Is the US too stable for its own good? You’d think that stability would be a welcome thing, especially for a country in the midst of an economic downturn making life unstable for millions of Americans. But in a recent post, “Occupy Wall Street, Social Unrest and Income Inequality” (which I found via the Twitter feed of venture capitalist Paul Kedrosky), SEC official (and former financial industry insider) Rick Bookstaber makes the case that stability isn’t an unalloyed blessing when it comes to a capitalist society. I was interested in posting on this general topic, and commenting on Bookstaber’s post is as good a way to begin doing that as any. ...

In part 18 of this series Republicans overcame the disadvantage imposed on them by the recently-adopted redistricting plan and gained a majority on the county council in the general election of 1994. We now review how the council tried to avoid a replay of the redistricting battle of 1991–1993: July 1996. The Howard County Council considers a proposal to establish a separate commission to devise council redistricting plans, as opposed to having the council create plans itself. The proposal envisions a seven-member commission with three members appointed by the Democratic and Republican Central Committees and a “tie-breaker” member appointed by the council. The commission’s plan would be presented to the council, which could adopt it as-is, modify it, or create a new plan; however the commission plan would automatically go into effect in the event of a council stalemate. ...

In part 17 of this series the Howard County Council ended an over two-year battle by finally adopting new councilmanic district lines based on the 1990 census figures. In this post we see how the new district alignments influenced the council elections in 1994. February 1994. Howard County voter registration figures show Democrats holding a significant edge in party affiliation in four of the five new council districts: Democrats outnumber Republicans 48%–38% in District 1 (Ellicott City and Elkridge), 54%–30% in District 2 (east Columbia), 48%–35% in District 3 (southeast Columbia, Savage and North Laurel), and 54%–31% in District 4 (west Columbia). Only in District 5 (western Howard) do Republicans have a voter registration advantage, with a slim 44%–43% majority. ...

As we saw in part 16 of this series, 1992 ended with the Howard County Council still divided over how to proceed with redistricting in the wake of the ruling by Judge Cornelius Sybert, Jr., that the council could not adopt a redistricting plan as a resolution. After coming back from the end of the year vacation the council resumed its efforts to break the stalemate: January 1993. The council again divides 3–2, but with a twist this time: Republican council member Charles Feaga joins Democrats Shane Pendergrass and Paul Farragut to try to forge a compromise plan based on the original Democratic-sponsored plan approved by the council via a resolution (the one struck down by Judge Sybert) and a plan drawn up by Republican Michael Deets for the Columbia Association that was previously submitted to the council but never considered. On the losing side are Republican Darrel Drown and Democrat C. Vernon Gray. Gray simply wants to address the concerns expressed by Republican county executive Charles Ecker in his veto of the Democratic plan, while Drown objects to considering the Columbia Association plan instead of the plan submitted by Ecker (“If you want to talk compromise, talk about the Republican map”) and fears his Ellicott City district being split up, with part being joined to Elkridge. Feaga dismisses his concerns: “I did get the idea from the public testimony that Elkridge wanted to be linked to Ellicott City.” Reading the tea leaves, the Baltimore Sun predicts that Darrel Drown is “destined for the loss column” with Charles Feaga “willing to let Mr. Drown take the fall.” ...

Part 15 of this series ended with the trial about to begin that would decide whether the Howard County Council had acted illegally in passing the Democratic-sponsored redistricting plan as a resolution rather than a bill. Now it’s off to court we go: August 1992. The last day of the month is the first day of the trial in the Circuit Court of Howard County, as counsel put forth their arguments in front of Judge Cornelius Sybert, Jr. Representing the plaintiffs, Howard County Republicans David Maier and Louis Pope, are former county solicitor Thomas Lloyd and fellow former solicitor Richard J. Wilkinson, both Democrats. As for the co-defendants, representing the Board of Elections is Charles Reese, and representing the County Council are former US Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti, former Georgetown Law professor Roger Titus, and their associate Sondra Block. ...

As we concluded part 14 we’d seen a move by the Democratic council members (adopting their preferred redistricting plan as a bill), a counter-move by the Republican county executive (vetoing said bill), and a counter-counter move by the council Democrats (adopting the plan via a resolution instead). Now comes the next move:1 February 1992. Howard County Republicans, in the persons of David Maier and Louis Pope, prepare to sue the Board of Elections for accepting the Democratic redistricting plan passed by the council as a resolution (after county executive Charles Ecker vetoed it when passed as a bill). Past and present county solicitors disagree on the bill vs. resolution issue: Current solicitor Barbara Cook says a bill is required, while former solicitor Timothy Welsh had in 1985 opined that a resolution would suffice.2 ...

As we saw in part 13, the fallout from the 1990 Howard County general election ensured that the path to creating new council district boundaries would not be a smooth one. In this part the road grows rockier yet. November 1991. The County Council considers some last minute changes and then prepares for a vote on the proposed redistricting plans. In a marathon meeting the council initially approves a Democratic-sponsored redistricting bill by a 3–2 party-line vote, then moves to reconsider the vote for the plan at the suggestion of C. Vernon Gray, and then after midnight approves the same bill by a 3–2 margin again, as Democratic council members fail to secure at least one Republican vote to make it 4–1 and stave off a possible veto by county executive Charles Ecker. Republican council members complain that the plan is designed to cement Columbia’s dominance of Howard County politics: “[The plan] was written to ensure that three Democrats from Columbia would stay on the council for the next 10 years,” says Darrel Drown.1 ...

The recent publishing of proposed revised Howard County Council district lines has pushed me to try to finish this series before the new lines are actually adopted. So onward. . . . As noted in part 12, 1990 saw the Howard County political scene shaken up by the election of Republican Charles Ecker as County Executive, accompanied by Republican Darrel Drown being elected to County Council to join Charles Feaga and cut the Democratic majority from 4–1 to 3–2. Since 1990 was also a census year, this led to one of the most interesting episodes in council redistricting history:1 ...

It’s now been five months since I started the Newt Gingrich weight loss program, and I’m overdue for another report. (I forgot and didn’t post the month 4 update in time, and by the time I remembered to do so it was far enough past the due date that I decided just to skip month 4 and do the month 5 post instead.) Unfortunately at the moment I’m doing about as well as Newt’s campaign, which is to say not that well: I weighed in this morning at 70.8 kg, which is 0.8 kg over my final goal weight of 70.0 kg. So I screwed up my courage just now and went to Newt’s site to make a donation; if you’re the sort of person who likes to read FEC reports then you’ll see my name there in future. ...

Part 11 of this series took us through the 1990 party primaries for the second election year featuring county council districts; in this part we see how the results of the 1990 general election compare to those of 1986. October 1990. Now that the primaries are over the candidates position themselves for the general election. Republican Charles Ecker faces an uphill fight in his campaign for county executive, at least on the money front: Reports out in late September for fundraising through August 31 show him trailing Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Bobo in terms of attracting major donors (contributing $200 or more), raising under $6K from thirteen major donors versus Bobo’s total of over $60K from 184 major donors. Undaunted, Ecker channels Ronald Reagan as he asks Howard County voters “Are you better off now than you were four years ago” and accuses Bobo of “killing Route 100.” Bobo in turns accuses Ecker of hypocrisy on the matter of county spending: “He asked me to spend the money [when Ecker was deputy superintendent of schools]. . . . Has he changed his mind?” ...