Pinch Hitting for Pedro Borbon

From the Surprisingly Clement Abandoned Abattoir of S. MacCune

Quinto, Aragon, Spain

Comrades,

I have been asked to pull together a Guest Commentary.  The usual wordsmith and general factotum of this blog is “too busy” to post.  Something about client obligations and pre-Holiday deliverables that need to be finalized.  He is probably trying to set up a Nina Turner 2020 Exploratory Committee. 

So let’s get on with it.

I have been observing Maryland politics for a long time, usually from a great distance.  Oh sure, I may have done some unspecified work for Tommy D in Baltimore way back in the late ‘60s, but who can remember those days?  Apparently Nancy since she still doesn’t return my calls.  Anyway, this was before the great Mayor Coleman A. Young, may he rest in peace, retained my services; but we can talk about that era later.

Maryland politics, right.  So this Shane Robinson fella, who I hear is a sincere, decent politico, switched his party affiliation to the Greens following the November election.  I wonder if he would have done so had he not finished fourth in the Primary, and thus out of the running for the General Election.  Now, I have nothing personal against the schismatic ideologues in the Green Party.  Having myself dabbled in third party politics, you have to respect the dedication to issue purity and its frequent companion: complete electoral irrelevance.  And the pay, for campaign work, can be dodgy.  Of course, back when campaign finance laws were a bit looser, you would hear stories in other states about conservative money coming in to fund Left third-party petition signature gathering efforts and mailers.  The whole idea is that, in marginal districts, helping out a Left third-party by a little bit could make all the difference between a D or an R winning in November. I am not saying this happens today, or that Mr. Robinson or anyone with the Maryland Greens would countenance such actions, but Republicans will work every angle and they exploit opportunities. 

Anyway, you hear a lot of crazy talk around campaigns.  Who knows what the truth is?          

Speaking of, guess who filed for the Green Party presidential nomination?  Maryland’s own Ian Schlakman.  Fresh off a 0.5% showing in the gubernatorial election, he decided the time is right to take Schlak-mentum to the national level.  I hear his biggest opponent for the nomination at the moment is a St. Cloud, Minnesota-based fire hydrant. So best of luck, Ian.*

*Not really.  No Green presidential candidate deserves a vote in the General Election, especially not in competitive and semi-competitive states.  Not with Trump on the ballot. I’d rather vote for that “New Democrat” human ATM McAuliffe.

That’s all for now.