Baltimore City Elections 2020 (Mayo, North Beach: hotel, live in, to move)

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by bufflove

Right, I just mean in areas that are very heavily D or R everyone who wants to actually be involved in the political process is already registered accordingly and the predominant party's primary is a de facto non-partisan race. If you legitimately want to win office in Baltimore then you register as a D, whether you have a love letter to Reagan in your closet or not. E.g. David Blair, who recently came within a few votes of winning the MoCo County Exec Dem primary, was a registered Republican for the vast majority of his life and voted in exactly one Dem primary before running. Would it have been easier to simply have a nonpartisan race so he didn't have to bother changing his affiliation to run? Yeah, I guess, but in practice it's not that much of a difference.

I agree school board and judges should be nonpartisan. Primarily because the positions themselves ideally aren't political in nature.

Oh my, yes they are, especially school board. There's a very thin veneer but it has worn spots.

Like I said, when a "group" of people takes out a full page ad supporting one or another candidate someone who knows the people in the ad can tell. When every member of the County's Democratic/Republican Central Committee put their names out in an ad that's a real good hint.

Judges typically run for retention but you can tell there too. Anne Arundel almost always has opponents running in the retention elections opposing the sitting Judge(s). That just happened in Charles where the sitting Judge was given the boot. That was all political party in nature.

Now, you live in a much larger jurisdiction so it's likely more difficult to tell.

[bufflove]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Oh my, yes they are, especially school board. There's a very thin veneer but it has worn spots.

Like I said, when a "group" of people takes out a full page ad supporting one or another candidate someone who knows the people in the ad can tell. When every member of the County's Democratic/Republican Central Committee put their names out in an ad that's a real good hint.

Judges typically run for retention but you can tell there too. Anne Arundel almost always has opponents running in the retention elections opposing the sitting Judge(s). That just happened in Charles where the sitting Judge was given the boot. That was all political party in nature.

Now, you live in a much larger jurisdiction so it's likely more difficult to tell.

Indeed, I threw in an "ideally" on purpose.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by bufflove

Right, I just mean in areas that are very heavily D or R everyone who wants to actually be involved in the political process is already registered accordingly and the predominant party's primary is a de facto non-partisan race. If you legitimately want to win office in Baltimore then you register as a D, whether you have a love letter to Reagan in your closet or not. E.g. David Blair, who recently came within a few votes of winning the MoCo County Exec Dem primary, was a registered Republican for the vast majority of his life and voted in exactly one Dem primary before running. Would it have been easier to simply have a nonpartisan race so he didn't have to bother changing his affiliation to run? Yeah, I guess, but in practice it's not that much of a difference.

I agree school board and judges should be nonpartisan. Primarily because the positions themselves ideally aren't political in nature.

We are getting to that point, but not quite there yet. I am pretty sure some of the BOE are registered Dems, and the 4th place finisher (registered D) got some guff for doing zero campaigning. When someone mentioned that he had no signs at the DEM headquarters, others pointed out that was a bad look, and in a non-partisan race, he needed to give signs to both HQs.

We would do better with an appointed BOE, but we have been back and forth over the years on this issue.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

We are getting to that point, but not quite there yet. I am pretty sure some of the BOE are registered Dems, and the 4th place finisher (registered D) got some guff for doing zero campaigning. When someone mentioned that he had no signs at the DEM headquarters, others pointed out that was a bad look, and in a non-partisan race, he needed to give signs to both HQs.

We would do better with an appointed BOE, but we have been back and forth over the years on this issue.

Actually no. We had an appointed BOE until the 1990s and what happend was that it was used as a training ground for future County Commissioners (as well as Senators and Delegates).

Now, you may say that is sort of what happens now with an elected Board and you'd be correct but the system we had (and is still in use most of the Counties that are still appointees except Anne Arundel and Prince George's) is that the County Central Committe of the Governor's party makes the appointment recommendation.

Now that's real naked partisanship.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Actually no. We had an appointed BOE until the 1990s and what happend was that it was used as a training ground for future County Commissioners (as well as Senators and Delegates).

Now, you may say that is sort of what happens now with an elected Board and you'd be correct but the system we had (and is still in use most of the Counties that are still appointees except Anne Arundel and Prince George's) is that the County Central Committe of the Governor's party makes the appointment recommendation.

Now that's real naked partisanship.

Our issue was school closings and consolidation. The population flipped out when "appointed" officials made the decisions, and demanded the right to vote for the people picking which schools stayed open, and which closed. The elections for most of my life time have been community supported candidates fighting to save that community's school. So George's Creek had their local champion, Frostburg had theirs, Eastern ALCO would field a candidate, etc. etc.

At this point, these closures/consolidations are mostly played out, and the issue now is how much of the county budget goes to education. The GOP slate BOE candidates promised to work with their fellow GOPers and not overspend. If not for their own follies (some I mentioned, some I have not,) their majority would have carried the day.

Politics have changed immensely in the last 10 years here, as I have pointed out a few times. Pre-2010, local races were about where you were from, and where you worked, not what party you were registered with. In 2020, an R by your name on the ballot guarantees victory.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Our issue was school closings and consolidation. The population flipped out when "appointed" officials made the decisions, and demanded the right to vote for the people picking which schools stayed open, and which closed. The elections for most of my life time have been community supported candidates fighting to save that community's school. So George's Creek had their local champion, Frostburg had theirs, Eastern ALCO would field a candidate, etc. etc.

At this point, these closures/consolidations are mostly played out, and the issue now is how much of the county budget goes to education. The GOP slate BOE candidates promised to work with their fellow GOPers and not overspend. If not for their own follies (some I mentioned, some I have not,) their majority would have carried the day.

Politics have changed immensely in the last 10 years here, as I have pointed out a few times. Pre-2010, local races were about where you were from, and where you worked, not what party you were registered with. In 2020, an R by your name on the ballot guarantees victory.

How does Maintenance of Effort play out? It's easier to manage with a stable or dropping population but can make you cry when your school system is growing 10%+ every year.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

How does Maintenance of Effort play out? It's easier to manage with a stable or dropping population but can make you cry when your school system is growing 10%+ every year.

We pay MoE, it is how much above it that is the question. We have had significant state level cuts to our local education budget as our population declines, and some in the community want to see the county make up that difference. Others of us, including myself, see education as important but one of many critical needs in our county.

Historically the teacher's union had a broad base of support that spanned across Ds and Rs and has the expectation of getting extra funding for "education" to keep their jobs from the Commissioners as patronage. Part of the problem the GOP BOE members ran into was using their new power to appoint/hire GOP folks from George's Creek above and beyond the usual expectation that fractured this voting block, sending us further into pure partisan voting patterns.

The political power in our community is concentrated in a relatively small stretch of the county, roughly Barton to Frostburg. It is heavy GOP territory that occasionally supported hometown Dems in the past, but votes with Saddam Hussein like percents for all GOP candidates these days. They control the primary for partisan offices, and punch well above their weight on non-partisan ones.

[Woodlands]

yeah... I recall a City Council incumbent said that their opponent was an (R) though they were actually running an independent. That may have well been a Scarlet Letter on their sweater. They may have lost anyway.. but I am sure they lost a few hundred votes just because of that...


I guess what I don't get is ..historically.. the GOP has been about low taxes, tough on crime, and pro business(Small/Large)...Jobs(both have advocated for this though approaches are different).. what neighborhood in Baltimore is against any of those things? I think the national narrative especially in the last four years has put the city out of reach....Kim Klacik ran a Mayoral/City Council Campaign for a Congressional Office.. which I never really understood.. She may have been very competitive for a Council Seat.. and move up from there...The GOP just needs to get their foot in the door and get someone seated on City Council and work from there if they want to be competitive.

[feck]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

yeah... I recall a City Council incumbent said that their opponent was an (R) though they were actually running an independent. That may have well been a Scarlet Letter on their sweater. They may have lost anyway.. but I am sure they lost a few hundred votes just because of that...


I guess what I don't get is ..historically.. the GOP has been about low taxes, tough on crime, and pro business(Small/Large)...Jobs(both have advocated for this though approaches are different).. what neighborhood in Baltimore is against any of those things? I think the national narrative especially in the last four years has put the city out of reach....Kim Klacik ran a Mayoral/City Council Campaign for a Congressional Office.. which I never really understood.. She may have been very competitive for a Council Seat.. and move up from there...The GOP just needs to get their foot in the door and get someone seated on City Council and work from there if they want to be competitive.

Kimberly Klacik and her backers ran an
abysmal campaign. 5 million dollars +
down the crapper. It did not help that
Klacik had a sleazy background that
turned off most of the black Christians
that make up a large portion of the
Democrats in the 7th District. She
also thought she could win with a
wink and a smile which simply does
not fly in the 7th District. You have to
put in the work (visit churches, kiss
babies, etc.).

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by feck

Kimberly Klacik and her backers ran an
abysmal campaign. 5 million dollars +
down the crapper. It did not help that
Klacik had a sleazy background that
turned off most of the black Christians
that make up a large portion of the
Democrats in the 7th District. She
also thought she could win with a
wink and a smile which simply does
not fly in the 7th District. You have to
put in the work (visit churches, kiss
babies, etc.).

**** shaming again?