Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Primary Day: Big Surprises in Little Howard County

Howard County's dalliance with Allen Dyer is officially over.

The Board of Education Primary Results were as follows:

Janet Siddiqui -- 38.9%
Ann DeLacy -- 27.9%
Ellen Flynn Giles -- 25.3%
Jackie Scott -- 24.3%
David Gertler -- 24.2%
Bob Ballinger -- 20.7%
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Patricia Gordon -- 19.9%
Allen Dyer 17.6%

For the rest of the results, go here.

It really says something that in a somewhat obscure election, one of the three incumbents received only 18% of the votes.  I have no intention of rubbing this in or dancing on anyone's grave, but I think there is an item worth noting here.  Howard County voters, particularly Primary voters, seem to be inclined to educate themselves.  While all three of the HCEA endorsements made it through, the final results do not reflect their "anti-incumbent flare."  These were deliberate selections and, for that, I am proud.

As for Mr. Dyer, we should not presume that the County will be free from future lawsuits or harassment.  I can only hope that these results sent some sort of message about what we expect from the members of our Board.  You cannot be obstinate.  You are permitted strong views, but they are expected to be represented and prosecuted in the Board room, not a courtroom.  Most importantly, this song ain't about you.  Lionizing yourself at the expense of the business of the people will not be tolerated. I appreciate Mr. Dyer's two years of service, but it is time for him to go...and I'm glad the people had the final say.

Other Notes:

I finally had an explanation for why unaffiliated voters could not vote for Judge.  Each party has the opportunity to nominate two judges for the general election.  In this case, all three judges ran without party affiliation, putting all three names on both ballots.  If Clark Ahlers had made the top two for either the Republicans or Democrats voting in the primary, he would have been included on the ballot for the General Election, and we most likely would have had three candidates for round 2.  Mr. Ahlers was blown out of the water in the Dem Primary, but came about 800 votes from making the top two on the Republican ticket.  

The big news statewide was the Democratic Primary in Congressional District 6.  John Delaney, first time candidate, beat out State Senator Rob Garagiola, who had just about the whole of the Maryland Democratic party behind him, including Mike Miller and Martin O'Malley.  This race was all the more interesting because Comptroller Peter Franchot supported Delaney, yet again pitting the two top officials against one another not long after O'Malley called Franchot the "Mitt Romney of Maryland" and Franchot apologize for "getting in the way" of O'Malley's Presidential efforts.  Score this one for Franchot.

Delaney will face Rep. Roscoe Bartlett in November, in what is expected to be one of the most watched races across the Country.  Although I don't see it in the Sun piece, I was told last night that the turnout for the GOP primary was greater than the Dem, despite the Delaney/Garagiola race receiving the lion share of media attention.

Romney won Maryland as expected and also pulled in Wisconsin and D.C.  The polls closed at 8:00 pm.  Romney was declare the winner at 8:02 pm.  I hope Newt visited the gift shop during his tour of Annapolis.  I doubt his 26,000 votes otherwise merited the visit.

A final note for all of the candidates who are packing up their signs, magnets, and pamphlets this morning -- Thank you.  You've sacrificed a great deal of time, money, and effort to give all of us a choice in our government.  You've provided new ideas that will challenge and motivate the remaining candidates in ways that none of us who chose to stay home could have done.  You went into the arena and lost, which is no less noble than those who won.  Most importantly, you should be proud and we all owe you our gratitude.

That's all for today.  Back to regularly scheduled links tomorrow.

Have a great Wednesday doing what you love!!