politiks

most of my friends and family know that i have a certain distaste for certain politicians and parties. and yet, i am *trying* to be fair when it comes to choosing who will get my vote in the 2006 Maryland gubernatorial election. i've perused duncan, o'malley and ehrlich's websites, and i want to throw out some impressions and conclusions...

regarding points raised on doug duncan's campaign website--i'm curious as to the tone of the following two quotes that relate to education:

"Montgomery's school system is the largest and most diverse in the State, with more than 120 different languages spoken and a student body that is 55 percent minority. Yet, Montgomery students posted the highest SAT scores in Maryland."

Again, "With the most diverse school population in Maryland, Montgomery County students have produced the best SAT scores in the history of Maryland. "

i don't dispute the diversity of Montgomery County, but i do question the connotation of the word's usage in these quotes. is it expected that a diverse population will collectively perform poorly in comparison to a more homogenous one? essentially, i'm not sure what the article's author(s) intends(intend) to imply.

one of duncan's efforts that i do appreciate is that of alleviating healthcare stress among minorities. see the following quote:

"To help eliminate health disparities among minority residents, Doug has supported community-based health initiatives focused on African American, Latino, and Asian American residents. The county partners with community-based health promoters to provide health education and outreach to specific minority communities, and funds faith-based health clinics that serve thousands of at-risk families. "

as one who is hit by medical costs, i can understand what it means to have to choose between medication and rent.

i appreciate the fact that duncan has taken the pains to preserve maryland's farmland. i've seen my hometown, Lebanon, PA, transform from beautifully plowed, rolling fields to boxy, misplaced suburban developments. it makes me want to throw up. so somebody needs to keep a hold on the last few open spaces that we have available to us. and not the least of his accomplishments: "Thanks to his landmark land preservation efforts, Montgomery County ... is Maryland's leading pumpkin producer." now that's just awesome.

next i turn to martin o'malley, baltimore's current mayor. trying to fend off my boyfriend's volleys of disparaging remarks about baltimore, i tell him about how much improvement the city has seen in the past two decades. indeed, o'malley's term has seen baltimore breathing again. it is possible for cities to make giant turnarounds (e.g., NYC). i do, however, have some issues with the current state of my city. see the following:

"Martin O’Malley shattered Baltimore’s string of 10+ years of more than 300 homicides, cutting homicides by an average of 18%. During his term as Mayor, the city recorded its fewest homicides since 1988."

on the one hand, reduction of any sort is great. but, it stands that, as of data* referring to 2003 and 2002 respectively, maryland is the second worst state in the U.S. for murder, and baltimore is the 3rd worst largest city in the U.S. for murder, with a rate of 38.3 homicides per 100,000 people. we have the ignominious distinction of having "beaten" chicago, philadelphia and even los angeles. lovely.

o'malley is not without positives, however. after 9/11, he invested nearly 6x the amount provided by the federal government toward baltimore's defense in the event of a terror attack. also, he recognizes the importance of nurturing a city-wide renaissance:

"Martin O’Malley’s leadership in revitalizing Baltimore’s neighborhoods, promoting parks and bike paths while creating new, vibrant live-work-play communities have stemmed Baltimore’s population loss and made the city a model for large-scale Smart Growth."

as a girl who seriously hates the suburbs, the exurbs and gentrification, i applaud the wave of revitalization that is giving breath to some of the quirkiest (read "hampden") neighborhoods in the city.

last, but (to be fair) not least--bob ehrlich. i like that he's all about fiscal responsibility. this probably isn't the strongest analogy, but i know that from my personal finances, i can't be productive when trying to operate while in major debt. ehrlich has made moves to transform "$4 billion in deficits into a $1.7 billion surplus in just three years." cha-ching! according to his campaign website, he has also "reduced government bureaucracy by seven percent. " that usually sounds good. but...

what i do have to question about ehrlich is the vagueness of the material on his website. in contrast to the information provided on his opponents' sites, there is only one page to address several issues, and the points that are addressed provide nothing to which the numbers given can be compared. for instance, referring to the bureaucracy issue above, let's just say that we're going to use dollars instead of an intangible term (that's the first problem). we have to recognize that 7% of $1000 is far greater than 7% of $10. so by how much did ehrlich really reduce bureaucracy? i want to question the completeness of the information provided by the website, as at least four bullet points have ambiguous figures and at least nine lack necessary background information.

all told, i've evaluated the candidates' stances for myself, and i still have some thinking to do. i'm not going to tell you who's in and who's out so far because, frankly, that's none of your beeswax. but if you're a maryland resident, check out the websites for yourself and get to the polls. see you in november!

*this information comes from "Death by Murder," by ben best (http://www.benbest.com/lifeext/murder.html#usa).

>These quotes are taken from Doug Duncan, Martin O'Malley and Robert Ehrlich's campaign websites: http://www.dougduncan.com, http://www.martinomalley.com/, and http://www.bobehrlich.com/. I am not using the quotes for endorsement purposes, but rather to pose questions and provoke thoughtful discussion.