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EDITORIAL:
Primary [Lack of] Colors
First off, so we don't have to list all the candidates for office in the upcoming Gubernatorial Primary Election on Tuesday, September 10, we commend to our readers' attention the comprehensive website maintained by the Maryland State Board of Elections. As usual, the great majority of candidates, especially for the more prominent elected positions, are political unknowns. How do you get known? Be rich and/or famous, or have a huge extended family and stable of enthusiastic friends willing to campaign for you vigorously, door-to-door. You're sure not going to get known just for filing for office.Are we going to endorse anyone? Yes—those candidates we know well enough to recommend. These include J. Joseph Curran, Jr. for Attorney General, "Dutch" Ruppersberger (2nd), Elijah Cummings, and Ben Cardin (3rd) for Congress; Barbara Hoffman (41st), Jim Brochin (42nd), and Joan Carter Conway (43rd).
As to the House of Delegates, the lists are long and the pickings are sometimes slim. Candidates we like include Dennis T. Byrne and Pete Rawlings (40th), Wendell Phillips and Sandy Rosenberg (41st), Jim Campbell and Tony Campbell (42nd), and Maggie McIntosh (43rd).
Readers will notice we haven't mentioned favorites for Governor and Comptroller. We would love to say we enthusiastically endorse Kathleen Kennedy Townsend; but we cannot. We still can't figure out why she's the candidate. Political payback? Ability to raise money? We are eager to believe she is not an "empty suit."
And in the end, in the privacy of the voting booth, we will pull the lever for KKT because there is no way we will, in good conscience, be able to vote for her likely Republican opponent, Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. While we might scoff at KKT's lack of a record and occasional woollyheadedness, in the case of RLE, there is a record—from his years in Congress—and it's one of the most discouraging and lackluster records imaginable—pretty much straight Tom Delay, as dictated by the Republican Party leadership. Luckily, there are many good websites that have collected voting records; you don't have to take our word for it. Check out this page, for example.
As for Comptroller—when we're 80 years old, if we're still working full-bore, we hope someone gets us to stop and smell the roses. We wish someone would get that message to our Willie Don. We hear John Willis is a good contender; we'll take a close look at him, and advise others to do the same.
By the way—has anyone else noticed how few candidates reveal their political affiliation on their signs and literature?
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This story was published on September 4, 2002.
