no one running for office with a bold plan for change. Continue reading Miller, Martin, Cullum Elected to Havre de Grace City Council
HAVRE DE-CISON 2008 - 7 Candidates Seek 3 City Council Seats in Havre de Grace On Tuesday
May 2, 2008
Seven candidates will be on the ballot Tuesday in Havre de Grace and your votes will determine, which three of them will end up sitting at the dais for the next two years as members of the City Council.
For those who want a final look at the candidates, a forum has been organized for Sunday night at 8 p.m. in the Havre de Grace police station. We’ve also compiled some information here on each of the candidates and are offering Dagger readers, regardless of whether they live within the municipal boundaries of Havre de Grace, to cast your votes now for which three candidates you would like to see as the next Havre de Grace City Council members. Continue reading HAVRE DE-CISON 2008 - 7 Candidates Seek 3 City Council Seats in Havre de Grace On Tuesday
What Ever Happened to Local Courtesy? Who is the Roadblock to an Elected School Board in Harford County?
April 1, 2008
The fate of the elected School Board bill goes down to the wire in Annapolis. For the latest updates, check out the comments to this article…
When a majority of delegates from a local jurisdiction sponsor legislation affecting their jurisdiction alone, the custom of the Maryland General Assembly is to approve it as a “local courtesy.” The bill proposing an elected Board of Education in Harford County should be a good example the Annapolis political tradition.
When the bill establishing a fully elected board was amended to create a partially elected, or blended school board, http://mlis.state.md.us/2008rs/billfile/SB0306.htm, it got the support of all three Harford County senators, unanimous approval in the full state senate and unanimous approval by a vote of the Harford County delegation - although Delegate Mary-Dulany James, a staunch opponent of elections, was not present for the delegation vote (remember this for later).
With no recorded votes in opposition to the partially elected Board of Education legislation and overwhelming public support for it, the bill should be well on its way to passage, courtesy of local courtesy. Why, then, are two members of the House of Delegates from outside of Harford County trying so hard to kill it? Continue reading What Ever Happened to Local Courtesy? Who is the Roadblock to an Elected School Board in Harford County?
Candidate Cavalcade: A Flurry of Late Filings Fill the Havre de Grace Election Ballot with 8 Names
March 18, 2008
As last week came to a close, there weren’t enough people interested in running for Havre de Grace City Council to even hold its election this May.
That changed in a big way this week when a late stampede of candidates, including some well-known names and political heavyweights, charged to city hall and registered to appear on the May 6 Election Day ballot.
When the dust settled and the doors of city hall were locked at 5 p.m. Tuesday, eight men had officially declared their intentions to run for the three Havre de Grace City Council seats. Continue reading Candidate Cavalcade: A Flurry of Late Filings Fill the Havre de Grace Election Ballot with 8 Names
HELP WANTED: As Two City Councilmen Step Aside, Candidates Are Needed To Fill Out Havre de Grace’s Election Ballot
March 13, 2008
Two of the three Havre de Grace City Councilmen whose two-year terms expire this spring, Steve Gamatoria and Garrett Lyttle, will not seek re-election, which leaves the ballot thin on candidates heading into the city’s May 6 election.
As of Thursday, only two people had filed to appear on the ballot - incumbent city councilman Jim Miller and former city councilman Fred Cullum. Both are assured a return to city hall unless at least two more candidates file for office, but city officials indicated Thursday evening no one had even picked up an application for candidacy recently.
Last year, the Havre de Grace election ballot was brimming with four incumbents running for mayor, eight candidates seeking three city council seats and a question about the future of city park property.
The Havre de Grace election will be held May 6 and candidates for city council have until Tuesday, March 18 to file for office. Continue reading HELP WANTED: As Two City Councilmen Step Aside, Candidates Are Needed To Fill Out Havre de Grace’s Election Ballot
State Senate Amends Legislation And Paves The Way For A Partially-Elected Board of Education In Harford County
March 11, 2008
UPDATE: The Harford County delegation voted UNANIMOUSLY to support the amendments creating a blended school board. Del. Dan Riley, who had abstained from voting on the all-elected board, voted in favor of the amendements. Del. Mary-Dulany James was absent from the vote.
An amended version of Senate Bill 306 passed by the state senate today (Tuesday) would establish a nine-member Board of Education in Harford County with three members appointed by the governor and the remaining six members elected in-district.
The amended elected school board bill, SB 306, received a favorable report from the Senate’s Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee on Friday and received local courtesy today in the state senate, passing on second read.
There were no questions in the senate, and no further amendments in Tuesday’s action. A third reading of the bill is scheduled for Thursday.
With the first hurdle of senate approval out of the way, Sen. Barry Glassman cautioned today, “Still have my work cut out on House side.”
Harford Votes: Picks Obama and McCain for President, Eaves for Judge and Harris for Congress in Icy Election
February 13, 2008
About 41 percent of those registered to vote in Harford County’s 2008 Primary Election did so in the freezing rain Tuesday, choosing Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton by fewer than 100 votes, overwhelming electing Harford County Circuit Court Judge Angela Eaves to the position she was appointed two months ago and helping propel state Sen. Andy Harris to his upset victory over longtime U.S. Congressman Wayne Gilchrest.
On Tuesday, about 48,000 voters of the 118,000 registered to participate in Harford County’s election did so, but Democrats voted more proportionally than Republicans. Forty-five percent of Harford County Democrats voted Tuesday (26,817 out of 59,552 registered) compared to only 36 percent of the county’s Republicans (21,351 out of 58,870 registered).
Even though the registration figures show a virtual dead heat between Dems and Repubs in Harford, the majority of Dems tend to vote GOP - as demonstrated in recent local Republican tides that have helped carry Bob Ehrlich and anyone holding onto his long coattails into office. Does this low Republican turnout mean Sen. John McCain isn’t going to be as successful motivating his base GOP votes or just that Harford voters knew he had no real challenge from Gov. Mike Huckabee? Continue reading Harford Votes: Picks Obama and McCain for President, Eaves for Judge and Harris for Congress in Icy Election
Painted With An Obscure Brush
November 15, 2007
From the field office, comes this weird one, as if many of you hadn’t already seen S. Fred Simmons’ most recent defacement.
What’s different this time is the vandal’s literacy. Supplanting the anarchy symbol and goofy, tagger-style lettering of the preceding spray-painting is a quote from Ayn Rand’s more obscure philosophical ramblings: “The law of identity does not permit you to have your cake and eat it too.” I suspect the vandal chose this quote because it sounds like something a bad sport would say to someone he or she had defeated in, say, a local election – or dodge ball.
Read in context, however, this cryptic quote means next to nothing unless you’re a member of the rarified, crusty, Randian faithful (Alan Greenspan is in this group, if that tells you anything). Some say it has tangential ties to Aristotle, but a cursory, meaningless Internet search for the nature of the great philosopher’s connection to this cursory, meaningless quote turned up little.
The thing that has us a bit puzzled on this one is, it takes some real moxie to climb up and deface a billboard that’s out in the open on Route 40, and has been tagged at least three times before. I’m picturing a middle-aged person, pulling his or her car over to the side of the road, and just going for it – or a young punk reading off a cheat sheet some middle-aged person gave him along with a $20 bill to carry out the misdemeanor.
At any rate, this detail comes to The Dagger from a local journalist, a friend of ours who notes, “The workman who was getting ready to cover up the latest mess told me it was the fourth time he’s replaced the billboard, so the State Farm ad was going to be moved to a higher billboard up in Churchville and a public service announcement put in its place.”
His nameplate removed from the dais, his big black truck no longer parked outside city hall, his 15-foot head no longer greeting travelers from the north, and his Wetlands annexation ally, Sam Smedley, arrested on gun charges, it seems that – for the moment – the only indelible mark Simmons has left on the city from his two years as mayor is the large bell hanging in the council chambers.
What a Difference a Day Makes
November 7, 2007
Some final thoughts and field notes on the 2007 Aberdeen Election:
I began the day throwing up in my car on the way to work (how’s that for full disclosure). I’d have taken the bout of sickness as an ill omen if I hadn’t made the same ineffective claim during the last Aberdeen election. In 2005 while campaigning for re-election in Park, Councilman Ron Kupferman was stung at least once by an infuriated yellow jacket. As he swatted at the fleeing insect, I mentioned it probably was something of an ill omen to be stung on Election Day. He agreed and promptly went on to be re-elected in two subsequent elections.
