Thursday, April 14, 2016, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)
It seems that the Maryland primary will actual play a pivotal role in the presidential race for both parties. HERE is the latest poll. There is certainly much to discuss about the presidential race, but there are also other important races on the ballot. The race for Barbara Mikulski's Senate seat, is focused on Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen; HERE is the latest poll. The other races can be found HERE.
I do not have any video's planned for this meeting, so please come prepared If you have any issues about the primaries that you want to discuss, please comment on this blog so we can do some research before the meeting.
I got a mailing from HoCoSOS which is critical of our current school board. Its goal seems just to replace the current school board. Does anybody know more about this?
ReplyDeleteYes, Mike, only three incumbents are running for re-election on the school board out of 7 or so. There is a movement afoot to replace all three because they renewed Dr. Fosse's contract as superintendent and she now gets hundreds of thousands of dollars. The meeting in question was interesting - it appears that employees were told to attend the meeting en masse and coule take time off from work to do so, to take up the seats so the public would not have room at the meeting to dissent. Here is the candidate listing - http://elections.maryland.gov/elections/2016/primary_candidates/gen_cand_lists_2016_3__by_county_14.html
ReplyDeleteIf you go to the HoCo Board of Ed site, all the meetings are videotaped.
If you are on NextDoor there has been a lot of information about this.
Thanks for the info. Once again the school board election deserves more attention.
DeleteHERE is a Baltimore Sun article about the Foose controversy:
DeleteIt seem that the Edwards vs. Van Holland race is about trying to paint the other's position on Social Security, see HERE
ReplyDeleteFor those Democrats who are unhappy with both of their major presidential candidates (and that really doesn't include me) there is an option named Rocky De La Fuente. I note that the Republicans can still choose between almost everybody who appeared in their TV debates (whether they've since dropped out or not). Although the real race for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination is between Edwards and Van Hollen, I see there are eight alternatives (most of whom are perennial candidates). I've heard Lih Young testify before committees in Annapolis. (It's not something to which you'd want to subject yourself.) Of the 13 Republicans running for that office, only one holds notable public office. That's Delegate Kathy Szeliga of LD7 (Baltimore & Harford Counties). Of the others, the only one who seems to have gotten much publicity is attorney Crys Kefalas and he's gotten some of it for being gay and thus out of step with the conservative wing of the GOP and that may be most of them. (For confirmation, just google his name.) Another of their Senate candidates is Joe Hooe, who was the top GOP vote-getter when running a losing race for delegate in LD12 (which includes most of west Columbia). There are three congressional districts (all safe Democratic) containing parts of Howard County. I wouldn't want to bet on any Republican defeating Ruppersberger in district 2, Sarbanes in district 3, or Cummings in district 7. Ruppersberger's unopposed in the primary and the only name Republican running against him is another LD7 delegate named Patrick McDonough, many of whose bills seem to show an anti-immigrant bias. The only Democrat running against incumbent Sarbanes in district 3 (John Rea) has done it before and is back for more punishment. Of the three Republicans seeking to unseat Cummings in district 7, one is a fellow named Ray Bly, who lives on Route 1 in Ruppersberger's district. (For an interesting diversion, you could google his name and read his website.) Everyone, regardless of party or non-party, can vote for school board in Howard County. As has been mentioned already, there is some citizen unhappiness with with the school board majority that, by 5-2 vote, renewed the contract of the superintendent. The current terms of three of the five (DeLacy, Giles, and Siddiqui) are expiring this year, but they're each running for reelection. The other eight candidates are each seeking to be among the six who get the most votes in the primary and thus be on the November ballot. So far, I've received three mailings regarding this contest. One was from incumbent Giles, seeking votes for herself. Two contained the authority line "The People's Voice PAC, Lisa Markovitz Treasurer." One mailing was aimed at showing that some members of both major political parties were unhappy with the school board and that the three incumbents shouldn't be reelected. The other was aimed at promoting four candidates, from whom they wanted you to pick three, for whom to vote. I'll miss Thursday's discussion, because I'll be working outside the Bain Center supporting my candidate.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info.
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