Election Official's Night Before Christmas

ELECTION OFFICIAL'S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

By: J. Patrick Kelly

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a computer mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that no recall petitions would be there;

The employees were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of recounts danced in their heads;

And ma in her kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down with a hot toddy and our big furry cat,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter!

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters, and threw out the trash.

The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow

Gave the luster of a lobbyist all warm and aglow,

When what to my wondering eyes did appear,

But a slick politician with an entourage of reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in an instance he was up to some trick.

More rapid than eagles his courses they came,

And he whistled and shouted and called them by name;

“Now Press Corps! Now Publicists! Now Focus Groups all!

Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,

Down the chimney came the politician with a bound!

He was dressed all in fur and diamond and rings;

And his clothes were all polished and his teeth were so clean!

No bundle of toys were flung on his back,

It was easy to tell he was a political flack!

A wink of his eye and a twist of head,

Soon gave me to know I had a lot to dread.

He spoke many words and went straight to work,

Insuring that his message was full of all sorts of quirks.

He demanded his party lists and his precincts like loot,

But he let out a howl when the dog bit his boot!

He threw me his campaign finance forms with flourish and glee,

He knew he had all the money washed carefully.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And with a spin of his head, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his limo, to his PR team gave a whistle,

And they all flew away like the down of a thistle.

And I heard him exclaim as through the Midnight he flew,

“Trust me dear Voters, I’m here to help you!”

Copyright 2010

Voter Registration Numbers Are Not Reliable Indicators of Results

On October 5, 2008 Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks blogged about the voter registration for young people in Maryland. This was preceded on October 2 with a post about an elected Republican changing his party affiliation to unaffiliated and the dire condition of the Republican Party in Maryland.

Dan: Some facts.

The State Board of Elections didn't whimsically reinstate a policy allowing 17-year-olds to cast ballots or register to vote. The Attorney General opined that since someone who was eighteen on General Election Day could vote in that election, the same person should be entitled to vote in the Primary Election that selected the nominees for the ensuing General Election.

In Baltimore County, Republican registrations had been gaining on Democrats for the ten years prior to 2004. The gains were in hundredths of points, but they occurred every month.

In the last five months, the months for which I have figures handy, the Democrats have been registering three for every Republican registrant. Unaffiliated registrations were running even with Republicans, but in the last four months have been edging to a 1.25:1 ratio.

Your conclusions about what is happening and mine differ. Registrations have tended to follow the money. One party control of government always drove registrations. I know it is hard to believe, but many people are sure that their party affiliation affects their earning ability. I have lost two jobs in quasi and state government based on my affiliation. I have never gotten a job because of that.

First, let's get rid of the affiliated bases, the eighty percent of all voters who are Republican or Democrat.

Of the remainder, in Maryland, people register as Democrats to maintain jobs and receive contracts. They also donate to campaigns for those reasons. People who wish to avoid problems with affiliation register as unaffiliated. People who wish to staunch the flow of campaign literature register as unaffiliated. (This no longer works as it did decades ago because all campaigns target the unaffiliated.) One of my sons registered as unaffiliated out of a) rebellion, b) a desire not to be pigeonholed by others, and c) to avoid partisan mail. He received more mail than the three affiliated voters in the house did!

Democrats were very aggressive in conducting voter registration drives in high schools and colleges in the last four years. They were particularly effective in 2008. On Primary Election Day, people were flooding into election precincts demanding to be allowed to register and vote, or to vote in the Democrat Primary in spite of their registration as Republican or something other than Democrat. How this plays out in the General Election cannot be known.

Historically, the elections that had great turnout were the elections that presented contests to the voters. People stay home if the result is a foregone conclusion. However, if there is a contest the proverbial wild horses will not keep them home. In this respect, the media hold the cards. Gore was declared dead four weeks out. Same for Kerry. Then, the media kicked in with new poll numbers and people showed up in unprecedented numbers and the races were all too close.

During the 2008 Democrat Primary, the media declared Hilary dead in January, and then discussed how close each subsequent race was. Voter turnout was through the roof. If you build a race, they will come.

As for conclusions about Maryland, let me point to the last four gubernatorial contests. The registration numbers for each gave the Democrats a 2:1 advantage going in, but no result was even close to that. Every race was decided in single digits. My conclusion: registration numbers in one party states do not provide a sound indication of the results of political contests.

Size Counts

Since the day President Bill Clinton campaigned for Martin O'Malley, the buzz in Maryland was that O'Malley was a leading candidate for Vice-President on Hillary Clinton's ticket. Then, O'Malley was elected Governor of Maryland.

I suspect he took a deep breath and made the decision to reciprocate and endorsed Hillary's candidacy for the presidential nomination. The buzz became a roar, and O'Malley hadn't started to govern, yet.

The first session of the General Assembly of Maryland displayed the new Governor as a pragmatic who did not attempt to openly drive the agenda. Shortly after the end of the session, he began to terminate the employment of Republicans hired to middle management jobs during the last four years. The only discriminate exercise was to leave those who still had strong connections in politics in place.

Governor O'Malley continued to campaign against Governor Ehrlich, calling a special session of the General Assembly to fix the fiscal problems left by Ehrlich. When he was done, O'Malley, elected over an incumbent with favorable of over fifty percent in the polls just one year before, had his favorable drop to the low thirty percent area. This represented double devastation. First, the people who had elected him knowing he would raise taxes had turned their backs on him. Second, his base was turning against him. Sixty percent of registered voters in Maryland are with his party, yet his approval ratings looked like he was a Republican. Governor Ehrlich had approval ratings on his way out the door similar to O'Malley's winning portion of the vote. Now, though, O'Malley was receiving approval ratings ten points (and more) below Ehrlich's gubernatorial vote.

We can only imagine the reaction of the Maryland Governor, the one with approval ratings in the tank, to the announcement that a Governor with approval ratings of ninety percent was selected for his dream job of Vice-president!

Governor O'Malley can do either of two things to settle his future. He can continue to pillage Maryland, doing the things he has determined are necessary without regard for the people's wishes and needs, securing his future as a former Governor. Alternatively, he can learn for the Governor's who rode success in their states to national prominence. Ronald Reagan, Tom Ridge, both Roosevelt's, Taft, Bill Clinton, even Jimmy Carter, found that working for the people will be rewarded.

Governor O'Malley will learn that size matters, or shrivel and shrink like George Costanza on a cold day at the pool. He need only look to the success of Sarah Palin and wonder what could have been.

Crazy or sly?

"The definition of crazy'' we are told, "is to do the same thing over and over expecting a different result."

Patuxent Publishing's newspaper The Jeffersonian caries of series called Party Line. Each month a spokesman for the Republicans alternates with a spokesman for the Democrats, offering a partisan argument. The most recent article is one that brings the above adage to mind. Again, we have the same person, James Kehl, representing the Democrats of Baltimore County, attempting to deceive the public and indict his chosen political enemy with deceptions. Let me explain.

The title of his piece, "My encounter with Sen. Andy Harris" indicates an encounter with Senator Harris. An encounter is defined as a meeting, one that might be brief, it might be unexpected, hostile or violent, but a meeting, nonetheless. What is described? A sighting of Senator Harris. America did not encounter Senator Clinton on television at the DNC Convention. They saw her. Mr. Kehl continues to explain that he decided not to have a meeting, an encounter.

Based on this "encounter", we are led to believe that voters, bearing their Baltimore County Board of Elections issued Identification Card, swarmed to him, saying in unison, "Please tell us, oh great and wise spokesman for Baltimore County Democrats, what issue would you have confronted the Senator with, had you the courage and bravery we know you to be saving for a better opportunity, instead of the passive aggressive behavior you appear by your own words to have chosen?"

Then, Mr. Kehl tells the readers that "someone" researched the legislative records. Not him; not Joe; not Mary; not an intern; not David - "someone" - a most creditable source, we are to assume, because you used them, did the research and provided it to you.

No one cares if there is a fact or a fiction in the rest of the item. It is based on deception, and relies on unknown and unverifiable parties for the meat of the item. Like much of this author's work, this reads like a fantasy, like something for which the readers must willingly suspend disbelief for the premise, and logically, what follows.

Take away the trickery and deception, cite legitimate sources and toss away the devices of the fiction writer and we are left with a partisan attack on the chosen enemy and the praise of the hero. That, I believe, is what Party Line is for. If nothing else, people who read about politics can differentiate "stuff piled higher and deeper" from information that can help guide them in choosing their representatives.

Here is an example based on the article: Senator Harris has been elected three times by the people in his district to represent them, even after redistricting. State's Attorney Kratovil has been elected twice by the people of Queen Anne's County to represent the people of that county in criminal prosecutions. This information comes from their campaigns and is verified by the records of the State Board of Elections.

There you have information that can help voters without misleading them.

Here is another example based on the item: Marylanders know that Senator Harris is a Republican in a minority in the General Assembly. President of the Senate Mike Miller declared four years ago that he would bury the Republican Party in Maryland. He leads efforts to stop Republican sponsored legislation from becoming law. A county State's Attorney, like Frank Kratovil, is elected independently in order to diminish political influence in criminal prosecutions. A State's Attorney might lobby the General Assembly for strong laws, but should not compromise his independence by dealing with legislators from either party.

Once again, information that can help voters make decisions about the qualities they want in their representatives. Noting there casts aspersions on either candidate. It particularly does not, as the item does, impute that Mr. Kratovil compromises his independence of office.

In the end, no one objects to partisan articles. They stimulate the readers. By the same token, no one likes to be deceived or tricked by delusional, passive aggressive activities. Please, Baltimore County Democrats, find one of your passionate, honest, members to represent you on these pages.

Or not! I am probably the only Republican to raise the objection, and that, against my party's interests.

Get active!

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