Waffles of Lesser Peril

A question for my MoCo readers (and/or those with an interest in MoCo politics), what are your thoughts on the Democratic primary for the Montgomery County Council (At Large) race?  With 33 candidates angling to be one of only four with tickets to the General Election, I am fascinated by the dynamics of this campaign.

By my count, there are at least 23 varying-degrees-of-serious candidacies.  Moreover, even several of the less promising efforts involve individuals with legitimate credentials.

Organization, the ability to project coherent and compelling messaging, and the ability to turnout voters are going to be (as they generally are in County-wide primaries) essential.  The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) has endorsed three candidates: Brandy Brooks, Chris Wilhelm, and Will Jawando.  If I were still residing in MoCo, I would almost definitely vote for Brooks and Wilhelm and I would probably vote for Jawando.  Jawando has solid qualifications and, frankly, he needs a W to avoid falling into the “frequent candidate” category.       

The one incumbent running for re-election, Hans Riemer, should be a mortal lock for a top four finish…should be.  Twice elected to the County Council, he has solid Name ID.  He placed third in the Democratic primary in 2014, behind Marc Elrich and Nancy Floreen and ahead of George Leventhal, so he is a proven vote-getter.  And he has some cash in the bank.

The decision by Jill Ortman-Fouse to run for County Council instead of seeking re-election to the Board of Education, in my outsider-y estimation, shook up the field. Many voters won’t pick more than three candidates and I can see her garnering a substantial number of “top 3” votes.   She, like Riemer, ran and won County-wide in 2014 (albeit for a different office).  She tallied 95,900 votes (51.7%) in a hard-fought and high-profile BoE race against Shebra Evans (47.8%). 

So what do you think?  Feel free to post your ruminations or email them to me directly.

In solidarity.

Our Corner of America…with Wine Picks

“But Oz never did give nothing to the Pen Man

That he didn’t, didn’t already have…”

(With apologies to Dewey Bunnell)

Looking forward to the upcoming sojourn to Hooksett, New Hampshire, the home of SNHU.

In the meantime, some local news:

On May 7, the Wilde Lake Village Board will be interviewing candidates to fill the two vacancies (of five seats) on said Board.  These interviews will be held in a closed session, as they were on both occasions when I applied (successfully) for appointment to the WLVB.  I wonder if open sessions, where the public can view the interviews, would be preferable (assuming they would be permissible).  Now, Columbia village boards are not governmental agencies…they are more akin to community advocacy groups with some facilities and programming responsibilities.  So one can debate the proper degree of transparency for such organizations.  That said, I think the public would be interested in hearing the exchanges between the Board members and their prospective colleagues.

Scotch in the Savanna Wine in the Woods will be taking place on May 19 and May 20.  With the present author completely focused on growing the Spartan Tendency in Howard County, my personal attendance is deemed to be “unlikely.”  That said, brandishing my Wine & Spirit Education Trust intermediate certificate credentials, I will assert that Maryland has emerged as a significant player in recent years, with some wineries producing solid, more than just quaffable, wines.  Some favorites include:

Basignani.  Their Riesling is not the most complex manifestation of that varietal but it is a crowd pleaser.

Bordeleau.  For aficionados of more robust reds, try the Meritage.  Also, their Vidal Blanc is a sprightly dessert wine that shows some nice fruit.   

Elk Run. Offering a crisp and spicy Gewurztraminer, this is a must-sip.  Also, as memory serves, they product Maryland’s only Zinfandel.  I love quality red Zin.

In solidarity.

A Note to Owl Farm

“If World War III can start in a vacuum of silence and stonewalling by the White House, we are doomed like rats in a maze of fear.  We are slaves to mendacity and hostile disinformation.  Bread and circuses were not enough to sustain the Roman Empire and they will not be enough for the United States of America.”  - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, “Hey Rube,” published in 2004.

Jesus, HST, had you only stuck around until 2018.  Say what you will about the perfidious hooligans around W, they were, as a bunch, professionals. They knew that blood money is tough to spend in an irradiated world; they were dangerous and felonious, but they knew just enough about foreign affairs to keep us away from the Edge.

Alas, the same cannot be said about the unaware-of-their haplessness cretins that can be found in overabundance in 45’s Administration.  Driven by greed, blood lust, fanatical devotion to the Dear Leader, and/or a twisted Weltanschauung that makes Dick Cheney look like a reasonable moderate, the current band of thugs in and around 1600 Pennsylvania is a genuine menace to the Republic. Is General Kelly the thin line between an addled President and a nuclear “event” (intentional or otherwise)?  Maybe so.  In any event, I would rather have him in Trump’s ear than, say, Stephen Miller.

Was it bad with Ari Fleischer shilling for Bush 43?  Yes, but Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her version of “reality” is far worse.  She was born in Hope, Arkansas…just like her dad, the former Gov. Mike Huckabee, and former President Bill Clinton.  So is the leading export of this Podunk town inveterate liars?  HST, the levels of “mendacity and hostile disinformation” are off the charts.  Like Georgia Tech 222 – Cumberland 0…these scores shouldn’t even exist, but they do.  And we are not the better for it.

So where is the Wisdom? There must be something beyond a fervent wish for a swift impeachment and righteous conviction.  A hope that the Republic is more resilient than we have any right to expect?  Well, looking back at recent U.S. history, there is the sense that Progress…often halting, frequently painful, and replete with reverses and false starts… can occur when the Opposition keeps grinding away.  There is a way out of the maze, but the obstacles won’t surmount themselves.  The wave doesn't have to break as long as the motion continues forward.

In solidarity.