Letters to the Editor

Volume VI Number 38
September 24-30, 1998

Three Votes' Worth

Dear New Bay Times~Weekly:

A closing comment in your editorial of September 17-23, "We Get Who We Vote For," lamenting the poor turnout (28 percent in Anne Arundel Counter) of voters for the 1998 Primary, prompts this response from me:

In a way, I love it!

It means my vote was worth three votes and it was all legal.

My candidates won!

Now if we can just get the turnout down to 25 percent in the General Election, my vote will be worth four.

Power is great. You just have to remember how to turn on the switch.

-Tony Evans, Annapolis

Calvert's Vote Independently Analyzed

Dear New Bay Times~Weekly:

To everyone who was a candidate but didn't make it through the primary, I salute you for participating and offering yourself for public service. It hurts to lose, believe me I know, but if you really want to make a difference, stay involved and try again.

The primary election results tell us a lot. In Calvert County, nearly 6,000 Democrats voted with several highly contested local races. The Republican turnout was nearly 4,000 voters with no contested local elections except for the central committee.

The 12 commissioner candidates received from 73 percent (Kelley) to 41 percent (Mooney) of their party's vote.

What's most revealing about the numbers is the fact that the voters of the majority party in control of the Board of County Commissioners did not feel any compelling reason to vote for the incumbents (Buehler, 60 percent and especially Mister, 51 percent).

If you've been a county commissioner for eight years and just get half of your party's votes, then something's wrong. It tells me that a lot of Democrats who say they vote for the candidate and not the party in the general election will be casting votes for some Republicans. Independent voters will also be a key factor.

I'm about as independent as a candidate can be, so I know I'll get a large percentage of that vote. Thank you to everyone who has helped and voted for me. Your vote is a vote toward giving me the authority to help you more than I've been able to in the past. I look forward to your support once again on Nov. 3.

-John Douglas Parran, St. Leonard

Turtle -- and Truth -- Still on the Fence

Dear New Bay Times~Weekly:

I've come to appreciate NBT as a fine community newspaper with fair and insightful editorial opinions. Your recent editorial "Summer Scandal: Turtles, Dogs and Bill Clinton" [Aug. 20-26] is no exception. It passed the tricky test of commenting on the sensitive subject of the president's sins while remaining fit for family reading.

I agree, it's time to let the issue go. But while members of Congress suggest it's the president's obligation to "consider" resignation and theirs to contemplate impeachment and media excesses continue, the turtle is still on the fence.

The real turtle that balances on the fence post is how a younger generation, at or near voting age, construes the president's actions, truthfulness or lack of truthfulness. A nation of laws also needs a replenishing crop of interested and connected voters. Now, the turtle will have to move over because there's a lot more in the balance.

-D.C. Bourne, Churchton

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