Politics

I hadn’t seen this mentioned in any other local blogs, so I thought I’d note it here for the benefit of all you political anoraks out there: The folks who brought you OpenCongress.org, a site to keep track of the activities of your Congressional representations, have just launched a beta version of OpenGovernment.org to fill the same role for state legislators, and Maryland is one of the five states they’re starting with (along with California, Louisiana, Texas, and Wisconsin). ...

Quick, guess in which year the following events occurred in Howard County: Republicans had high hopes of improving on their performance in the previous county elections, but faced in a major hurdle in the significant Democratic edge in registered voters. The Democratic candidate for county executive, a seasoned and successful county-wide campaigner, easily defeated by a 63%-37% margin a Republican candidate who had never before run for political office. Democrats also won four out of five seats on the county council (excepting only western Howard). The incumbent council chair, an African-American Democrat and teacher at Morgan State University, won the council seat for east Columbia with two-thirds of the vote. In west Columbia a female Democratic incumbent council member faced a strong primary challenge from her outspoken (but less well-funded) male opponent, who accused her of being too cozy with developers. She managed to hold him to less than 40% of the vote in the Democratic primary, and then went on to win the general election by an overwhelming margin over her male Republican challenger. In western Howard an experienced male Republican candidate easily defeated by a 2-1 margin a female Democratic challenger making her first run for political office. In a relatively conservative Ellicott City district, a female Democratic candidate making her second run for county council touted her support from Republicans, and ended up defeating her male Republican challenger by the smallest margin of any council race that year (not much over 50% of the vote). In the Savage and North Laurel district a female Democratic candidate easily defeated her male Republican opponent (himself a former council member), as he managed to capture only around a third of the vote. In the courthouse races Democrats won the sheriff and state’s attorney positions, Margaret Rappaport won election, Kay Hartleb ran for Register of Wills, and Democrats succeeded in capturing that office as well as the three Judge of the Orphans’ Court positions. Beyond the county races, Howard County elected Democrat Edward Kasemeyer to the Maryland State Senate and sent a Kittleman back to Annapolis, and Democrat Barbara Mikulski cruised to victory in the US Senate race with more than 60% of the vote. If you guessed 2010, congratulations, you were paying attention to last year’s elections. If you guessed 1986 you were also right, and have a better memory than most of us. ...

In the previous part 9 of this series we reviewed the Howard County Council races of 1986 up to the time of the party primaries. In this part we continue the story with the 1986 primary and general elections:1 September–October 1986. Right before the primary election C. Vernon Gray again faces questions about his eligibility to run, as an anonymous letter writer (whom Gray intimates is connected with his opponent, Michael P. Hickey) claims to election officials that Gray’s position as a professor at Morgan State University makes him a state government employee and therefore barred as a candidate under the Howard County charter. Once again the Board of Elections rules in Gray’s favor. ...

Part 8 of this series covered the Howard County Council’s first exercise in drawing council district lines. We now turn to how that effort affected the 1986 council elections, the first in which council members were elected by districts:1 February–April 1986. The council once again approves the final district lines, this time via a council resolution rather than a bill, limiting the effect of any petition drive to put the plan to a referendum and ensuring that the 1986 elections will be held on a district basis. Council member Lloyd Knowles calls it “the worst vote ever taken by the council” and walks out of the meeting.2 ...

1985 was a busy year in Howard County Council districting news, so busy I’m having to split it into two parts. Part 7 covered the creation and public unveiling of various proposed district plans, starting with Plans A, B, and C, and continuing with Plan F. We pick up the story in the fall:1 November 1985. The county council holds public hearings on the three proposed district maps, ahead of the December date C. Vernon Gray had previously mooted; 32 people testify. The Columbia Council and other Columbians ask that all of Columbia’s villages be included in the proposed Columbia districts, and not be split between districts. David Marker of the Columbia Democratic Club notes that in practice this would be difficult, and recommends the council adopt a variant of Plan E; Angela Beltram of the Ellicott City Democratic Club offers a similar proposal. Republicans still favor a variant of Plan F. ...

As we concluded part 6 of this series proponents of electing Howard County Council members by districts had finally achieved their goal of amending the county charter to require election by districts. In this post we’ll see how the council went about its appointed task of drawing up council district lines. Yes, I realize that I’m now at part 7 and am just now getting to the ostensible topic of this history. So, no more delays: ...

In part 5 of this series nothing much happened in relation to actually doing something about council districts (as opposed to just talking about their potential effect, as in the case of Charles Feaga’s unsuccessful 1982 council bid). In this post “doing something” moves to the fore. 1983. The council district controversy continues to attract attention. Attorney C. William Michaels uses one of his weekly Baltimore Sun “County Counsel” columns to make the case against council districts: “[Districts] would not solve the problem of urban-rural rivalry, but only crystallize and intensify it. . . . Columbia and Howard county are inextricably intertwined. . . . Columbia residents are hard to convince about . . . the interests they should have in preserving [the county’s] unique and very special mix of urban, rural, and suburban life. Columbia residents need to be convinced of this rather than being given up for lost.” He proposes resurrecting the idea of incorporating Columbia, to “give Columbia its own power base, and its own political spokesperson”.1 ...

In part 4 of this series proponents of Howard County Council districts failed to get a referendum on the ballot in the November 1980 general election. In this post the council district controversy provides the backdrop for Howard County politics in the early 1980s. (Readers of this series should also check out the comments from Ken Stevens on part 1 and part 3 for some informative insights from someone who was involved in the events in question.) ...

In part 3 of this series Columbia’s new-found political power was tested in a referendum in 1976 on a proposal to expand the Howard County Council from five to seven members and elect all members by districts instead of at large. The referendum failed, but a Maryland constitutional amendment left the door open to further attempts. On with our story: 1977. After electing a Columbia-dominated county council and beating back an attempt to move to council districts, Columbians celebrate the tenth birthday of the new town. Columbia’s population exceeds 45,000 (more than the entire population of Howard County in 1960), and is well-educated and affluent (averaging over $25,000 per year in family income, almost double the national median household income).1 ...

At the end of part 2 of this series Columbia Democrats had finally achieved political power within Howard County: The 1974 general election produced a 5–0 Democratic majority on the County Council, including four Columbians, and a county executive sympathetic to Columbia’s concerns. However again the rest of the county sought various ways to curb the power of Columbia, including in particular a proposal to elect council members by districts. Let’s go to the tape: ...