A good/bad news meeting of the state delegation

by David Grand
December 21, 2005

Iwas late getting there. For it was around the same time that I take my dogs out for a walk, and nothing takes precedence over that, especially not for a meeting conducted by politicians.

It was held in a classroom at the Senior Center. Fittingly so, I might add, considering that what transpired inside I came to learn was like a civics class in how not to run a government.

And when I opened the door, everyone stared at me as if I'd entered the wrong viewing room at a funeral home. I could see that those inside were as cramped as sardines in a can, given me no choice other than to squeeze behind the table where the members of the delegation were seated.  As I passed behind Sen. Haines, I was careful not to risk brushing against his beautiful white mane, which I've always felt accounted for a large percentage of his votes, personifying as he does in many voters minds what a senator should ideally look like. 

Much to my disappointment, my tardiness had, however, caused me to miss the featured event of the meeting; namely, in seeing which of the two districting maps (referred to as Option 1 and Option 2) the delegation would pick.

And when I was told it was Option 1 they'd selected (without any discussion whatsoever), I would've got up and left, had it not been that I didn't want to make a bigger spectacle of myself than I had with my "grand" entrance.

Inasmuch as the districting committee had recommended that the delegation adopt Option 2 (as did the town mayors, the majority of those who attended the committee's forums, and at the meeting the delegation held two months earlier), I'd believed that it was a foregone conclusion they'd go for that option by a 5 to 2 vote. It turned out to be a 5 to 2 vote all right, but with reverse results.

Haines' vote for Option 1 didn't surprise me, for I knew he couldn't cotton the idea of a shift of power on the Board of Commissioners to South Carroll, who would've been assured of having two seats on the board under Option 2. Nor was I taken unaware by Sen. Kittleman voting for it, since he'd previously expressed misgivings over splitting Sykesville and Eldersburg into separate districts.

The fact that Option 1 would distant two of the incumbents--Julia Gouge and Perry Jones--from their political base was apparently of no concern to Haines. But  who knows, that might've been his ulterior motive, since he and Gouge were constantly at loggerheads, and he was perhaps already grooming someone to replace her?  Whether he had such a Machiavellian-like plan in mind, only time will tell.

As for the other three "blind mice," Senator Brinkley and delegates Stocksdale and Shewell, the reasons they told reporters for voting for Option 1 were as specious as the justification we were given for invading Iraq. But at least delegates Krebs and Elliott showed proper respect for the will of the people by voting for Option 2.

The good news was, that Haines' cockamamie proposal to have commissioners in the five districts elected at-large, rather than from the districts in which they reside (as the voters had overwhelmingly approved), went down in flames. I almost yelled Hallelujah but restrained myself out of fear that the sheriff, who was sitting in the front row might arrest me for creating a public disturbance.

All in all, it was worth braving the frigid weather for, even though I had to forego breakfast. And as I hurried to a restaurant to silence my growling stomach after the class was over, I thought what a shame that all the hard work that districting committee had done over a six month period was for naught.  As the mayor of Sykesville Jonathan Herman put it: "the delegation rejecting their recommendation was clearly a slap in the face to Carroll's citizens." A slap hell! It was more like a "sucker punch," delivered to the residents of South Carroll, in particular.