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July 10, 2006
Candidates sought to face 4 GOP incumbent county councilmen
The failure to field more council candidates by last Monday's filing deadline has set Ann Marie Remillard, the leader of the county's Democratic Central Committee, hunting for contenders who would have not only the uphill task of running against sitting officials, but the disadvantage of starting less than four months before November's general election."I just called someone and said, 'Are you willing to fall on the sword?'" Remillard said.
Young Democrats in particular, she said, could use this as an opportunity to win name recognition for seeking office in coming years.
By the central committee's July 13 meeting, she hopes to have a late-entrant list for appointment. State law allows political central committees to add candidates that way by July 18.
"The mere fact that they don't have anybody out there campaigning is very good for us," said Chuck Gast, head of the Anne Arundel County Republican Central Committee.
That gives County Council incumbents Middlebrooks in District 2, Ronald C. Dillon Jr. in District 3, Cathleen M. Vitale in District 5 and Edward R. Reilly in District 7 an advantage.
"I don't want to give them a free ride," Remillard said.
Those blanks on the ballot resulted from an oversight, Remillard said, in which her central committee members thought other Democratic leaders were looking out for those seats. But the party does not have a philosophy to ensure that every Republican candidate is opposed, said state Sen. Philip C. Jimeno, a five-term Democrat from District 31 who is retiring.
This is exactly why I'm running for office. Four unchallenged seats, guaranteeing a Republican majority on the County Council and the incompetence that always brings. The sad part is that I was sounding the warning two weeks before the filing deadline to Remillard with no action but "people will file when they are ready". If you are challenging an entrenched incumbent, you don't file at the least minute, you have to start campaigning months or even a year in advance.
What I find even more offensive is the notion that we Young Democrats should "fall on our swords" because the DCC didn't do candidate development for every single seat in the County last year. It's not a secret that there is going to be an election. The Republicans were active and campaigning last year, why didn't we have people doing the same thing? This really isn't rocket science.
This kind of stuff has just got to stop! Every Republican will have opposition on the ballot.
Read more over at Baltimore Sun.
Posted by Jamison at July 10, 2006 6:54 AM
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