Shifting Sands

Changes are happening, especially on the Howard County political scene. I had the privilege of attending Jon Weinstein’s announcement for political office on last Saturday. He is running for the council seat in District 1 if you did not hear. It is Courtney Watson’s old seat…or present seat. That is assuming that Courtney is running for county executive in 2014…..ok, she is probably running.

Jon’s announcement was unfortunately overshadowed by the untimely and unexpected death of blogger Dennis Lane. The most magnificent “Wordbones” is no longer with us. A victim of a senseless and brutal murder at his home in Ellicott City. (A place where we never have brutal or senseless murders) Jon was visibly shaken by Dennis’ death during his announcement. He was supposed to be on Dennis’ podcast on that Friday, and was going to announce his candidacy then. As the fates would have it…that never happened. I never met Dennis. He was one of the bloggers who could not make it to CDC’s blogger event a few months ago.  So, as a very new….and infrequent….blogger, I feel totally unqualified to write a tribute blog to Mr. Lane.  But I have gathered from others that he was a blogging trailblazer, and set the standard for Hocoblogs.

The Democratic Central Committee….which I proudly serve on…will also be up for election at the June primary next year. I have heard of several people running, so I wish them luck. I plan to run again also…so watch this space for my announcement for re-election to the Howard County Democratic Central Committee…ok, I guess I just announced it…now I  just have to file.

As for my political endeavors, my term as the President of the Columbia Democratic Club ended on last week. Of all the jobs that I never was paid for, being CDC President was my favorite. I got to meet and talk to some amazing people during my tenure.  The forums and meetings that we had were incredible. I am very thankful for the opportunity, and wish Al Liebeskind a wonderful term as the new President of CDC. I will still be active with CDC (I’m still on the board)…..I just won’t have to pick up the key to Jeffers Hill every month.

There are plenty of other changes going on in the county and state, politically. Anthony Brown has announced that he’s running for governor, with an instant endorsement from Martin O’ Malley. Will this affect Ken’s decision?  Since Doug Gansler has raised more money than anybody….when will  he announce? Moreover, what will Guy and Calvin do? Inquiring minds want to know.  Stay tuned….it’s going to be a great  and interesting, political year!