Links - My informal review of news that matters to me, might matter to you, and otherwise fills our news-space.
LINKS
"Howard Politicos" break down the November election with a big ole picture of me topping the page, completely unsuspecting of the disappointment to follow. I found it "interesting" that Amanda Yeager chose to interview my opponent's campaign manager for insight on the race in 9B, but can't disagree with his conclusions (although I would counter that our campaign likely knocked on more doors collectively - but surely waved to fewer cars).
I can honestly say that I know and like just about every person on Allan Kittleman's transition team. Two observations (that will likely be taken as criticisms, but not intended as such): 1) this group is all from within the Bubble (i.e., they all attend the Spring Party). This is likely inevitable, and had there been too many newcomers the criticism would be "who are these people", but I thought it was interesting to note. 2) the idea that Allan was going to "fight back against developers", promoted by some, doesn't seem to be supported here. There are representatives from both commercial and residential real estate development, one of whom has at least five different projects across the County as we speak. It is also great to see Jean Parker on this list, showing some continuity in the support and promotion of Merriweather.
Howard County Republicans have to be watching the "piggy-back tax" case currently before the Supreme Court through their fingers. Conceptually, the party of low taxes should be overjoyed by the prospect of having an entire class of taxation wiped out with a single Court opinion. Pragmatically, it would put the Kittleman Administration in a horrible position of having to issue refunds on revenue already in County coffers and decrease revenue projections into the future. Said otherwise, County Executive Kittleman's first tax cut would be made by judicial fiat without regard to the service cuts made necessary by the same.
Erin Cox with the Baltimore Sun reports that Governor-elect Hogan has a message for all those who are curious about what policies he will be bringing to Annapolis: "They should keep on guessing because I'm going to be governor on Jan. 21, and we'll start talking about policy then."
Barry Rascovar with MarylandReporter.com notes that the aftermath of the Republican wave hitting Maryland may be a Republican Governor and greater numbers in the House and Senate, but it also means fewer moderate Democrats as voters chose red over light blue last Tuesday. This is something that partisans from both sides may celebrate, but those voters in the middle who sought "balance" will likely see more partisanship than ever.
Featured Blog Post of the Day: Julia's blog post from this past Sunday made both my wife and I cry, so I pretty much had to share it. Thank you for your kind, uplifting words, Julia.
That's all for today. Have a great Friday doing what you love!
