It’s hotter here at home, than in the baking heat of Real Estate’s Grand Abyss
Returning to Frederick County after being away for three incredible weeks seemed like an eternity. While we thoroughly enjoyed our Colorado River whitewater experience through Grand Canyon National Park, it was really fun to return home to catch up on local politics.
While the weather here has clearly told us that Fall has arrived, the heat is serious. Unlike that of the hot dry days we spent on the river, the temperature in our community has risen to major levels on the political scene. In the depths of the Canyon it was easy to find a way to get relief for the day’s heat … just find a waterfall or jump in that very cold muddy river!
The nastiest fight for Frederick County voters seems to be in the State Senate race between Republican Alex Mooney and Democrat Ron Young, but what surprised me the most was (with the exception of one) the alignment of the ten Board of County Commissioner candidates into two very distinct slates.
On the side of the “establishment” four of the five Democrats — incumbent Kai Hagen, Janice Wiles, Ellis Burruss and Linda Norris — have sided with incumbent Republican David Gray. This group seems to be basing their campaign on three key points:
- Anti-Waste to Energy
- Spreading fear that development will run amuck if they aren’t elected
- Assurance that local government has been fiscally responsible the last four years
The Republican contingent has assembled the slate of Blaine Young, Kirby Delauter, Paul Smith and Billy Shreve. They have teamed together promising to:
- End local government waste
- Create Jobs
- Make Frederick County more business friendly
- Build a collaborative environment with all municipalities and the Board of Education.
The lone candidate who is running a traditional campaign is Democrat Michael Kurtianyk. His message is that he is a fiscal conservative, who believes strongly in economic development and wants to build better relations with the Board of Education to keep costs under control.
This is truly the first time that I can ever recall that there are two strong slates of very different ideologies that have teamed up in a commissioners’ race.
Last week the Fall 2010 MacRo Report was released and we endorsed the Republican Slate as well as Michael Kurtianyk. We do believe that the four principals that they are campaigning on are critical to the future health and well being of Frederick County.
We do need to find new and better ways to run our county government in a fiscally responsible manner. This ties directly to developing a better working relationship with the Board of Education, which sucks up about 60% of our property taxes each year … and the local municipalities, which are also feeling the pressures of budgetary burdens. Imagine the cost saving that could be found for Frederick City taxpayers if the County and City could actually work together of find common cost saving solutions to delivering services to our community!
Last week we also ran a poll to get a sense of how our readers, Facebook and Twitter subscribers viewed the slates of commissioner candidates. While the results showed a lot of enthusiasm for both groups, after over 1,100 votes being cast it ended in a dead heat!
The only conclusion I draw from that is that you can forget about what is being said about the anticipated lethargy of Democratic voters on November 2nd. I think that this could be a record turnout election on both the local and national levels.
So if you want to cool off, I say either take a cold shower, jump in the Monocacy River or just wait until November 2nd to cast your vote.