The Executive’s message through his campaign site and
through his message givers on social media[1]
appears to be two fold. The first
focuses very much on Susan Garber while the second is about the process. More specifically on process, they claim other
Executives got deference with their nominations and the Council can vote
nominees up or down but tabling is somehow a violation of civility.
First things first, Susan Garber is barely the issue. On her own merits I personally find her a bit
out of touch but specifically around the development issues not a particularly
big deal. On the Planning Board my
prediction is she would simply be frustrated while simultaneously frustrating (primarily
the Columbia Downtown process). It would
be annoying but not overly so. In short,
Susan Garber is not the issue.[2]
For the Garber nomination the focus is much more on the fact
that she is set up to replace an existing Planning Board member who has another
term he could serve if reappointed. To
dismiss a volunteer that way is, at best, tacky. At worst it is a blatant sign of disrespect
to the largely thankless job of serving on a Board, especially the Planning
Board.
The Ivan Betancourt nomination for Human Rights Commission
is a two fer. He is replacing an
existing member (the Chair in fact). She
blogged about her experience here
so I won’t venture to put words in her mouth.
Additionally, as I stated before, Betancourt was an extremely outspoken
opponent of the Dream Act, going so far as to declare his refusal to vote for
McCain because of his position on immigration and appear in an ad for John
White for Congress on the issue of immigration.
Feel free to call this political, but that kind of fervor against people
based on immigration status[3]
should be a disqualification for appointment to the Human Rights Commission.
As I have now said several times, the Kimberly Hartman nomination for Local Children’s Board is a
blatant affront to the values of Howard County.
For Kittleman to nominate someone whose job it is to be dishonest to young
people to the Local CHILDREN’S Board is so abhorrent it makes me shake every
time I think about it.
Now let us get to the issue of “process.” Here is what I don’t understand. If the Council really was just trying to send
a message to the Executive that he couldn’t have the nominations he wanted,
than they would have relished an “up or down vote” as much as he seems to
desire one. However, their message is
quite different. Bipartisanship means,
by its very nature, things have to be done differently. Above all, bipartisanship means communication
throughout the process.
I am not in a position to know that these meetings did or
did not happen, so I am reading the tea leaves[4]
here and none of them say open lines of communication to facilitate working
relationship. The picking apart of
potentially every nominee in public is bad form for everybody and so, just my
humble opinion, if the Executive is truly committed to being an independent
leader he must reach across the aisle BEFORE nominations are made. At the end they may very well reach an
impasse, at which point an up or down vote on the impasse would be
suitable. But Mr. Kittleman, please at
least respect the Council – and the citizens of Howard County – enough to stop
pretending you play no part in the current stalemate. Especially if it’s true that you threatened
to shut down the Planning Board until you got your way[5].
[1]
Which apparently, based on their editorial about nominations and giving him a
column for his veto, includes the Columbia Flier.
[2] I
do also want to note however that Ms. Garber was extremely active with a group
that took direct aim at Councilmember Weinstein in lets just say an unpleasant
way. If I were Weinstein, I would take
this nomination as a personal insult. It
would be like if President Bush expected Senator Kerry not to obstruct the
nomination of the leader of the Swift Boat Veterans to the Supreme Court.
[3]
Yes, I know he is a legal immigrant. That
does not change my opinion on what taking this position does to delegitimize
his nomination to the Human Rights Commission.
[4] In
this case the leaves are the request by the Councilmembers for more information
and the memo back saying, “nah I'm good.”
[5] A
move I can’t for the life of me imagine is legal which may very well be why the
threat wasn’t executed.
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