Edgewood Ranks Its Representatives: From The Good (Guthrie), To The Bad (Boniface)

Rather than wait until Election Day to let their representatives know how they feel about them, Edgewood residents recently participated in an appraisal process measuring the relationship between their officials and the community they purportedly represent.

Looking at the results, it’s immediately clear that Edgewood loves Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie, but feels County Council President Billy Boniface and others “often fail to fulfill expectations of the community.”

Of the nine Edgewood representatives listed, only three – councilman Guthrie, Sheriff Jesse Bane and Harford County Executive David Craig – received appraisal scores of at least ‘Average.’

While Edgewood seems to have mixed feelings on its county-level representatives – with low scores for council president Boniface and Board of Education member Mark Wolkow to balance out the high scores of Guthrie, Bane and Craig – it is clear it doesn’t feel its state and congressional representatives are in tune with the community.  State Senator Nancy Jacobs, Delegates Dan Riley and Mary-Dulany James and Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger all received below average scores. 

The hope is that these officials would look at the areas Edgewood residents perceive as weaknesses of representation and fill the holes – to better serve the community and to perhaps bring back their votes come next Election Day.

Here is how Jansen Robinson of the Edgewood Community Council described the appraisal:

“Edgewood residents expressed a desire to provide feedback to elected officials more frequently than just on Election Day every four (4) years. The result is the attached document.

This document does not rate the voting record, or the position on any issue. It serves as a tool with which to measure the relationship between the identified officials and the community that they were elected/appointed to represent.

Where a positive relationship has been developed with our community, officials have learned and understand what is important to us. That intimate knowledge translates into legislation, votes, polices, strategies and etc., that mirror what is important to us “The Voters” rather than what is important to the special interest group(s). The Edgewood community then becomes their special interest group

As with any performance appraisal, it is our hope that our elected/appointed officials (employees) would acknowledge areas where improvement is required. This is an important first step if they want to continue to earn the votes and support of their employers (the Edgewood Community) to remain our elected officials.”

And here is the appraisal results chart:

ELECTED/APPOINTED OFFICIALS  

ANNUAL PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL RESULTS 

NOTES:

1. 132 responses returned out of the 500 disseminated.
2. There were as many as 9 and as few as 6 responses electronically. 
3. The balance was hard copy responses.
4. Not all of the elected officials representing Edgewood were evaluated.
5. All responses indicated that they were from registered voters. 

5 = Outstanding: (Consistently fulfills expectations of our community)     

4 = Excellent:  (Regularly fulfills expectations of our community)     

3 = Average:   (Generally fulfills expectations of our community)

2 = Below Average: (Often fails to fulfill expectations of our community)       

0 = Unsatisfactory: (Has failed to fulfill expectations of our community)     

N/A =    (Not Applicable)