Playing Dirty

I am an advocate of fair play, which is probably why politics is not my game.

Case in point…

Late last night, I received a call from a friend who was passing Ed Crizer’s office on Wise Ave. He told me what he observed (see the photos), so I went down and photographed it.

This, folks, is just plain sad. This act was about as rotten as it gets.

You see, civil people just don’t act that way. Despite any political differences, we should all try to get along.

Of course, I know how it feels to be a target of such dirty attacks, one of which I just wrote about. 

I have been through this many times, but it will never stop me from giving my opinion on a variety of community issues.

This brings me to the crux of this year’s election, which was marred by dirty politics.

I actually got caught up in the dirty side of the business—unwittingly—because of a candidate (I’ll write another blog on this person) who, at the eleventh hour, came knocking on my door with some documents.

Let me just say that, had the information simply been a rumor, I would have thrown him out on his ear. However, these documents were the real deal.

I have always based my reputation on revealing the truth, so—at that moment—I was faced with the decision of putting this practice to the test. The documents involved a member of a ticket that I supported. 

I knew there were several options, none of them good.

First, I could have done nothing. However, if my candidate had won, then my credibility would have been challenged. I would have been accused of a cover-up to protect the ticket I supported. Trust me, this information would have surfaced. How do I know?  Because I know the candidate, as well as the whole story behind his agenda to use me and my reputation.

By the way, his plan worked—Ms. Pearce lost by 270 votes. I will have a special blog on that issue.

Political signs were destroyed in the 6th District Council race, and Mrs. Bevins was embroiled in a heated contest with Jeff Beard, who was rumored to be backed by the Cordish Companies. They were said to have infused $300,000 into Jeff Beard’s campaign, and negative TV campaign ads were on the way.

Of course, none of this turned out to be true, and Beard was left to fight the flyer describing his personal life. Looking at the campaign finance reports there was no large sums collected by Mr. Beard. But the damage was done, all because—at the 11th hour—Mrs. Bevins sent a mailer detailing Mr. Beard’s issues from the past.

She won by 2,210 votes, by the way.

What’s worse is that is the disgraceful turnout by MD voters. It appears that less than 24% of registered voters bothered to show up at the polls.

I believe that, as the State becomes more of a “boiling pot” rather than a “melting pot,” the culture divide has allowed the number to go down in recent years.

As the saying goes, “You get what you vote for,” and—in this year’s race—it may turn out to be much of the same as before.

There are some hopeful signs coming from other districts. Both sitting council members Todd Huff and Ken Oliver lost. Hopefully they won’t rubber stamp everything Kamenetz sends on their way out the door.

As for me, I will be working on a blog discussing the candidate that used me for his own agenda. He will have to answer to the voters for that decision come November.

And I will make certain of that…